Friday 26 June 2015

Car Free Sunday

For the last few weeks I have been waking up early on a Sunday to walk about the car free streets of Jakarta. Why? Mainly because it gets me out of the house, also it lets Jeremy have a good walk and see something different and also Yovita can go running, so everyone is happy.



Car free day is the same as it as been in the city for a few years now. Most of Jl.Sudirman or Sudirman street is closed to all traffic except the Transjakarta buses and is open to people only between 6 and 11 every Sunday morning, unless the government deems otherwise. In the busier parts of the long road there are lots of things to see and lots of things going on, elsewhere its just an empty street.
Sudirman is the main road from the south to the center of the city (assuming the Monas is the center) and through the week choked full of cars and buses and motorbikes which now that the MRT is being built under it as well, it has lost a lot of road space to the construction sites making it even more hard work to travel down.



We normally start at the big roundabout outside Grand Indonesia mall and Yovita runs off and I walk about with Jeremy ignoring the stares and weirdos and the nonsense around me and then we end up in McDonalds for Coffee and breakfast before walking all the way down the road to Semanggi, which is about 3km.






Last week we went to the Monas first so that Jeremy could run about on the grass and look at the kites and then from there, breakfast at McDonalds, 2 km away. Jeremy walks or runs a lot of the way as he is very excited to be able to do this. The buses and police vehicles and construction machinery keeps him busy and he seems happy enough.





Jeremy exploring

Because its fasting season, the car free day was not very busy at all with very few people wandering and of course no one selling food or drinks as all the muslims are fasting so the walk was even more peaceful. I hope its like that again this week.





The other good thing about the early start is that by 9 - 9.30am we have finished and are off for the grocery shop before the supermarkets fill up  which is very good. The sun is also not at its hottest and while its not exactly cold, walking in slightly cooler weather is so much nicer.

Having a human alarm clock (Jeremy) that wakes me up and then gets me up by 6am every morning, making some good of my time on a Sunday is quite pro active and energetic for me and may be in a few more weeks I will say I actually like it. 

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