In 34 hours I won't be on my own any more as Rachel and Oscar will be here with me. It's been a long 4 weeks and it will be good to see them again, and have a family with me once more.
I'm running a risk posting this but I'm sure she doesn't read anything I write here so I'll chance it: I'm meeting them at Jakarta airport :D I can remember being pretty worn out by the time I got there and I didn't have to cope with a tired and excited Mr Pickle, plus two large suitcases, a pair of carry-on cases and a push chair so I'm sure they'll appreciate the extra pair of arms. Don't any of you, my thousands and thousands of readers, tell her of this surprise.
I have to admit that I'm getting quite anxious about their departure from Britain. Rae is a very capable woman but Oscar is quite a handful. I hope I haven't caused her too much stress during our phonecalls these last few days. Sorry if I have.
Sunday, 10 October 2010
Wednesday, 6 October 2010
Food For Thought
You get conflicting reports about what is available in Balikpapan. Here are some of the Western items I have seen readily available in Hero, Hypermart, LotteMart (aka Makro) and Foodmart:
Weetbix, Smuckers jelly, porridge oats, Tim Tams, Oreos, rootbeer, cooking oil (not palm oil), bacon, hot dog and burger rolls, Campbells (tinned) soup, fresh pastuerised/homoginised milk, maple syrup and pancake mixes, processed cheese slices, Edam, yoghurt, whipping creme, French's mustard, corn/tortilla chips, mayonaisse, Worchestershire sauce, Kraft macaroni & cheese, crusty French bread, olive oil, baked beans, popcorn, Pringles, custard creams and bourbon biscuits, Betty Crocker cake/brownie mixes, Lurpak butter, hotdogs (beef only), chips, fish fingers, sausages (beef and pork) breaded chicken, scampi, self-raising flour, herbs, nappies, Lays crisps/potato chips (only two flavours though), monthly feminine hygiene products, taco seasoning and shells, jalapeno peppers, salsa, red kidney beans, Ariel washing powder, Heinz tomato sauce, whole frozen turkey, all kinds of pasta, bolonnaise/ragu tomato sauce, donuts.
Now, a lot of these items are very expensive (upwards of x1.5 of their cost in Europe) so it may be that when expats in Balikpapan tell you that you can't get X, Y and Z here they mean you can't get X, Y and Z at reasonable prices. Which is true, but if you hunt around you can find them up to fifty percent cheaper at one supermarket than they are priced at others. And there's no reason why we can't buy local brands or native ingredients instead of the imported stuff because, as long as the product hasn't expired (check the date), the local foods are fine.
Weetbix, Smuckers jelly, porridge oats, Tim Tams, Oreos, rootbeer, cooking oil (not palm oil), bacon, hot dog and burger rolls, Campbells (tinned) soup, fresh pastuerised/homoginised milk, maple syrup and pancake mixes, processed cheese slices, Edam, yoghurt, whipping creme, French's mustard, corn/tortilla chips, mayonaisse, Worchestershire sauce, Kraft macaroni & cheese, crusty French bread, olive oil, baked beans, popcorn, Pringles, custard creams and bourbon biscuits, Betty Crocker cake/brownie mixes, Lurpak butter, hotdogs (beef only), chips, fish fingers, sausages (beef and pork) breaded chicken, scampi, self-raising flour, herbs, nappies, Lays crisps/potato chips (only two flavours though), monthly feminine hygiene products, taco seasoning and shells, jalapeno peppers, salsa, red kidney beans, Ariel washing powder, Heinz tomato sauce, whole frozen turkey, all kinds of pasta, bolonnaise/ragu tomato sauce, donuts.
Now, a lot of these items are very expensive (upwards of x1.5 of their cost in Europe) so it may be that when expats in Balikpapan tell you that you can't get X, Y and Z here they mean you can't get X, Y and Z at reasonable prices. Which is true, but if you hunt around you can find them up to fifty percent cheaper at one supermarket than they are priced at others. And there's no reason why we can't buy local brands or native ingredients instead of the imported stuff because, as long as the product hasn't expired (check the date), the local foods are fine.
