MADE IT

Finally made it home last night. Finally (?) - because our plane was almost three hours late. The first time I ever saw the word REFRESHMENT listed on the arrivals/departures board along with ARRIVED, DEPARTED and DELAYED at the airport too. Yes - believe it or not, the airlines here, freely feed you if your plane is more than a little late. That was cool.

Great shopping trip. We both came home with some really great stuff. Next time though, think we'd better add another day or two.

........ and you know you live in Balikpapan when, you bring 3 dozen donuts home on the airplane with you too.

TODAY: Nothing like cruising the streets of Balikpapan listening to a rendition of Billy Ray Cyrus's 'Acky Breaky Heart' on the radio. In Bahasa Indonesian. It just amazes me how many languages they can do that song in too. Good for dancing I think is what the driver called it - he loves this song and knows all the words too.

Shopping day today (groceries) and I even managed a nice big sleep in this morning too. So far this day is looking really, really good.

F1 Sunday tomorrow. So Go J Button Go!

Good to Go!

I AM HERE - I PREDICT

This is where I'm at. Tunjungan Plaza Shopping Mall in Surabaya. Getting all the last minute shopping in - before I head back. This morning, I'm guessing in the SOGO store.

Have a good one and see you when I get back.

Good to Go!

UPDATE FROM SURABAYA

Hey all - just enjoying an nice cold ice lemon tea at my newest favorite mall. This place is awesome - there's pretty much nothing you can't buy here. All good and STILL have money left.

Next stop SOGO!

And free internet. (that actually works kickass) (and we even have electric) (and you can buy beer in the grocery store) and, and, and ........

Good to Go!

GONE SHOPPING

And so, just what do you think is the meaning of this? I have no idea - just a good guess(es). Yield? Caution? PAY ATTENTION! Perhaps? Darn good thing I don't drive around here.

There are all kinds of strange (interesting) (weird) road signs around here just like that. This one has certainly seen a better day. A little worse for wear I think. Sure needs a good wash - and looks like a big truck passing by might have caught the corner and bent it a bit.

Ah - so maybe yield, caution or PAY ATTENTION isn't what they meant. Or is it?

TODAY: The electric keeps going off. And I have a plane to catch.

Today is the day me and my friend are heading off on our little shopping trip. We're doing the The Surabaya Shopping Trip. Empty suitcases and we're ready to go. We are so ready for this. And I'm sure hoping they have a Starbucks there too. (cause the one they keep promising in this town - still hasn't happened yet!)

This is what I pulled off the internet - Plaza Tunjungan with an exciting retail space of about 111,700 square meters, accommodates more than 500 retailers - wholly, now I'm scared. Are we going to have enough time to do all this?

Tell you all about it - when I get back.

Good to Go!

OH ........ BUSY DAY

Just when you start thinking this whole Blogging thing is bordering a little bit on the side of ridiculous, and maybe just a few of you are getting tired of all the blabbering on and ranting I do (possibly an outlet for all the talking I can do) - someone out there (actually a few of you) sends an email or a comment that just makes the whole thing worth while. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thanks, all of you.

Ok, enough of that - I'm in a hurry, let's get on with it. Today's photo - well that's just something you see around here - a lot. Funny looking plants - in ugly pots. I swear, almost every single flower pot here is made with cement. And yes they weigh a lot. (Note: Cement is spelled S-E-M-E-N here) (?) Hmmmm.

So all the pots are cement and then have a couple of layers of really bad paint smelling paint covering them up. (and you would know this, if you've ever driven down the plant stall road on pot painting days with your windows open) When I first arrived, the only colours you could actually get were red or green. I even wondered if that was the only colour paint you could get. Got to the point where I actually had to break down and buy paint and paint my own flower pots. And now unfortunately, with all the rain we get - they're just about ready for round number two.

TODAY: Have a lot of errands to do. Some things I need to head out and pick-up and some things for dropping off. And couple projects I promised I get finished this afternoon too.

Need to figure how to make Mint Sauce. Don't ask - let's just go with I promised somebody I would. Any body out there have a recipe for this stuff? (I know absolutely nothing about mint sauce - but I do actually have lots and lots of mint)

Need to pack a large suitcase (with nothing in it) for tomorrow's shopping trip.

