Erwida Maulia – Tired faces and lackluster expressions: a sidewalk on Jalan Gatot Subroto, Central Jakarta, on Wednesday afternoon. It was the first day of the fasting month, and less than an hour before sunset, when Muslims are supposed to break their fast.

Yet the prospect seemed gloomy for those office workers in Jakarta trying to reach their homes by iftar – fast-breaking time – as many more Muslims sought to gather with their families than usual.

Traffic jams did not ease, although many offices reportedly reduce or otherwise adapt working hours during the fasting month. And public buses were packed as usual.

"Traffic can be more awful [in Ramadan] than in regular months because many people seek to break their fast at home; so it could be a total gridlock already at 4:30 p.m.," said Erdian Fahmarini, 46, a senior account manager with Dharma Muda Pratama, an oil industry equipment supplier.

Eridan commutes every day between her office in Kuningan, South Jakarta, and her house in Cipinang, East Jakarta.

"If I get a taxi [and get stuck in traffic], I sometimes break my fast with a candy or mineral water. If I don't get any taxi and it's already near sunset, I have no other choice but to break my fast at Pasar Festival," Erdian said on Thursday, referring to a shopping center near her office.

The same goes for Eny Wulandari, 29, a writer with the Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI), who travels every day between her office in East Jakarta and the room she rents in Palmerah, West Jakarta.

"Yesterday I dropped by at Lotte Mart in Ratu Plaza [a shopping mall in Central Jakarta] to break my fast and do the maghrib [evening] prayer," she said. "After that I continued my trip home," added Eny, who commonly travels for two hours or more to get home from office.

Sandy, 28, said that last year she had to drop by at one mall or another almost every day because it was practically impossible for her to reach her house in Tangerang, on the western outskirts of Jakarta, from her South Jakarta office by iftar time.

"It may take more than three hours for me to get home," said Sandy, as she preferred to be identified. "The heat and the traffic have become increasingly challenging."

Now she lives with a relative in South Jakarta, closer to her office, and hopes it will help her perform Ramadan rituals better, including the recommended evening prayers called tarawih and Koran recitation.

"If I still had to go back and forth from Jakarta to Tangerang every day, that's just..." Sandy did not end her sentence, shuddering instead.

Indeed, the omnipresent Jakarta malls often end up being the only sanctuary for many Muslims working in the capital. As a consequence, the fasting period for many lasts longer than 13.5 hours (from around 4:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.), especially if traffic is bad.

Others consider themselves lucky enough to be trapped in traffic near a mosque, with many mosques in Jakarta offering free iftar refreshments, so they leave the traffic for the mosque before resuming their trip home.

Alfian, 34, however, decided that staying longer at his Central Jakarta office was the best solution for him. There happen to be many places to eat around his office and there is a mosque behind his office tower where he can perform the tarawih prayers. Rather than wasting time in traffic, for Alfian it's better to stay put.

"The traffic is a challenge. I'd rather stay longer [in my office] before I go home," said Alfian, who works with a state agency. He added, though, that it made him stay up later at night, which created another problem.

"Now it's a challenge to wake up for predawn meals. I didn't have [breakfast] on the first [Ramadan] day because I failed to wake up." Predawn meals are highly recommended before beginning the daily fast.

As most practicing Muslims wouldn't, Erdian, Eny, Sandy and Alfian said they don't even think about breaking their fast before the iftar time, despite all the challenges they face living in a crowded city like Jakarta. "I may not perform the tarawih prayers every night, let alone with others in a mosque. But I don't miss the daily fast; that's my target," Sandy said.