Wow, so here I am again after an extended blog hiatus. I could make excuses. And so I shall. But just a few. No, it doesn’t mean I haven’t had any fun lately. I have definitely had some fun weekends since Stacie’s b-day in Bali. In fact, I’ve even back to Bali again. Maybe I need a critical mass of fun weekends before I am motivated to write? Yeah, that sounds like a good theory. My internet connection is great when it is working and disconnects every few seconds when it is not working. It tends not to work as well in evenings when I am home, so photo uploading doesn’t happen very quickly. However, tonight I uploaded lots of photos BEFORE writing my blog entry. Aren’t you impressed? And, for those of you who missed it in an earlier post, my photos can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jetsetvet/ Don’t lose it this time!
The two most obvious reasons I don’t keep up on my blog are 1) I must be getting used to life here, so things don’t always seem as blog-worthy as when I first got here, and 2) I generally don’t like to get into the complexities, frustrations, and disappointments of my job here. I do have some good stories to share from a project I am working on, and I endeavor to do that in my next posting. First I gotta catch up on the real living. Deal?
So, after Stacie’s b-day weekend – a mere two months ago when I last blogged – I’ve mostly been stuck here in Jakarta. The first weekend after my last Bali visit, we neutered Stacie’s cats on her desk. Yes, I know – tabletop surgery is a no-no. But we had the right drugs, sterile gloves, and everything turned out fine. The following weekend we had a goodbye party for Sonny, our main communications and media relations guy. He left our project to pursue a graduate degree in the UK. Sonny always had a smile on his face and is dearly missed. (John, our #2, and Leo, our epidemiologist, have also now gone, shortly after Sonny left.) His goodbye blowout started at Star Deli in Kemang. The band was great! Blues and rock covers. I was pleasantly surprised by the turnout of FAO-ers, a few in dressy batik, even!
After much joviality, Sonny, Stacie, and I bailed out for Stadium, a legendary Jakarta night club. This place is essentially an indoor rave open from Thursday through sometime on Monday. One can book hotel rooms there and folks fly in from all over SE Asia to spend the weekend. We just wanted to see it. Well, a lesson learned is how fast the fingers are at Stadium. My Blackberry was stolen out of my bag before I even paid my cover charge after getting out of the taxi. So that put a damper on things. Suffice to stay, Stadium is a bit like Vegas for me. Needed to see it once, but once was pretty much enough. Stacie and I stayed dancing until quite late, ran into some friends, and also made some new friends along the way. I made the police report for the stolen bberry, expecting - but not getting - a lecture and having to pay only a nominal “fee” for the official letter to give the insurance company. Then, bberryless, my computer modem died. This is the second one that has died on me here. I was completely cut off from all after-work communication for at least 24 hours. It was miserable. However, Stacie hooked me up with a loaner cell phone and FAO replaced my bberry within 10 days or so. My replacement is one of the older, bigger, clunkier ones – I much prefer the sleek one I started with – but I can’t complain TOO much. I think I’m becoming a crackberry addict. And the ugly clunky one is probably just desserts for having one stolen at a club. But I can also drop it and not have the battery fall out!
The weekend after Sonny’s goodbye, Jenni and Stacie were off to Lombok – the island east of Bali – for Jenni’s 30th b-day weekend. I had decided not to go and went to see the world’s #3 DJ, Paul Van Dyke, with Caesar, Nitara, and the rest of the crew. Ran into a few of my new friends from Stadium, too. The event was held at Ancol, a big entertainment park on the north shore of Jakarta. There is a restaurant there called Segarra that is very much like Ku De Ta on Bali. Will definitely have to check it out under less-crowded conditions. Jakarta’s beach isn’t nearly as nice, but it would be great if this place has some of Ku De Ta’s ambiance.
