Getting around Jakarta

Here is a list of ways to travel across the city. I have left out Cars for the obvious reason and walking.
Helicopters and Sports cars are also omitted. But its still fairly comprehensive.

You can cycle if you are strong enough.

 Delman are popular in tourist sites but they are often seen slowing traffic even further as they cantor across the city.

These things are called Bemos and can be found despite being banned and being over 40 years old. 

Bajajs are common in Asia. The orange one is disappearing and being replaced with Gas powered Blue ones. They are found in most areas of the city 

Motorbike taxis start with local men riding people around the area for not much money.

Then Go Jek and Grab bikes and Apps came along and so everyone now has a green helmet and you pay a fixed price. Its the quickest way around the city.

Taxis are everywhere. Blue Bird and Express are the most popular and safe. Silver Bird are Blue Birds premium ride but Express and White horse also have premium taxis.

These mini buses serve routes that bigger buses don't and like all buses stop where ever and when ever they like.

I have never been on either type of bus but they are still in vast numbers even though they are  being replaced. The Metro Minis (red and blue) are more dangerous than the Kopaja (green) but only just.

Transjakarta are easy to use and new and clean but rattle like all other buses

These types of bus go through the city dropping people off and I don't like them as they produce black smoke and brake suddenly

Buses like this go across the city and far and wide but I wouldn't really want to go on one. The destination is always on the back and front of the bus

These buses are OK and go from Jakarta to many places, but there are lots of different companies which do the same. 

This Shuttle bus and many like it run to and from Bandung all the time

This bus runs to and from the Airport.

Trains come in 2 main types. The first are commuter trains which go across the whole city and out to the surrounding cities of Depok, Tangerang, Bekasi and Bogor

This type of train heads further a field heading west Merak and east to Cirebon, Bandung and all stops to the East coast

The only way to get to the thousand islands is by ferry:

Or if it rains.....

* Photos from various sources online and I have borrowed them to help explain how we all get about in the city. If I am needed to removed some, I will. 

Development

Jeremy is entering the so called age of the 'terrible three'.  The age where  toddlers become self aware or more self aware and like Skynet in terminator decide to take over the world wreaking destruction on everything around it.  Or so I am led to believe.

Self Aware..... 

Jeremy is 3. He is tall but being dad, I don't how tall but he is at least 20kg so he is big. He is strong, he is fast, he is ingenious, he is creative, he repeats language, he is learning the alphabet, he is almost ready to be toilet trained, he can tell stories, he can make Lego phones and hold conversations on them, he can build anything you ask with Lego, he knows songs, he can watch TV upside down and he can sleep for 12 hours straight.

He can also run up stairs in silent mode, throw things that break, climb up where I didn't know you could climb, open things that don't need opening and break things and feel sad because of it being broken however, he also makes me smile far more than he makes me annoyed.

Jeremy has a great level of spoken English and awareness of words. He can count to 10 if pushed but cannot always count to 4 correctly. His level of reading is very limited as I have not started him learning the alphabet yet and he likes to scribble a lot. His Indonesian language skills I really don't know as I never hear it but he can speak Indonesian, he certainly knows Indonesian and reacts to it.

Due to my working hours I never get to see him with other children but I am told he interacts well with other children but often in English as he doesn't know or understand that other children speak Indonesian. I hope this will change. I would love him to play with more children but there is no where in the area to play and we don't know anyone personally with children the same age so it is difficult.

Saying that though, he is more than happy at home and we take him places as often as we can and during the day he goes to gran and sometimes goes somewhere with her so he is experiencing many things, people and places all of which will help shape him and develop his understanding.

Happy playing, but how expensive is  Duplo?!

Play is fun but he is still in destructive mode with many things. Lego, Thomas and Hot wheels dominate but he will play happily with anything else and likes to play with the balls and rackets we have, but he has no eye hand coordination yet so its not much use.  His dependency on his tab is waning at the moment and he will happily sit and watch Nickelodean JR for quite some time and that is refreshing and nice to see.

Watching TV

I am teaching him to clean my bike, which currently involves him spraying water everywhere, sitting in the bucket and then adding too much soap and cleaning the same spot on the bike but he likes it and it will in time teach him something useful.

On the hunt for a bus

His current demands are to ride trains, go find buses (happily not Pokemon and long may that last) and he constantly asks 'whats going on' and 'are you happy' which is nice and all I need to do now is have him answer his own questions.

Listen to his speaking, its amazing

Terrible threes? No I don't see that. His tantrums, yelling and being stubborn are part of childhood and with support and kindness and lots of energy expelled by mum and dad and our house keeper and everyone else that looks after him, he is a happy go lucky, super inquisitive little boy who wants and demands fun, attention, time, hugs, love and toys.

