Getting ripped off early has, in one sense, been a useful experience. I'm prone to being wide-eyed, impractical, utopian, idealistic; this may be a shock to some of you reading this! Having this encounter with reality was, in retrospect, good for the senses. I need to be cautious, a bit circumspect. It was useful, too, because I could talk for an hour with the driver, who had almost no English. Positive also to reminded that I don't need to con others to make a living. So I paid more than I should have for a taxi from the airport to the city. So what? I was in a taxi for an hour, I was practising my bahasa, and, through talking with the driver, got a sense of his life, the difficulties he faces in sending his children to university and school. For $35, it was a priceless experience.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Taxi trouble
"Jangan takut, jangan takut", the taxi driver kept repeating. Given the circumstances, why not feel afraid? I'd lost count of how many times the driver had stopped, got out, and asked directions from the locals. It was raining heavily, we were lost, and I was stuck with a private taxi driver, an unofficial operator. At the airport I thought I was catching an official Bluebird taxi, but I'd been conned. With my case in the boot, we drove a little way when I realised there was no meter. They stopped, produced a receipt for 350,000 rupiah, about 3 times more than a metered taxi would charge. I replied, "Mahal sekali" (Too expensive") and "Saya tidak senang" (I'm not happy). I haggled down to 300,000, knowing that this was still way too much to pay, but needing to get to Arief and Dianita's house. For 30 minutes we were circling around Kebayoran Baru, the suburb where I'm staying, stopping for directions, driving some more, stopping some more, and so on. I wasn't comfortable with the situation, but at least I could speak bahasa. I kept up a steady stream of conversation as a way of having some control over the situation. Eventually we arrived at the address. What a relief.
Getting ripped off early has, in one sense, been a useful experience. I'm prone to being wide-eyed, impractical, utopian, idealistic; this may be a shock to some of you reading this! Having this encounter with reality was, in retrospect, good for the senses. I need to be cautious, a bit circumspect. It was useful, too, because I could talk for an hour with the driver, who had almost no English. Positive also to reminded that I don't need to con others to make a living. So I paid more than I should have for a taxi from the airport to the city. So what? I was in a taxi for an hour, I was practising my bahasa, and, through talking with the driver, got a sense of his life, the difficulties he faces in sending his children to university and school. For $35, it was a priceless experience.
Getting ripped off early has, in one sense, been a useful experience. I'm prone to being wide-eyed, impractical, utopian, idealistic; this may be a shock to some of you reading this! Having this encounter with reality was, in retrospect, good for the senses. I need to be cautious, a bit circumspect. It was useful, too, because I could talk for an hour with the driver, who had almost no English. Positive also to reminded that I don't need to con others to make a living. So I paid more than I should have for a taxi from the airport to the city. So what? I was in a taxi for an hour, I was practising my bahasa, and, through talking with the driver, got a sense of his life, the difficulties he faces in sending his children to university and school. For $35, it was a priceless experience.
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