Catherine Mohr builds green

Next travel stop: Indonesia's slums | ABS-CBN News | Latest Philippine Headlines, Breaking News, Video, Analysis, Features JAKARTA - Gridlocked traffic, filthy rivers, air that tastes of diesel -- there is much that keeps Indonesia's capital Jakarta off the global tourist map. But for broke filmmaker Ronny Poluan, there is plenty of interest amid the squalor of a city of up to 12 million people, where nearly half the population lives in slums jammed between shopping malls and luxury homes. Poluan's "Jakarta Hidden Tours," running more or less regularly since 2008, take small paying groups of foreigners to the city's warrens, river banks and rail lines to meet those whom he calls "the real people". Wizened 53-year-old Sana is one of them. Friday to Sunday, Sana said, the rows of shacks that spread off into the horizon are home. "If we don't hurry they take our things," she said. It may not be pleasant to look at, but Poluan argues the tour is important for spreading understanding. "After I gave one of the tours somebody mentioned these other tours, so I Googled and found out about Mumbai, the favelas, Soweto.

Jakarta Hidden Tours