Where Are Ron and Ellen?
Indonesia: 30 November 2010 - 15 March 2011
Ron on the road to Geumpang, Indonesia, December 2010
Small Islands
5 December 2010
Afton, Virginia, USADear family and friends,
Ron left for Indonesia on Tuesday 30 November, arriving after some delays (see his message) in Singapore at about 4 am Thursday morning (which, since Singapore is 13 hours ahead of Virginia, is the equivalent of 3 pm Wednesday afternoon Virginia time). His first report is from Batam, an Indonesian island just a few kilometers by ferry from Singapore.
Here in Virginia it is cold, with daytime temperatures just a little above freezing, and it is very windy. We had a light snow last night, but it disappeared today when the sun came out. Quite different from the hot weather and showers in Indonesia!
Over the last five months we've had an addition put on our house, and it was not quite completed when Ron left. Two days after he left, the carpet was put down in the new space, so now I am working on cleaning up all the dust from the construction and trying to figure out how to rearrange the furniture that has been squashed into other rooms for several months.
Love to all,
Ellen
4 December 2010
Pulau Batam, IndonesiaHello, my dear,
Thank you for all your messages about the progress on the house construction and the changes in the weather. I am sorry to have left you with both. And in a few days I might wish for some of your weather.
The only segment of my flight here that went according to plan was the flight from Charlottesville to DC. The DC flight to Chicago was called back from the runway because it failed some test. We had to unload for them to perform some kind of test. In Chicago I had to change planes, even though the flight number remained the same, and I would have missed the connection but it was also delayed. And then after finally loading it could not take off because of some kind of hydraulic test failure, so it pulled back to the terminal and the engineers did something. There was some kind of delay with the flight from Hong Kong to Singapore also. All in all, a mixed performance from United. I guess I should give thanks that they discovered the problems before take off rather than after, but it still seems to me that test should be performed earlier than at the point of take off on the runway.
Before arriving in Singapore, United presented all the passengers with a letter of apology from the company president and a form and envelope to mail in for some kind of benefit to compensate. Mine got completely soaked in one of the downpours when it was still in my shirt pocket waiting for a place to mail it. Now I will have to write them a letter.
By the time I had arrived in Singapore, claimed my baggage, gone through customs, and worked the various information desks on my possibilities (taxi 30 SIN$, bus with a hotel reservation 9 SIN$ available at 5 am, train 2.50 SIN$ beginning at 5:45), and gotten some money out of the ATM, it was about an hour before the first train into town at 5:45 am. I spent the hour figuring out how to use the train, finding change for the larger ATM bills so I could use the ticket machine, which train transfers to make to get to the ferry dock. And when I got to the harbor area there was a fast boat leaving at 7 am for Batam Island. The boat I think was less than an hour. On the back of the ferry ticket was an ad for a hotel that seemed as cheap as any I was considering and the pictures of the rooms looked good, so I had a destination to give to my first taxi driver which I found about a block away from the docks, avoiding the what we called the taxi mafia in Uzbekistan. All in all the various bits of transportation went very smoothly with the longest waiting time being about 30 minutes for the train.
My seat mate on the ferry was an oil company executive from Australia who provided me with some information on Batam Island. I knew it was a free tax zone but had not realized how industrial it had become with lots of companies from Singapore operating factories in Batam where the labor rate is much lower, Lots of the workers come from Sumatra. So the island is a boom town and growing fast. I have seen some large industrial areas from the ferry and from the back of the scooter.
Spent most of Thursday catching up on my sleep between sampling some of the local noodle and shrimp dishes.
Friday I took a motor scooter trip to a Vietnamese refugee camp from I think 1985. It was a beautiful ride and the camp grounds were quite lovely, like the Blue Ridge Parkway, with what appeared to be a Catholic Pagoda (my best description). The place was rather deserted, with only a few Moslem tourist Two of the men wanted to have their picture taken with me, and I responded by have my picture taken with one of them using my camera. There was a good museum with lots of pictures, including those of a big reunion in 2005. There were a couple of preserved boats and a statue with a replica of a boat with the date 1985 on the boat, giving me the date I assumed the refugees arrived. I understood they get a lot of tourists on the weekends, but I assume most of the people have gone back to Vietnam or settled elsewhere. Maybe from my pictures I will be able to google some of the names of the place.
The trip was a lot longer than I had expected and on the way back there was a long heavy rain storm. I had slept through the one the afternoon before. Now I realize there may be a pattern here, But today's afternoon shower was mild. I am now wearing my waterproof booties inside my wet shoes until they dry out. My back pocket wallet was soaked and I had to spread out all the small bills to dry along with all my clothes. The camera was protected by a plastic bag in my shirt pocket.
