This Polish idiom (meaning literally filth, smell and poverty) seems to fit perfectly to describe Jakarta that has welcomed us. At some point I seriously wondered if the expression somehow came from Jakarta. I don’t even know how to start describing it. People living in the streets in “houses” made of pieces of cardboard, pieces of metal, plastic or whatever they can find. Every gate or close that has some sort of roof is occupied by someone and equipped in sofa (luxury) or chair and fabrics to serve as sheets, TV (we couldn’t figure out how they get power there-no health and safety here) The food is supplied by the travelling salesmen that pull their carts with their own hands. Children are sleeping on the bare wooden pews. Smelly sewage and rubbish everywhere create the feeling of hopelessness…After I finished my water I didn’t know what to do with the plastic bottle: there weren’t any bins (I don’t think that they would make any difference anyway) but somehow I didn’t feel comfortable throwing it away onto the ground (which wouldn’t make much difference either). I put it into my backpack and carried with me till we got back to the hotel.
According to the guide book, there were some interesting places to see in old Jakarta. After we checked on the map that it’s about 2km from our hotel we decided to walk there. This walk took us around 2 hours. There are no sidewalks (there are actually but either full of rubbish, occupied by street vendors or they have such huge holes with sewage running underneath them that it’s “safer” to walk on the streets). I have never seen people being so poor and so dirty and yet they were always smiling…One thing I have to admit is that somehow they seem to have accepted their reality and seemed…happy. We were definitely an attraction for them: they smiled, waved, and greeted us. Oh, and there are cats everywhere. No dogs at all but thousands of cats. Amelia was taking pictures of almost every cat she had noticed. After we got to the places of interest I decided that there was nothing interesting to see-we were tired, very hot and very disappointed. Amelia was very worried about ever becoming poor…Trips like that make us appreciate so much of what we have. They make us realize how much unnecessary things we buy and collect. Enough is enough.
According to the guide book, there were some interesting places to see in old Jakarta. After we checked on the map that it’s about 2km from our hotel we decided to walk there. This walk took us around 2 hours. There are no sidewalks (there are actually but either full of rubbish, occupied by street vendors or they have such huge holes with sewage running underneath them that it’s “safer” to walk on the streets). I have never seen people being so poor and so dirty and yet they were always smiling…One thing I have to admit is that somehow they seem to have accepted their reality and seemed…happy. We were definitely an attraction for them: they smiled, waved, and greeted us. Oh, and there are cats everywhere. No dogs at all but thousands of cats. Amelia was taking pictures of almost every cat she had noticed. After we got to the places of interest I decided that there was nothing interesting to see-we were tired, very hot and very disappointed. Amelia was very worried about ever becoming poor…Trips like that make us appreciate so much of what we have. They make us realize how much unnecessary things we buy and collect. Enough is enough.
We stopped a taxi and straight from there went to the nearby Sea World. A nice change. Amazing fish and animals. One of the most interesting aspects were petting pools where people could touch small sharks, turtles, mantas (my favourites) and other fish. Amelia had a blast.
Outside of the building there were small ponds with turtles that were begging like dogs for bits of food that people were eating there while resting. Very funny!
Some people asked us if they could have a photo with us. So we posed very amused and after that Amelia said: “mom, you know that they call us white?”
We found a nearby local restaurant, took a walk by the sea and called a taxi wanting to go back to the hotel. A trip that should have lasted 10-15 minutes lasted 70 minutes because the driver got lost, there was a horrible traffic (those in Edinburgh or even in Chicago are nothing compared to the ones in Jakarta) and on top of that there was a storm. Amelia fell asleep in a taxi, my patience at the end of this day was almost nonexistent and Krzysiek was desperately trying to figure out the way to the hotel. Oh, did I mention that the taxi driver couldn’t speak English? With my broken and very basic Indonesian I told him to ask someone for direction. So he stopped, left the car in the middle of the road (disregarding the traffic and cars behind us), took our map (and the running meter of course) and went to ask for help. He came back after 5 minutes and took us to the hotel (another 30 minutes). I asked him how much should I pay him and he replied with no shame that whatever is on the meter. At this point my patience was gone. I told him I wasn’t paying for him not knowing the city. I gave him half of what the meter said (it was way too much anyway) and left. He left after me screaming traffic, traffic-probably the only English word he knew. I didn’t turn back. Went straight to my room and decided that the next thing I’ll see is Taman Mini-the place an Indonesian woman recommended at the airport in Dubai. She was right-there’s not much to see in Jakarta…
Outside of the building there were small ponds with turtles that were begging like dogs for bits of food that people were eating there while resting. Very funny!
Some people asked us if they could have a photo with us. So we posed very amused and after that Amelia said: “mom, you know that they call us white?”
We found a nearby local restaurant, took a walk by the sea and called a taxi wanting to go back to the hotel. A trip that should have lasted 10-15 minutes lasted 70 minutes because the driver got lost, there was a horrible traffic (those in Edinburgh or even in Chicago are nothing compared to the ones in Jakarta) and on top of that there was a storm. Amelia fell asleep in a taxi, my patience at the end of this day was almost nonexistent and Krzysiek was desperately trying to figure out the way to the hotel. Oh, did I mention that the taxi driver couldn’t speak English? With my broken and very basic Indonesian I told him to ask someone for direction. So he stopped, left the car in the middle of the road (disregarding the traffic and cars behind us), took our map (and the running meter of course) and went to ask for help. He came back after 5 minutes and took us to the hotel (another 30 minutes). I asked him how much should I pay him and he replied with no shame that whatever is on the meter. At this point my patience was gone. I told him I wasn’t paying for him not knowing the city. I gave him half of what the meter said (it was way too much anyway) and left. He left after me screaming traffic, traffic-probably the only English word he knew. I didn’t turn back. Went straight to my room and decided that the next thing I’ll see is Taman Mini-the place an Indonesian woman recommended at the airport in Dubai. She was right-there’s not much to see in Jakarta…
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