When we got to the train station, we were told that the commuter train to Bogor temporarily did not leave from the station we were at and that would have to take the bus to a nearby station. We looked at the map and decided that the other station was close enough to walk to. We asked several people for directions at various points along the way and each time we were told how to get there by bus. When we said we wanted to walk, we always got the same response: "Walking?" in an incredulous tone followed by laughter. Indonesians seemed surprisingly lazy throughout my trip. For example, there must have been more taxis in Bogor than in Las Vegas. And when I was at the airport, so many people were using roll carts to move their luggage rather than carrying it. Maybe it is a result of insecurity about seeming poor? Many men keep one fingernail long to show that they don't work in the fields.
When we first arrived in Bogor, it seemed like a nice little town, but as we walked to try and find a place to eat, it quickly turned into a madhouse. The road was one big traffic jam of cars and pedestrians. We turned into a mall that we thought would have food, but it seemed to only have clothing stores and was packed worse than Columbia Mall on Christmas Eve. And this was a Monday morning. Maybe people just got pushed in there because there was no more room on the street.
The botanical garden was quite large and may in fact have been world class, but it was mostly trees, which we had trouble getting excited about. They did have a nice orchid garden that supposedly had thousands of different species in it, but it didn't seem to be big enough for that to be true and I only saw a couple dozen types.
Afterward, we finally found a couple of restaurants, A&W and a Japanese fast food place. I got a root beer float to go with my Japanese food, possibly not the most traditional combination, but I certainly enjoyed it.