Fred went a wandering.

The Thai call them Tuk tuks, Indonesians know them as Bajai, but they get used as heavy goods vehicles regardless of the name you prefer.

Alfamart is a chain of 'corner shops', very popular around Indonesia.
From time to time they've been known to wander around local villages with special offers.

We went for a little jaunt to the cinema this afternoon, then my eldest decided she fancied a curry in ITC, BSD. As the curry place is clean, tidy, cheap and the food tastes good, I didn't argue.

Whilst waiting for my delicious curry, I took a look at a couple of other stalls.

Here's one



This place can't be described as I did the curry place, and there's little chance of me ever trying the food.
The filth was bad, and I'm sure ITC operate a no smoking policy.
Still, I could be wrong.

Seat belts are not required for truck passengers (Part II)

A truck down a hole.
The drains are covered, but they aren't even close to strong enough to hold a fully laden truck, so sights like this are common.





In fairness, the hole is always clearly marked with reflective signs and all normal safety measures so no one else falls victim to it.

Fred, your photos of that truck reminded me of one of the most bizarre things I’ve seen in my many years living on Bali. 

Around Ubud we seem to be somewhat prone to sinkholes, apparently the result of vacant underground streams.  When they happen they generally are only a meter or two in diameter, or in their longest dimension.  But one day…while driving in Sukawati we were following a large truck, much like the one you illustrate.  It was about three cars ahead of us when suddenly it literally vanished. 

A substantial sinkhole had opened up, and entirely swallowed that truck so deeply that the top of it was at least a meter deeper than the road surface.   

The driver was fine…shaken up, but the look on his face was, as you can imagine, utterly priceless. 

Never failing to want to learn more about Balinese customs from my wife, I couldn’t resist asking her, “so, what sort of ceremony covers this sort of thing?”   

Cheers!

Ubudian wrote:

The driver was fine…shaken up, but the look on his face was, as you can imagine, utterly priceless.

How about the smell of his underwear? 

It all happened so fast…I doubt there was time for that driver to “react” either voluntarily, or not.   

16 May 2016

A truck with a crane smashed into a footbridge, causing to to collapse in a spectacular fashion, blocking both lanes of a busy toll road.
The driver needs a very good lawyer and a change of underwear.
I'm taking a guess the crane was partially raised as it should have easily passed under the bridge.
However, that's only a guess.

The press were out in force, probably more of them than there were coppers, and there were a lot of plod.

The bridge has now been removed and traffic is flowing, leaving only the smashed ends, a few police road markings, the damage to the side of the road, and a dent in the central reservation to mark the accident's position.

This is Indonesia, so the utmost must be done to make the area safe, totally blocking the path so no one can accidentally pass and drop.
I have to wonder if anyone realised ....

WOW---But this will happen now an then every where, I have seen similar accidents in the USA more then once. Very nice on seen coverage.

I live within a pushbike ride, so it was very easy to access the area, but I think I must have been the first bicycle rider on the toll road for a long time.
I love the banner they've used to block the bridge - No drop - who are they kidding?

Hopefully there weren't any folks on the foot bridge when it collapsed? 

And I agree...great coverage of the accident!   

No one was hurt, but I'm guessing the driver is deep in it. I'll try to find out what happened to him.

Indonesian roads are commonly pretty bad, but there is a big push towards making them better.
Sadly, cash and lazy often make for a crap or half finished job, as we see in this case where the contractors haven't bothered filling in the drop between the rebuilt road and the side road.
The driver found some bricks to stuff under his tyre, and off he went.

I've been photographing an old building for some months now, mostly because I expected an accident or few.
I thought it would be a worker or few get crushed or fall in a spectacular way, but a bigger bang was to be had.
It was started in 1995, but finally abandoned in 1998, partially due to the financial crisis, and partially because of crap building techniques that made it unsafe - more than anyone thought.

This was the building in October 2015.



and in January 2016.



As you can see, they've removed a few floors, and it was all by hand.

Workers in November



Here they are in January dropping a concrete beam by hand.



You can see by the lack of safety gear and the reckless work techniques why I thought there was going to be a problem ........

Forgive me posting someone else's picture, but I didn't get one of the collapse

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016 … apses.html

Some parts of an old skyscraper in Bintaro, South Tangerang, Banten, collapsed on Thursday afternoon causing clouds of dust in the surrounding area.

(Note - I like the Jakarta post)



OOPS!

I wandered over the following day

The road was closed



and this is what the building looked like

As you'd expect, the press were there in force.
I noticed a crew looking for a good place to film, so I gave them a shout to suggest my position would work well - It did, and I got to watch the live broadcast. Their equipment was interesting, especially the live streaming box.



Looks good, but zooming out shows how they got the camera angle



I had a little chat with a dude I met on the top floor of Bintaro trade centre, him telling me how all the workers were on their lunch break at the bottom of the building, but one guy was still up top.
Seems he was on the part that remained up, so he had a very lucky escape. I wonder if he was wearing brown trousers.

A truck fallen down drains is a common sight here.



I probably see one a week, so we have to ask why it happens.

Here's another one.



I'll make it easy to see



and the hole it left.



The drivers either don't see the drains, or just don't realise the covers can't take the weight of their lorries.