Speaking about the camera, I think you will find in either the wall socket in the dining room or the old office my battery charger for the camera batteries along with the third battery. I walked to the very large shopping mall here today looking for a replacement battery charger. I found a similar battery but all the chargers were for different size batteries. However one young woman was most helpful and looked up the charger on her computer system and went around to several of the shops in the mall that might have the proper one. The lower level had a cluster of electronic stores and she knew them all. The best she could come up with was to special order it and it would be in Tuesday. But I am leaving tomorrow and will try to find one in Medan or do a special order when I get there since I will be coming back through from Lake Toba.
Tomorrow I will take a ferry to Karimun Island and then a ferry to Kundur Island, a smaller one that I thought I might explore. Since I have only 60 days on my Indonesian visa [he has a multi-entry visa, but the limit on the stay with each entry is 60 days], I will need to exit before Feb 3, and will have at least 5 days before you arrive, so I am still thinking about returning to one of the islands with a bicycle from Singapore if I can find one I would like to return to with a bike.
Riding on the back of a motor scooter in heavy traffic is quite an experience. They drive on the left side of the road, which makes it more difficult for me to anticipate which way to look and turn. Thank goodness I am not driving. And the motor bikes just buzz through the traffic, going between the two lanes of cars (same direction) as well as using the bit of space on the left edge. Like insects buzzing around the larger vehicles, which are going slower in heavy traffic. They seem to ignore one way streets and I have even seen some coming towards me on the left edge. But it seems to work and I have not yet seen an accident. Cars seem to give them space and know they are everywhere.
For pedestrians there are no accommodations. Most people seem to use motor bikes even for short trips and I have seen no bicycles at all, and very few pedestrians. On my walk to the mall I realized the sidewalks that exist are in poor shape and in places I had to walk in the road or parking lots along strip malls.
I enjoy using my own netbook instead of the Internet Cafe. The touch pad is still giving me lots of trouble with gestures I don't understand and keys that do strange things, but I could easily download my backlog of more than 350 messages (containing a lot of spam). I found that my hotel had wifi in their lobby so I just came down and logged in. I hope this pattern holds true. I can then read and answer email off line when ever I have some time, and then send and receive when ever I can find a wifi connection.
I think I am through my jet lag, caught up on my sleep, worked through the first couple of days of getting my travel routines working, and now enjoying the adventures again. So far it has been relatively easy.
Love and miss you,
Ron
9 December 2010
Afton, Virginia, USADear family and friends,
Virginia is cold, cold, cold, with temperatures just above freezing during the day, definitely below the seasonal average.
Today I'm getting ready to paint the area of the big downstairs space where Ron used to have his office, which looks kind of scruffy since Ron moved everything to the new office area before leaving. A week ago our daughter Sharon helped me with some furniture rearrangement, so the downstairs, at least, is beginning to look like living space rather than a construction zone. Sharon came by this morning after dropping the boys at school and we took Bagel (my wonderful grand-dog!) for a long walk. She and I agreed that after six months, it seems very odd not to have the (very nice) guys from the construction crew in and out of the house all day.
Love to all,
Ellen
8 December 2010
Tanjung Batu, Kundur Island, IndonesiaHello, my dear,
This trip so far has been very easy but uneventful, and certainly not anything to write about - or from my reader's point of view - to read about. So people may just want to skip this report unless they are planning to follow in my footsteps, and in that case I will provide some information on logistics of traveling across the islands. [Ron is talking about the small islands between Sumatra and Singapore.]
The ferry to Tanjung Balai, on Karimun Island left several times during the day, and I caught the 11 am one which took less than two hours and cost 70K Rp plus a 5K tax, about $8.50. (Details provided for future travelers who may find this on Google.) I took an upper level window seat and the ferry was not as crowded as I had expected. I did not discover if there were various ticket prices but later someone came along and took part of my ticket.
Exiting the ferry area I found myself walking through the lobby of the Holiday Karimun Hotel right next to the ferry exit (I must have just been following the people in front of me) and remembered reading on the Internet that someone said it was the best value hotel. I agree. Most of the cheaper rooms were sold out (so it is best to arrive by early morning ferry and not be the last one off) and I took a deluxe room for about 220K Rp ($25) which had spectacular windows on two sides of a corner overlooking the docks and water. The next day I downgraded to a lower room with windows on just one side for a bit over $16. I took a good tour of the various hotels and found many good bargains but many without windows and many more expensive for the better rooms. There was one, Wisma Royal, almost next to the Maximillion, which had a nice large third floor deluxe room with a window facing the water for 70K ($8) but it was booked for the next day. The manager of the Maximillion gave me a grand tour of their sauna, pub, restaurant, and other facilities. However, their standard room had no window and was more expensive then the standard room at the Holiday.