A wet dry season

Jakarta currently is currently suffering more problems than normal and this is being made slightly more worse by the ongoing daily or every other day rain storms and showers across the city. It being the dry season, the amount of rain falling currently makes you wonder if there will actually be a period of time where it will not rain. Last year I think there was at least a couple of months where the rain did stop and everything started to dry out completely until the rainy season began again in November. This year especially this month there has been a lot of storms and heavy showers resulting in more queues, longer rides home and more mud and muck to get through.

Dry season weather seems to be slightly less dry than normal (http://www.thejakartapost.com/)

There has been a fair amount of localised flooding causing the city to grind to halt and its not a happy time getting to and from work.

With the closure of parts of the main roads in the city due to new roads being built over existing ones the density of traffic has become even worse. The governor of Jakarta has also closed all bus lanes to anything but buses, and built concrete barriers along side them all to prevent access meaning that from 3 possible lanes of traffic there are now only 2 available. This and sheer volume of traffic has increased my journey to work by 20 minutes. From tomorrow the city is introducing a new traffic system for odd/even traffic plate numbers in the hope that it will reduce cars and traffic and put people on buses, whilst acknowledging that the traffic will be chaotic else where in the city because drivers will still need to get places. Also there could be far more bikes on the road as the rules only apply to cars and vans and things.

Bus lane full of TransJakarta buses (http://thecityfix.com/)

I have given up taking the easiest and quickest route to work as it takes far too long so I am pretty much taking the same route I take on the way home and it is taking me longer now to get to work than it does to come home which is a change in my journey times. It now takes about 50 minutes to go 18 Km to work and 40 minutes to go home. Considering I am on a bike, the journey by car increases in time to get home by an hour but the same time roughly to get to work because the toll way out of the city is normally pretty empty.

Riding in this is not annoying at all, ever....

I doubt very much the new traffic policies will change things much because the traffic problems will shift as will the times people get into and out of the city to avoid the rules. I am sure once the fines begin then there will some slight improvement and in 2018 once all the building work is complete, maybe it will feel easier to get around the city.

All I know is that on my days  off, heading west or north is not really a fun thing to do and so choosing alternative places to go becomes more of a challenge.

My Journey in April which has a lot of straight roads and was quite quick

My  journey now with lots of roads and changes in direction to get to and from work

A week off work

Fasting month ended last Tuesday so that meant I had a week off work. The holiday started on Saturday after work and the first enjoyable event was coming home and discovering that we had no power and the meter would not reset. This meant calling the electricity company (PLN) and waiting for them to arrive. We did this after we went shopping.

On the Monday of the week before the holiday, my Tab Note 10.1 decided to sleep forever. No amount of charging or pressing on or off or anything would bring it back to life. My heavyweight tab I decided, had finished. It was put back in its box. Google was told to delete everything when or if is ever is repowered up and I took my old Tab to work for the week. The plan was to take the note to a service center but that felt like too much hard work and maybe one day I will if I am ever passing one. However on Saturday we had planned to go shopping and there was a Samsung Sale and so I bought yet another tab for less than 4 million.I now have a shiny new Tab A 8.0. 

My new tab

So feeling happy with that and after buying a few bits and pieces it was time to get PLN round for the electricity. 2 men arrived 30 minutes after the call, on a bike and they seemed to be a little rushed as it was close to break fasting but after 3 minutes they had worked out we needed a new trip switch so that was installed. The power back on. Tip given and off they went and the lights were back on.

Monday was spent at home with Jeremy while Yovita had to work but she clearly wasn't that busy because by 4pm we had discussed the idea of going somewhere for a few days to break up the week. We had already booked a night at the Mulia for the weekend and so we decided to stay, yet again, at Batavia Apartments because it was a good price, they are comfortable and the pool and facilities are pretty good for children.

Playing at the pool

We moved in on Tuesday after some shopping for the bits we needed and took Jeremy swimming which he was so happy about. For dinner we had Holy Cow steak and it was quite possibly the worst bit of beef I have had for a long long time but everything else good. As the fasting ended on Tuesday we were in an idea place to see the fireworks being let off across the city and this went on all night as did the prayers from the Mosques. The final break fast is always a very happy event. This event is made happier in Jakarta because so many people leave to celebrate it with family from their home towns so the city is quieter.

Another view

Jeremy inspecting the room

Great views at night

The pool

Wednesday was more swimming and relaxing. I took a gojek to Citywalk for pizzas and coffee and after an annoying confrontation with a taxi driver who would not take me back to the Apartment for less than 50k or use the meter, I jumped on the back of a motorbike and paid 20 instead.

