Family Life

14-18 August 2009

Steve and I flew to Bali to spend a few days with Sonya and Chris before Steve flew home. It was really nice to experience family life again and to show them around places I am now so familiar with. This was a particular pleasure with Chris who was on his first visit to a developing country. It was wonderful to hear his reactions and watch his face as he experienced all the new sights, sounds, tastes and smells. We were fortunate that the Sanur festival was on the week they arrived and they saw kite flying, fruit and ice carving, local races and lots more. We also hired a car and toured a lot of the east of the island including the largest Hindu temple and a ‘traditional’ village. Whist in Ubud we went to a shadow puppet performance – an experience that I will not bother to repeat but pleased I can say I have done it; particularly as the one we had used a real oil lamp rather than electric light to give a less harsh silhouette. The traditional plays last many hours but this was thankfully only an hour. The play is accompanied by music, the puppeteer knocking on the puppet box and him narrating the story. The story was also not totally traditional as it included references to usual local interactions with tourists eg ‘Transport’, ‘Maybe tomorrow’, ‘No problem’.

On the evening of my birthday we met up with Dorothea and went to a very good Italian restaurant as a special treat. I was horrified that we spent nearly 600,000 Rp for the five of us this equate to a weeks allowance for me but was less that £40 so for Steve was nothing. My adaptation to the different value of money was further illustration when helping Sonya and Chris to plan the rest of their trip after leaving Rote. To take a car rather than the bus to Moni from Maumere would only cost them an extra 50,000 Rp each a difference of £3,30. I see the car as expensive luxury they see it as a cheap necessity.

DIY Continues

10 – 12 August 2009

Having finished the painting Steve turned his had to woodwork. However before he could do that I had to borrow tools and help him to source the wood. The tools were easy as one of the nurses in UGD (the A&E department where I am based at present) does a lot of DIY and was happy to let Steve borrow all the tools he required; he also told us which wood yard to go to. Trying to get the message across there that we wanted to buy the wood and Steve would make it rather than us trying to commission them to make a shelving unit. We did eventually chose the wood and they cut all the pieces to length. Once home Steve set to work to plane the timber and build me a shelving unit to store my food. It is made to measure and fits between a wall and the fridge. Having everything on it does make the back room so much tidier and I can find things. It has been a very productive few days and the house looks so much better as a result. Shame he did not have time to make me a table as well.

Painting

4 – 7 August 2009

Steve has come to stay – as a surprise I went to Kupang to meet him at the airport and travel back to Rote with him. Once we had taken his luggage to the house we went down town to buy a large tub of paint. I was after a cream, beige of light yellow but my first four choices were habis – finished – so I had to settle for a rather bright yellow. It is actually quite a pleasant colour; it just not go with the pink curtains which I have in all the rooms.

The rooms in the house are all quite tall and even standing on a chair Steve could not paint all the way up the walls. I therefore asked to borrow a step ladder from work. When it arrived we discovered that the side restraints were missing and it was only held together by wire cable. Steve sensibly decided to wait until I was back before climbing the steps. Unfortunately they were definitely designed for people of his weight and started to buckle so I had to paint the top of all the rooms. The one large tub of paint just lasted to finish all the internal rooms.

Public Transport

I have been writing a lot about motorbikes and thought it was probably time to cover transport links in general. Indonesia is a huge archipelago. There are between 17,508 and 18.000 islands – although not all these are inhabited.

Plane

There are a lot of different operators flying to the islands, some airports accept international flights and others like Rote only have two flights a week and very basic facilities. Planes range in size and quality of service.

Boat

These come in all sizes from small charter boats to the more remote islands, via passenger ferries to larger cargo boats that will take passengers.

Train

There are only trains on Java. Daddy was intrepid enough to agree to travel between Jogjakarta and Solo by train and despite the experience agreed to used it on the return journey as well. Actually not as crowded as the tube in London. The big problem was that at the stations we wanted to get off at there was no platform near our doors so it was a long jump down. The level of safety at the stations was poor – you needed to walk across the tracks to get to the train.

Taxi

In the main cities there are conventional taxis which are salon cars with details of the taxi firm on them, these are generally metered although the driver may try to negotiate a flat fare. In smaller towns they are unmarked 4x4s, sometimes with set fares to specific areas of town but certainly not metered. It is quite normal to have the phone number of the individual driver and send a text requesting him to collect you.

Bus

Buses travel between major towns on the island and advertise their destination on the windscreen. They take passengers and copious amounts of luggage. They have a flat fare for the route irrespective of how much of it you travel. If you want to catch a bus – other than at the terminal you leave some luggage beside the road and then go and sit in some shade until the bus stops. As you approach your stop you call out to the driver and then pass your fare forward as you get off.

Lorry

Lorries travel to more remote areas that the buses but are also used if you have excessive amounts of luggage. If very lucky you get a seat up front with the driver but generally you just climb into the open back along with your luggage. I have yet to work out how you know where the lorries are going but when I used one in Sumba a local organised it for me so I did not have to worry.

Bemo

These are small minibuses with bench seats at the back. In Bali the route is denoted by the colour of the bemo. In Kupang all the routes are numbered and on Rote the destination is displayed in the stickers on the front of the bemo. The bemos in Bali are plan inside and out and just have a driver who collects the fares as the passengers alight. In Kupang and on Rote the bemos are all individually decorated with various stickers obliterating the drivers vision on all sides. They also have lots of internal decoration and the addition of sound systems with the speakers taking up all the space under the seats. You can hear these bemos approaching by the loud thumping music emanating from them but in case you should miss that they have very distinctive horns that they sound at the sight of anybody within close proximity to the road. The also have conductors who ride the running board and jump off to try to persuade people to ride in their bemo. It appears there is always room for one more passenger however over full you already think the vehicle is.

Ojek

These are motorbike taxis. In Bali they are obviously regulated and all wear tabards else where it would appear that anyone with a motorbike and a spare crash helmet can pick up passengers. The are useful for short distances when the destination is not on a bemo route. You either go to areas where ojek drivers congregate or as in Kupang I have the number of a couple of drivers and just send them a text when I want to go anywhere.

Becak

These are found in Java and are bicycle driven transport where the passenger sits at the front and is exposed to what ever is approaching you – a bit hairy as the becak drivers do not worry about one way streets so you are often being propelled towards on coming vehicles. It is necessary to negotiate the price for the trip – interestingly when I came out of the station, shops or even a basic hotel I could negotiate a very reasonable rate however when we emerged from a more expensive hotel where we had been to eat I had to pay far more than I felt was reasonable.

Dokar

These are horse drawn carriages – I have yet to try on of these as they feel a little too decadent.