Blonde on a ojek bike in Jakarta

I had my first experience on a motor bike in Jakarta yesterday…….I think motor bikes are dangerous at the best of times, but here they are positively lethal!

I needed to be at a friend’s house at 7.30am in the morning, but the car needed to take the kids and GJ to school, so it was a taxi or a lift on a bike.

Taxis in peak hour are hard to get and then you have to deal with the traffic. In a car it would have taken up to forty minutes, on the bike it was about 8 minutes although the distance is around 2 km.

Traffic in Jakarta is not like traffic in western countries, it is incomprehensible how bad it is until you have experienced it.

It was change of shift time for our home security guards and I asked one of them to give me a lift; my security guard and I are now very well acquainted lol.

I was so nervous I went for full body contact with my arms tightly wrapped around his middle; luckily, my handbag was the right size to wedge between us on the seat if you know what I mean!

There was no spare helmet and the kids push bike helmets were too small so I went bare…..my blonde hair a shiny beacon to all.

Jalan Ampera was almost at a standstill with traffic so there were plenty of people to witness my inaugural ojek (motor bike taxi) ride. GJ wanted to know if I took photos, I had to admit that it took all of my attention to breathe and occasionally open my eyes!

I saw quite a few stunned and gobsmacked faces as I whizzed by and could even hear some of the comments lol.

But I would have to say that the scariest part of my day was yet to come….

After my ojek ride I met up with my friend where we had to cross JL Ampera to grab a taxi to JL Mangpang and then we had to walk across JL Mangpang Perapatan to meet up with our other friend!

A whopping great big road with bus lanes and homicidal manic bike, car, and bus drivers.

Luckily my buxom blonde bule body is quiet noticeable and it is obvious that if I were hit I would create a lot of damage not to mention a huge mess so I given a wide berth.

By 7.25 am I had zigzagged through traffic on the back of a motor bike, crossed one big road and one whopping big, main road on foot.

I nearly needed a stiff drink and a lie down.

Luckily I was off on a day trip to the factory outlet stores of Bandung and was revived with some retail therapy.

I can, without hesitation say that this will be my one and only ojek ride.

Ramadan traffic in Jakarta

I haven't written much about Jakarta in the last few weeks as it is very chaotic at the moment.

And I like happy good news!

But Friday night was so unbelievable chaotic that it became funny...we have a standing joke in the car that we need a water pistol...and every time a kamikaze bus zooms up the wrong side of the road or some one parks in the middle of the wrong side of the road we can open the window and give them a squirt of water.

A friend here has taken the suggestion one step further and wants foul, really FOUL smelling liquid in a water pistol to squirt all of the inconsiderate smokers. Most people smoke here, where ever they like, when ever they like.

Georgia chose Amigos as where she wanted to go for her birthday. Amigos is in Kemang, a suburb nearly always filled to capacity with traffic.

Friday night it was GRIDLOCKED, as in not moving AT ALL.

We must of left home at exactly the right time as it only took us 30 min to get there. If there was no traffic it would take probably 4 minutes LOL. Our friends live 5 minutes from us but on the other side of a main road and it took them an hour and a half.
At one stage once we cleared one major bottle neck we went to move forward but the left lane was full of cars on the wrong side.
We just started to laugh at this stage.
because of this traffic, the kids and I were at the restaurant for a good hour and a half before any one else arrived, so I did what most would do, ordered my self a frozen strawberry margarita and sprite for the kids and relaxed.

I mentioned last week about how the shopping centers and supermarkets were crowded. This week I had to go back to the supermarket......oh no I nearly lost my calm demeanor. It wasn't just the crowds, everything was out of kilter.
I don't mind admitting it because I once had exactly the same reaction in Australia at A.C. Woolworths (at least there I spoke to the manager, got service and felt good about bitching and moaning).

I was stuck in a position of not knowing what impulse to act out on....

