Bandung & Jakarta so far

Bandung and Jakarta so far

It's been almost 2 weeks I'm in Bandung for my long long holiday of the year!
Bandung is the place where I was born and grew up as a rebel teenager !!@#$!??!! and became the best!!student of class 1992 (on different period of time, for sure!).
This town remains the paradise for shoppers, eaters, and sleepers (like me..).

But the trip to Jakarta with Benny 'my bart' last weekend was really fun.
With one goal of him : Visiting Tandike to buy Karrimor bags - he's a big fan of this brand of outdoor adventure gear.
Having chatted too much in the bus with Esti who was very kind to accompanied us and be our city tour guide, we forgot to stop at where we supposed to!
You will never believe what this shop looks like, imagining from their website..Benny...hope we made you happy that day!

We tried various public transports : tourist mini bus from Bandung to Jakarta, Mikrolet, Kopaja, Mikrolet again, Busway - this is a must try and so fun, Bus Patas AC, Taxi, and finally being picked up by Wina - one my best friend from Jakarta in her nice (new ya?) car.
Jakarta is a big (too big for me) city that has a black and white /contrast scenes from my 'bird eye view' : big n tall high rise buildings, supermall, shopping centre, department store, megamall - you name it, and a dirty polluted hectic bus station such as Blok M, and not to forget those people who are still living under poverty under the bridge.

When Benny's got what he wants (of course he got me one nice Tyrlobyte black day pack with laptop bag inside!), it's time for me to try what I've been really looked forward to : Gado gado Bon-Bin at Cikini IV street. It's gado gado (indonesian salad with peanut sauce) and Asinan (don't know how to say it in english, but it's all about the green stuff I love) are legend!!
Unfortunately the Maison Benny is closed 32 min before we got there..ohh no! Next time ya Win!

Esti, Wina, thank you from me and Benny for this short but fun Jalan jalan!!!..

BALI RIDERS

BALI RIDERS

8 Years in Bali. I still could scream and swear to a motorbike rider who passed my car and cut the line in front of me, or a mother with her 2 kids - no one wearing helmet, just suddenly came out from small road, she didn't even care to look behind from the rear views that there is a car who is coming her way.
I still can't understand why people here couldn't care less of others.
Self discipline is something that people lack of here....

Unlike in Jakarta or Bandung - the main two cities in Indonesia I know them well, in Bali, the right side of the road could be used for a 20-40km/hour speed - slower than someone with Bike to Work sticker on its bike, a big truck carrying tons of mineral water, or a Driving Course car....
Honking means you are looking for trouble, and people could really get mad if you continuously do that to them,even if they're the one who blocked your way and pissed you off!! Unbelievable..
I think they all need a lesson of how to drive safely and understand the street signs...and! traffic lights : RED means STOP!! When it's gonna be...only the birds in the sky know..:)

Some years ago, I tried to do the same as people here - you know, they said when you are in Rome, do as Romans do.
With Bart, we were just 2 seconds after the red light, and we thought it would be fine, but there he was, a policeman stopped us (and the rest is history, if you know what I mean).
I just think this is unfair, those who blatantly violating the traffic rules could get away with this, while me and Bart who always try to be a good citizen, really didn't get a chance, not even one rule breakage!!
...

Hehe...meaning you should always be true to yourself. Keep believing what you think is right is the right thing to do.