Taxis

So I remembered another reason why we are glad to have a car and driver.  Yesterday, because my driver was unavailable, I had planned on taking the taxi wherever I needed to go. I thought I would call ahead for a taxi instead of trying to hail one off the streets.  Well, the taxi never showed up the first time. 

My son and I walked to the nearby hotel and got a Silverbird Taxi.  We made it to his Mandarin class in time.  Since the cost of the Silverbird Taxi is rather pricey...at least double the rate of a Bluebird Taxi, I decided I would walk home.  Well, I got caught in the rain so I was soaking wet by the time I arrived home.  That was not too fun.  My son was able to get a ride back with a friend who is in the same class and happens to live in our complex.

The second time I called for a taxi in advance, the taxi was running about 45 minutes late.  I was able to jump in a different taxi when I saw one pull up to the apartment.  This taxi driver took me on some crazy round-about loop to avoid waiting the 15-minutes or so it would have taken to go up the street, make a loop, and go the other direction off of Jalan Sudirman. If I would have known what he was going to do, I would have objected.   About 1/2 an hour later, I found myself in front of my apartment again albeit going the other direction.  I was pretty frustrated. 

So 1.5 hours later, I made it to my destination.  Traffic is always terrible in Jakarta, but yesterday evening was particularly bad.  The total cost of taking taxis yesterday was around US $17. I didn't even go a couple of other places I had originally planned on.  It would have been an even more expensive and frustrating day.

So, my driver is back at work today.  I missed him alot yesterday.  The funny thing is I don't think I'm going anywhere today...lol.  I'm just glad he's here.