The first week in Jakarta was pretty relaxed. I got to meet some of the new folks working in ODC (the shop where I was attached to last time I was here), and one of the guys was my pseudo-sponsor when I was reporting to DLI. We lost contact because all of the correspondence was on govt email, but now he is stationed here in Jakarta. I got introduced to several projects that they are working on, one of which is a large exercise for the Indonesian Army and US Army. This portion of the immersion is always interesting, because there is no structured schedule like the language classes. I will probably take some time to see more of Jakarta while at the same time helping out where I can.
During the weekend I decided that I wanted to hit Taman Safari again, but this time stay for the night safari. This meant I needed to stay the night, so I decided to book a guest house sponsored by the State Dept, which was a little more expensive than your average hotel, but I heard great things about it. The pictures looked very nice anyway.
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| No one likes a monkey that begs |
So, the weekend trip will be known as the trip where I almost took every Indonesian mode of transportation. I could have easily just rented a car and a driver, but that would have been too EASY. Plus, I wanted to give the ‘ol motorcycle rental a second try. Since I did not want to drive a motorcycle in Jakarta traffic, I decided to take the train (mode of trans #1) until Bogor (the southern tip of Jakarta), and when I got there, I found that there was not a motorcycle rental place. I instead took a taxi (mode of trans #2) to Taman Safari. On the way, we were stopped at a police checkpoint…where they were checking to make sure people were wearing seatbelts, or as I like to call it, trying to get money from people in anyway possible. The cab in front of me had two Middle East guys and they were arguing with the cops. The one cop escorted them out of the car, and led them back to my cab, where he showed them…”Look! This is good! (pointing to me wearing a seatbelt); he knows! He is good!” Apparently the two guys were not wearing their seatbelts. I showed the cop my ID and passport and was free to go. After about an hour or so, we made it to Taman Safari. I decided to try out the safari again, but this time in a public safari bus; I have to say, a private vehicle is way better!
After lunch at a faux Rainforest Café, I decided to head over to the Baby Zoo to see the baby animals. I was able to hold a baby orangutan, a baby lion, and a baby leopard. The baby orangutan was the best; he kept trying to steal my hat, and in the end he reached up, grabbed my neck and gave me a kiss. Afterwards, I went to watch a couple of shows to include a various animals show, a circus, and a dolphin show. I found my experience so much better this time, because there was a lot more time to relax and enjoy Taman Safari.
I went ahead and stayed for the “Safari Malam” (night safari), which was a separate admission price, but both came out to about $25 USD, which is well worth it. The night safari was cool, but I was pretty tired, so I ate dinner, went on the safari (in the dark), and decided to head to the guest house. Everyone had told me that the guesthouse was pretty close to Taman Safari, and boy are they wrong! I had no transportation and it was close to 8pm, so I was forced to ride (mode of trans #3), the ojek, or motorcycle taxi. I rode on the back of a motorcycle up the mountain, through various switchbacks, which took about 1 ½ hrs. I was pretty sore sitting on the back of a motorcycle for that long, but it was nice to get to the guest house.
Aww, the guest house, how wrong I was to book this place. Ok, it was nice, but for what I paid, I could have gotten a really NICE hotel, and furthermore, a hotel close to Taman Safari. This place had no internet, very little amenities, and a freakin annoying cat that meowed ALL NIGHT LONG. If I wouldn’t have been so tired, I would have searched for it and punt kicked it off the side of the mountain…it was that annoying! I will probably never stay there again, and I am still upset with the bad judgment call.
The next morning I left pretty early because I was still pissed off that I did not get any sleep. The security guard secured me (mode of trans #4) an ANGKOT (small public trans van) that would take me to Bogor. The fare was less than a $1, which is way cheaper than what I was paying for the other modes of trans. I decided to pay the fare of everyone in the van (maybe 10 people), because I figured it is more beneficial to have 10 friends than just 1. They were very grateful, and I at least was able to put a smile on 10 people’s faces…hey, it was my good deed for the day! In Bogor, I walked to the train station and rode the train back to Jakarta…what a crazy trip, but an awesome experience!
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