Taking The Bus To Town - Part 2

Continuing from my previous post... I boarded the next bus from the national mosque (mesjid agung) area heading to Perumnas. Similar to the previos bus, the one that I got on has all the wondeful hippy colors and decors all over it.

This is a photo of the inside of the previous bus. You can see the Jamaican flag with Bob Marley hanging on the ceiling. This photo was taken right before it became packed.

Ok, the following photo is the one that I boarded on the way home. It has flowers all across the wind screen. I would have felt very cosy if I were the driver. Look at all the different colors on their seats.

This guy below is the bus conductor who collects money from the passengers. He will go around showing his "grabbing hands" (open and close quickily) to all the passengers demanding for payment as he walks around the bus. I can see that he does not keep track on who he has taken money from and who has not because he came around asking for payment from me twice in the past 15 mins! He also acts as an usher, shouting at the potential passengers at the bus stops to board the bus. He also bangs the bus' back door whenever passengers have gone up to bus to tell the driver to drive off. In order to get down the bus, you just have to knock on the top of the bus' ceiling and the driver will stop (I have not seen any bells on the bus though).


Along the way home, I saw the following interesting event happening along the streets in front of Cinde market. People are actually having their arms tatoo'd along the dusty streets!

It looked as if someone was taking jabs of drugs but was a more legal activity. Blood, paint and dust... yucks!

The following photo shows 2 entertainers coming on to the bus. One guy carried a guitar and has a mike on his headset with amplifiers at the side. The other guy carried his drum set which consists of a 6 piece joint percussion equipment. They started to sing and play DANGDUT music (popular Malay-Arabic-Hindustani music with strong drum beats & synthesizers). They performed for a mere 5 mins on the bus but they were pretty good. Therefore, they earned my Rp1000 (RM0.35) before they left for another bus.

After a bumpy 30 min ride, we finally got back to Novotel where we parked the car and went home. It was an interesting 1.5 hour excursion despite the heat and deafening atmosphere. Now, I can proudly say that I have gone on every mode of transportation in Palembang....;)

1. Bus
2. Ankut (mini van/truck)
3. Becak (trishaw)
4. Perahu (boat)
5. Mobil (car)
6. Keretapi (train)
7. Pesawat (plane)