Tuesday, 5 October 2010
New Kid On The Blog
Rachel has started a blog about her big adventure to Borneo with Oscar.
If you are inclined you can read her shared thoughts and compare it to my experience.
If you are inclined you can read her shared thoughts and compare it to my experience.
Sunday, 3 October 2010
Borneo, Baby!
I've pretty much settled in now that I have overcome my jet lag and the worst pangs of homesickness. At the moment I am really looking forward to getting Rae and Oscar out with me so that we can become a family once again. (Since taking the position as Operations Manager five months ago I have only had four weeks with my family.)
So, where to start? Balikpapan is a very busy place with somewhere between 500,000 and 800,000 people. I'm sure someone knows exactly how many people live here but it's not Wikipedia or the CIA Factbook.
What is certain is that motorbikes outnumber cars 3:1, and driving is an experience. While I was working in Milan this summer some of the guys at Geolog joked that driving in Italy was good training for Indonesia. They don't know how right they were. The road conditions in Balikpapan are pretty good (I've seen worse road surfaces in 1st world European countries) and main roads are all dual lanes with a central reservation. The one major pitfall to this road layout is that there are no roundabouts or junctions which means that to go in the other direction you have to do a u-turn. Unfortunately the designated u-turn locations are not strategically placed so you could find yourself driving half a kilometre or so in the opposite direction before you can turn around. There are no real rules to the road and the only code of conduct is that you keep traffic flowing - if this means stopping to let five motorbikes, three cars and a handcart do a u-turn in the middle of a busy highway then that's what you do. At first (and second and third, etc) glance it all seems very chaotic until you learn the two basic steps that allow you to get where you are going - stay in the right lane and don't worry too much about motorbikes. The bikers are much better at avoiding you than you are of them, and by staying in the right hand lane you won't get stuck behind the small minibuses that hover around the kerb (and pull out without a moments notice) like green hummingbirds. All in all driving isn't that stressful as the Indonesians are not rushy-rushy people and are happy to pootle along at 20 or 30 kmph, and once out of the more congested areas it is possible to get up to 60kmph. Despite all of this it doesn't take long to get your confidence and after a day or two I was driving like a local, albeit a little faster than the average Indonesian driver.
The city has four or five shopping malls, ranging from 15 years old and full of dated shops to new and shiny with all the main Western outlets. Groceries are affordable if you don't rely heavily on the foodstuffs imported from overseas, but good meat is hard to find and you have to be prepared to do a bit of butchering yourself. There is a huge variety of clothing here, from traditional Indonesian designs to the latest Western fashions and none of it is expensive. For instance, I bought a 100% cotton shirt with a batik print at the low low price of USD 20/GBP 13. And this was one of the more expensive shops!
Eating out is very cheap; the local Indonesian restaurants have great food that is palatable to expats and there are a number of fast food places (Pizza Hut, KFC, Doner Kebab and A&W) in the city too. On the outskirts a number of expat friendly bars and restaurants have sprung up but these tend to be on the pricey side in comparison to the average establishment, and serve as a night out destination to allow expats a flavour of home.
Houses in Balikpapan are hard to describe. Firstly there are two populations catered for: those designed for local residents don't have what we would recognise as showers or baths, have outdoor kitchen that don't come with fitted cookers, and lack hot water on tap. The houses that have been built (or refitted) for expats do have all the mod cons we would expect but are considerably smaller than a Westerner would be used to. Large houses can be found and in some cases, like my own rental property, have "gourmet" kitchens, luxury bathrooms and enough space to swing a tiger by its tail.
