Man Sitting On Becak

Shot at Glodok district in Jakarta, Indonesia.

There are people who make a living carrying both people and luggage near a market place. There was such a man at the edge of the open-air market in Glodok, Jakarta. However, this man's car was not an automobile taxi, nor a three-wheeled auto Bajaj. His vehicle was a becak. He was a pedicab driver.

Becak is a bicycle taxi with a seat in front of the handlebars of the bicycle. The word seems to be derived from the Fujian dialect of Chinese, where the carriage is called 'becha'. They look similar to the cyclos seen in Vietnam. Because it was human-powered, it can only move at a leisurely pace. I heard that this is the reason why it is prohibited to drive on the main roads in Jakarta.

The man in this photo seemed to be waiting for customers at the edge of the market, looking for those who had finished shopping. But customers don't seem to show up very often. He took out an Indonesian cigarette called Garam and tried to smoke it. There was a time when I smoked only Garam in Japan, but I don't think I've seen Garam in Japan recently.