More talk of traffic

This city hosted the 60th Asian-African Conference this week. Every few years since 1955 this happens. A bunch of dignitaries from various countries meet.  The first conference was in Bandung and since this is the 6oth, it was held in this city and Bandung.

What I didn't know was the impact this conference would have on traffic here. They completely closed roads several times a day to ensure the dignitaries could move about between their hotels and the main venue. I should also mention the police and military helicopters buzzed the building all day long one day. B's office had to close early for 2 days to give people a chance to get out. They didn't close the first day and it took some people 5 hours to get home.  Did I mention the main venue was located between our apartment and B's office? So, getting around was made much more difficult than usual. The tenant relations manager for our building had to walk 5km to even get here Wednesday. The buses weren't running. This morning it took B over an hour to get to work (he's done it in 8 minutes at that hour!). Here is a simple "stuck in traffic" picture.

I tried to capture just a little bit of the flavor of driving in this city in a few short videos. Sorry about the bumpiness of the video. It was a bumpy street. (You may not be able to view these on hand held devices.) Note this is of course when traffic was moving. Also, if you look carefully, you will see MANY of the oncoming scooters are actually in our lane!

Tonight B left the office early but the roads were once again shut down. The major toll road was completely closed for example. It was very frustrating but once he got very close to the building ( over an hour after leaving the office) and he could safely get out, he finally hopped out of the car and walked the short distance to the apartment. The driver could also make a turn and head back to the office so it worked out for both of them. Anyway, here is a shot of the roads when they are blocked so traffic cannot enter:

The street running from the bottom of the photo to the top is the access road away from the apartment towards a main thoroughfare. It's sort of a T. Notice there are practically no cars on the top of the T . Compare this to the next photo shot when we have lalu-lintas ( regular traffic, not traffic jams known here as macet):

And here it is in the daytime: