But in the morning, the rain had stopped and we hope that the water level subsided a little. When we finally managed to get a cab at about 10, the streets were quite empty. It is very unlike Jakarta. That was because many people got stuck at home and couldn't get to work.
We went onto the empty highway, and thought the progress was pretty good and smooth sailing. And wondered where the flood might be, and whether we would really get stuck in a flooding cab somewhere.
At the second toll booth, the jam started. Roads were still dry, but the 3 -lane highway was just packed full and I think the average speed would be about 10-15km/hr. We also heard from other taxi drivers who stopped by the roadside, that water level was half the height of the car door. Oh shit...
After about another 30 minutes, we finally came to the test :
The level at the side looked scary. There was this VIP that was trying to get to the airport as well, and he had a police escort trying to expedite the way. But once they reached this flooded area, they had to follow the crowd too.
This VIP's outrider was obviously trying to keep his balance and not get swiped by cars avoiding the water
This was the front view. At least, the right lane wasn't so bad. Some taller vehicles tried to pass on the left, causing waves that shook the taxi I was in.
See the water level. That is an SUV. I can hear water gurgling under the floorboard of our taxi. An inch higher and our taxi would have been flooded.
We passed by a policeman. He was waving for cars to pass. Wonder why. There is only 1 lane and everyone is going through carefully.
When we reached the end of the flooded area, even this vehicle stalled. Luckily our taxi didn't.
We arrived safely at the airport at about 1pm. It took us a total of about 3 hours for a normally 50-minute journey.
We originally had the 7pm flight. Wanted to change to 5pm, but no confirmed seats available. We had wanted to arrive at airport earlier to standby for earlier flight, hoping to come home earlier.
Unfortunately, when we arrived at the airport, I guess almost half the passengers missed their 12.30 flight. They are all waiting for empty seats in the next few flights.
2.25pm flight was full. Some people missed their flight too, and about 20 of the earlier passengers got on. Still, that left about 70+ people (who missed their flight) to queue and wait for next few flights.
So our hopes of getting on an earlier flight were dashed. Wasted the whole day at the airport but still reached back Singapore at 10pm. *sigh*
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