I just survived three hours of traffic when I wrote this post.
I was on my way from the office and couldn’t wait to be at home. But then, traffic happened. Jakarta on a rainy Friday night happened (it’s supposed to be summer, hello global warming). I was sitting comfortably by the window, inside a shuttle bus, reading a book, listening to one of my playlist in Spotify when I realized that the bus hasn’t moved for quite a while.
When I looked up, I began to notice some rain drops had started to appear on the glasses. I could imagine a silly convo between me and them. They would greet me like, “Hello, it’s us again,” while smirking devilishly. And I would reply in hatred, “Nooo.. why now? Why during a rush hour on a Friday? Why can’t you guys let us have our TGIFs?”
I started to let ungratefulness took control.
But then, when I looked outside. My heart began to melt with compassion. A bunch of people riding their motorcycles were stuck under the rain. They couldn’t move as well. I was inside, sheltered comfortably from the rain, while they were outside. They had more reasons to be mad at the whole situation.
The whole scene convinced me more that I would never ride a motorcycle in Jakarta. It’s tough. Then, I chuckled. I had a complete different thought about riding a motorcycle last week when I was in Bali. It’s funny how two different situations could make you react to the same thing in two different ways.
As opposed to my total unwillingness to ever ride a motorcycle in Jakarta, I LOVE riding motorcycle in Bali. Most probably, because it’s less stressful there. It kind of therapeutical for me. There’s something calming about hopping on the motorbike, wearing just tanks and short, plus a pair of shades, enjoying the breeze and a warm kiss from the sun.
Last week, when we were in Bali, I had the best riding experience. So far. If you’ve been to Bali, you would notice that there’s a new toll near the airport that was built in 2013.
Bali Mandara Toll is the first floating highway in Indonesia, as it was built above the sea. The first time I saw that highway, I thought it was just another toll, made to reduce traffic. One day, I noticed that there’s actually a small lane at the side of the road, made specially for motorcycle. The adventurer little boy in me started to come out. Since then, I’ve been secretly wishing to cross that toll on a motorcycle.
I have never had the time to do it, plus I didn’t have the guts to do it by myself haha. It would be great to have a friend to accompany me, but I never thought anyone from my circle of friends would welcome my weird idea.
DR & I were in Bali for our friends’ wedding, which was held at Uluwatu. It would take us about 30 minutes to get there by car, from our hotel, which was located at Legian. We had plenty of time to explore Bali before the wedding, so we rented a motorcycle.
Long story short, during our breakfast in Buro Coffee, DR spontaneously proposed the idea to go to the wedding using the motorcycle that we rented (we were supposed to go there by shuttle bus provided by the wedding venue). I nodded my head right away in a split second right after he threw the idea.
We packed our clothes and blazers for the wedding, wore our chinos and sneakers and went on a one hour spontaneous motor ride from Legian to Uluwatu. Just about five minutes from the hotel, our bike ran out of gas. I was grateful that the machine died not too far from a gas station.
Guided by the google maps, we finally arrived at the toll gate. The magnificent view of a vertical horizon, where the sky meets the sea at the far end of the world, greeted us. After paying for IDR 4,500, we made our way into the Bali Mandara Toll. My heart was filled with excitement. It felt like I was queuing for roller coaster ride in a theme park.
The wind blew in a friendly manner. Sometimes she teased me a little bit too much, I found my motorcycle being pushed away to the right by the wind coming from the ocean side. 12 clicks later, we finally exited the highway. A part of me didn’t want it to end that fast.
Here’s a short video that we took during the trip (music: “Always” – Panama).
We arrived at Tirtha Uluwatu, probably, 20 minutes later. We changed our clothes. Washed our faces. Sprayed a perfume. And voila, we were as sharp (even sharper, I shall say) as those who got there by car.
What’s next? A photo-op of course!
Write to you later,
HG. (@gersonhenry)
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