Back in Perth - just for a month or so - catching up with 'stuff'.
* More medical: a CT scan (with a squirt of iodine in the bloodstream) to check on the 'shadow on the right kidney'. I'd had my regular (weekly) blood test the previous day to check blood thickness (INR) and that had left a bruise, the gal doing the scan could not find a 'good vein' in the other arm, so tried to insert a cannula into the bruised arm to inject the iodine. "Ouch"! She called for a doctor to try the other arm and she had a go - oh look: a pretty bright red fountain. Result of scan: no change, check again in six months. Scan was $755.05.
* Then: there was the drama of my apartment: I'm in a small complex of 5 units and mine is the penultimate in the row (#4). The property is on a slight hill with a short drop to the neighbour at the rear of the property. The rear neighbour had carried out some major plumbing and involved excavating a rather deep hole just behind our rear fence, which they initially failed to shore up. The consequence has been that there is subsidence and the rear fence is leaning, the paving around #5 is dropping and opening up and there is the imminent possibility of the unit leaning (or even travelling) down the hill - and taking my apartment with it. Insurance will not cover 'subsidence', and the Council say it's nothing to do with them so: we need to attack those responsible for the excavations for repairs before there is even more serious repercussions. Of course: they are denying responsibility!
* Printer/scanner died (main power-board) - so: had to be replaced with a new printer...which was rather complicated and protracted to set up.
* Then my landline phone decided that it would ring and accept messages, but refused to allow conversations - so: that had to also be replaced with a new one! There were two handsets - I set up the primary phone and the other one - somehow- magically duplicated the numbers.
* I'd turned off the reticulation to my little back garden as it had been raining rather a lot. Turned it on as I was about to head off again - the timer had died. SO - that also had to be totally replaced and reset!
* My well-travelled suitcase decided that it had had enough and began to split along a seam - so: had to buy a new one.
* Having breakfast on the Friday before leaving on the Sunday. The muesli seemed to be a touch too crunchy: a small filling had dropped off a front tooth. Rang my dentist to see if she could squeeze me in that day and got a recorded message: "Please leave a message and we will return your call on Tuesday." ---- does it ever end?
Still - my morning walk (from 05.30) was back to around 50km (31 miles) per week
Living at 'home' is just too complicated and expensive!?! I told the volunteer head office in Canberra that it was easier to leave the country and sort out OTHER people's problems...!
So: I headed back to Perth airport and boarded the Garuda aircraft to fly north to Jakarta for two days of briefings before heading back south for the next assignment in Bali. At least passengers were no longer compelled to complete a silly embarkation form: insert passport in the slot and it's all done with 'facial recognition'. We sat in the full aircraft until well past the scheduled take-off time. Then the crew made an announcement that the flight had been cancelled because the pilots' radio was not working: making the flight a "no go". We were told to disembark and there was talk of arranging overnight accommodation and meals. After a protracted disembarkation, passengers waited for news until being told that the airline had acquired the necessary part from Qantas. We eventually took to the air two hours late. After leaving home at 2pm, I arrived at the Jakarta hotel at 1am next morning.
Indonesia has 17,000 islands (6,000 inhabited), is the fourth most populous country on our little planet (with 264 million people) and home to the highest number of Muslims (around 200 million - some 88% of the population). However, on the island of Bali (where I was for two months), the population of some four million are predominantly Hindu. The island is deeply dependent on tourism. Walking the streets: you'd hear a range of languages. I was surprised at the number of tourist couples with very young children and at the number of people smoking (wondered if, perhaps, they only smoked when on holiday).
So: first stop was Jakarta, where the traffic is overwhelming. There are ten million residents in Jakarta, plus: every workday, the city swells by over another two million with commuters travelling in and out.
A study found that up to 6,000 new cars (https://www.globalindonesianvoices.com/18573/jakarta-city-gets-6000-new-cars-a-day-increasing-congestions/) and up to 2,000 new motorbikes join the Jakarta traffic chaos EACH DAY, bringing the total to about 14.4 million cars and motorbikes on the streets of Jakarta and its satellite cities. I was told that Jakarta had trialled a system where they allocated days for driving in the city based on if the plate on the car ended in an odd or even number. For instance: on Mondays, only cars with plates ending in an even number could drive into the city. The reaction was that many people with a vehicle ending in, say, an odd number, then purchased another car with a plate that ended in an even number, so that they could drive on any day!