The electrical supply is a problem in Balikpapan. Despite having a huge amount of natural resources like coal, oil and natural gas at its doorstep, the power station is not capable of generating enough juice to supply the whole city and brown outs do occur. Each business and residence is limited the number of watts they can pull from the grid, and quite often it is not enough to keep a property comfortably cool and lit. Generally each hotel and office will have a small generator that is sufficient to provide enough power to run ACs, computer, etc, while private homes have small generators that can supply enough wattage for a couple of hours until the power is back up again. Fortunately my house has ample capacity (5500 watts) to run 3 or 4 ACs, the TV, a computer, the cooker and fridge and most of the lights before the fuse trips. However we only have a small generator (2200 watts) so if the power does go out we'd have to reduce consumption for an hour or two. Thankfully the area we live in has a stable electrical supply and power cuts are only limited to 2 or 3 a month, and last for less than an hour.
As for water, you are never going to get everyone to agree whether it is safe to drink the local supply. Most, if not all the residents of Balikpapan, use bottled water for cooking and drinking, while some use a mixture of bottled and tap water for their everyday use. To be honest I've used the local tap water since the first day I got here and have had no ill effects yet.
So, where to start? Balikpapan is a very busy place with somewhere between 500,000 and 800,000 people. I'm sure someone knows exactly how many people live here but it's not Wikipedia or the CIA Factbook.
What is certain is that motorbikes outnumber cars 3:1, and driving is an experience. While I was working in Milan this summer some of the guys at Geolog joked that driving in Italy was good training for Indonesia. They don't know how right they were. The road conditions in Balikpapan are pretty good (I've seen worse road surfaces in 1st world European countries) and main roads are all dual lanes with a central reservation. The one major pitfall to this road layout is that there are no roundabouts or junctions which means that to go in the other direction you have to do a u-turn. Unfortunately the designated u-turn locations are not strategically placed so you could find yourself driving half a kilometre or so in the opposite direction before you can turn around. There are no real rules to the road and the only code of conduct is that you keep traffic flowing - if this means stopping to let five motorbikes, three cars and a handcart do a u-turn in the middle of a busy highway then that's what you do. At first (and second and third, etc) glance it all seems very chaotic until you learn the two basic steps that allow you to get where you are going - stay in the right lane and don't worry too much about motorbikes. The bikers are much better at avoiding you than you are of them, and by staying in the right hand lane you won't get stuck behind the small minibuses that hover around the kerb (and pull out without a moments notice) like green hummingbirds. All in all driving isn't that stressful as the Indonesians are not rushy-rushy people and are happy to pootle along at 20 or 30 kmph, and once out of the more congested areas it is possible to get up to 60kmph. Despite all of this it doesn't take long to get your confidence and after a day or two I was driving like a local, albeit a little faster than the average Indonesian driver.
The city has four or five shopping malls, ranging from 15 years old and full of dated shops to new and shiny with all the main Western outlets. Groceries are affordable if you don't rely heavily on the foodstuffs imported from overseas, but good meat is hard to find and you have to be prepared to do a bit of butchering yourself. There is a huge variety of clothing here, from traditional Indonesian designs to the latest Western fashions and none of it is expensive. For instance, I bought a 100% cotton shirt with a batik print at the low low price of USD 20/GBP 13. And this was one of the more expensive shops!
Eating out is very cheap; the local Indonesian restaurants have great food that is palatable to expats and there are a number of fast food places (Pizza Hut, KFC, Doner Kebab and A&W) in the city too. On the outskirts a number of expat friendly bars and restaurants have sprung up but these tend to be on the pricey side in comparison to the average establishment, and serve as a night out destination to allow expats a flavour of home.
Houses in Balikpapan are hard to describe. Firstly there are two populations catered for: those designed for local residents don't have what we would recognise as showers or baths, have outdoor kitchen that don't come with fitted cookers, and lack hot water on tap. The houses that have been built (or refitted) for expats do have all the mod cons we would expect but are considerably smaller than a Westerner would be used to. Large houses can be found and in some cases, like my own rental property, have "gourmet" kitchens, luxury bathrooms and enough space to swing a tiger by its tail.
