Cockroaches in Taxis, Cheap beer and more musings

Tonights sunset was simply stunning, golden with a red orangey fireball setting fire to the sky over the west of the city through the haze. The air quality has been recently rather good and there has been a lot of clearer days over the past few weeks but I guess that will change with the slow but it has to arrive dry season.

So that was the week that was. So much traffic through the day at the moment so I am taking a slightly longer trip to work but its a great trip through part of the city and then into work. There are lots of things to see apart from the traffic and I do enjoy watching life as I ride through it.

My experiences in the elevators are still the same so nothing new there. But I must admit to be shocked by the lack of care and concern some Indonesians have for each other. I saw whilst riding an impatient rider move safety cones out of the way so he could get through, forget the danger that might cause the workmen digging up the road. The amazing thing is, I went passed him as he was in such a hurry he kept getting stuck behind everything. I must admit to shaking my head in disbelief a lot. All for the sake of 30 seconds or to be slightly ahead of the others.

Luckily at night its not so bad, just buses, bajais, cyclists with no lights and people sitting in the road!!!! Oh and security men helping cars into the traffic with no torch, light or beacon just a whistle. Great.

Stranger still is the need for riders to ride quicker than me and get pass me so that they can park their bikes up. I would not mind if they are in a hurry but they then dawdle along with out a care in the world about anything. 

I guess as I have been told already no one is really in a hurry only the foreigners. I found a great site which explains some of this. http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A17524965, I like this so much I will send it to my new teachers to read as a way to slowly introduce them to the country and to everyone else its an awesome site and full of the most interesting things. 

Families that congregate at tops and bottoms of escalators are even more annoying that 8 year olds walking in front of you playing a psp or something and not knowing what or where they are....

Got to stop it, it annoys me so........

Friday was a great. It was Good Friday. Not being religious, good means a day off. But for everyone else I am sure that they enjoyed and celebrated in their own style and way. 

I spent mine mall hopping. The plan was go to FX mall near Senayan to see a movie then meet some friends for an afternoon of  beer and relaxing. The movie we wanted was on at 11.30am and I never got there until 11 so coffee and a sandwich and forget the movie. I like FX mall as it is full or restaurants and seats outside and is a pretty cool place to hang about in and also the cinema is cheap and seats are always available.

From there we walked to Senayan City for something to do as we were killing time but it was not much fun really as I wanted a bookstore and the one there was not very good so we got a taxi to Semanngi and once in the bookstore found nothing so we had had lunch there and took another taxi to the marina.

Taxis are great here, Nissan, Toyotas both brand new, still smell new, but dont have rear seat belts....? I never understand that. I would actually wear it I think as sometimes I get a little concerned with the drivers. This one however had more passengers than is normal. Cockroaches. Those buggers get everywhere and its always nice to hear the gf scream as one runs up her legs. Mosquitos I can cope with, dodgy meters again I dont mind but I am often concerned about the other wildlife in taxis. The driver clearly dont know or care but still these little critters run amok in the back. The best thing about the taxis are the seats are pulled forward so there is always plenty of leg room.

We spent the afternoon in Marina Batavia where the beer is cheap and the fried rice is good and despite the lightning bolts hitting the sea and the heavy rain everyone had a great time and it was a nice way to spend the afternoon and early evening. 

I went to work hungover for a while on Saturday, gave in and went into the city. I met Yovita and we had lunch and then watched Clash of the Titans in 2d not 3d as that was being shown somewhere else. It was ok, rather bland and not really engaging, just action without meaning and that was a shame as there are some great actors in it. Still it passed the time. 

Getting home,much to my gf amusement I decided to de-ice the fridge as I had managed to leave the door open anyway so 5kg of ice later!!! and its all nice and clean and cold and not just iced. Not much on TV to watch so we ordered lots of food and sat and ate that was that.

Rain, thunder and golden sunsets and very shiny floors ended the week on Easter Sunday. I do like shiny floors in my apartment and so I always have them. Cleaning is something you can take pride in and I dont or want to have a maid to do it for me. Although I do hate washing up and the laundry is taken care of by someone else. The cleaning of my place remains with me....