Okay, so previously, I said that I hate the city because I was scammed, but this visit somehow had changed my mind. I mean, living in this city must be tough. Everyday you meet sooooo many people, dealing with so many interests of those many people, trying to stay strong in its heavily polluted air, and of course you also still have your own personal struggle. Tough job. What I saw, however, as I kind of uncovered a bit deeper than what I used to know, somehow got me amazed. Despite the still-seemingly necessary improvement here and there, the city turned out to have a pretty good system.
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| The long way up and down to get into the bus stop |
First I'm gonna talk about the bus. I like the bus stop and the looooooong walk that the passengers need to get inside it; it makes you walk, it makes you healthy. The payment system using the card is also good. It enables you to 'deposit' during the days when you have more money, and with that 'deposit', you can still travel on another days when you have no cash. The buses also have two 'compartments' that separate both sexes, so they're safer to be in. They're less prone to traffic jam because they have their own tracks, and the long operational hours enable the passengers to do their things without worrying too much that they'll miss the bus. I saw some really pack bus stops, and somehow people there were just queuing! I saw people cut each other in my hometown and in the city I currently live in.. and I somehow have this judgement that Indonesians are not that keen when it comes to queuing. Buuuuutt in this city, the so-called cruel city full of struggles and deceit, people are queuing! They also offer a seat to those who seem to need it, or when they've been sitting for a while and their destination is one or two bus stops away. There are some cute guys too. I also met a couple of college students who were discussing laboratory procedures along the way (culturing NK cells, HeLa cells.. western blot) with genuine interest and excitement, no snob "oh ini loh guweh pinter banget" sign whatsoever. Kids were also on those highly packed buses. Aside from the regular, curiousity-induced questions such as "Ma habis ini haltenya apa? Nanti kita kalau sampai di (mention a destination) ngapain?" none of them went cranky! It was highly fascinating. I do love public transportation <3
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| Some cool spots to take photos |
The next thing is this fair. Again, it was highly super packed. People are everywhere selling and buying things. It was damn hot, I sweated a lot. I drank like three 600 ml bottles of drink in four hours or so -something that doesn't happen regularly. The cool things, however, again, people were queuing! To my even bigger surprise, they also didn't litter and spit wherever they like! The fair area was still pretty clean despite not being like germ-free clean.. but it was clean! I was a bit cautious, but in general I was so happy to see how that many people were able to keep themselves from littering, so my anxiety didn't get to the level where I feel like injecting 5 mg haloperidol to everybody. It was cool.
The fair also has may cool spots to take picture on, one of them is the "Festival of Light" area.. it was beautiful. They have ORANGE lanterns! I felt so blessed and.. orange! It was like in a wonderland. The orange wonderland. Added with Jason Orange, it would be just perfect.
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| The "Festival of Light". Look at those ORANGE lanterns! |
So that was it about the city. I still don't love it, but I dislike it less. Mas-mas OKC yang di sini kayanya juga pada lebih cakep dan berprospek daripada yang di dekat rumah, tapi yah.. The grass always grows greener on the other side, so I guess I'll just be thankful for what I've had. I'm also thankful for this change of view, for it makes me feel that I'm still highly amenable to change, so I will still have much room for improvement. It's just nice.
Coming up next: The Show; the very heart of this journey #OnMyWayHome. Stay tuned!
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