Blue Birds of Paradise<\/p>\n
Well, we're deep into Ramadhan now and all seems pretty
\npeaceful after the bombers' violent prologue. The FPI (Islamic
\nDefenders Front) have been up to their old tricks to a certain
\nextent although, interestingly, local people finding themselves
\nunder the FPI cosh seem to be fighting back this time around.<\/p>\n
Two other clouds on the horizon though, threatening to dampen
\npeople's holiday spirits, are the price hikes and spiraling
\ninflation. The latest increases this week were implemented by
\nJakarta's taxis, the second fare hike this year, and apparently
\npeople are deserting the city's cabs in droves, no longer able to
\nafford them. A recent ride I took from Blok M to Kota cost me
\nover Rp 50,000 and that was at night when there was little
\ntraffic.<\/p>\n
Jakarta's cab drivers are generally nice chaps a recent,
\nrather belligerent anti-cabbie opinion peace on the front page of
\nthe Sunday Post notwithstanding. They will usually chat happily
\nwith you, giving you a good opportunity to practice your bahasa.
\nThey also seem generally to know where they are going and won't
\nusually rip you off. Note, I used the words "generally" and
\n"usually". In addition, they're often willing to wait for you for
\nsimply ages while you get dressed, down another ten beers, go
\nshopping or finish retiling the mandi.<\/p>\n
Personable fellows the city's cabbies may usually be, however,
\nthe condition of their cabs and often the drivers themselves can
\nsometimes leave room for improvement. Many of the taxis are not
\nparticularly well-maintained and when this is combined with the
\nfact that most of these old cabs have driven the equivalent of
\nthe distance to the moon and back since rolling off the
\nproduction line, safety can be compromised.<\/p>\n
I was driven down Sudirman one rainy night in a taxi with
\nwrecked suspension and threadbare tires and we ended up doing a
\n360-degree spin in the fast lane before coming to rest on the
\ncentral reservation, thankfully without injury to either myself
\nor the driver. On another occasion, a drowsy driver drove me into
\nthe back of the car in front after nodding off at the wheel
\nmomentarily. These guys deserve our sympathy on the whole though.
\nMy lethargic driver had probably just put in an 84-hour non-stop
\nshift in order to make ends meet. I guess it's these long shifts,
\nin combination with broken ACs, that also account for the
\nappalling, eye-stinging body odor that taxi drivers
\nintermittently have here.<\/p>\n
I knew a Westerner here who once took pity on the driver he
\nhad decided to keep for the whole night and took him into the
\nnightclubs and bars that he was cruising around as well as buying
\nhim a few drinks. Apparently he had a wail of a time.
\nOccasionally, as a solo Western male in a taxi at night, you come
\nacross a driver-come-pimp who will talk dirty to you and offer
\nyou girls. Something along the lines of, "Mr, you looking woman,
\nyou want the woman? I take you woman yes?" I shudder to think
\nwhat strange fate would befall someone who ever took up one of
\nthese Blue Bird Mac Daddies on their kind offers. I have visions
\nof clucking chickens scattering everywhere in some far-flung
\nsuburb while a white man in his underpants is chased down the
\nroad by angry locals.<\/p>\n
There are unquestionably a few bad apples at the bottom of the
\ncab driver barrel of course and stories continue to filter
\nthrough of people (mainly women) being robbed at knifepoint by
\ncriminal drivers and their gangs. Recently, police have been
\nlooking for a gang of who have been painting and modifying
\nordinary cars to make them look like genuine taxis and then using
\nthem to pick up and rob passengers. The only con trick that I've
\nexperienced in a Jakarta cab, other than the ones that have
\nmeters which gallop like Olympic stopwatches, is the driver who
\nturns around about five seconds after you've paid him claiming
\nthat you haven't paid him enough. He then shows you a Rp 5000
\nnote when you were sure that you gave him a Rp 20,000 note. Of
\ncourse, the crafty devil has switched notes and you can never be
\n100 percent sure that you didn't give him the Rp 5000 instead of
\nthe Rp 20,000. You can never be sure... unless, of course, the
\ndriver tries the same trick twice on the same fare: switching
\nnotes a second time and claiming that you still haven't paid him
\nenough. When a driver was stupid enough to try this one on me one
\ntime I twigged what was going on and told the cheeky swine to get
\nstuffed. I should have kicked his ass all the way back to the
\ndepot. -- Simon Pitchforth<\/p>",
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