There is a bug going round that is spreading like wildfire, and much as I tried to resist, I finally succumbed to it and all it's feverish manifestations.  It is the bug of cycling, triggered by the Sunday traffic phenomenon in Jakarta referred to by the cognoscenti as CFD (Car Free Day).  This is the early morning time when, for a few precious hours, Jakarta's main thoroughfare is actually made available to vehicles that don't run on fossil fuels, but on pedal power and a healthy breakfast.  To be honest, until then, the thought of having to drag myself out of bed at an ungodly hour on the day when a lie in is a better option and expose myself to the sun and the pollution, was less than appealing.  But after much persuasions from a couple of friends, I thought, what the heck.  You have to try something once.  So, with a borrowed bike and a pair of gym shoes, I ventured forth.

My brain was still somewhere in Noddy land and the unwieldy contraption that I found myself on was uncooperative - the last time I rode a bike was when I was at elementary school and even then the experience was not a happy one.  After much wobbling around, I was finally able to grasp the workings of gravity and found my balance, enough to enable me to look around.  I didn't know what to expect.  What I knew was I didn't expect to see a sea of people on a road that on a normal day would be chockablock with cars.  It looked as if the entire denizens of Jakarta and their families had crawled out of bed en masse to invade the city.

From the very young to the very old, from the beginning of the Pizza Man statue, down Sudirman Road, all the way to the Hotel Indonesia roundabout, up Thamrin Road and the open space at Monas, they proceeded up and down, on bicycles and on foot.  Moreover, on either sides of the thoroughfare, food vendors push their carts, offering bowls of 'bubur ayam' for the weary, while street sellers spread their wares on the ground, peddling all manner of things from sunglasses, caps and bandanas to riding gear.