Cisarua-Lapangan Banteng in 2,5 Hours

The office asked me to help out in a 3-day 'konsinyering' in Cisarua, Bogor, starting last Tuesday. For those who are unfamiliar with the term, 'konsinyering' means doing work in isolated place(hotels or resorts, mainly); away from phonecalls, meetings, and other everyday office activities. The aim of which is to get as much work done in predesignated amount of time.

Anyway, i found out that my boss only gave me two day permission, so i had to go back to Jakarta, somehow, this morning. I had two options: to go by bus or by train. It seemed like going by bus was the more convenient choice. I could simply board a bus from the street in front of the Hotel and ride to Kampung Rambutan, then i could board another to Gambir and complete the rest of the journey on foot. 15 minutes of it. But given the situation that today is indeed a weekday and traffic jam would be everywhere, even as near as the Ciawi Freeway-Gate. Chances are I would arrive in Jakarta somewhere near lunchtime. So train it is...

I planned to start at 5 a.m.. However, due to the failure of alarm clock i wasn't on the road until 6.  I boarded a small angkot to Bogor. Since i was unfamiliar with the terrain, the driver offered some pointers. He agreed to drop me off at Sukasari and told me to board another 'angkot' to PLN from where I was to walk to Bogor railway station.  By 6.30 i was in Sukasari. I thought i was making a good time because the last of Pakuan Express is at 7. How far can it be to the station? Can't be more than half an hour, right? After all, Bogor is a small city. Boy, was i a dumb ass...

The kind angkot driver then directed me to board another angkot that would take me to PLN. It was a pleasant journey at first. The angkot glided slowly but sure. However, after ten minutes, the driver began grumbling in Sundanese about the lack of passnger and the condition of the angkot business. He cursed the entire city official for the licence-granting policy that in his opinion was carried loosely. Too many angkots for too small a city. To make things worse, at a certain intersection he stopped. Literally, stopped. He decided to wait for more passengers, coompeting with hundreds of other angkots in the process. Minutes ticked by and i glanced at my watch. Things like this always happen when you're already late. It's already 7. I had missed the Pakuan. Nonetheless, i held my ground and be patient. Fifteen minutes and two additional passengers later the angkot moved on, driver still grumbling.

Finally, i reached the PLN and hurriedly walked to the station. I couldn't help noticing that Bogor wasn't really famous for its cleanliness or orderlyness. Vendors were everywhere, inhabiting spaces previously meant for pedestrians. The station at last! Hundreds of people already there. Most of them were already packed into economy class trains. I would ride on one of them if i miss the Pakuan. I had nothing against economy trains, except for...okay, you have to ride one of them to know what i'm saying...the train is a battleground in which you have to fight for space and defend yourself from the heat, pickpockets, mugger, and sex perverts. Pakuan, however, is a different story. It has air conditioner, fairly comfortable benches and the best part is it doesn't stop at every station from Bogor to Jakarta Kota. It's 7.30 and the last of the Pakuans had departed..........or maybe not?

Indonesia Railway Service is notorious for its unpunctuality, if there is such word as 'unpunctuality'. Bottom line is, if the notice board at the station says that your train will arrive at 9, it actually means 10.30 at the earliest. However, this morning i was glad of that 'unpunctuality'. As i walked to the nearest economy ticket booth i noticed that the Pakuan booth was still open. I rushed in and bought my self a ticket. The train was about to depart..30 minutes off schedule. So went in and enjoyed the spacious ride....at 9.30 i was back at the office. I still missed the morning attendance check, though...