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First Days in Jakarta

November 22nd, 2005. Published under Daily Journal. 7 Comments.

Living in Jakarta is a great change in my life. I don’t know if it will be better or was, but I do know that there will be someone beside me all the time.

November 19: A Bad Start

I was with my family in Jember. Around 1PM, carrying a heavy backpack and a unit of PC (also heavy), I took a bus to Surabaya. It was a Mila Patas (Cepat-Terbatas) Bus. Although the fare was way more expensive than regular bus fare, I took the bus because of its comfort and convenience.

It’s comfort and convenience indeed, at least halfway to Surabaya. Soon after we passed Probolinggo (about two hours trip), the driver stopped the bus. Then he told us that the bus had an air conditioning problem and must return to its base immediately. What the $%^&!! The passengers (including me) complained a lot. But nothing we could do but try to get another bus. We stepped out of the bus and hey, it’s raining men, hallelujah!! Some times later, a regular bus showed up and I thought the bad luck ended.

Was it? Somehow another series of unfortunate events was about to begin. Well, what could I expect from a regular bus? There’s this little girl peed on the bus floor near me. Some men smoked heavily in their seat behind me. It’s regular in this regular bus I think. So I just held my breath and hoped we would get to Surabaya soon.

How soon is soon? After an hour, we got stuck in a heavy traffic jam. And I meant a really heavy traffic jam. The bus couldn’t move forward even an inch for two hours. My only consolation was the text messages from my darling. But hey, my cellphone beeped loudly and the display told me that it ran out of battery. Oh gosh.

Now I only hoped that the rain stopped sooner so I could walk to the nearest angkot (a public transportation vehicle) along with my belonging. But the rain didn’t stop when the bus finally arrived at Bungurasih (the bus terminal in Surabaya) after 2 hours late of schedule. So I took the nearest cab to go to my aunt’s house at Wisma Tropodo. Recent raise of fuel price was still astonishing. The cab fare was even more expensive than the bus ticket from Jember to Surabaya. But I didn’t care as long as I got to Wisma Tropodo soon. I was tired and hungry.

When I arrived at my aunt’s house, I charged my phone then went to buy Bakso Solo. It’s delicious but pricey. Never mind as long as it could satisfy my hunger. Two portions of bakso certainly did satisfy me. Now I should prepare for my departure to the airport. I got a plane to Jakarta to catch tonight. My plane took off late at the night, around 10PM and it’s scheduled to arrive in Jakarta about 11PM. By the time, the airport bus won’t operate. So I should wait until morning to get it. Unless I wanted to spend much more money to get a cab. I already decided to spend the night in Jakarta airport. And my girlfriend would be there accompanying me.

After eating bakso, I returned to my aunt’s house to get my belongings. I also met my grandma and had a nice talk. Then I checked my phone and it’s been fully recharged. I turned it on to get the news of my girlfriend. She should be in the airport already. But I was very surprised. She told me that she missed the bus and she asked me whether she should took a cab. I didn’t let her do it because it’s too dangerous to be in a cab alone in the late night.

I went to the airport earlier so I won’t miss the plane, only to find that it was delayed for an hour. I didn’t even have the will to curse anymore. So I just waited impatiently for the plane. Thanks God, I finally got to Jakarta, around midnight. So I tried to look for a vacant bench to spend the night. That’s it, let’s call it a day.

November 20: At Last My Suffering’s Over

Early in the morning I got the airport bus take me to Blok M. I met my girlfriend there and it changed my whole mood. Then we took a cab to Jalan Dokter Satrio, where my boarding house was located. Unfortunately, the cab driver didn’t really know how to reach it. Since it’s not an uncommon adress, I somehow wondered why he could be a driver of a wellknown taxy company, Blue Bird. And that was not my first experience with drivers who didn’t know the city well. Luckily, my girlfriend had been there several times so she could guide the driver.

When we arrived at the boarding house, the owner (a good middle-aged man), greeted us warmly. But once again, things didn’t work as I expected. The owner had not finished installing the air conditioner. But he immediately ordered his man to work on it. I got a pretty big room on the second floor. It’s in the corner. Nice placement. But I felt a little discomfort since the room wall and flooring was made of wood. Considering that sometimes I could behave brutally, I was afraid I would ruin the room. Anyway, thanks to my girlfriend who had worked hard to find me a nice room.

After resting for a few hours, we went to a nearby mall, Plaza Semanggi, to have some food. Then I decided to go to the movie to watch the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire movie. But we definitely had no luck. The tickets had been sold out. Never mind, it would still be played in the next 4 weeks or so. Since we were at a mall, we continued to shop for my everyday needs before we went home.

November 21: And I Thought My Suffering’s Over?

It was my first day at the new company. Since I still wasn’t familiar with the city, I got up early in the morning so I won’t get late. I took a mikrolet (a public transportation) to go to the bus stop. Then I took the correct bus to Menara Kebon Sirih where I worked. Everything was okay. Or was it? When I got off the bus to walk to my office, I suddenly realized that I couldn’t find one of my cellphone in my bag. I was so surprised when I noticed that my bag had a hole at the bottom. Damn it!! I lost my first cellphone, Nokia 3350 along with my first mobile number, 081 2305 8773. This surely pissed me off. But not that bad. I could still control my mood so it didn’t ruin my whole day. And I was so lucky I had a loving girlfriend. She was with me that night and comforted me. That eased everything really.

Well, that’s all for now. I am not really in the mood of blogging. So see you later. Thanks for reading.