After two days of briefings in Jakarta, there was a short flight back down to Bali (and an hour time difference). This time, the commute from my 'home' (in a neat little hotel) was a few steps - literally less than a two minute walk from my room, down stairs, across a road and into the office (well: a shop actually). This next assignment was to a local maker of a wide range of: preservative-free, ethically-produced, jams/jellies/butters and pickles, and bathroom and laundry soaps, plus shampoos (for humans and pets). Their challenge was that they felt that the business had grown too fast and they were in danger of losing control. Plus: it was a family business (Aussie guy, local wife, 3 older kids) and, by the second week: it became my task to establish if the kids were even interested in the business. Then, if they were, to allocate tasks and encourage each one in a specific field.
An added attraction for the some 4.5 million tourists per year to Bali is the local predilection to fly huge kites which can be up to 10 meters long and 4 meters wide - although it can be difficult to appreciate their size when they fly so high that they look like passing aircraft.
Bali, being mostly Hindu, I missed out on Idul Adha on September 1, where everyone is expected to dress in their finest clothing to perform prayers. Muslims who can afford to do so, sacrifice animals (usually sheep, but also, cows, and goats) as a symbol of Ibrahim's (Abraham's) sacrifice to god. The animals, called 'Qurban' are sacrificed publically, often at the side of busy roads, and the meat is traditionally distributed to the less well off.
One week was the annual Haj - the Islamic pilgrimage- where millions trek to Mecca but there are ceremonies for those at home, like traditionally not eating during daylight hours. The predominately Hindus in Bali had a function of their own at the same time - they bless basically sharp objects that they own. The ceremony has grown to bless: the family's car and motorcycles (suitably washed, of course), gardening implements (whipper snipper, bush knives, etc). I was staying at the client's family home up in the mountains and had gone on a morning work with the owner - and she knew virtually everyone in the village. We called in to visit a family who lived along a secluded lane and they were setting up for the blessing: clean vehicles all lined up, gardening implements neatly aligned and large bowls of fruits and vegetables on display.
The three teenage and 20s kids of the family I was working with seemed to have had a pretty easy life. With some cajoling from me (by forcing weekly family meetings) I was endeavouring to get them interested in planning on eventually taking over the business - and they did seem reasonably keen if I kept prodding. An aspect I really admired greatly was their totally bilingual discussions - the family would regularly switch back and forth between English and Bahasa Indonesia without skipping a beat. I asked how they decided which language to use and the retort was that they did not think about it.
The eldest son announced one night that his girlfriend was pregnant which elicited family congratulations. When the prospect of 'marriage' and suitable ceremonies was discussed, he commented that he was 'officially' Muslim, but that he felt more Hindu - a local conundrum, apparently.
The local coffee for breakfast at the hotel was tasty enough, but there seemed to be an aversion to using a filter: resulting in a cup of coffee containing a generous dose of sludge.
I had suggested additional marketing by sign-writing on the plain sides of the business' delivery van but that initially met with reluctance because it would lift the profile, potentially elicit bureaucratic influence and possible approaches by what are euphemistically called 'youth communities' - a pseudonym for 'gangs'.
Of course, being back in Indonesia and discussing budgets and capital expenditure items, one is quickly obliged to be talking in millions because (in round numbers) $1 = Rp10,000. I was looking at convincing my 'host' to purchase a label printing and saving on the high costs of labels by printing their own. A suitable machine was US$1,700 - so: that was around 17 million rupiah.
I do (usually) manage to keep up with most international news through television and internet while travelling and being in foreign climes. BUT - who on earth ARE those people that the media feature that they (presumably) think the public are interested in? The headings mention someone's name (and may even feature a photograph) but I have absolutely no idea who they are, or who/what they represent .... and why they may be relevant to something or other.
I assist to edit a monthly e-newsletter for a proactive business centre in Perth. The Centre has an annual Small Business Awards competition and I was rather flattered to be asked to help judge the winners of the 26 categories but (unfortunately) I was not in Perth at the time.