The electrical supply is a problem in Balikpapan. Despite having a huge amount of natural resources like coal, oil and natural gas at its doorstep, the power station is not capable of generating enough juice to supply the whole city and brown outs do occur. Each business and residence is limited the number of watts they can pull from the grid, and quite often it is not enough to keep a property comfortably cool and lit. Generally each hotel and office will have a small generator that is sufficient to provide enough power to run ACs, computer, etc, while private homes have small generators that can supply enough wattage for a couple of hours until the power is back up again. Fortunately my house has ample capacity (5500 watts) to run 3 or 4 ACs, the TV, a computer, the cooker and fridge and most of the lights before the fuse trips. However we only have a small generator (2200 watts) so if the power does go out we'd have to reduce consumption for an hour or two. Thankfully the area we live in has a stable electrical supply and power cuts are only limited to 2 or 3 a month, and last for less than an hour.
As for water, you are never going to get everyone to agree whether it is safe to drink the local supply. Most, if not all the residents of Balikpapan, use bottled water for cooking and drinking, while some use a mixture of bottled and tap water for their everyday use. To be honest I've used the local tap water since the first day I got here and have had no ill effects yet.
Wednesday, 22 September 2010
Without A Compass
Coming from Europe there is lots of weirdness to be had in Balikpapan - seeing modern European letters but finding the words undecipherable is one immediate shock - but the thing that gets me the most is that there are no maps of the city. I have always taken maps for granted; whether I am using an OS map, an AA route atlas or the natnav on my iPhone. But there is no official/reliable cartographic data for Balikpapan whatsover. To help resolve this I have started plotting as many points of interest, geographical features and roads using the overhead satellite imagery found on Google maps. Just have a look to the right to see my efforts to date. Hopefully others will find it of some use too.
Thursday, 16 September 2010
Gone!
Here I am, sat in Jakarta airport, surrounded by the most foreign culture I've ever experienced in my life and covered in 15 hours worth of airplane grime and sweat. Oddly I feel quite charged despite only having 6 hours sleep in the past 24 hours. I put it down to the coffee, laced with condensed milk, that I have just downed. I may even treat myself to an A&W rootbeer or a Dunkin' Donuts afterwards.
So all in all so far so good. My next report will come from Balikpapan in a day or two after I've recovered (to the best of my ability) from 8 hours of jetlag.
So all in all so far so good. My next report will come from Balikpapan in a day or two after I've recovered (to the best of my ability) from 8 hours of jetlag.
Thursday, 9 September 2010
Ready, Set...
This has been a week of finalisation. On Monday we had our last Japanese Encephalytis and rabies jabs, and went down to London to hand in our passports and visa application at the Indonesian embassy. Then on Tuesday we had our last Hep A & B boosters, so now our immune system will give us enough protection from the swarms of bugs that we can survive leaving the airport and get to our house.
And so on Wednesday afternoon I trotted down to London to retrieve the passports. All told it only took an hour and now each of our passports has a funky visa decal which allows us to stay in Indonesia for 1 year.
Just this morning my flight arrangements arrived by email. I am flying out on September 15th with Etihad Airways (not Singapore Airlines as I'd been hoping for): London to Abu Dhabi (2 hour lay over) and then on to Jakarta (2 hour lay over) before arriving in Balikpapan with 17.5 air hours under my belt. Or under my bum as the case may be.
And so on Wednesday afternoon I trotted down to London to retrieve the passports. All told it only took an hour and now each of our passports has a funky visa decal which allows us to stay in Indonesia for 1 year.
Just this morning my flight arrangements arrived by email. I am flying out on September 15th with Etihad Airways (not Singapore Airlines as I'd been hoping for): London to Abu Dhabi (2 hour lay over) and then on to Jakarta (2 hour lay over) before arriving in Balikpapan with 17.5 air hours under my belt. Or under my bum as the case may be.
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