SUMPAI JUMPA

No time for a post today everyone. Time to go.

Sumpai Jumpa - that means later folks. And yes I'm going to miss you, Balikpapan too.

TODAY: Off on the big trip. Off to the other side ....................... see you in awhile other Me. Miss you big time too.

PASAR INPRES

Lets go to PASAR INPRES. Pasar Inpres had a fire Sunday night. Now we wonder what's left. Not the first fire and surely not the last. Pasar Inpres has a bit of a history when it comes to fires, but thats another story all in itself - one I'm still trying to figure out. Good thing I got the photo last time I was there - all these fruit stalls - well today they might not be left.

PASAR INPRES. (Pasar = market) A note about shopping at Pasar Inpres: you need to be there early if you want to get the good stuff. The markets are fascinating places. There isn't much you can't find here. If you're going to find it in Balikpapan - this is going to be place.

The Art of Buying in the market. There's no fixed price in this place. Note: Fixed Price, means it has an actual sticker on it - with a price. Not here. Here it's all about bargaining. And in Balikpapan, bargaining is just another part of life. A combination of patience, a whole bunch of cheerfulness and always with a smile. And usually you get a bit of "where you from?" a bunch of "hello mister"s (regardless of your sex) and lots of folks just looking for someone to practice their English with. Some days, it can actually be a bit of fun I guess.

TODAY: This morning have maintenance at the house - hoping they fix the holes that have appeared in the roof. The ceiling. Too much rain happening these days I think. Good thing we have maintenance. They are fast - but we'll have to wait and see how long their patch job is going to last.

Busy, busy day today. Loads to do. Sun's out - and that makes for a good day to be a busy day. It's a no umbrella day. Lets go!

Good to Go!

GOODBYE WEEKEND

Weekends, always go way too fast .................. doesn't seem to matter where you are.

Nothing better than some beach. Good beach day yesterday. Good company. Good food. Good sun. Good day for fishing too. Everyone was out fishing it seemed. And check out the new carving - from a friend. That was really nice. What a great surprise. Awesome. That's just way too nice.

So, looks like tomorrow is shaping itself into a very busy day. Long story, but ................ just need to adjust the WHEN part of the list. Need to move things around a bit.

TODAY: Getting the final done on all the stuff I'm taking with. ( The big trip is not far off.) Not as bad as I had originally thought. Reality check. How many sweaters can I where at once? It's gonna be cold. I already miss the beach.

Good day everyone.

Good to Go!

LAZY DAY SATURDAY

Sorry folks, but not too much today for a post. I think this is my LAZY DAY. Actually - I just have a load of other stuff going on. No, that's actually not the truth - let's just go with LAZY. L-A-Z-Y.

The photo. The blue van - that's a local city bus. And yes, they are small. But there are lots and they come in all colours too. A kind of colour coding system in fact, depends on where you're going to. And they're cheap and they're fast. You actually only pay for the distance you travel. And there are no real bus stops. You just wave one down, jump on, and tell the driver when you want to jump off.

Traffic really does get that close. Really, really close. 2 lanes easily becomes 3 or 4. 6, 8 and even 10 if it's all motorcycles at a red light traffic stop. Not sure why they bother with painting all the lines (by hand), job creation I guess. And yeah, the sides of your vehicle do have a few scuffs. The plus to having a motorcycle - you can squeeze into almost any empty spot.

The usual BBC thing last night. Good to see you Joe. Joe was away for the past month. Tonight not sure - but something will most likely come up. And tomorrow maybe a BBQ at the beach. Lets get the rain over with today folks.

TODAY: Need to really get at those suitcases. And get the other Me started too. Time to start zipping things up. And, I'm staying home today, all morning and afternoon - I've been out every day and night this week. It's my time to just RELAX. Ok - that explains the LAZY.

Go ahead everyone - be LAZY. It's the weekend.

Good to Go!

MOTORCYCLE MADNESS

2 sun days in a row. Gotta like that. And it's a Friday!

