Two hours from now, all farmers market across the city will be bustling with customers and traders alike, with tons and tons of fresh fruits and vegetables, farming , fishing products and other necessities delivered in masses.

The fisher ports, which are located on the city’s north would be busy by then, with vastly varied of fresh and delicious seafood were dropped from the hundreds of traditional fishing boats that roamed the northern sea.

Jakarta at dawn, taken from my apartment window

In the entertainment and red light districts, thousands of Jakartans inhales the unseeingly delicious life, drown themselves in the hedonic satisfaction, without the slightest care of the world. You can find everything here, scantily clad women imported from Central Asia and Eastern Europe, illegal drugs, booze and the nonstop nightlife that will continue  till the doomsday.

No matter whether it’s a weekdays or weekends, people are travelling in and out of town. There is no such thing as a holiday in Jakarta, what is there is just shifts and breaks of people from different professions running their trade alternately.

Jakarta is a melting pot in a real sense. Hundreds of ethnicity, dozens of languages, all mixed and entrusted to the evolution on the people’s way of live.

Sun rise, taken from my apartment window

In Jakarta you will never be alone, for friends are easy to make and difficult to break. It’s Indonesian thing, the only comfort that strikingly and decisively differentiate Jakarta from other metropolis.

Jakarta is far from perfect though, as a matter of fact it will never be a perfect place to live. The air quality is getting worse every year, the public transports are virtually useless and the traffic is dreadful. There is nothing in this city that can be valued as structurally beautiful, an eternal marking of disastrous city plan.

The social gap is horrendous, the cost of living is among the most expensive in South East Asia, yet the income level is among the lowest.

But even if one can judge that Jakarta with all the harsh reality it presents, as a god forsaken city, she is  still undoubtedly and indisputably, offers opportunity, a chance to live up the dream, to excel and rise above the challenge. It’s Indonesia’s American dream, where one can change their fortune in the blink of an eye.

Generations have changed and replaced, the poor were made just as the riches emerged. And for ten millions of its people, Jakarta is their livelihood.

My Jakarta is my home in many respects. I came to know and remember her street just as I come to understand my own veins. I came to understand and love her imperfection simply because I am a Jakartan.

Living in Jakarta leads me not to take everything for granted all the things that I have in life, and to appreciate simple things. Jakarta teaches me to live strong and yet reminded me to be emphatic. She allows me to be independent but never lonely, and to be smart but not foxy.

For me Jakarta Is my playground. And tonight as I watched the sparkling light of the power transmission tower, I found that despite her ugly truth and weaknesses, I love Jakarta.