Thursday was spent washing and cleaning and getting ready for moving into the Mulia on Friday.

Friday we did just that. We were even allowed to check in at 1pm instead of 3. So we dumped the bags, went to the mall. Got food and beer and then went back to luxury. Jeremy spent a long time splashing in the bath having lots of fun before crashing out leaving us to enjoy the evening, room service and the peace and quiet.

The view from the room at the Mulia

Jeremy looking at things

Jeremy could not climb onto the bed as it was so high

The corridor outside the room

Sadly, all things come to an end and so the weekend was spent as normal; cleaning, shopping and welcoming back the noise as people came back to their homes in Jakarta.

It was a great week off and lots of fun had by all and a chance to relax and not spend too much cash or get too hot.

Eid Mubarak 2016

Its that time again for the annual exodus from Jakarta to where ever by the good people of Jakarta. The end of the fasting season is approaching and Eid Mubarak is only a few days away. What this means is that many people will travel home to celebrate the end of fasting with their families from their home town.
In reality, according to the press 86% of all people in Jakarta are planning to leave the city over the holiday period. Thats about 8 million people. If they did, the city will be eerily quiet and just great. Sadly more come back than leave. But for 5 or so days, the place has a completely different feel to it and it is nicer.
Naturally taxis are more limited, as is food and some other services but if you don't worry about that stuff then Jakarta is the place to be.
Its is the place to be for me and the family, because of work commitments and the fact I don't like travel in overly busy places, we are staying home to enjoy the silence. There is, I am sure a hotel stay in the coming week. But, it is a week off work and a week of reduced noise and chaos.

So for you people that complain about weekend or holiday traffic, come here and enjoy the spectacle of people going home

Take a ferry

Enjoy the sunrise

Sit in the traffic

Ride in the traffic

Enjoy views of the countryside

Pack the bike on the bike rack

So happy Eid Mubarak to everyone celebrating it far and wide and for everyone else, enjoy the holiday.

* I have taken the liberty of taking photos from: industri.bisnis.com, 7uplagi.com, detik.com, and  TMC Polda Metro Jaya  on Twitter so thank you for that.

How old am I?

I just had my birthday, which for most of the day had me convinced I was 45 (I am not the best at math) but actually I am only 44. Still, there was cake and beer and silence and time off from work so the age became less important.
I have had some time off recently and have more coming next week and then a week off in July for the Idul Fitry Muslim holiday so that's good. This means I can spend more time with Jeremy and the family and do stuff I need to do and also do nothing, which I need to do more.
So on my birthday, Jeremy was sent off to grans as normal and then I went off out for a haircut and some random shopping and what with it being Ramadhan the malls were empty, the streets still full of traffic but that was OK.
I then spent the afternoon and evening with family eating cake and drinking beer and it was a quiet day.

I took Jeremy to work on the Saturday because he hadn't been for a while and once he remembered where he was he was off exploring and climbing up and down the stairs. He spent time with the giant Interactive whiteboard and played some of the learning games we have but he was far too restless to do anything else and so carried on running about. Once home, he passed out for a few hours, probably due to the amount excitement and energy produced through the morning. This meant he slept fairly early but at 3.30 am we were up and sat of the sofa because for reasons unknown he was wide awake and full of life. He managed to be like that until gone 1 pm when after shopping he fell asleep in the taxi and then slept for 2 hours in the afternoon.

Messing around

Climbing stairs at work

It was also haircut day for Jeremy. He is not a fan of this and although he kind of liked Kiddie cuts and did not scream the place down, he was not that happy there. The last time we had his haircut round the corner from the house (15,000 idr vs 100,000 at Kiddiecuts) he screamed and stressed everyone one out so we left. This time we never left. Jeremy had already said no to a haircut prior to us taking him but he did need it so we once the queue has gone it was his turn. With both me and Yovita holding him still and going deaf in the process due to his wailing and protesting, he had his hair cut. It was even almost finished and I am sure the barber was happy with that. We paid him twice as much as normal for his efforts which hopefully showed we knew it was hard for him. Strangely enough with young children once whatever they don't like stops, they stop and we had him singing and waving goodbye to the barber almost immediately. We stopped off at Indomaret for ice cream and a bubble maker to make him happier and went home.

New Hair

Both of us have 'new hair'

Jeremy now has less hair and wont need to go back for a few months. He did sleep well again Sunday night, I guess the stress made him tired but his happiness never dipped for long.

The next challenge will the booster vaccination in July he needs. I will bring earplugs for that!