Motorcycle Madness yesterday. Maybe I just noticed them more or something like that. Balikpapan is full of motorcycles. Everybody's got at least one I think. Way more motorcycles than cars here for sure. Too bad I didn't have the camera. Would have made for some really good photo ops. It amazes me to see the stuff that gets hauled around on a motorcycle here. These guys (above) I think might be electricians - maybe, the driver has a spool of electrical wire wedged between his knees. How in the world can they even drive like that? ........... I need more photos. How much can one carry on a motorcycle? LOTS.

Yesterday, all the bills are paid up, and the list, checked a bunch of stuff off. The house phone - CAN NOT pay in advance. Maybe yes. Maybe no. Maybe might get cut off. Took 4 months to get it turned on in the first place - might be without that when we get back. Pisang Gapit - bananas with red sugar (gula merah) sauce. It's awesome stuff. Not too sweet - just right. It is definitely worth trying if you ever get the chance.

Me and the other Me had a really nice dinner out last night. Good food - the biggest ribs I've ever seen in my life - just like Fred Flintstone; good company - some really good friends; maybe too many beers - I had 3 - I don't like beer - ???? YUCK - what was I thinking; and some really good laughs - SMS-ing to KL - total silliness, but it sure was fun.

Can't let today's post go without a big CONGRATULATIONS to a couple of friends. After a long, long wait, a new baby girl has finally arrived (UK) in their family. Congrats guys - now get some sleep.

TODAY: Ok, Friday go ahead - surprise me - I'm ready for that. I have no idea. But it sure is noisy outside the house. I think they're cutting the lawns with whipper snippers again. Today might just be a good day for surprises. Pool Day to start - OK off to the pool. Time for some pool and a little bit of sun.

Have a great weekend everyone. Good to Go!

RED LIGHTS

You know you're in Balikpapan when ........ you find stuff like this. The things you find in Balikpapan - it just amazes me. (except for CREAM CHEESE - is there any out there yet?) These are actually Christmas lights. Happened across these when my friend and I were checking out the Christmas decorations at the ACE Hardware store a few days ago. And on sale to boot - guess not every one's into maple leaves around here. Very cool. Do you think, by chance they sell these in Canada? Probably not. Think I'm saving these for July 1st.

The rain/flood yesterday. Well, no news is good news I guess. Nothing out of the ordinary anyways. No land slides - this time, at least. Not really much of an impact. Big rains and flooding here, unfortunately - here, it happens a lot. Amazing how everyone can keep their smiles on, when everything they own is lost. Balikpapan + Home Insurance = NOT. Balikpapan + Big smiles = LOTS + LOTS.

Good day yesterday - got lots of stuff (stuff I put off) DONE. And that feels great. Maybe that's what rainy days are all about. And once you get started there's no turning back.

TODAY: Sun's out. And I'm off on the big ERRAND run. Need to pay some phone bills and few other things too. Today I just might try some more street food - Pisang Gapit. And tonight, maybe me and the other Me - should be dinner out tonight.

Ok, time to go. Good to Go!

FLOOD?

FLOOD? Maybe? Maybe not? Not at my house - but I'm sure it happened (happening), some where in town.

The thing about living in the tropics - sometimes it rains. And sometimes it really, really, really RAINS. And sometimes it floods. We had a real good one this morning, and some really big thunder boomers too. Guess we're probably NOT doing the pool. But, at least now I know the drip, drip outside the patio door is fixed. Good test.

Great day yesterday - starting with the Fortnight Lunch. Note: Fortnight lunch - usually involves a little bit of shopping too. We checked out a whole bunch of spots yesterday and even found time to hoof it around in Klandasan Market for a bit. I love the markets here - that's like the only way to shop. And ended up at a place along the coast for lunch. Dapeen Cafe & Lounge. Tag line: Cozy Place In Town. Very nice, Good lunch. I'll give it a 3.5 I think. By the way, Cheese Fries are French fries with little bit of Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top - not exactly what I thought.

The Book Club get together last night was great. (And I wasn't the only one that didn't read the book.) What a great bunch of ladies - that was fun. We had fun. Next book - "Mister Pip" by Lloyd Jones.