• Start slamming my trolley into the display next to the registers.
• Fall to the floor kicking and screaming in a tantrum a two year old would be proud of.
• Burst in to tears and sob, and sob.
• Calmly wait, with a smile on my face and then complain bitterly to the world on my blog.

Guess which one I chose....LOL

Drivers licence in Jakarta

Edit:

I have never seen a worse photo of me..........
I scared our driver this morning when I offered to drive (I didn't LOL)

We got our drivers licences yesterday.......

We will receive them on Monday, so then I can officially drive.....if I am game.

The company organised it for GJ and booked me in as well as they thought that I should have one for emergencies . I think it will cost me about $100.

Thankfully they have an agent to expedite the process as I reckon it would be an all day process here even if you were fluent in the language.

On a side note, it was my first experience of being an ignored female!(this is not an Indonesian thing- women are generally well respected here, I think it was just this particular police man) When we got there an officer was most insistent on helping and pulled GJ through to a back office to check all his paperwork, I was absolutely, totally ignored; not even looked at!

At the huge complex where all licences are done in Jakarta there was crowds of people, but almost no other Westerners. We gathered a small group of observers when we had our photos and fingerprints done.


So where would I drive to....

• I could drive to Pondok Indah Mall with no trouble, but I could get lost on the way home (you exit the car park on a different side and can't do a u-turn) stop laughing at me!!!!!
  
• JL Benda for a quick trip to the salon
• Kemang Hero supermarket and/or Amigos
• SOS doctor surgery.

There is not many other places I would be game to drive to. This is so different for me, I drove all over Brisbane with out even thinking of it.

GJ is game to drive; it will take nerves of steel !!!!!

Our Bajaj Adventure

Bajaj, a three wheel vehicle for hire.

The girls and I shared one bajaj. It was like a hot, smelly, bumpy roller coaster ride.

Ben and GJ's bajaj overtook us , this is them in front.
Ben's happy face peering out, GJ said that he had a huge smile on his face for the whole trip home

Our greedy drivers....

We had a little adventure last night on our way home from Amigos.
We decided catch a Bajaj home instead of a taxi. Something we had wanted to do for a while…BUT were not always game enough.
We negotiated the price before we got in as this is VERY IMPORTANT!!!! 2000RP per Bajaj
We were having a great time putt-putting and weaving through Kemang (thank goodness we don’t live in this grid-locked traffic-snarled suburb) and then hit the home stretch.
We stopped at the start of our street; I don’t know why they wouldn’t take us all the way and then the fun and games started………….
The two drivers started to demand ridiculous amounts of money which we refused to pay, we had already given them 5000rp each as way of a tip but they wanted more. As we argued in the street all the neighbor’s guards came out and joined in the fray. I went over to our RT (really hard to describe this role- the RT, pronounced “aiRtay” is an elected district office who manages the locality like a council as well as organizing security
“In many ways, Jakarta is still just a collection of villages, with neighborhoods providing the basic services such as garbage collection and security. This is organized by the Rukun Tetangga (RT Neighborhood Head), who is an unpaid, elected official and carries out a number of duties. A neighborhood usually consist of around 20 households, and the RT is the head of this neighborhood watch system, carrying out registration for residents and visitors, and keeping records of births, deaths and marriages for the government. A group of RT neighborhood forms a Rukun Warga (RW), which is the next level below kelurahan.” )

Unfortunately our RT doesn’t speak much English and our Bahasa Indonesian is still not up to sentences.
Now in hindsight it must have looked pretty funny the five of us and all these guards haggling over a few dollars. The two Bajaj drivers wanted more money but wouldn’t come close as there were so many guards around. In the end we gave them 8000RP each. We know we paid too much; an air-conditioned taxi would have only cost us about 10 000rp.
We then had to walk the rest of the way home……all of 200m

GJ thinks that this post should be titled "Bajaj Grand Prix Through Kemang" as the lead swapped several times. I think there was a race on to see which Bajaj would make it home first!!!!

