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Wednesday 14 January 2009

When You Can Drive in Jakarta...


...then you can drive basically everywhere in the world, excluding Antartica (and other icy places) since we don't know how to work up a snow mobile, or put chains on our tires. Maybe I'm just blowing things out of proportion here, but really, you could only get the logic of these rambles once you get the slice of life in that of becoming a Jakartan yourself. Sure we are no where close to the murderous despair of Palestinians, nor the dying frustration of those who resides with plagues and terrorism, but I'd like to address Jakarta's idea of an energy blackhole in the form of its TRAFFIC as somewhat an equivalent of having an autistic hyper active child poking the back of your neck 24/7.

I'm not making this up, really. A German associate of my father once unapologetically declared that he would rather die instantly than having to drive a car in Jakarta. It's a wise choice, I might say, taking note that he's a foreigner and all. It's unfortunately true that you may feel this devitalizing force creeping inside your veins, killing you slowly, starting from the rapid loss of patience, racing heartbeats due to I-have-nine-lives jay walkers disrupting your route, this boiling sensation you have lingering inside your head, until you finally realize that you're actually being slowly murdered in the Jakartan style, before you even reach 25.

Me? I'm a corpse, really. That's why I let hubby dearest do the driving, and mind you, his skills is fully furnished up to the point where he can text-message in the middle of driving. Unsafe, I know, but I was just giving away examples how a geographically-challenged person like me can actually find a silver lining behind the stormy current that is the Jakarta traffic.

'Till then! Drive safe, guys.

-Tev-

Saturday 3 January 2009

Funny Martabak Sign

Happy New Year!

After slacking off like a sloth for a good whole month, I thought I'd start off 2009 with a bit of positivity! I mean, bitchfest is always more entertaining, but that would be like a pothead trying to pick which weed to smoke first before getting an absolute stoned'eged. Too many options for a similar result.

Now then, as I was strolling along the west district of Jakarta, I found an interesting martabak vendor sign:
The FIRST thing that caught my eyes about this banner is of course the manga-esque caricature of those three guys working up some sweet martabak patties. They're adorable and cute even by omitting the contrast of Jakarta's harsh nocturnal landscape, let alone being actually plastered against it. I couldn't help myself from not buying some of those lovely, soft, juicy, sweet, crunchy sweet martabak, of course, and I'm pleased to say that they're as pleasant as their representative banner.