Jakarta: The good, bad and ugly<\/p>\n
I am an American expatriate teaching in Surabaya. On May 28, I
\nhad to visit the Attorney General's Office in Jakarta about a
\nproblem I had. While in Jakarta, I had a chance to see and
\nexperience the worst and best the capital currently has to offer
\nexpats. I will begin with the bad, go to worse and worst and end
\nwith the good because it was so surprising.<\/p>\n
Upon arriving at Gambir station, my fiancee and I were
\nsurrounded by taxi drivers offering to take us to the Supreme
\nCourt with prices from Rp 10,000 to Rp 15,000 but we thought the
\ntaxi booth would be safest. How sad it was to have our first
\nimpression of Jakarta be a taxi driver first take us south on Jl.
\nMedan Merdeka Timur, then in a circle, pretend to ask directions
\nand end up with a metered fare of Rp 7,000 at the court, which
\nturns out to be within walking distance of Gambir station.<\/p>\n
After a sadly disappointing meeting, we took a bajaj to Mangga
\nDua with a kind man who laughed at our experience with the taxi
\nand said we had to be careful with Jakartans but that he was from
\nEast Java. But I guess he had been in Jakarta too long because he
\ncharged us Rp 10,000, after first asking Rp 15,000, whereas when
\nwe returned to Gambir, another bajaj driver only asked for Rp
\n4,000.<\/p>\n
But the worst experience of Jakarta \"hospitality\" was the
\nbakso (meatball) seller near the National Monument. My fiancee, a
\nSurabaya native, first asked him if we could have bakso for Rp
\n1,500 each which he agreed to but when we finished he demanded Rp
\n8,000. I really felt that being bule (white) in Jakarta means
\npeople can lie, cheat and steal.<\/p>\n
However, I am not really writing this to complain about the
\nbad but to tell about the amazingly good experience we had. When
\nwe went to purchase tickets back to Surabaya, we discovered to
\nour horror that an envelope containing Rp 500,000 was missing and
\nthat we did not have enough money to return home. I could only
\nimagine that the money, in a plain unmarked envelope, had fallen
\nout at the Supreme Court. My fiancee was in utter despair, saying
\nit was hopeless to even try looking for it.<\/p>\n
However, I went back to the Supreme Court and saw a Pak Agung
\nPutra and asked him if anyone had found an envelope. Amazingly,
\nhe replied, dengan uang? (with money). I praised God for such an
\nhonest man. He said another guest had actually found the envelope
\nand given it to him. Since it was unmarked, he did not really
\nknow whose it was but he thought it might have belonged to me.<\/p>\n
I just wanted to write that while there may be many small men
\nin Jakarta who are ready to lie, cheat and steal, there is at
\nleast one great man named Agung Putra who should be praised for
\nhis actions to a guest to his city.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/jakarta-the-good-bad-and-ugly-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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