This annual tradition brings about heavy traffic, particularly around the larger cities of Indonesia. Jakarta, for example, witnesses the outflow of millions of people and turns into a more-or-less empty city. For about one week (5-11 August 2013), Indonesia's business life comes to a near complete standstill.

On Sunday (11/08), most Indonesians started to return to the bigger cities, resulting in some serious traffic congestions. On Monday morning (12/08), traffic peaked in Jakarta between 5 and 6 am. It is also interesting to note that the amount of people that returns to Jakarta is usually larger than the amount of people that left Indonesia's capital city last week as the people who return often bring along a family member that is looking for unskilled employment.

Bahas