TODAY: Number #1 on the list - We have the INTERNET back. Now that's a bonus. And the electric's on too. In another hour or 2 the sun might even come out. Love it.

Have a zillion things to do today.

Good to Go!

NOVEMBER 11TH

Well, I have to admit, until I came to Indonesia - I knew nothing about WWII outside of Europe. Did I completely miss that part in the history book?

So, it turns out "The Battle of Balikpapan", is very significant in fact. Might have a look on the Internet (If you actually have Internet - we're on day 2 without.) First a couple of interesting facts. Fact: the Japanese did invade Indonesia, and it wasn't nice. Fact: Balikpapan, even at that time was a big deal oil spot on the map. Fuel for for all those warplanes and ships. The Oil-fields, turned Balikpapan into a strategic war target.

I was told that the best idea at the time was to wipe Balikpapan off the map. And so they tried, apparently not a single tree was left. Lots of reminders here too, there's the Civilian Heroes Monument (above), the Japanese Cemetery, the Australian Memorial, a Japanese fighter plane sitting like a prisoner of war out at the Military Barracks, a couple of Japanese cannons, and a bunch of sunken war ships off the coast. And just to make things a little more interesting - someone happens across another un-exploded bomb every now and then.

A World War. Yes. Lest we Forget.

TODAY: Still NO Internet. And this morning - Oh shit I forgot about that - NO electric. (Maintenance is here doing some sort of electrical check??) And any minute now - NO water. Today is the official day to turn all the water off in the complex. Time for the big FLUSH I guess.

An Interesting Note: there are actually 23 light bulbs in our living room/dinning room, and thats not including any of the lamps. No wonder the electricity in this town is always OUT.

Fortnight lunch today - and so it turns out to be a really, really good day for that. (maybe they'll have electric?) Suns out - 9 a.m. and my thermometer reads 35°C - oooooh, it's already HOT. No electric - that means NO AC in the house.

Book Club get together tonight. Too bad I didn't finish reading the book. Sorry girls, but I just don't like the book. Too big, too slow, too boring ............ and I just keep getting lost in this book. Ok, I'm ready for the next one - bring on the next book.

The other Me is off today on a road trip. His once a month trip to Handil, 2 hours there and 2 hours back, on a very, curvy and twisty, bumpy little path (road). At least it's paved - rather, most of it. And you probably have AC in that car this morning TOO!

Good to Go!

AND NO - WE STILL HAVE NO INTERNET. I'm at the BBC borrowing from them.

NEIGHBOURS

Another NO Internet day. Rained out AGAIN I guess. Another one of those "Welcome to Balikpapan" things. Oh well - life could be worse I guess. Will post this up as soon as I can.

Ok, so anyways, regarding the NEIGHBOURS - and yes, that is the correct spelling - it's not a typo or a mistake. The new NEIGHBOURS are all of the bovine type. COWS. And lots of them. I'm quite sure there are well over a hundred there by now. New arrivals every day (actually I think it's more like over night). I'm told they're mostly imports from Sulawesi.

So what's up with all the cows you ask? Ok, well for starters you need to know that next door to us is an empty lot - a big empty lot - with nice green trees and lots of tall grass - the perfect place for a bunch of cows to hang out. All these cows are on display (waiting to be bought) Waiting for Idul Adha on December 8th. Idul Adha (Red Calendar Day) is a big holiday here. Probably second biggest, next to Idul Fitri.

All these cows, will eventually, be bought up by all the Mosques. All the Mosques then distribute all the meat amongst all the locals. And all the empty lots - go back to just being empty lots. In the meantime we have a lot of cows next door. And trust me that's a whole bunch better than all the billy goats. Baaaaaa.

Note: 1 cow = 3 - 5 million Rupiah. Today, that's about $300 - $500 US.

We had a great weekend. Some really nice quiet down time and a whole bunch of fun on Saturday night. Weekends go by way too fast I think.