The time zone for Bali is the same as home (Perth). It's actually closer to fly from Perth to Bali (2,604km), than Perth to Sydney (3,301km). The temperature variance in Bali was minimal: ranging from a minimum of 25°C (77°F) to a maximum of 30°C (86°F) virtually every single day.
Added to the 'flavour' on this assignment was a threatening volcano - Mount Agung - which was registering up to 1,000 seismic shocks per day - one rather large one I felt some 50km away in my hotel room. The government had evacuated some 144,000 inhabitants from a 12km exclusion zone.
The lass with a resort in Pakse, Laos, that I was helping in my spare time there sends me several emails a week asking for advice and assistance - got her listed on Airbnb for instance. She's also getting better at spotting the plethora of scams targeting hotels - a recent one (not really a 'scam') was an email from someone with an address in Russia offering to give her resort good reviews on www.booking.com for 18 Euros (about $20) each review?
There are no tuk tuks in this town. They have taxis (they spell it better than in English - 'Taksi'). The cheap travel option is to use an App on your mobile phone to call a couple of Uber-style services where you hop on the back of a small motorcycle and go zipping through the traffic. They also offer a delivery service for small parcels, and restaurants use them to deliver their take-away meals. Isn't it an interesting sign of the changing times that: the biggest accommodation network in the world (Airbnb) owns no rooms and the biggest taxi organisation (Uber) owns no vehicles?
In addition to the convenience of just walking across the road from my accommodation to the office: the deal also included breakfast. They did not serve breakfast until 8am and there was only one time when anyone else was having breakfast when I had mine. I've been working and/or living in hotels for a good chunk of the last 50 years ( totalling all-up about 25 years, I reckon) and it was interesting to watch the staff after I'd ordered breakfast as someone would invariably run out the front, hop on a motorcycle and return with eggs, or fruit or milk...
I had to extend my Indonesia visa for a few days and the agent needed my passport. I'm always reluctant to hand over my passport to people who are not immigration (or emigration) officers. Then, a few days later: had to take a 45-minute taxi ride to immigration, wait an hour: had a photo taken, finger prints (every finger) and signature - luckily an agent seemed to speed-up the process considerably. In 2011, I had to renew my previous passport before it expired, because it was full. Just had a look in my current passport: apart from oodles of assorted stamps - there are 20 pages devoted to visas attached for various countries.
As a gauge for the level of trust in the busy community where I was living and working - residents and workers would park their motorcycle on the street, take off their jacket (yes: in 35C - 95F) and helmet, just leave then on the bike and wander off - content to believe that they'd still be there when they returned!
I wandered into my hotel room one afternoon after 'work' with just a few weeks to go - and there was an invitation on the bed. A nearby hotelier was holding his 40th birthday party and, rather than have potential neighbours complaining about the noise, he was putting out a general invitation for them to be included. I did not feel so inclined. And just as well: the cacophony of ear drum vibrating noise emitting from the event was mind-numbing and went on until 2.15am. What's with this modern crap that just sounds like repetitious drum beats interspersed with three or four words repeated ad nauseam for what seems like hours at a time? ...... you could not call it "music" by any stretch of the imagination! Plus: there would be no way to have any shred of a conversation.
Dramas at my semi-permanent "home" continued: there is an electric gate at the front of our apartments and I learned that it had not been functioning for weeks as the tenant of one unit had hit the motor with their car. So a flurry of emails ensued as to who was responsible, who was going to pay, etc. Then the only other active resident/owner in the complex advised that she was selling and moving out.
On the last week, the family decided that we would all (parents, 3 kids, a visiting relative and me) would head off to an upmarket resort on a beach in Bali for three days to go through my detailed reports and discuss the business, family roles and the future. The family were in a multi-room, multi-bungalow villa with its own swimming pool. I was in a 'deluxe bungalow'. Rather decadent, relaxing and we got a lot of work done - two or three meetings a day, with the evening one finishing around 10pm.
Photos on -
https://get.google.com/albumarchive/116314286847914749962/album/AF1QipOH9ly0ycDFox9-1tEjR7bYpiOHMlQQM0k9aZpP?source=pwa