One of those days!
I had one of those "how could this get any worse?" moments on Friday. It was time to leave work, and a torrential tropical downpour had just stopped, so I thought it was safe to go outside. I tried to get a cab, but there were none to be found, probably because of the rain that had just stopped. So I decided to walk, something that would usually only take 15 minutes.
I had gotten halfway home when it started to rain again. I hid under a bus shelter with a leaky roof, and the rain intensified until it was a solid wall of water. All of the billions of motor scooters on the road pulled over, and their riders all also got under the bus shelter.
I hailed a taxi, but he had his meter turned off and he said "tiga puluh," which means 30, or about six times what the fare should have been. Even though this only amounted to three bucks, I was really annoyed at his opportunism and so I told him he was crazy and jumped out, back to the bus stop.
Anyway, I realized that it would have been a long ride anyway, because I was on the wrong side of the street, and the way Jakarta is laid out there would have been no place to turn around for a mile and a half, which in grinding seething rush hour traffic could have added an hour to the commute. So I had to cross the street, all six lanes, barely able to see the rain was so thick, and by the time I got to the other side after nearly being hit by a scooter that was splitting lanes, I was really drenched.
The bus stop on the other side leaked even worse, but it was still better than standing under the Niagara Falls the sky had become. I was pretty much resigned at this point to being wet. Then I noticed people saying stuff to me, and I realized they were guards from the place I work -- I didn't recognize them because they were out of uniform, and my glasses were wet. They were both amused and sympathetic to my plight, and it cheered me up a bit.
But I waited a half hour for another cab, and the driver tried the same "tiga puluh" approach again, to which I retorted "dua puluh." And he said "tiga." And I said "dua." And he accepted that.
Still, it was another 45 minutes to get home, because of the thickest, slowest traffic I'd ever seen. And all to cover the distance of a 15 minute walk!
I had gotten halfway home when it started to rain again. I hid under a bus shelter with a leaky roof, and the rain intensified until it was a solid wall of water. All of the billions of motor scooters on the road pulled over, and their riders all also got under the bus shelter.
I hailed a taxi, but he had his meter turned off and he said "tiga puluh," which means 30, or about six times what the fare should have been. Even though this only amounted to three bucks, I was really annoyed at his opportunism and so I told him he was crazy and jumped out, back to the bus stop.
Anyway, I realized that it would have been a long ride anyway, because I was on the wrong side of the street, and the way Jakarta is laid out there would have been no place to turn around for a mile and a half, which in grinding seething rush hour traffic could have added an hour to the commute. So I had to cross the street, all six lanes, barely able to see the rain was so thick, and by the time I got to the other side after nearly being hit by a scooter that was splitting lanes, I was really drenched.
The bus stop on the other side leaked even worse, but it was still better than standing under the Niagara Falls the sky had become. I was pretty much resigned at this point to being wet. Then I noticed people saying stuff to me, and I realized they were guards from the place I work -- I didn't recognize them because they were out of uniform, and my glasses were wet. They were both amused and sympathetic to my plight, and it cheered me up a bit.
But I waited a half hour for another cab, and the driver tried the same "tiga puluh" approach again, to which I retorted "dua puluh." And he said "tiga." And I said "dua." And he accepted that.
Still, it was another 45 minutes to get home, because of the thickest, slowest traffic I'd ever seen. And all to cover the distance of a 15 minute walk!
2 Comments:
Sorry you had such a wet afternoon. Even so, it sounds beautiful to me!
in retrospect, it kinda was... but only in retrospect!
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