A Short Trip to Jakarta
This Monday, I went to the capital city, Jakarta. I didn’t stay overnight, just one day trip. I took the night train, Argo Anggrek, which departed at 8 PM. The train arrived three hours late in Jakarta.
After arrival, I ate breakfast at Hoka Hoka Bento. Set C that I ordered was beef teriyaki plus salad and a set of dumplings (2 shrimps, 1 chicken). The beef teriyaki was as sweet as usual. Too much ketchup, I guess. And the dumplings were unexpectedly salty.
My time was running out so I took this taxito Jl Taman Surapati. Dad bought me a map so I wouldn’t get lost there. He knows that I’m worst at memorizing streets ^____^;
According to the map, the building was quite far from the train station. But in fact, it didn’t. I arrived at the building in around 15 minutes. When I got there, the other applicants were already there. My queueing number was 112. Fortunately, the officers were quite handy so they didn’t spend too much time on one applicant. I was called around 10 minutes after queueing.
While waiting for my turn, I took a close look at the building and the people working there. It seems like fun. I thought the institution was full with elders but I was wrong.
The enrollment process took less than 10 minutes. Really contrast compared to my 12 hours travelling time ^___^;;
And I become a vagabond for hours. All I did was filling crosswords puzzle (Teka-Teki Silang, in Indonesian). Intermittently, a man from this university, talked to me. Just a wishy-washy chat but it was quite a good way to kill time.
At 1.30 PM, I decided to go back to the train station. I didn’t know good places to go. Eventhough I knew, I wouldn’t take the risk to go. Jakarta is such a crowded city. Here and there all I saw was traffic jam.
katatz59, a friend from L’Arcology offered me to stay at her house. I’d love to. But I didn’t overstay, so I had to turn her down. Gomen ne, next time I go there *for a holiday*, I’d spend some time to hang out with you ^____^
As I arrived at the train station, I prayed and ate the snacks I brought from Surabaya. The time flew soooo slow. My train departed at 6.45 PM so it was kinda long waiting period. If I got bored, I walked around. After I got tired, I sat down again. I repeated it over and over.
There are several interesting things happened when I was in Jakarta. I gave a intense attention on one of it. It was when I saw a foreigner standing quietly next to me. I didn’t know which country he came from. He brought a quite big baggage.
At first, I thought he was going to Surabaya because he stood at the same line with me, just like me. But he wasn’t!
I saw him when he walked with an officer from Indonesian Railways. The officer talked to the foreigner. I couldn’t hear what they talked about but I assumed that the foreigner was confirming that he was led to the right line.
And the foreigner ended up standing behind me. Only 5 minutes before Gumarang arrived from Stasiun Jakarta Kota, the officer warned the passangers to get ready. The foreigner picked up his baggage and stood next to me when the train arrived.
A porter came and offered him to carry the baggage. The foreigner accepted the offer and started walking to the train. The porter asked him which coach his seat was. Since the sparing is a foreigner, misunderstood is unavoidable. And the porter asked him to show the ticket *he understood this one*
”Salah, Mister. Salah, Mister.”
(in English: ”You’re wrong, Sir. You’re wrong, Sir.”).
The porter repeatedly said that. But as expected, the foreigner didn’t get what the porter said. He was rushing to the train while the porter desperately prevented him to ride. The foreigner looked pissed.
I was about to help explaining when a young man asked them was wrong. The porter said the man were going to ride the wrong train.
”Keretanya Argo Lawu, tujuan Jogjakarta. Bukan Gumarang,” the porter explained.
(in English: ”His train is Argo Lawu, destination Jogjakarta. Not Gumarang.”)
Oh, he could help the foreigner, I thought.
But I was hell wrong!!!
It appeared that the man didn’t understand English well *I’m not either but at least I know what to say in that kind of situation* so the problem wasn’t cleared off.
Since the train would leave soon and the foreigner insisted to ride, I told him, ”Sir, this is not your train. You have to go to line 1. You need to go downstair and cross to line 1. It’s over there (pointing the line).”
The porter looked so relieved knowing that I can speak English better than the hero-wannabe man. The foreigner looked surprised because he almost rode the wrong train.
”Oh, really? So this is not my train?” he said.
”No.” I assured him.
”Thank you very much,” he replied.
Thankfully, the porter was kind enough to take him to line 1, where he belonged.
Geez, I couldn’t believe that Indonesian Railways are incapable of speaking international language. The officer almost misled the foreigner to the wrong city. Jogjakarta and Surabaya are in different province. It’s about 7 hours far from Surabaya *if you’re travelling by private car*. What if the porter didn’t come and let me know the situation? The foreigner might get a trouble. He’d be considered as illegal passanger! And the worst is, he’d end up in the wrong city!
What a shame. I think government should pay attention on this. Government should start thinking to rise the government employee standard. Nowadays, English is a must. It’s unavoidable. Many foreigners come to Indonesia. So I think it’s natural that English proficiency is needed.