On the following weekend, we had another celebration for Jenni’s b-day, with a pink theme. There was a lot of pink to behold! The party started at Café Pisa where a few FAO folks joined in singing with the house band. It was a bit loud and very full of Indonesian families, so we migrated to Pure – a club with a rotating seating area that gives a panorama view of Jakarta. The party continued there with lots of dancing and fun with several folks from work as well as other friends. The surprise was the number of great dancers we had hiding on our HPAI control team! Ah, another night of clubbing in Jakarta. I must admit that I really do like the techno music here. That is something I will miss. My new gym, Fit By Beat, has a DJ booth and some fairly good music at times. The beat gets me going and I end up getting a better workout than I would just watching Animal Planet without the tunes…
Post-pink, we had a long weekend for the Islamic holiday of Hari Raya. I joined up with Unik and Shanti, both survivors of the Green Canyon canyoneering weekend trip, to go back to Batu Karas – a tiny surf beach on the south coast of Western Java. We were going to celebrate Girls’ Surf Weekend. Remember when I helped Unik catch her first wave on canyoneering weekend? This was the follow-up to help her catch more. A few other ladies were to join us but canceled due to the difficult travel plans. Unik, Shanti and I traveled 11 hours overnight to get to Batu Karas from Jakarta. First by public coach bus, which didn’t turn out as badly as I had thought it might. A good neck pillow, eye mask, and noise-canceling headphones made all the difference. Except for the guy in front of me whose seat was broken and wanted to recline all the way back. He kept hitting my knees, at which point I would bounce them a little, so he finally had to give up and sit up all night. Sorry! We arrived in Banjar at 6am and hung around the station until a local bus came to take us closer to Batu Karas. That was the worst local bus ride – 2.5hrs instead of 1hr, very cramped seats, hot, lots of stops, and lots of people smoking. By the time we finally got off I was nauseous. Then we spent the final 30mins on ojek, which was a wonderfully refreshing change. Fresh air, good scenery, and we crossed a bridge made entirely of bamboo, only for motorcycles. I wish I had taken a picture!!
Finally, we had arrived at Batu Karas. We settled into our favorite restaurant for a traditional breakfast of nasi goreng. Then we found a room with bunk beds for 40,000 Rp. each per night. I hung my lovely travel mosquito net, and we headed for the beach. We heard the legend of Usni, the “Tsunami Rider,” who should be in GQ and was supposedly out on a surf board when the tsunami hit. But mostly, the tsunami left Batu Karas intact because it was protected by the picturesque rocky point that sticks out. Where the wave came on land before the point, a few buildings were damaged and are now abandoned. It was interesting to talk to our local friend, Doyok, about his experiences that fateful day. We spent the rest of the weekend lounging on the beach, swimming, surfing, throwing my glowing frisbee, and hanging with the locals. I got sunburned, hung in my hammock, wrote in my journal for the first time in months, and generally enjoyed myself. But it just wasn’t enough. I needed at least a week, not 2 days!! The trip back was by ratty-but-fun surf van, horrid local bus, and then a nicer, quieter air-conditioned coach. The horrid local-type bus was going all the way to Jakarta, but without AC and with the smoke, I knew I’d never make it. Shanti and I jumped off at Banjar and hopped onto the coach, dragging poor Unik with us. The coaches cost 5,000 Rp (50 cents) more than the local-style version and have not only a bathroom in the back, but a small booth for people to smoke in. As long as it gets them away from me!
With all that travel, AC, smoke, and exhaust fumes, it’s no wonder I developed a cough during that trip. Three weeks later, I’m on antibiotics, a bronchodilator, some other stuff I don’t recognize, plus an inhaler. Three cheers for public transportation! Although it is cheap – the coach is about $5-6 each way – the lingering effect isn’t worth it. But it’s so far that ya gotta go overnight; and, Unik and Shanti couldn’t afford to share a car and driver with me. Hmmm. Not sure when I’ll be going back again. But I wouldn’t mind doing it!
