BALIKPAPAN

I'm an Expat and I live in a place called Balikpapan. Pronounced Ball-ee-pa-pan, silent "K" and no this not Bali. Nor is the view. Balikpapan, is an Indonesian city (small) on the eastern coast of the island of Borneo (big) or Kalimantan as the locals call it. We are almost on the equator, just a little south. 1.15°S And yes it's warm (hot) here - all the time.

Balikpapan does have an international airport - but only 1 flight a day that gets you out of here and the only international place we can go, is Singapore. But it's fast and there are loads of other places we can go with-in Indonesia. Like Manado and Jakarta and Surabaya and Lombok and Bali. Love Bali. (I'll have to post some Bali pictures - later)

It's a pretty cool place to be an expat. We like it here......and for now it's home. At least for the last 16 months and 4 days it has been. I should have started this blog when we first got here. After a while things become norm and not quite as interesting (or unusual) as they were to start. Like a family of 4 or 5 on 1 little, little motorcycle. This isn't paradise - but it's a pretty good place to be.

TODAY: Today is a quiet day - at least so far, but most days start out that way. Today is a red calendar day. A holiday. IDUL FITRI. Idul Fitri is the first day after Ramadan - the fasting month for Muslims. Today is a day for everyone to enjoy the day with family and friends. Unfortunately it is also a rainy day. We've had lots of those days lately. Somehow the dry season missed us. (Just like all the weather reports - those usually miss us too.)

All the shops, the markets, the restaurants and pretty much everything is closed up for the day. Most people celebrating Idul Fitri are gone. By plane, by boat, by bus and by any other means to their home towns. (If they were fortunate enough to get a ticket with a price that's double or triple the norm.)

It's a quiet day in Balikpapan and not much for a view. A good day to sort through emails and clean up the office. Kick back and watch some really bad TV, listen to my favorite radio station www.radioparadise.com and try to finish reading a really boring book.

Good to GO!