I wonder what the foreigner whom I meet at the train station thought now…
Travelling with train always gave me a lot story to share. I’ll write about it in the next entry. I’ve written long enough to day. Time to concentrate on work now…
After arrival, I ate breakfast at Hoka Hoka Bento. Set C that I ordered was beef teriyaki plus salad and a set of dumplings (2 shrimps, 1 chicken). The beef teriyaki was as sweet as usual. Too much ketchup, I guess. And the dumplings were unexpectedly salty.
My time was running out so I took this taxito Jl Taman Surapati. Dad bought me a map so I wouldn’t get lost there. He knows that I’m worst at memorizing streets ^____^;
According to the map, the building was quite far from the train station. But in fact, it didn’t. I arrived at the building in around 15 minutes. When I got there, the other applicants were already there. My queueing number was 112. Fortunately, the officers were quite handy so they didn’t spend too much time on one applicant. I was called around 10 minutes after queueing.
While waiting for my turn, I took a close look at the building and the people working there. It seems like fun. I thought the institution was full with elders but I was wrong.
The enrollment process took less than 10 minutes. Really contrast compared to my 12 hours travelling time ^___^;;
And I become a vagabond for hours. All I did was filling crosswords puzzle (Teka-Teki Silang, in Indonesian). Intermittently, a man from this university, talked to me. Just a wishy-washy chat but it was quite a good way to kill time.
At 1.30 PM, I decided to go back to the train station. I didn’t know good places to go. Eventhough I knew, I wouldn’t take the risk to go. Jakarta is such a crowded city. Here and there all I saw was traffic jam.
katatz59, a friend from L’Arcology offered me to stay at her house. I’d love to. But I didn’t overstay, so I had to turn her down. Gomen ne, next time I go there *for a holiday*, I’d spend some time to hang out with you ^____^
As I arrived at the train station, I prayed and ate the snacks I brought from Surabaya. The time flew soooo slow. My train departed at 6.45 PM so it was kinda long waiting period. If I got bored, I walked around. After I got tired, I sat down again. I repeated it over and over.
There are several interesting things happened when I was in Jakarta. I gave a intense attention on one of it. It was when I saw a foreigner standing quietly next to me. I didn’t know which country he came from. He brought a quite big baggage.
At first, I thought he was going to Surabaya because he stood at the same line with me, just like me. But he wasn’t!
I saw him when he walked with an officer from Indonesian Railways. The officer talked to the foreigner. I couldn’t hear what they talked about but I assumed that the foreigner was confirming that he was led to the right line.
And the foreigner ended up standing behind me. Only 5 minutes before Gumarang arrived from Stasiun Jakarta Kota, the officer warned the passangers to get ready. The foreigner picked up his baggage and stood next to me when the train arrived.
A porter came and offered him to carry the baggage. The foreigner accepted the offer and started walking to the train. The porter asked him which coach his seat was. Since the sparing is a foreigner, misunderstood is unavoidable. And the porter asked him to show the ticket *he understood this one*
”Salah, Mister. Salah, Mister.”
(in English: ”You’re wrong, Sir. You’re wrong, Sir.”).
The porter repeatedly said that. But as expected, the foreigner didn’t get what the porter said. He was rushing to the train while the porter desperately prevented him to ride. The foreigner looked pissed.
I was about to help explaining when a young man asked them was wrong. The porter said the man were going to ride the wrong train.
”Keretanya Argo Lawu, tujuan Jogjakarta. Bukan Gumarang,” the porter explained.
(in English: ”His train is Argo Lawu, destination Jogjakarta. Not Gumarang.”)
Oh, he could help the foreigner, I thought.
But I was hell wrong!!!
It appeared that the man didn’t understand English well *I’m not either but at least I know what to say in that kind of situation* so the problem wasn’t cleared off.
Since the train would leave soon and the foreigner insisted to ride, I told him, ”Sir, this is not your train. You have to go to line 1. You need to go downstair and cross to line 1. It’s over there (pointing the line).”
The porter looked so relieved knowing that I can speak English better than the hero-wannabe man. The foreigner looked surprised because he almost rode the wrong train.
”Oh, really? So this is not my train?” he said.
”No.” I assured him.
”Thank you very much,” he replied.
Thankfully, the porter was kind enough to take him to line 1, where he belonged.
Geez, I couldn’t believe that Indonesian Railways are incapable of speaking international language. The officer almost misled the foreigner to the wrong city. Jogjakarta and Surabaya are in different province. It’s about 7 hours far from Surabaya *if you’re travelling by private car*. What if the porter didn’t come and let me know the situation? The foreigner might get a trouble. He’d be considered as illegal passanger! And the worst is, he’d end up in the wrong city!
What a shame. I think government should pay attention on this. Government should start thinking to rise the government employee standard. Nowadays, English is a must. It’s unavoidable. Many foreigners come to Indonesia. So I think it’s natural that English proficiency is needed.
I wonder what the foreigner whom I meet at the train station thought now…
Travelling with train always gave me a lot story to share. I’ll write about it in the next entry. I’ve written long enough to day. Time to concentrate on work now…