Sharing A Bicycle

In European cities like Paris, and Rome, people can rent bicycles in the downtown if they want to travel around the cities by bicycles. The rental fee can be some euros a day. These bikes are also equiped with GPS devices which can trace the bicycles if they have gone beyond the restricted area.

Providing bicycles for rental in big cities, is one of the city programs in reducing air pollution and preventing traffic jams.

When we were young, we like riding around with our own bicycles. We rode around the neighborhood, schools, and towns. Sometimes we rode further away to the beaches, and foothills. We took for granted for the bicycles we had.

But in other part of the world, even a small bike is a luxurious thing. In Manokwari, a small town of Papua island, not all family can afford to buy a bike for their children.

Children who have bicycles sometimes have to share them with their friends. A few days ago I took a picture of children with a bicycle. A child who has the bike charge 5,000 rupiahs (around 50 cents USD) an hour as rental fee on his friends.

Such amount is considered expensive by these little children whose parents are not wealthy enough to buy bike. So, if they want to rent their friend's bike, they have to work as car or motorcycle washer. For every motor cycle they wash, they can obtain between 2,000 and 5,000 rupiahs.

Next time when we ride bicycles again, we can remember that there are thousands of children around the world whose daily night dream is having or riding their own bicycles.

view of Manokwari town, West Papua

If you are interested in taking a holiday in Manokwari town. You can stay in Kagum Inn. It is an affordable choice for budget travellers. The inn has 11 rooms where each room costs 180 US dollar per night. The room can accomodate 2 to 4 travellers.
The inn is located in Jalan Brawijaya (formerly known as Panorama weg) near SD Negeri 1 (formerly known as Klim en Daal). For futher information on the availability of the rooms, you can call the inn's manager: Miss. Ivana Roring.
She can be contacted at her mobile: +62 81 283 07 331. It is better to book in advance to ensure the availability of the rooms. Sometimes groups of 30 to 50 people stay and occupy all the 11 rooms of the inn. On the average the travelers stay for three to one week in the inn.