Taking The Bus To Town - Part 1

Last weekend I decided to take the Bus Kota (local bus) to downtown Palembang. The locals call it "bis kota". My wife and son have both taken the local bus before. Even my father in law who seldom comes have taken it when he came 3 years ago. So I HAD to take this opportunity to try out the bus.

I invited my driver Iwan to tag along. I was taken by surprise when he came in his nice black shirt (he normally wears T-shirt - see adjacent photo). I asked him why he dressed up but he just denied it. I thought to myself he must have thought that this was "a day out with the boss", so better dress nicely!....LOL!

We parked our car at Novotel and crossed the road to take the bus. Iwan chose one that had "good music". My legs were too long to fit in between the seats, so I had to sit sideways. I guess they designed the buses for people less than 1.5 m to save space?

The music in the truck was deafening.... oops, did I just write "truck"? Maybe because it felt like sitting in a truck. They have no cushions. Only a PVC sheet covered wooden seat. Back to the music.... it was so loud and the bass was so extreme until I could feel my arm hairs vibrating! The seat was vibrating too.

After a few stops, the bus was packed like a sardine can. Iwan did warn me about pick pockets, so I only brought along some cash and ID with me. A bunch of students came in and they all started smoking in the bus. They are only primary school students! Along the way also came some "entertainers" with their guitars hoping to make a living from their 1 minute on the bus performance.

We reached the Ampera stop after half an hour of sauna, 2nd hand smoke and ear drum bashing. I have nowhere specific to go, so I decided to walk around the Palembang national mosque (which I will blog about in detail next time).

Then we went to the "bus stop" opposite the mosque. Iwan decided to buy me a drink and insisted that he has to pay. We drank this orange cordial cup drink called "Ale Ale". Normally I would not buy drinks from the road side but since it was in a sealed cup I thought, "what the heck"! Iwan does not like to smile when he takes photos, not even on his wedding day! I had to force him to smile but asking him to hold up the "Ale Ale" drink and pretend that he was promoting it. Out came this photo with his "smile" and I told him nobody would ever buy this drink anymore....

The buses in Palembang are actually color-coded. They have red, blue, beige, yellow and green colors. If you are not a local like Iwan, you would have no idea how to catch the bus! It only costs Rp2500 (RM0.90) to hop on and you can go from Simpang Patal (junction next to Novotel) to Ampera bridge (1/2 hour ride).

We had to wait at this bus stop for 10 mins because I had to wait for Iwan to finish his cigarette. While waiting along the sidewalk, we saw students across the road. Iwan said that this is a place where student gangs hang out. When they see other gangs coming, they will fight. Just as he said it, we saw a group of students chasing another group down the road.

Then our bus came and I had to continue the second part of my "adventure" in another post....

TO BE CONTINUED.