........ and a dinner engagement later this evening too. South American Food - yahoo!

BTW. Just because some of you asked. The water runs clear again. The fish are fine. The cat is fine. The driver and the house keeper are fine. Me and the other Me are fine too. Now if we could just get the @**!ing AC fixed.

Have a good one.

Good to Go!

HELLO TUESDAY

Hello Tuesday! How are you?

The photo - this would be the new look (and I must say - it's looking good) of Mal Fantasi and with a new name too. 'Mal Balikpapan Baru'. Now how long do you think it's going take to get everyone on the same page with that. Changing names here is a difficult thing I think. Ever since I first came to Balikpapan the Le Grandeur Hotel (that's the real name) has been called by it's former name the Dusit. And this mall is getting a face lift too. They're finally painting over all those colouful bits that gave it the Walt Disney effect.

About the travel agent yesterday - off on a plane trip. To Surabaya later this week. Yes, I'll be missing in action again for a coupe of days. Me and a friend are off on a shopping trip. An over night shopping trip. We're heading to Surabaya's Tunjungan Plaza Shopping Mall - time for us to go check it out. We're told it's the 2nd largest shopping center in all of South East Asia. So we're taking with us empty suitcases and plan on filling them up for the trip back. Scarry isn't it?

TODAY: Ok, so starting at 9 a.m. - we officially have had all the water shut off. Pipe maintenance day ahead. Unofficially, maybe we'll go from tea water (water the colour of tea) to clear water instead. Things are looking good.

I have all kinds of plans for the day - and we'll soon see how it all works out. Things never seem to go quite as planned here. Flexibility rules - and then, before you know this day will be filled up and all will work out.

Just noticed, this whole post today seems to have a bit of a shopping mall theme to it. Hmmmm

Ok Tuesday - let's do it!

Good to Go!

THE 1ST OF JUNE

Finally. FINALLY. Finally, here it is - today - the 1st of June. And a post that I procrastinated with (about) all the while the weekend was passing into oblivion. An awesome weekend. Thank you. Managed to even sneak in a rest day too. Gotta like that.

Today's photo: Just another Balikpapan scene. Ankot - are all the little buses we have here in town. Yellow, blue and green. (possible more colours too - but these are the only ones I've ever seen) For a minimal amount of rupiah, one can get around all over town in these. And most times, rather tightly fit in.

Ok, so lets get back up to speed and updated on all the goings on around here over the last few days. Let's start with those horrible things I shall refer to as cookies.

Cookies: So what should (could) have been (peanut butter chocolate chip) turned out to be - little round blobs (an indeterminate mass) of dried out cookie dough with too much butter and bits of chocolate chip and oatmeal in-between. Yuck! Honestly, no person on earth can actually ever eat these things.

So over the weekend me and the other Me secretly conspired a plan to get rid of the horrid little things. Secretly, as neither me nor the other Me have the heart to tell the housekeeper how bad these things really are. She's actually a fabulous cook, and we certainly don't want to ever discourage that. Her talent in cooking real things. So, later this afternoon - the other Me is going to take a BIG bag FULL of them to the office and find an unsuspecting waste bin to drop them in.

Happy Birthday(s): This should really have preceded cookies on my list. Happy Birthday to a couple of my favorite people. The first happy birthday wish, goes to my youngest sister (like the way I got the young part in?) - and the second goes to someone celebrating Happy Birthday #10!

Friday lunch & coffee: That replayed and extended itself into the wee hours of the evening. I shall just say great. My newest favorite thing. Udung Mayonaise. (udung = prawns = big shimp) Yum! Makes up for the horrible cookies.

Fish 1 and Fish 3: All good. No longer are they swimming circles - in the new aquarium, they prefer the formidable task of swimming laps it seems.

The situation with cats: So over the weekend 2 big Tom cats showed up at our place. Caterwauling unsterilized Toms cruising for queens. Thank god (?) for inventing the garden hose and quite possibly bad cookies.

And this just in. Some people - really - just don't have enough to occupy their time with. Check this out.

TODAY: Still dealing with the problems related to the AC! Rather ACs. Yes the problem has now escalated to more than just the original one.

..... and off to see the travel agent again. Tomorrow, I'll have more info and will fill you all in.

Good to Go!