Jakarta Days

Hooray its a holiday for me and I am away from work for the next few days. However its only going to work that stops, nothing else. I am still awake by 5.30am and staggering around the house by 6. The fact that I have run out of coffee does not help the staggering thats for sure.

So todays plan was to ride about the city on the bus stopping here and there for food and drinks and then by the afternoon find a quiet bar and wait for Yovita to finish work and then go home with her. However with her working in a hotel today and fact I dropped my motorcycle helmet causing the visor to come off has changed all that.

I still took the bus but not for a joyride but for purpose. I had to go to the bike helmet store in the whole of the city that has my size and that is in Citraland, in the west of the city. So I got to the Transjakarta bus stop and they have decided that this route now uses electronic payment only and so I had to buy a card for 40,000 to ride a bus for 3,500. Still the bus was new and I got a seat. 30 minutes later I was at the mall which was good and just a little slower than if I went on my bike.
The helmet store opens at 11 so I waited and had a coffee and then bought the only helmet there that fitted me. Another NHK helmet but I like them and whilst they are more expensive they do the job.

Thursday morning Traffic

Citra Land, West Jakarta

My new Helmet, with Jeremy for scale

So then I took the helmet all the way home as it was cumbersome to carry again on the bus and the bus once it decided to leave got me across the city in no time and after a quick walk I was home.

20 minutes later I was on an Ojek to another bus stop and this time to take a bus to the centre so I could have beer and good food near Sarinah in Ya udhas bistro. However, this bus route does not take electronic cards so I had to pay cash and then wait 30 minutes for the crappest bus in the fleet but again the lack of traffic in the bus lane allowed me to get to Sarinah in good time.

Rules of the bus including no touching Women

Whilst the door just about closes, the fact it closes to a gap is a wonder

Ya Udahs is always a good place to go and this time, pork sausages and beer were enjoyed before I moved on to Starbucks (where I am typing this ) and making use of the really slow and pretty poor free internet,  but it is working.

I found this notice in the toilets in the building where Starbucks is. The toilets however have no soap, hot water, hand dryer or towels so it seemed a bit over the top.

Ebola is taken very seriously here apparently

Can you even get to play with monkeys and baboons here?