All About Bali & Taxi Online

 From childhood to adulthood, frankly, I only lived and lived in Indonesia. I come from Java and currently live in Bali. Java and Bali have similar seasonal and weather characteristics. During the dry season the temperature feels cooler and drier but during the rainy season the humidity is high enough that the temperature feels hotter. Because most of my life has been in Indonesia, we don't really feel how special and comfortable it is to live in a tropical country. Usually we just complain because we feel the heat and humidity of the air. We do various efforts to avoid heat so that our skin does not get darker. If necessary we try to use whitening products so that the skin can look brighter, whiter and radiant. It turns out that this is very contrary to some of the statements and stories from my passengers. Most of them respond very positively to this temperature that we think is too hot. For example, two of my passengers from Canada, they told me they really like hot temperatures...

Today we live in an era that is completely digital and full of various choices of applications on our smartphones. Almost every people has a smartphone. Sometimes one person can have more than one smartphone because it has become a demand for life in the current millennial era. If we want to order food without the hassle, want to shop for various needs, want to travel without having to be tired of driving and looking for a parking space or even traveling, now it is very easy with the application on our smartphones. Likewise with the world of transportation, nowadays they also don't want to be outdone by following technological developments with the presence of online transportation, both two wheeled (ojek) and four wheeled (online taxi). There are several online technology players both from within the country and online transportation applications from abroad. Call it gojek, an online-based application which is the pride of the Indonesian people. Gojek services include online motor...

At that time I was in the Sanur area. The pick up location was in one of the luxury villas in the area. From the name on the app, I could bet that my passengers were from South Asia (Bollywood film country). The stop of their trip is to the Ngurah Rai International Airport Denpasar. After arrived at the villa I confirmed that I could wait for them for 10 minutes. After five minutes of waiting finally my passenger appeared.  An old man and a big woman wearing tacky make up. After seeing their luggage, my head hurt immediately so I just want to cancel it. Oh my God! Two super big and two small suitcases plus some other luggage. With a little heavy heart I lifted the really heavy suitcase into the trunk of the car, it's okay, I thought while exercising (I thought to myself). After reminding all of their belongings, I finally pressed the gas pedal to the airport. From Sanur to the airport, there are actually two routes road we can choose, through main road By Pass Ngurah Rai or  v...

This thrilling incident occurred about two years ago. I didn't expect to get a passenger who was a pregnant woman.  She had contractions and ready to give birth. On the way, her mother and I tried to calm to the women. The moans and screams in my car actually made me panic and feel a little depressed too. But I tried to keep driving calm. So I could quickly get to the government maternity hospital (puskesmas) where she was delivered. Half an hour earlier I got an order in the Kesambi area. Before I started chatting on the app, apparently there is an incoming call from a woman. She asked me to pick her up soon as possible because her daughter will give birth soon. I immediately left and quickly arrived at the pick up location. Slowly I heard moans and cries of pain from inside the boarding house. A big pregnant woman carried by a mother came rushing towards my car. I quickly opened the door for my clients. After put of their stuffs in the baggage, I started the trip with scared and ...

It was the end of 2017. This was the time when Bali tourism was down because there was too many news about the eruption of the only volcano in Bali, Mount Agung. Starting from television, social media like facebook and a lot of pictures on Instagram, almost every day contains news about the eruption of Mount Agung. Even on Instagram, there are a lot of tourists who deliberately pose very close to Mount Agung, which is puffing thick smoke high into the sky. Their photos were also made phenomenal with various strange poses. This turned out to make my clients curious and want to pose the same as other tourists. Of course I didn't advise them to approach Mount Agung. The eruption could occur suddenly without anyone knowing when this mountain will really seriously erupt. But my passengers still persuaded me to take them at least to the city of Karangasem. Even though the distance is not too close from Mount Agung, at least they can see the volcano with puffing up thick smoke.  This phot...

 My first unique experience occurred when I picked up the customers from one of hotel in Kuta with the stop in  Canggu area. It was the middle of the day and the weather was very hot. Actually the distance from Kuta to Canggu is not far, but when driving during the traffic it can get very congested, causing the travel time to be around one hour longer. My passengers are two peoples, one man around 50 years old and the other a woman around 45 years old. After put the suitcase and luggage in the trunk I once again confirmed that the destination was correct in Canggu. The woman said yes and finally I started driving the car. I asked them where they came from, the woman said they came from Eastern of Indonesia. But I felt something was strange with them. Every question I asked was always answered with short answers by the woman without asking me back. Strangeness also happened to the  men because he was just silent, even since they entered the car they had not even had talkin...

