April 4th: Rest Day in West Jakarta
Day 173
We were amazed to find that there was the slum along a river right behind our hotel this morning. A river filled with so much garbage we couldn’t imagine that anyone would live on it. This would also explain why our hotel was so cheap compared to the rest of Jakarta. We went out to explore and were astounded at the amount of garbage either along the river bank and in the river. The river had a sickly grey color about it and the smell is overwhelming.
Had we done any research we would have learned that Java has some of the most polluted water systems in the world. Only 2% of the population have access to sewerage disposal system. Household waste, human waste and chemicals from factories are all dumped directly into the river which the majority of people depend on for bathing, washing clothes and drinking. I could give you a long list of facts, but if you want to know more check it out here. Needless to say we were horrified.
Walking about in the market area, we found a number of warungs, or family run businesses selling food. We have found that since local restaurants rely on repeat business they are more sanitary than restaurants in touristy locations and less likely to make you sick. When we arrived we gorged ourselves on multiple dishes of eggs, fish, liver and vegetables served over rice. We returned to the same one three more times and enjoyed this new hearty cuisine.
Topi was going into the city center and then catching a train to Yogyakarta the following day. We made tentative plans to meet again if we were in Bali, wished Topi well and saw him off. When Topi arrived in Jakarta he wrote to warn us that the traffic was horrendous. We braced ourselves mentally by telling ourselves quaint lies and went to bed.
