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. 

A few days

I had one of those days on Friday thanks mainly to the fact that someone decided to steal my Tab and Phone when I was not looking leaving me me worried and anxious about everything and more paranoid than normal.

Watching this person wander up to my stuff, look about and then take it considering it was not even in plane sight was really depressing. I have wished him, his pets, his family and everyone else connected to him an uneasily death. Prolonged and painful. Ironically the tab is in a protective cover which is broken so it just slides out if you were not careful (where as I don't know anymore, nor care, just angry) and falls on the floor. It happened a couple of times to me so I hope it happened to the prick that stole it and broke. So that was the tab. My phone, whilst not my day to day phone was used for banking so I was more concerned about someone breaking into my online banking and then from there, stealing what money I had.  Both were less than 6 months old.

So after some frantic minutes of doom and gloom I changed all my passwords for Google, Facebook, Twitter, and others that I use including my work ones . Then set about to be generally pissed off all day. 

Keeping with the conspiracy theories, my work email has been hacked recently through my passwords (according to the IT guys at EF) and so that would mean someone who knew me doing this. So perhaps this is all part of the same conspiracy or just coincidence. 

Still no one took my money. 

The Google find my phone option doesn't work without a sim card so there was nothing I could to trace them or block them so I have given up. 

Saturday I made the trip to the Network 3 store to enquire about a new sim with the old number so I can continue banking online. That could be done. For reasons that escape me I have registered this number before and updated the sim so they had me on file. 10,000 rupiah later my online banking was back, which is a great thing.

At the end of the day I am poorer but wiser and more suspicious of everyone. As a good friend said on Sunday as we were on a train 'what did he look like?' To which I said 'Everyone on this train that is not a female, a child or us'. So an Indonesian male, brown skin, black hairs, dark eyes, with a rucksack wearing a jacket in 30 degree heat.

Bastards

Out and About

September has almost gone. The rains are setting in. The floods are here and on sunny days its really skin burning hot. So nothing new really.
I have been getting used to longer days again and travelling across the city early in the morning and well after 5 years, its not that hard anymore. There is still something nice about Jakarta at sunrise as the city is still waking up and the streets are becoming busier and busier and the sun is looming large as it rises from 6am.

Back to St.Ursula I go and finally I have left Dunking Doughnuts. Their running out of coffee routine is not a good routine. Now there is a Starbucks next door to the school. A brand shiny new one which opens at 7 but the doors are open earlier so nothing is ready but the staff are still happy and smiley. So that's good.

I get to sit there for a bit and relax (even further) and then take a short walk to the school.

Walking to school I go past some historically important parts of the city, namely Pasar Baroe, The Istiqlal Mosque, St Mary Cathedral and I am short stroll from this fellow

The Irian Barat Statue

Here are some pictures of the school I am lucky enough to be in

The pictures are from the Elementary school

Jeremy has been busy too and made a new friend who was visiting from Australia. So he was lucky to spend a few days talking incessantly in English to another little boy. Guided by his aunt I am sure their days were full of mischief

And here is one of us in a lightning storm last Sunday at 7.30 at night.

Haircuts

Jeremy has fine hair, it curls a little as it gets long and that's the same as my hair. Its also fair to say that his grows at a fast speed and he has had probably no more than 5 haircuts in total. Ever. So when the time came this weekend, it was to be another noisy affair.

Before

 Yovita had spent 4 days talking Jeremy round to say he wanted a haircut even though he doesn't like it and creates merry hell when has his haircut. But he eventually became excited and started to demand he went to have his haircut (a true sign he didn't mean it) and so on Sunday we went. Actually we went Wednesday, Saturday and twice on Sunday because every time we showed up the place was closed.  But eventually we went up the road and round the corner and the small open air barber shop was open.

Jeremy froze. Clinging to his mum, the barber proceeded to attempt to give him a number 3 all over (because he is not allowed a number 1, which is better) and the barber being a most patient man endured 20 minutes of head turning, screaming, wailing, being told to stop and tears to actually give Jeremy a pretty good haircut. The noise was enough to make the locals look up. Me smiling never helped.

After

And then it was my turn. Out of the chair went Jeremy, and in I went. This made Jeremy very happy and he then immediately stopped crying, screaming, complaining and wanted to know what I was doing and why. Also 'silly daddy having hair cut' was uttered and he was straight back to being happy carefree and calm about everything.

The result?  I ended up with a nice all over number 1, Jeremy a number 3 and the barber a 20,000 tip for 2 hair cuts that cost 30,000 in total. I did cut a few loose ends off him later that day when he was engrossed in Paw Patrol but he was fine with that.

Haircut 100 all round

Now we need to have him stop telling us he needs to go to hospital because he is sick and play on the slide. Because he isn't sick and and the slide is too small for him and we don't want to take to see a doctor. Bless.

Driving to Bandung

Last weekend I took the family to Bandung for the weekend just to break up the normal routine. We stayed in the same hotel as last time, the Ibis Styles Braga but choose the family room so it would be easier.
This time we used my works driver and car (the car is free, just pay fuel and the driver) and drove there.

Jakarta to Bandung is about 120km to the east of Jakarta and up in the mountains so it is cooler and more temperate. The city is smaller but equally full of traffic but it is nice and there are a lot more interesting things to do and see, should you want.

We left Jakarta at 10 and soon found the traffic stopped in Bekasi and then once we got past split to Cirebon the road opened up and we were able to go quite fast. The traffic overall was OK except on some major hills and where there were road works. It took around 4 hours to get there, which is the norm.

Once we hit the toll booth and paid the 52k we were immediately stuck in traffic and google maps had the pleasure in telling me that it would take over an hour to get to the hotel regardless which way we took. So instead of taking the most direct route, I folllowed Google maps advice and went off on a mystery tour. And it was a mystery tour because we ended up in the smallest of streets behind the airport and then way out of the city, only to find another road which took us there pretty much directly and it took less than an hour. Google maps did a good job all in all.

Volcano bike was still there

The room in the hotel was larger and had 4 beds. We were advised that if the room smelt of smoke, because this is a smoking room, then they would move us free of charge but we never found the room smelling of smoke, but there was a strange smell regardless. I guess the smell came from where the water was getting out of the shower and under the wooden flooring.

View from the 15th floor

The room unlike the last one was not as well maintained and so there were some problems with the AC switching off, lights not working and the floor. We complained that the free Wifi was not letting us access it. They give free wifi access to the 3 gadgets but if there are 3 already registered and you want to swap on for another, the system would not let you. We had 5. So that was annoying but not really the end of the world.

We ate somewhere in Braga and managed it fairly well with an active Jeremy. He had been good as gold all the way to Bandung in the car and he was still super active when were there. During the evening Yovita went out for food and so I stayed with Jeremy with the hope to get him to sleep but he didn't want to. And when he did he woke at 3am, 6 hours later.

He sat still for 15 seconds

3am in a hotel room is very boring. I was awake with him on and off until 6 when we all got up. We ate at 7 and then wandered into the car free area so Jeremy could run a bit and see the steam roller again near the hotel. But it started to rain so we went back to the hotel.

Out and about

After some discussions, we decided to leave Bandung and head back rather than stop off and do some shopping, so we left the hotel around 10.30. We got back to the house by 2 after stopping off for some coffee and also to buy some groceries on the way back. The actual trip home took 2.5 hours which was good.

All in all it was a quick trip there and back and I think next time we will take the train again.

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.