Air pollution in Jakarta

This is what the streets look like some mornings. This is not the window tinting or a flash reflection on the window, this is just traffic pollution............

Weekend scenery in Jakarta

Some things we saw this weekend.............................................

click on photos to see larger views with captions

We got stuck in a traffic jam yesterday afternoon. As we don't need to drive we can spend the time enjoying the sights. There is ALWAYS something interesting going on out side.

We had a quick trip to Pondok Indah mall in the morning for haircuts. We finally got around to buying a vase so we can start to experience the flowers of Indonesia. GJ and I bought some flowers for the hostess of a dinner party we went to last night, as well as buying some for the new vase. I realised that GJ had no idea of the flowers I liked. There is the most magnificent collection of tropical blooms, and GJ thought that I would prefer gerberas or crysthanthums.............Now he knows-ginger, bird of paradise, unusual exotic foliage.

Note I will take photos of the flower sellers next week to show the dazzling array

In Queensland the flowers were very expensive, over $20 for a small basic bunch from the supermarket that would last 2-3 days. This bunch of sweetly smelling tuberose's cost $2. (14000RP).

Jakarta daily traffic

I am almost too tired to type this post now....
I have spent all day, well lots of small spurts of time, trying to do this new display.
I copied the instructions off a favourite site "Do they have salsa in China" for how to do this photo montage. I got stumped at the print screen step. I spent ages down loading Picasa and it turned out that I didn't need it.
Hopefully if you click on the photo it will take you to Flickr where you can view the photos with captions.

I have been collecting this group of photos for a few week, I hope you get a glimpse of the fascinating scenes we see everyday.

Things you see on the drive to the office.

These were Tans favourite. They are a three wheeled taxi called a bajaj. A baja is a cross between a motor bike and a lawn mower. The noise they make is so distinctive as is the huge clouds of pollution that they emit. I don't know when I will be game to have a ride as they are so rickety, dirty and unstable.
This is the reclining Brass Buddha that Tan picked up at the Antique market.
This is one of the many beautiful flower sellers that are in most suburbs.

View of peak hour traffic on the way to the office.

As soon as GJ sat at his desk he forgot that we were there.....


This is the area that the company provides for the drivers, It is a bit hard to see, but there is a large TV mounted in this shelter for the drivers.


Arjuna Wiwaha statue, SW of Merdeka Square


We thought this was a death defying stunt, a traffic policeman standing on a box in the middle of streaming traffic

One of the many road side vendors. Tan wound down her window to take a photo and created a stampede of people thinking that she was a customer....

Polluted water way at antique market.
This monkey and dog live in a very narrow street 5 minutes from GJ's office.
Across the road lives this cow and a goat is next door.....

Statue of Dirgantara (Father of the Heavens Monument)

Adele, I tried to email you but it bounced back, my email address is on the profile page of this blog.

(LJ Hooker, the one near coles, If there is a problem please let me know)

Motor bikes in Jakarta

Here are some snaps of a typical morning on the way to school.

I took these shots to show how the motor bikes ride on the footpath if the road is clogged.

I am spending all my free time at the new house cleaning. I think my house keeper is waiting for me to finish before she starts work for us. The house has been "Brand New" for about 12 months. Although it has never been lived in it still has a DEEP, DEEP layer of dirt covering everything. Even after a through vacuum it still turns to mud when I mop.
The bad news is that I won't be finished in time........Our furniture starts to arrive tomorrow....

This is the fantastic news which cancels out the bad news!

The first load comes at about 2pm. They company can not get a truck with a 40ft container into our suburb, so it will be delivered in small truck lots.
We might be able to spend Friday night there!


I added the pictures so nobody notices how slack I have been with my blog this last week. LOL
I am feeling a little better. The antibiotics are doing a good job at killing off the bad bacteria that have cause me so much grief.
I had a very low key birthday, no fun to turn 32.5 years old (LOL, LOL, LOL)when you are sick. But boy oh boy did I get some lovely pressies........To be continued.