Mon 16 May 2005
To keep this from getting very long, I will summarize my trip in bullet form for easy digestion…
- 2 lanes means 3 lanes of cars and 4 lanes of motorcycles squeezing between the cars in each lane and the cars and the curb
- Some customs officer pocketed USD$50 for taxes on some equipment we had to bring over. No forms filled out, no receipt…
- I hear Bali is fun, but with late flights and early morning flights, I wouldn’t know…maybe if flights to Asia become cheap someday, I can find out!
- I became a millionaire while there just by changing USD$100 for Indonesian Rupiahs…
- Most of my pictures here were taken from inside the cab on the way to the airport…
- Sure we had cable, but 1 english channel out of the 4 available, does not make for good channel surfing
- Somehow HBO Signature, Cinemax, Fashion TV and Star Sports are shown on the same channel at random times during the day. Interesting movie on HBO? Don’t bother starting it, because Cinemax or Fashion TV will be on before it is over…
- Key makers in Soroako are not very skilled. After 1 week of 2 people working different shifts and sharing 1 set of keys, we had 2 more sets of keys made. Long story short…after a long day at work with roommate at work, neither of the new sets worked and had to wait in the car listening to THE radio station until my roommate left the plant at 11 pm.
- Same night as above, upon finally getting into the house, housekeeping locked my room door…that door’s key was not in any of the sets we had. It took 3 security officers to break into the room. One with a crowbar, one with a semi-automatic rifle and one to supervise…
- Still, same night…sleeping in a car while waiting on someone can really mess up an “exiting car routine”. I found out after security broke down my door that my keys were locked in my Toyota Kijang! Great way to end an already wonderful night…
- All the clothes I wore while there will be permanently marked with J32 thanks to the daily laundry service. All the clothes except the ones washed by the dyslexic worker who wrote J23 on some of my clothes. This really had us and security confused the night of the key/door fiasco since there is no 23 Jawa, but the shirt I was wearing said otherwise
- I didn’t realize cockroaches came in jumbo!
- I have never lived with so may geckos. Thankfully they were quiet, unlike that stupid Geico gecko!
May 17th, 2005 at 12:44 pm
ok..so i read all that…got anything else to keep me entertained while at work?
welcome back bro
May 17th, 2005 at 10:26 pm
Welcome home. I know how I feel after just a few days away from home; it’s great to be home, huh?!!
May 18th, 2005 at 12:28 pm
Sure is good to be home. I am mostly adjusted, but still get tired mid-afternoon and still have to think hard about which lever is for the blinkers/wipers. It is getting better though everyday…
Also, I still try to push in a clutch while starting my car and turn off the car before putting it in park…
May 20th, 2005 at 1:46 pm
Just to add to the general chorus, welcome back.