The first impression I got from the city was not as sever as when I met with Jakarta. The differences in magnitude are immense, being much more chaotic in the big Capital City, which helped me to somehow prevent myself on what to expect. I can not say that all went without conflict, examples as not working internet, a once spotted rat in my apartment, an office which air conditioning was not working and enough illumination was lacking, taxi drivers not knowing the direction and stopping two or three times to ask where a street was, taxi drivers loading petrol and stopping to do some shopping in the mini market on my expense, all working very slowly, subcontractors not having the understanding of deadlines, etc.
In relation to the personal distance, people here tends allways to come too close, not only phisically, but also personally. It is extremely uncomfortable that frequently the person you are speaking with wants to know details about you, personal details that one would not share with one that you don´t know.
Another interesting point is the level of assumptions that people make. When you ask something, people make assumptions that your actions will be directed towards that object which one is refering to. Once it happened that I asked the secretary where was Novotel. I wanted to go to the Tourist Information Center which was 200 m away. So she assumed that I wanted to go to Novotel because I had a bad experience in my actual appartment with my Thai neighbours and wanted to change places. Examples like that are plentiful.
All these was too much to bear during the first week, and I was getting so bad that I was starting to be upset very frequently, luckily during this period my team was not around due to the holiday week they were having, so I did not get angry with them. It was with all the others, with the people in the supermarkets taking to long to check the bill, people in the restaurant getting the orders confused, bus drivers driving as slow as possible to get the biggest amount of passengers, drivers not respecting the trafic lighs and driving in the oposite way. I realized that it was not worth to expect that others will keep my same level of discipline, and tried to accept things as they were. For all the problems earlier mentioned, I considered the rat at my flat as my pet, which BTW, I have not yet seen again. Took some powerful bulbs to the office, got a fan for myself, downloaded email clients so I would read emails directly from my computer, and hired a cleaning lady.
All other items, I know I need to be prepared to spend at least twice the time for doing one activity, as it would take in Finland. And the behaviour of the people for lack of dicipline, I take it as an adventure, like when I met Jum, a local guy I met at Kura Kura who offered to show me the city, and drove me with his motorbike, of course, driving in opposite direction of a 3 lane avenue! Amazing and very scary!
This type of behaviour is extended to the overall city planning, which seems to be none. Streets are not coordinated, one way accesses make the drivers give a huge turn to get from one place to another, because driving in opposite direction is not feasible when there is a massive amount of cars in one avenue.
Again, I was only focusing on the bad aspects of the city when I first got there. All dirty and polluted, not all was tidy, so whenever I went outside my apartment or the gym, which is in an excellent area in front of the best hotel in Semarang, I did not enjoy the sights. Now my perspective has starting changing, things are not as messy or ugly, indeed there are places which are amazingly beautiful, like monuments, houses, and pretty good restaurants, etc. These are there but hidden, and not easy to see if the attention is taken by the not nice items in the city. Today in the bus, coming from Semarang, I saw the most beautiful houses I have seen in the city, like palaces, probably about 400 sq. meters in a neoclassical style. The funny thing is that I take this road every day for work, and today I saw them for the first time.
So there are nice places in Semarang, it is matter of knowing where to go and what to look for.
Kura Kura, my favourite paradise 4.-5.10.2008
For example, last weekend I was again in Kura Kura, a paradise-like island in the north of Semarang, east of Karimunjawa. To get there a ferry is needed, it takes about 3.5 hrs to cross 61 nautical miles to get to Karimun, and from there a boat is also needed, either a fast or a wooden boat.
The first experience I had at Kura Kura was with Alex, when I found the place by chance on the net. I called, made the reservations and finally got there, without knowing anything about the resort. Last weekend it was completely different, I knew were to go, what to do, whom to see, what to expect. All went much more better than planned. Eventhough it took some effort to get into the boat, because it was full and I needed to be on the waiting list, we were almost on time at Karimunjawa. From there I was sent with a bicycle, which was driven by another man, to the small harbour to take the small wooden boat that will take me to the Kura Kura resort.
Because of the fast winds, the sea conditions were quite rough, luckily I don't suffer from sea sickness, so it did not affected me. Roughly after 45 min we were landing at the Kura Kura jetty, to meet Elisabeth, a 45 ft criuse used for diving and fishing, Kura Kura 1 and 2, the speed boats used to take people from and to the airport in Karimun island.
Since that weekend was the last weekend where the resort would have been opened due to the upcoming restorations and expansion plans, I was the only guest. This was excelent since I met the owner and managers of the resort and had a very nice evening, we chatted and had dinner, and invited me to go back to Semarang by their plane, which is used to transport the tourists to the island. Of course I took the offer!
During that day I spent all the time doing activities, went snorkeling, walking aroud the island, swiming, relaxing, and then having dinner with the guys. We did not stay long, which helped me to wake up at 4.00 am to get prepared to see the sunrise, being at 5.36 from at the other side of the island. Waking up at that time was a mayor achievement, but I was able to do it.
During the night it rained heavily, very strong and short time, and of course, warmish water. Just at its climax I remembered how nice it was to be under the rain, which I have not done since I was a child.
All this, with the combination of pouring rain, being in an isolated island with the highest privacy, gave the best feeling of freedom and joyfulness.
The mid night interruption was worth, and a gave my stay a special meaining. This together with the morning wake up call, sun rise witnessing, swimming at the coral reefs, kayaking and walking around the island, meeting the nice people in the resort, was the best experience, and I can again confirm that I have a favourite place in this world.
The way back was nice. First with the fast boat going to the airport, doing up to 23 knots. Then flying 50 min to get to Semarang. Finally, at the airport, meeting a very beautiful girl, helping with the Kura Kura reservations. I have seriously thought that I should go back to the airport only to meet her, probably invite her for dinner.
First day when meeting with my colleagues 6.10.2008
Back at the office on Monday, after the holidays were over, I met with my team. All are very nice people and responsible ones. They are very kind and hard working, and it has been a pleasure to work with them. At the beginning I had some problems remembering their names, but now is no problem. I was very positively surprised when I met Early, because at first I assumed she was a man (because of the name), but no, she was a girl, and a very nice and good looking one. She is not extremely beautiful on the face, but she has an extremely nice looking body and her smile is perfect, as I hade not seen one for a long time. This, together with her level of politeness, and sweetness, have make me start developing a strong sense of attraction. I need to be very careful, specially in my present circumstances, where I will not stay for a very long time in Semarang.
The rest of my team includes, Ikhwan: which is the acting project coordinator, Sullis: the CME coordinator for PLN issues, Edi and Iwan: the CME supervisors, Yuliarto: the Sitac supervisor, Irfan: the TI supervisor. Dealing with documentationa are Narlin: Sitac docs, Early: CME docs, and Lidya: TI docs.
The first thing we did during the week was to have the meetings with the subcontractors, and to get acquainted with the overall status of the proyect. It was intense work, long days, probably 12 hrs every day, which I closed with a 2 hr session at the gym every night.
My visit to Jakarta on Thursday was very efficient since I got my new passport, and met the project director for Jawa region from NSN. Fortunately the places I needed to visit, except for the City Bank, where I needed to pay my visa, were in the same building.
Weekend in Borobudur 11.-12.10.2008
This weekend I continue with my travels, I visit Borobudur, the largest Budist temple in the Java island. It is a huge mandala, with a huge stupa on the top. Made out of rock carvings located in different layers, creating a variety of platforms, 7 in total, to get to the upper ones, where the biggest are located.
The views from the valley are superb, and only hopping that there are no clouds tomorrow morning, when the sun is rising.
Luckily little clouds, as you can see next...
