Jakarta, Indonesia

Quick note on my 2 days in Jakarta:

Jakarta is huge, congested, polluted and exhausting city. Although they have a well developed public transport system, many people still prefer their cars, motorcycles and tricycles so the streets are crammed all the time and crossing the downtown street is essentially impossible (unless you have a death wish). The locals just stick their hands out and walk into the street, but I did not have the nerve to test that strategy out.
I went up their National Monument. It's along the same lines as the CN tower and provides a nice view of the city. I was a little disappointing because from that view point Jakarta looks like any other big city, nothing really distinct or unique about it. Next, I went to the Mosques in the downtown area. It is suppose to be one of the largest mosques in Southeast Asia. It is really big and nicely designed, but unlike famous churches it didn't have any art or decorations really. Beautiful marble work, but a lot of empty space. Very interesting though. I felt a little bad because it had started pouring rain outside so when I entered I was pretty wet and they asked me to put on a robe over my drenched clothes. Not so nice for the next person asked to put it on... oops.

Jakarta did have some really tasty street food. I'm very excited about the food in Indonesia because I've heard so many good things about it!!! Will keep you posted of what I find/eat!