Saturday 22 October 2016

Trains

Last weekend I went to Bogor. I went with a good friend out here, Peter and for safety and comfort reasons, we went by train.  Trains are pretty good in Jakarta and the more you use them, the more you will realise how easy they are.


So we met up at Palmerah Railway station near Senayan and then purchased the railway card and fare to Bogor (16,000 rupiah for card and one way), asked which platform and got on a train. Not using trains very often we got to the next station of Tanah Abang and sat on it while everyone got off.  Still thinking it would continue onward, we were amused it went back to Palemerah where we started so we asked for the next train to Bogor, and then jumped on that one when it arrived. All this took about 20 minutes as trains are very frequent.





Signs inside the train and a very clear map of the network over each door

The advice mainly given is that every train stops at Manggerai, a major station in Jakarta and then you need to catch the Bogor train from there. However, all trains go through this station Bogor, so that is not necessary. So we stayed one right train and about an hour later we were in Bogor.

The last time I was there, it was a terminus and nothing more. Since however, it has been revamped and made larger. Getting in and out is a struggle but other than that it is pretty good.


These are from 2010



These are 2016 and really dont show the changes! but they are there...

In Bogor, we walked up to the Botannical gardens for wander, again this place too has been tidied up and made better. The fee is now 15,000 for Indonesian and 23,000 for everyone else.  Inside the gardens we headed to the Dutch cemetery and then to the Zoological museum for the stuffed animals, faded butterfly collection and the blue whale skeleton. After a while and a few more trees, we ended up in a cafe for lunch before getting back to the station to catch the next train back to the city.


Inside Bogor Gardens

Lunch time view

The station as normal was full as there not enough (probably never will enough) ticket machines. The ticket cost 6000 because we had already purchased the card and so we got on a train back to the city. Each train from Bogor goes to a different part of the city, so it really does not matter to start with because all trains stop at Manggerai. So we got out there, then boarded another to Tanah Abang and then another for Palmerah.

Lots of trains and a good chance to catch up. Trains are cheap and easy to use. They can be be full and I would not want to use one for work but for a quick trip out and about it was good. 

No comments: