Jacque in Jakarta: My commute to work

This past week was my first full week of teaching. It's been great. I really love my job. It's the only place I've worked where the second I walk through the door everyone is so happy to see me and is eager to greet me. It's incredibly welcoming.

Something that I'm not really overjoyed about concerning my job is the commute. According to google maps, my home is approximately 15 minutes from my work. In actuality, it normally takes about 45 minutes, and it can take hours. The reason for that is the traffic I discussed in my previous post.

Having to sit in traffic for an hour wouldn't be quite as bad if we took a taxi to work. However, being the penny pincher that I am, I always take the ankot.

In order to get onto the ankot, you simply wave the driver down and then hop through the open door. An ankot comfortably sits about seven people: One in the passenger seat, one on the bench at the door, two on one side, and three on the other side. But the reason I take the ankot, like so many other people, is that it's so cheap. To get from my home to work, it's 3,000 Rupiah, which is approximately thirty cents in USD. So, for the ankot driver to really make money, he has to cram as many people as possible. Thus, the top right picture shows the ankot with fourteen people, two who are sat in the passenger seat and one who is hanging onto the door frame out the door.

Family of three on bike

At first it was shocking for me to see how people were crammed onto the ankot, but then I noticed that there seemed to be a whole cramming culture here. Whether it's an ankot, an elevator or a motorbike, it seems people try to cram on as much as possible. It's normal to see a family on a bike, as pictured to the right. I've seen as many as five people on one bike and quite often see three and four people.

The cramming culture could be an explanation for why traffic is so bad. The metropolitan area has approximately 30 million people, and the population density is the nineth highest in the world, so people are just vying to fit in wherever they can.

As for me, I can honestly say I will be quite happy to return to the oversized seats of the West. It may not be the most economical, but at least it will be comfortable.