TODAY: Well, today will most likely turn into tomorrow - waiting for the internet to come back. Have a bit of a busy day ahead. A meeting early this morning and need to get some bills paid up in advance of the big trip I'm getting ready to take. Paying bills ahead of time? In Balikpapan? Yes a credit. Hmmmm. We'll see how well that works out.

Come on Monday. Let's go. Good to Go!

PISANG GORENG

Pisang Goreng. Street Food. Fried Bananas. A few weeks ago, a friend of mine put me on to this little Pisang Goreng stand next door to the new Maxi Shop. Might be the best Pisang Goreng spot in all of Balikpapan I think. And yesterday was a fried bananas kind of day. I love these things, they're great. And they only cost about 10 cents. My favorite are the ones on the right. Bananas wrapped in strips of a really thin dough and then fried. Crispy and sweet and just plain yummy.

Dinner party last night - great. Actually, it was really nice. Maybe a little too much of that Russian Vodka stuff. By the way boys, yes we were all right, potatoes or grain (wheat). And apparently potatoes - is not the good stuff. Wikipedia says "It is a clear liquid which consists of mostly water and ethanol." Ethanol? OMG. Ok, now I get it ................ the headache. And by the way other Me, did we say we're organizing a pool party for next week?

TODAY: Another one of those, "not sure just yet days". My favorite kind of Saturday. Just let things happen, and see where we end up.

I really should start packing a suit case I guess. (Big holiday, coming up.) I mean really start, not just piling things all over the place. I think I need a list. Actually I probably need two. List #1 - what to take with, and, List #2 - what to bring back. I LIKE LISTS. Ok, I think I'll start with that. And the first item(s) for the list - long sleeves. Oh yes, I'm heading to a colder place. Brrrrrr. Actually probably more like BRRRRRRR. But I am excited!

Not sure if we'll manage to get up at 5:30 a.m. tomorrow to listen to the Rider match. (CFL) That might be just a wee bit too early for us. That's like our only sleep-in day. But we'll be sure to check as soon as we get up. Go Riders Go!

On my TO DO list this weekend - grab the camera and set out to get some pics of our new neighbours. I'll post some for you next week.

Happy weekend all. Good to Go!

CONSTRUCT

Wow, well some really exciting stuff happening in town for us. Yesterday they started putting up the big huge sign for the new Hypermart Store. Hypermart what? Hypermart is a very big, big supermarket - and in Balikpapan we could sure use that. (I wonder if they'll have cream cheese?) Very close to where the A&W is going to be. And there's a new sign up for Starbucks too. "1st in Kalimantan." (We're getting close Jan - it's almost coffee time.)

Wholly, options? Options? In Balikpapan? Wow! Go Hypermart Go! And A&W and Starbucks too. Now that's cool! Now that we've got signs - hmmmmm ........... we just need them to open up.

Balikpapan, I think, should be called the city of cranes. Balikpapan is a totally happening place when comes to construction. Malls, hotels, houses, offices, and apartments. And the people that make the bricks for all this - they might be at their busiest yet. Yes, almost everything here is made of re-bar, cement and bricks. First a cement frame and then filled in with bricks. And a bit more cement on top of all of that. Amazing to watch, especially the guys way, way up on top.

TODAY: Friday. Hari Jumat. Batik Day. Big Mosque Day. End of the week day - for most, for everyone else - almost.

Busy day ahead - starting with the pool. ATM - time to re-stock Rupiah (Everything here is cash or Not.) Need to do a drop off. Maybe a bit of shopping. And a dinner party later tonight.

Ok, busy day, lets get going! Good to Go!

TIDE'S OUT

Tide's in. Tide's out. And in this pic - it's way out. And I just happen to like this pic.

Watch out for when the tide's in. And when it goes out, it goes way, way out. But when it comes in, IT COMES IN. And if you happen to go for a walk down the beach, and stop for a spot ................... you might not be getting back the same way you came.