Then another mall weekend in Jakarta before the long Easter weekend. Ok, I have a confession to make. I was supposed to meet someone in Bali that weekend whom I had met online. He was to fly out from America. But he bailed out on me less than a week before the trip. Stacie and Jenni were taking a boat trip to Kalimantan to see orangutans with some folks Stacie knows. I could have joined them but something was telling me to go on to Bali. So I did. I had planned 2 nights at the popular beaches and 2 in Ubud. Instead, I met Adam. And Peter. And Bill. At the airport in Denpasar. They had come out to Bali from Saipan to play in an ultimate frisbee tournament. Before I knew it, I had piled into Bill’s driver’s van and was getting a ride to my hotel in Seminyak. Then, in the lobby, I met Fran and another Peter (aka Pedro). Also from the frisbee team. That was it! My fate had been decided. I was to spend an unexpectedly fun weekend in Bali with my new friends from Saipan. Yea!
My hotel, the Mutiara Bali, was very nice and reasonable. However, I had only booked it for one night and knew I’d have trouble finding something else with all the tourists there for the Easter weekend. Everything was full! During breakfast at the hotel I searched online in vain for new digs. Luckily, the Mutiara folks were able to move me into an even nicer room – with one of those fabulous Balinese al fresco bathrooms – for the next 3 nights. Done! I had a swim and then joined up with Fran to go watch the matches at the field. The Saipan team wasn’t doing too well, but it was fun to watch them play. The organizers had boxed lunches (wraps), free fruit, massages, and, later, beer. When all the matches were over, we went back to our hotels. A few of us (Adam, Bill, Peter, Fran, and myself) made it to Ku De Ta for drinks before dinner, although it was too overcast for a sunset. I love Ku De Ta! Then we joined the team for dinner at Seaside, Blue Ocean Beach. As they had to play again the next day, it wasn’t a particularly late night for most of us. But fun.
Fran and I declined to get up for the first matches the next morning. I slept in, ate breakfast, and then we walked to the beach. Kuta Beach was down a way in the distance. The waves were lovely, but the beach was not so clean – litter, dog poop. We stopped for beverages at a lovely beachside hotel before walking back and doing a little shopping on the way. One body scrub later, each, at our hotel, and we were ready to head back to the field. The festivities were in full swing. The final was plagued by a hard downpour, but no one cared. All in the spirit of frisbee and fun. I took another lap in the pool before dinner, and then we headed back to Ku De Ta again for cocktail hour. This time we had more people with us, but the weather didn’t cooperate. Some folks got stranded by the weather in a tent pavilion set up for the Easter egg roll held at KDT that morning. However, the weather gave me a chance to try such yummy concoctions as an apple thyme martini and a watermelon crush. Delicious!
It was time for the official tournament dinner at Fabio’s, with a ‘tropical life’ theme. Fran and I had pulled off a little more shopping in preparation, and a fun night was had by all. At dinner, I had the best krupuk (shrimp crackers) EVER in Indonesia. Yum! Some of the awards were coupons for bungee jumping, to be redeemed later that night. We did a little bar hopping before ending up at Double 6, a club next to the beach. No fewer than 6 members of the Saipan team went bungee jumping there, one in a Spiderman suit. The high bule quotient (the large number of bules concentrated in one place) made me a bit nervous to be there, and I preferred to be outside. The music left something to be desired (am I becoming a club techno snob?) so I danced only for a little while. Good people-watching, though!
The next morning I broke from the gang and went up to Ubud. The dog shelter was having an open house. I stayed for about an hour before making my way to Kafe for a yummy, yummy salad and ginger carrot soup. Did a little shopping and then went back down to Seminyak to meet up with the gang again. We went for pizza and ordered each of the 13 pizzas on the menu. Another fun time had by all. I had to leave early for the airport the next morning – it’s always a bit tragic to leave Bali.
And so now here I am, having a DVD marathon weekend in Jakarta. I got out today to see “Horton Hears a Who” – it was fun! But otherwise I’m mostly trying to avoid the rampant cigarette smoke and to see if I can’t kick this cough. Sadly, no techno gym for a while.
Hope everyone is doing well! Please do drop me an email or look for me on Skype. I can actually use it now and get a fairly decent connection…
Much love,
Edie
