The scene above is of a street corner we pass every day on the way to work. The streets are jammed with motorcycles, buses, cars and little three-wheel taxis, not to mention food carts and other obstacles. Jakarta's crowded. 
But so is the entire island of Java. You would think getting a few hours outside the city would give you some respite from the traffic and the masses. But no. Java is the most crowded island in the world (other than places like Manhattan island, Hong Kong, etc.). There are more than 124 million people living here. It is more than three and a half times as crowded as Great Britain. Java is around the same size as the state of New York, but more than six and a half times as many people live here. The population density is more than 30 times that of the U.S. You get the point.
This really struck me when we went on a road trip to go surfing not too long ago. We drove for four hours, and the highway was lined with small shops and full of people for the entire drive. There was no break where we just saw countryside. Seeing Java, you see a lot of what makes Indonesia the country it is. Half the population lives here, so this really represents the reality of so many Indonesians. But we've found in our two years here, you really have to get further away to see all Indonesia has to offer.
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