Modern Life

Day 286
I was up early, way early, 3:30 am early. I had scheduled an airport transfer in advance thru my hotel. When I went to the lobby the guy who was meant to drive me was asleep. I set my bag down heavily and that woke him up. Drivers in Indonesia are crazy. They speed, they weave manically and the amount of traffic is shocking. On a good day it's worse than rush hour during the rain in Manhattan. I was leaving just 2 hours before my plane was to take off. I had been assured that due to the lack of traffic at that time that I wouldn't have any problems. What they didn't mention was that I would have the only driver in Indonesia that actually drove beneath the speed limit. I was rather nervous about making my flight and was glad to see that I did arrive about 1 hour 15 minutes before it took off.

I didn't really know why I was going to Jakarta. There wasn't anything all that interesting to see. I just sort of felt like I ought to visit the capital. My flight there was pretty much on time and not really worth mentioning. While I was waiting for my bus to the city center I saw something that I haven't seen in forever, I haven't even ever seen one of these in NYC. It was a Krispy Kream shop! I ran over and chanced missing my bus so that I could stuff myself with their gooey goodness. Life is good!

After heading to the backpacker area I grabbed some lunch. My foot was aching pretty badly so I just decided to call the day a loss. After spending some time on the internet I read for a while before growing board and grabbing a cap to the mall. I ended up seeing Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3-D. I don't know that I have ever seen a movie in 3-d before. It was pretty cool.

For some reason I had thought that getting a cab back would be easy as pie. It was 11pm though and the main mall exit was blocked off. I was directed to a hotel a few blocks away by mall security but somehow I got lost. I was getting a bit nervous about the whole thing. I don't know the city at all and it was very very dark. I ended up finding a random security guard of a parking lot and asked him to help me. He did and soon I had a cab and was on my way back to my hotel. It was raining when I got there but I was too tired to care, I was back and in one piece.

Right Fit

Day 282
I got myself together before 7 and was ready for breakfast the minute that the hotel people were ready to feed me. I love free breakfast with my hotel! In no time I had taken two different mini buses to the big square where I could get the long distance mini bus. I was headed to a place called Bukittinggi. I thought I would sleep on the bus, but it was really too uncomfortable and I spent the time looking out of the window.

Once I got to Bukittinggi I had some problems finding a place to stay. I couldn't walk around with my things forever because of my foot and I ended up giving up and staying at a place that cost US $19 a night. That doesn't sound like a lot, but its the same amount that I have been spending per day here. I would, however, get hot water for a change.

While I was eating lunch a guide tried to sell me his services. I didn't really care for him but I did get a price range and he told me about a cheaper hotel. Whe n I had finished eating I headed up there and made a reservation for the following night. I also checked the tour prices there. This is the time when being one person kinda sucks. With the first guy I would have had to pay extra to go with just me and with the second people I couldn't go at all. As I was headed back down the hill I saw a small pink building with an advert for tours on it. I went in and met Eddy. His English wasn't great, but he was really enthusiastic and nice. He also cut me a nice deal for two days worth of a tour. The condition was that we would be going by motorbike. This scared me a bit, but it is the way that people get around here so I figured that I should try it at some point. He told me that he had an extra helmet and showed me his drivers license. Not that I know what an Indonesian drivers license looks like.

Bukittinggi is mostly known for the things around it, not in it. However, there was an nice market to check out. After wandering the stalls for some time I started to head back. Where ever I go in this country people (both men and women) want to chat. Everyone has someone who they know who once went to states or a distance relative in New York that they think I might know. I can't tell you how many times I've had to reply that it is a huge city with a whole lot of people in it. They also tell me how much they love Obama and how he came to Indonesia once. I don't really mind, but sometimes it gets a bit exhausting.

On the way back to my hotel I stopped at an internet cafe for a bit. It was beyond slow and after some time I just gave up. Back at my hotel room there was a few hours to wait before there would be hot water so I killed the time by reading. The last thing I did that night was venture to a nearby place for dinner. I had walked to much though and my foot was very angry with me. I ended up calling it an early night.

No Trains but Planes and Evil Automobiles

Day 281
I was up pretty and had breakfast at my hotel before I packed up.

After stowing my things for a few hours I headed back to the internet cafe. I had so much blogging to do and the internet connection was so slow that it was maddening. I also didn't want to walk to much, my foot was still hurting a bit and I felt like staying off of it was the best option. After lunch I headed back to the hotel and took another frightening trishaw ride to the airport.

The thing was that the trishaw couldn't go all the way there. I had to walk the last ten minutes or so of it. Check in was a breeze though. At first I thought that my flight was moved up, but then I saw that it was actually delayed. The whole check in process was rather antiquated. Both the boarding pass and the luggage tags were written out by hand.

In the waiting room I was the only obvious tourist. After some time it seemed that my flight was delayed and I left the security area after some confusion about how to get out. There wasn't any food to buy in the main waiting room. I would have to go th ru security again if I wanted a snack. Security was rather lax and I didn't have a problem getting quickly through it. Not long after this my flight was announced and I boarded the plane. It seemed to be a new plane, but made some really funny noises. Indonesian airlines don't have the best track record and the off sounds had me a bit nervous. I decided to sleep through the flight and ignore my fears.

It didn't take long for me to get my bags together once the plane had landed. I just wished it hadn't been so late, I was meant to have arrived a few hours ago. I really dislike getting to new places in the dark, it makes everything so much more confusing.

As soon as I was outside the taxi drivers attacked. I told them to give me a minute while I looked up in my book what they should cost. I bargained one of the guys down from 150,000 to 80,000. As I walked to a car with my non-English speaking driver (we had bargained by writing down numbers), a man fluent in English said that he was safe and that the normal prices was 120,000. My driver tried to put my bag in the trunk but I decided that it would be best to keep it with me.

When were were about to go thru the airport parking security the driver kept saying "friend" and motioning for me to move up front. I refused to do this. Apparently I had found an illegal taxi. I knew that I wouldn't get in trouble so I acted like I didn't understand. The driver rolled up the tinted windows. At this point I began to feel that the driver was really sketchy and started to pay very close attention to street signs. The sketchy driver then pulled in to a very dark looking hotel and told me that this was it, it wasn't and I told him to keep going. He listened.

When I got to my correct hotel I paid him. He pursued me though and started to throw a fit. I knew that he wanted more money, but I gave it what he had asked for and wasn't gonna cave. He called the English speaker from the airport and tried to get me to talk to him. I refused. I think this was a normal act for the taxi guy and that most people just payed to get him to go away. He was messing with the wrong chick for that. The guy at reception ignored him at first and then spoke to him for a minute. The receptionist continued to check me in and told the other man to go away. The taxi driver kept shoving the phone in my face. Eventually I took it and said "I agreed to pay him 80 and I did, I will not give him another penny and I won't discuss it any further." I heard the man say "but you" as I handed the phone over. By now I was fully checked in and the receptionist showed me to my room.

I had planned to hang out for about 30 minutes, but my growling stomach got the best of me. When I looked o ut into reception the taxi driver was gone. I headed right next store to a restaurant for dinner. I didn't want to wander far.

That evening was rather restless. I kept dreaming that he came back to the hotel to look for me. I decided to leave first thing in the morning. I wasn't really worried about anything, but I knew that leaving would make me feel better.