There is no doubt that Indonesia has a lot of good food. Each region in Indonesia has distinctive food that can be relied upon for its enjoyment and taste. The most famous is rendang from Minangkabau West Sumatra. Rendang has been choosed as the most delicious food in the world. Who doesn't like rendang? This rich spice dish can always arouse anyone's appetite. Rendang with chopped beef is usually served with rice, young cassava leaves, omelette and curry soup. Just imagining it makes you hungry. Apart from rendang, there are soto, meatballs, chicken noodles, satay, fried chicken and many delicious foods in Indonesia. Maybe because we are often eat these foods, so we do not feel that the foods have special taste. This is different from the tourists and foreigners I had asked about. Most of them really like a variety of traditional Indonesian food. Fried rice and fried noodles are two of the favorite foods for them in Bali, especially young people who have just visited here. How...

"Pak/Bu Tolong dicek semua barang-barangnya ya" saya selalu tak bosan-bosannya mengingatkan penumpang untuk melakukan pengecekan barang-barang bawaan mereka sebelum turun dari dalam mobil. Spontan mereka pun biasanya melakukan cross check semua barangnya.. Setelah memastikan tidak ada barang yang tertinggal akhirnya trip pun selesai dan mereka keluar dari mobil. Akan tetapi, meski sudah diingatkan terkadang masih ada saja barang mereka yang tertinggal mulai barang yang remeh dengan harga murah sampai barang branded berharga mahal. Beberapa barang yang pernah tertinggal di mobil saya adalah kacamata, lipstik, kuteks, obat-obatan, dompet, topi (beberapa kali), makanan, iphone, bahkan laptop pernah ketinggalan di mobil saya. Begitu menyadari ada barang yang tertinggal kita seakan melakukan pekerjaan dua kali tapi dengan bayaran sekali, jadi rugi. Begitu selesai trip saya berusaha melakukan pengecekan ulang untuk memastikan tidak ada barang penumpang yang tertinggal, mulai dari k...

"Ayo cepat Bang, waktunya sudah mepet, bisa-bisa aku telat boarding nih" kata Ratih seolah tak sabar ingin segera turun dari mobil dan segera berlari menuju terminal 3 bandara Soekarno Hatta "Iya Neng, sabar. . Abang sudah poll gass nih " kata Bang Rojak .  "nggak tau kenapa hari ini macetnya parah banget ya neng" "Sabar Ratih, sebentar lagi juga nyampek terminal... Jangan suka buru-buru gitu ya, tadi Ibu sudah memperingatkan kamu untuk segera berangkat, eh kamu malah keasyikan telponan sama temanmu" kata ibu Ratih menasehati anaknya "Di Bali, nanti hati-hati ya.. jaga diri baik-baik.. jangan sering keluar malam, jangan begadang dan jangan terlalu kecapekan.. sering-sering istirahat dan jangan telat makan" "Iya, tenang aja Bu.. kalau masalah makan, ditanggung.. beres lah.." "Udah, turun sini aja bang" Ratih pun berjalan cepat setengah berlari mengambil troli Mang Rojak menurunkan koper dan barang barang lalu meletakk...

I am not a brave person. I am a typical person who is timid about mystical things. Since I was a child, I lived in a village where some people have believed that ghosts existed at night. Friday night in the myth of Javanese is the most sacred night.There is one film that greatly influences the myth about Friday night. In the film, how scary the events that occurred on friday night were presented. Various kinds of Indonesian ghosts such as genderuwo, pocong, kuntilanak, glundung plecek, memedi bandhoso, jerangkong, etc. sometimes still occurred in my mind even though I was in this old. The memory of the stories of ghosts and friends can suddenly reappear when I drive alone. Especially on a lonely road at night there are strange feelings, creeps and fears that make me panic and suddenly break out in cold sweat. As I have told in another part of this book. When I have driven at night in one of the quiet villages in Bangli, I was really scared and get the flood of cold sweat all over my bo...

Buku ini mengisahkan tentang pengalaman penulis sebagai pengemudi Taxi Online. Berbagai kisah dan pengalaman yang lucu, unik, menyenangkan, menegangkan, menyedihkan maupun menyebalkan tersaji dalam beberapa cerita di dalam buku ini. Setting lokasi kejadian berada di Bali sehingga sebagian melibatkan penumpang turis asing dari berbagai negara dengan karakter dan keunikannya masing-masing.   Beberapa hal yang unik yang harus dihadapi penulis diantaranya adalah saat harus menghadapi penumpang suami istri yang lagi bertengkar di dalam mobilnya, saat mengantarkan penumpang yang hampir melahirkan di dalam mobil serta menjadi korban pelecehan yang dilakukan oleh penumpangnya. Ada juga pengalaman horror dan menakutkan yang dialami penulis saat harus melewati daerah kampung yang sangat terpencil di daerah Bangli dan Pecatu serta lewat daerah sepi di tengah pemakaman saat tengah malam. Di dalam buku ini juga tersaji bagaimana sang driver terpaksa harus mengantar penumpangnya untuk menuj...