TODAY: A total rain day I think. It's been raining for hours. Started sometime last night. And now, we need to get maintenance in. We've got a bit of a drip, drip thing. A leak in the roof and wet ceramic tiles - not good. Makes for a really good SLIP. Ok, so on the plus, the drip, drip is at least on the outside of the house (over the patio). This time. Or so far. (Yes we've had the indoor type too.)

This morning have a little coffee thing to do. And sometime today need to search out something that resembles Tums. Note: If you plan on coming to Balikpapan - bring Tums. Lots of Tums. You might need them to help with all the spicy stuff.

Oh, yeah - and congratulations - Obama. You won! Today's headline in The Jakarta Post "Obama Fever Hits the World"

NEWS SPECIAL: US ELECTION

Finally - the US Election. Seems we've been waiting a long time for that. And it's on every News channel we have. And even the Jakarta Post. Amazing - seems the whole world is watching. Watching and waiting.

The Melbourne Cup - was great. So many funky looking hats. Yes, even I - the hat hater - donned a hat. Didn't win any money on any of the bets I placed - not even sure how that all works. A horse race better I am not. But there were a few lucky ladies amongst the bunch. And some pretty good prizes up for grabs in the pot.

TODAY: Well we had the rain yesterday - so today should be sunny and hot. Seems we've been going through the every other day thing for the past week. That's good. A little rain every now and then to cool things off. Right now the thermometer says almost 33˚C. Yup, today is going to be HOT.

Good to Go!

LOOK UP

Look up. Look way up. Imagine a job like this. No strings (or safety) attached. Looks like these guys are painting (re-painting) the frame for a new billboard. Balikpapan is full of billboards. I think you could almost call it billboard pollution - trust me there are lots.

TODAY: Today is the Melbourne Cup. An Aussie thing. The Melbourne Cup is Australia's major annual thoroughbred horse race. "The race that stops a nation." A public holiday for them in fact. So, the International group here is putting on a Champagne Brunch - complete with a big screen TV so we can all watch the race. (And place our bets.) It's a dress up affair - complete with a hat. A HAT. (YUCK - I hate hats.)

Ok, well, better get ready to go. Good to Go! Wish me luck.

GEMS + GEMS = MORE GEMS

Here's to Monday - and the start of a brand new week.

A very quiet weekend in Balikpapan for us. Good weekend to clean up all the office mess. And yesterday, Sunday, was a good day for that. And it looks great.

TODAY: This afternoon, heading out on that long trip across town. Off to see Mr. Blue Sapphire. (Riyad) Need to pick up my order from last week. There's not a whole lot of shopping in Balikpapan - but the diamonds and gem stones here, sure are great. Every colour, shape, and size. A person could easily start a collection with that. hmmmm - might have to think about that?

Ok, pool time. Good to Go!

KAKI LIMA

A little late with the post today. Had a pretty busy morning - out delivering the NEWS. I even managed to do the whole zig-zag circle loop in 2 hours today, and stop by and see K to pick-up fresh milk.

So this is Jalan Mulawarman. My street. But quite a ways down the road on the way into town. Just before the curve and the dip in the road thing near the Sepinggan local market. (Balikpapan is almost all curves and little hilly bumps) I took the pic this morning on my zig-zag circle trip. What a great sky today. Big time BLUE. The construction in back is something that's been going on, out at the airport since we got here. No idea what it is - it's one of those "On Again - Off Again Projects" I think.

That funny little cart thing in the front - it's called a KAKI LIMA. These little carts are everywhere and sell all sorts of things. Mostly food or little snacks, weird coloured fruit drinks, newspapers, and a whole bunch of other stuff. So - KAKI LIMA. Well, if you add the guy that usually pushes it, that makes 5 feet. LIMA = 5. KAKI = foot/feet. 2 wheels + 2 feet (from the guy pushing) + one pole (at the front) = KAKI LIMA or 5 feet.

TODAY: Today in Balikpapan - well, just not sure yet. Anything can happen - just have to wait and see. (Maybe we'll watch SKATE CANADA this afternoon. Live from Ottawa - imagine that, it's on our TV! - WHOLLY!) Happy weekend everyone.

Good to Go!