This is not a terrorist deploying chemical weapons, he's a worker 'fogging' to kill mosquitoes.
This is a very common sight in Indonesia as they desperately try to keep these nasty little insects away, but you'll notice he has almost no protection from the poison he's spraying around.



This is also a common sight.
The girl leaves the young child alone at the side of the road



then wanders into traffic busking for money

Wow Fred, I didn't miss Indonesia anymore

Much as Indonesia has its down side, it has a far greater up side.
I had this chat with one of my nieces in England last night, coming to the conclusion Indonesia is the easy winner between the two countries.
I told her about the food sellers that appear before breaking the fast, she told me how many drug dealers she'd seen selling their stuff openly in the streets.

Lack of education is still a major problem in Indonesia.
It isn't really anyone's fault, more a combination of factors, but the upshot remains the same; a lot of people have no clue how much damage they're doing to their country when they throw rubbish away.
A few weeks ago I accepted an invitation to Trisakti university, an excellent establishment on Jakarta's inner ring road. As I was a little early, I took the opportunity for a mini wander with the smaller of my cameras, a lovely Olympus compact with 24X optical zoom.

i·ro·ny1
ˈīrənē/
noun
the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.
"“Don't go overboard with the gratitude,” he rejoined with heavy irony"
synonyms:    sarcasm, causticity, cynicism, mockery, satire, sardonicism
"that note of irony in her voice"
a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often amusing as a result.
plural noun: ironies
"the irony is that I thought he could help me"
synonyms:    paradox, incongruity, incongruousness
"the irony of the situation"

I could also be defined as a pile of anti flood sandbags piled up against a save the planet sign.

Small restaurants are very common here so a wide variety of foods are available on pretty much every street.



Oh, food and motorcycles



The UK health and hygiene people would go crackers at this, but it's nothing odd here.
As a note - the food is pretty good there.

My first attempt with the new camera was this. People selling all sorts from motorbikes is pretty common, but even local standards see this is overloaded.
Note the clever patented rain protection - I've heard a whisper Honda have eyes on buying that in a bid to knock Yamaha out of the market.

This is a tree, a basic, common and ordinary tree, but with bamboo learning against it.
Bamboo is cheap or free here, so it's very common to see the stuff being used for building work.



This tree has more hanging around in its branches.







Flying chickens aren't the norm here, but they're not that unusual either.
They can fly up to the branches, probably about 3 meters, and can manage short flights of 10 or 20 meters.
and they're pretty big.

These have been around for a while now, but they've expanded to sell all the types of petrol available in Indonesia.

It's holiday season here, and that means traffic jammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmms ~ less, that long.

In turn that means misery, overheating cars, overheating people and business opportunities.

Many of the street vendors are extremely poor, meaning their shack is commonly their home as well.
An early morning jaunt allows you to see things most people never do.

Without a doubt, and ever since Fred started this thread almost five years ago, this has been the most informative and insightful thread on Indonesia.  And, as I view the boards of other countries…I would say that it’s the most informative and insightful thread on this entire forum.

The candid honesty to be found here is as refreshing as it is informative and important for anyone wishing to understand the way of life and culture of Indonesians in and around Jakarta. 

While an amateur, Fred has the instincts of a professional photo journalist, and his camera’s lens endlessly captures the abject reality of his, and his fellow Indonesian’s daily life, whilst the camera is in his skilful hands.  Fred is unquestionably aware of the idiom, “a picture is worth a thousand words.”   

I only say all of this to encourage Fred to keep up the excellent work he has done here for the past five years. 

In a word, Selamat, Fred.  And please, keep it going! 

I believe my face has gone a little red.
Thank you for your kind comments.

Fred wrote:

This is a tree, a basic, common and ordinary tree, but with bamboo learning against it.
Bamboo is cheap or free here, so it's very common to see the stuff being used for building work.

https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7581/2750 … e55c_z.jpg

This tree has more hanging around in its branches.

https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7390/2804 … 0432_z.jpg

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7525/2809 … 80ce_z.jpg

https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7334/2750 … 1c3c_z.jpg

Flying chickens aren't the norm here, but they're not that unusual either.
They can fly up to the branches, probably about 3 meters, and can manage short flights of 10 or 20 meters.
and they're pretty big.

I bet they are tasty as well. 

Good going Fred 

Bread is surprisingly popular here, so it's sold in all supermarkets, most mini markets and by many street street sellers who run about in/on everything from a pushbike to a van.

I finally got around to trying the bus from Bintaro to Ratu plaza in Jakarta.
It's cheap at Rp14,000 (Less than a quid), and it's fast, but, and there's always a big but, it was really bumpy to the point where even I felt travel sick

I saw my first lady motorcycle taxi driver today.

Indonesia is a country of extremes.
Here's a guy trying to earn an honest buck by making brooms to sell at the side of the road.



The owner of this old car probably doesn't make brooms for a living.

The local government in Jakarta is seriously worried about the terrible traffic jams, as is pretty much everyone who gets stuck in them.
I'm guessing the free bus service is an attempt to get people out of their cars, but I'm open to correction.





The buses are 'functional' but clean and tidy ... and free

And, sadly, empty!