Unlikely "holiday" destinations
Aficionados (if plural) of this blog may be expecting aspirational prose and attempts at global philosophy but then again, maybe not. However, when the first destination is most definitely not a holiday haven, please don't expect great flights of fancy: Jakarta is definitely not a place to get away from it all: rather the contrary. And sitting as I am in the subterranean zone of a multi-tower apartment block complex with little light but plenty of noise from the small but intrusive television on the wall.
If I was feeling creative, I might expatiate on the theme of "Rain dries up taxi flow" and recount our experiences of how a bit of a downpour turns this already dysfunctional city into one continuous jam. The doorman at Block 14 said "taxis finished". It had started to rain heavily and no taxi was going to come out for a booking when fares were to be found begging on every corner. Even the ones that dropped off at the flats were picking and choosing their destinations and a request for "Blok M" only elicited a four-finger gesture, which I took to mean 4xmeter amount but apparently was simply "minimum 40,000" (less than 3 pounds in fact but he was gone already). We abandoned waiting for an amenable driver and headed out to the main road. It was Friday (Moslem Sunday, of course), still raining and the road was solid with clogged traffic. None of the taxis had their lights lit (plying for hire) so if we were to make it to Jackie's dentist appointment, there was only one option: motorbike taxis. They were asking 50,000 each - 3.30 in sterling - but they at least would get us there in time. It was hardly going to break the bank, but we were perhaps at risk of breaking a leg as the riders wove expertly round cars, over pavements, among other riders, dashed into gaps, detoured through forecourts, sliding though the smallest of gaps - fun but scary too, at least for this retiree four-wheel preferer. Through the whole of the 1/2 hour trip we saw only one taxi for hire. The fact that taxis are so cheap (to us) is fine in the good weather but means that in the rain many people feel they can afford one. They must pray for rain - and the motorcycle taxis doubly so.
We're staying 23 floors up in the air, with a fine view of the skyscrapers - and the pollution: worse than anything I remember from Bangkok. It has the convenience of being a home but it's not ours, so it has the complexities of being on someone else's turf - a bit claustrophobic and inhibited. Still, we're getting out of town tomorrow (6th December), perhaps in the direction of Krakatau. Hopefully it will be a relief!
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