There are three or more streets parallel to the water with most of the hotels located along the ones closest to the water. There is little accommodation for pedestrians and where there are sidewalks they are often blocked by vendors and motor scooters. I saw a few bicycles, small wheels and I am assuming kids bikes. Most people use motor scooters and I am constantly being encouraged by guys wanting to province me transportation on theirs. There are also lots of small blue vans operating like buses along the main road and I have taken a couple that circled back to where I started, perhaps an 8 to 10 K trip. Wish I had my bike, the roads, while crowded, appear to be bikable with the scooters and cars moving slowly and accommodating each other.
The weather is hot and humid and I have used my new universal flat sink stopper to wash clothes with the little flakes of laundry soap we bought at REI.
The ATMs in Batam only let me take out 1.5 million Rp at a time, which is about $170, and when I checked my balance I was pleased to see it was in the 9 digit range. One more digit and I would be a billionaire. But I have no idea what the charge for the 1.5M would be from our bank account. The largest bill I have seen so far is 50K which is about $5.82
Other than meeting some Malaysian tourists who could speak English, I have not met any other travelers on this trip, and there are really no adventures to report.
In Batam I bought a sim card for my mobile phone. I will try to remember to send you the number, but I keep it turned off most of the time. I understand the number will work all over Indonesia - but I wonder if it will be like long distance, with all my calls being from Batam, even when I am in Jakarta calling a Jakarta number. Trying to get answers to these kinds of questions has not been easy.
This morning, I got up early for the hotel provided breakfast of fried rice and fried noodles, both with bits of egg, onions, chicken, sausage (hot dog type) and some other items I am unsure of, along with eggs, which I discovered were not boiled hard, coffee with condensed cream from a can, and a weak juice of unknown fruit. After checking out I walked through the side gate into the ferry terminal and people called this one guy who could speak English to help me buy my ticket to Tanjung Batu on Kundur Island, my next stop. He pointed out that there was about a 45 minute wait and wanted to know if we could have coffee and talk. He of course wanted to practice his English so he could get a job as a driver for one of the corporations out of Singapore. Turns out he was the ticket agent for The Pelni Ferry Line, the largest one in Indonesia, he explained the schedule and options to get to Medan. I booked a ticket on the Pelni Ferry for Saturday, overnight to Medan, second class A, which I understand will be a cabin of 8 for about 435K Rp ($49). The choices were 250K economy, Second Class 435K or 650K or 900K deluxe. This way I will get to see what Economy Class is really like before I try traveling cheaply.
After getting on the small ferry and finding a vacant seat by a window, I was very lucky to have a cute 18 year old Chinese student choose to sit by me. She could speak good English and we talked the entire ferry ride. For her secondary schooling her family sent her to Singapore, where she continued for her college years (pre-university). Sounded like this would be equivalent to our 11th, 12th and first year of college. Next year she starts at the University in Singapore and wants to become a dentist. Her parents live in Tanjung Batu and she comes to visit for a week once a year. Her father is in the business of wholesale food distribution, the best I could understand. After we docked, she introduced me to her father, who met her at the ferry and was helping with her luggage. He was polite but not particularly interested and could speak no English. She had some other siblings and two of them were studying somewhere else and one was at home. I found this all to be most interesting and wonder how typical that is for Chinese families. She has been on her own in Singapore from what sounded like about 15 years old or younger. She seemed very bright and independent. And for a family to support three kids going to private schools elsewhere, must add up.
So far I have met more interesting people while I am traveling then when I am hanging around some town.
Tanjung Batu, on Kundur Island is much smaller than Balai, on Karimun Island, which was smaller than Nagoya, Batam Island. However the ATM told me to check with my bank (a bit before noon here) and neither of the two banks or the money changer would change travel checks, so I am down to dollars. However, after a round of checking various hotels I booked myself into Hotel Gembira, (which I read was the best hotel in town) for a discounted rate of 150K, about $18 for their mid-level large room with ice box and windows overlooking the water. I am feeling guilty being so up-scale. But by adding another $6 to my hotel options, the quality goes way up.
I found a computer store that provides Internet access, but the power was off. So I will go back later with my thumb drive and this message to send to you. There was no wifi in Karimun and none here. My next stop will be in Medan [in the northeast of Sumatra] on my way to Lake Toba.
This morning I bought some tangerines and another green mango and look forward to having a lazy afternoon reading Bury Your Dead on my netbook, eating the fruit, drinking coffee and looking at the activity on the waterfront.
Love and miss you. Looking forward to reading your news from home as well as sending this to you.
Ron
Back to the Indonesia 2010-2011 index
cfw.com
Questions? Send email to Ellen, ebouton 
operamail.com
While we're traveling, reach us at bikepacker
Last updated: 5 January 2011
