Jakarta!!

On Thursday I went with Hugo to Jakarta. Friday morning Hugo and Jason, MAF pilot, had to write an exam to get their Indonesian licenses for piloting and repairing airplanes. So Robyn, Jason's wife, and I decided to go along for fun. I had never been to Jakarta just for fun.
Robyn and I saw some interesting things while out and about. We took one of those three wheeled pollution monsters to a nearby mall. There we saw some interesting signs. I asked a couple people what "string women" meant and they couldn't tell me so it remains a mystery. We also saw the latest in muslim swim wear complete with jilbab (head covering). Wow!
After the guys finished their test this morning, we had a quick lunch and headed out to the train station. We booked tickets on the executive train. It left about 20 minutes late. I found the ride rather frightening as there are a number of very high trestles... The train also passed by many very poor homes that are situated about 5 meters from the trackside. We also passed many kampungs where each and every house had a tv antenae on the top of a tall spindly bamboo pole. It made it look like a field of antenae's. We also passed by many rice paddy's. There is very little open space that is not being used for anything. It is amazing. During our ride we received a cup of water and a snack, just like on a plane. Anyways, at one point we stopped and after about half an hour someone came and told us that there had been an accident up ahead on the track and that we had to wait to let another train go by and that they were going to try and arrange buses for us to get to Bandung. So we waited about an hour and then off we went again. We stopped a couple more times, although for not quite as long. By then it was dark outside. Finally we stopped in a village and they told us to get off. There was a bus there but by the time we got to the bus it was already completely full. So we waited... Then some guys offered to drive us to Bandung in their Kijang (an suv type Toyota) for 300,000 rupiahs. We offered them 100,000 as we thought that was fair. They did eventually agree but then once we were all in they tried to get double. So we all got out and waited again. Then a couple more busses came and for some reason everyone flocked to the first bus. We didn't, we just went on the second one and waited. The first bus was packed to the gills, there were people standing in the aisle as well. There were about 13-15 people on our entire bus. This bus, I believe was built in the year 1960 and the back door couldn't properly close and they didn't even bother closing the front door. We had no idea where we were because of course it was totally dark and there aren't many street lights in villages. But we did rattle and bounce our way to Bandung, ahead of the other completely packed bus, and thankfully made it home safely. The fact is, that anytime you go anywhere here, it is an adventure!