On the move in Jakarta

After reading Jim Plouffe's Having a bad-cab-day in Jakarta? (The Jakarta Post, July 2, 1995) I can only wish that someone would give me the Golden Tip of how to get around in Jakarta without all the frustration caused when using a taxi or public transport.

Being a typical tourist, I have this natural desire to explore the capital of Indonesia. When I arrived after a 13-hour train ride, I assumed that transport at 9 p.m. from Pasar Senen railway station to Jl. Bangka II, Pela Mampang, South Jakarta, wouldn't be a problem. A nice guy driving a bajaj (small three-wheeled passenger transport vehicle) offered to take me and my de facto there for Rp 8,000. Sounds all right, I thought, and off we went. And as we have learnt over the last few weeks to never be in a hurry in this country (unless you're after a good seat in a bus or train) we didn't think any of it when after more than one hour we were still driving around. It wasn't even that much of a surprise when all of a sudden the bajaj stopped next to a taxi.

The two were chatting away before we were to told to get into the taxi. As far as we understood, the bajaj couldn't find the street, but for the same money the taxi would take us there. Fair enough, we thought, and 15 minutes later we drove around in Pela. We even found the right street, we thought, but not the right number. Strangely the numbering of the houses is not in order. Number 90 is followed by 15, which is next to number three.

Because our taxi driver seemed to be lost as well we figured it was time to get some outside help. But the explanation we got only made us more confused. Then we started driving again. However, after another 10 minutes the taxi driver pulled over and announced that he had given us a ride worth Rp 8,000. He wanted to go home. He stopped another taxi, took our money and left.

Finally we asked the new taxi to go to a hotel on Jl. Jaksa in Central Jakarta. This ride cost us another Rp 9,000. At 11:30 p.m. we found ourselves one single bed. The next morning we prepared ourselves for another day in Jakarta by purchasing a detailed city map. In daylight we had no problem finding our friend's place. From that day onwards we have been traveling with our new Jakarta Street Atlas and Names Index. Now we can't be fooled any more.

MONICA YOLANDA HOLS

Jakarta