So much for "Now Blogger saves your drafts automatically"! Was writing a big long blog on and off all day, said the thing saved, so I exited. I come back, and all I have is the first line! Don't trust it now, technology has let me down. Going to write the next version up in notepad and save as I go along!
So, what was I saying? ah yeah....
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Jakarta - Not a "tourist heaven"
Well, I had my first day out in Jakarta yesterday. Up until now, I've seen pretty much none of the city apart from my hotel, the office, the road in between and a few restaurants and shopping malls we've taken taxis to. Normally, I'd head out and take a wander around by myself in the evenings, but it';s dark by the time we get back to the hotel, and besides, you can't really walk around and see stuff locally (as in, we've been advised not to by the hotel). Luckily, one of the guys here has a local friend, Joey, who promised to show us a bit of the city, so we headed off early yesterday morning to "get touristy".
When I say "headed off early", I mean we left early-ish, but then we hit a slight snag - traffic. Anyone who thinks dublin traffic is bad, should head over to SE Asia and give it a go over here. Even Beijing didn't have this many cars clogging the roads! The concept of lanes seems to equate to "whatever space is big enough to fit my car into", and traffic lights are things that happen on the major roads around the CBD. If it were just cars it'd be ok, but for every car on the road there's maybe 2-3 bikes (sometimes with 2-3 people or even whole families) that are weaving in and out between them at high speed, sometimes with inches to spare on either side. So, in between having to collect a few other people (two of Joey's friends, Nina and Ami) and having to inch our way through the traffic, it was maybe 2pm before we got into the "old city".
Once we got there, there wasn't a huge amount to be seen. It definitely isn't a "tourist friendly" area, there's a few museums to see but it isn't the type of place you'd happily wander around for hours. We hit two museums, the bank museum (which technically wasn't even open til the next day, but they let us in anyway), and another museum which seemed to consist of nothing but teak furniture - and which let us in without telling us they were closing in 15mins! Apart from that, we wandered down a few fairly run-down streets and went to an old colonial-style cafe called Cafe Batavia to get a drink (which was necessary since most of us aren't quite used to that type of heat).
After that, we headed out to Sunda Kelapa, the port area. That was interesting enough, as all of the boats were the old-style Junks which are nothing like what we get at home, and all of the loading/unloading is done manually as there's no cranes or any equipment - so you have work gangs of guys loading/unloading 50kg bags of cement or big planks of wood off trucks onto the boats.
Two of the guys we were with take their photography quite seriously though, so we spent a lot of time there as they went for the artistic shots - maybe more than us non-photo people would have been happy with. So, we wandered around the port for a few hours, then as the sun was going down, we decided to brave the traffic, go back to the hotel to freshen up, and go out for dinner and a drink or two.
Once we got to dinner, things became interesting. One of the guys, Anirudh, is a vegetarian, and we'd picked this Thai place he'd found on the internet as they were supposed to have a vegetarian-friendly menu (which is apparently really hard here). Unfortunately, when we got there, he discovered this wasn't the case, about all he could have off the menu was steamed rice, so he kicked up a big fuss. Eventually the Maitre'D called out the head chef and together they worked out a plan where he'd come up with something especially for Anirudh. The rest of us weren't quite as fussy, so we went for the usual arrangement of picking a few dishes for the center of the table and helping ourselves to a bit of each. What we got was Fantastic, and even Mr. Picky had to agree that the food was good - and cheap!
After that, it was drinks time! We headed to this bar called CJs which was supposed to have a live band, but when we got there we discovered that the "live band" was a boy-band type cover outfit who made n'sync look like talented respectable artists! The music was laughable, the drinks were expensive, but we stayed around for a good while nayway. The women were mostly pretty good looking, but the problem is that most of the bar/club scene is based around hotel bars, where a good few of the girls would be working girls trying to latch on to the rich western guests ("western" here equals "rich" - I wish!), so it was hard to tell which was which, girls there for fun or for "business". After a while the smoke was getting to Nina's eyes so we moved on to another, quieter place. where we stayed til closing time (2:30ish, same as back home). So, first real night out in JKT, was an interesting occasion!.
When I say "headed off early", I mean we left early-ish, but then we hit a slight snag - traffic. Anyone who thinks dublin traffic is bad, should head over to SE Asia and give it a go over here. Even Beijing didn't have this many cars clogging the roads! The concept of lanes seems to equate to "whatever space is big enough to fit my car into", and traffic lights are things that happen on the major roads around the CBD. If it were just cars it'd be ok, but for every car on the road there's maybe 2-3 bikes (sometimes with 2-3 people or even whole families) that are weaving in and out between them at high speed, sometimes with inches to spare on either side. So, in between having to collect a few other people (two of Joey's friends, Nina and Ami) and having to inch our way through the traffic, it was maybe 2pm before we got into the "old city".
Once we got there, there wasn't a huge amount to be seen. It definitely isn't a "tourist friendly" area, there's a few museums to see but it isn't the type of place you'd happily wander around for hours. We hit two museums, the bank museum (which technically wasn't even open til the next day, but they let us in anyway), and another museum which seemed to consist of nothing but teak furniture - and which let us in without telling us they were closing in 15mins! Apart from that, we wandered down a few fairly run-down streets and went to an old colonial-style cafe called Cafe Batavia to get a drink (which was necessary since most of us aren't quite used to that type of heat).
After that, we headed out to Sunda Kelapa, the port area. That was interesting enough, as all of the boats were the old-style Junks which are nothing like what we get at home, and all of the loading/unloading is done manually as there's no cranes or any equipment - so you have work gangs of guys loading/unloading 50kg bags of cement or big planks of wood off trucks onto the boats.
Two of the guys we were with take their photography quite seriously though, so we spent a lot of time there as they went for the artistic shots - maybe more than us non-photo people would have been happy with. So, we wandered around the port for a few hours, then as the sun was going down, we decided to brave the traffic, go back to the hotel to freshen up, and go out for dinner and a drink or two.
Once we got to dinner, things became interesting. One of the guys, Anirudh, is a vegetarian, and we'd picked this Thai place he'd found on the internet as they were supposed to have a vegetarian-friendly menu (which is apparently really hard here). Unfortunately, when we got there, he discovered this wasn't the case, about all he could have off the menu was steamed rice, so he kicked up a big fuss. Eventually the Maitre'D called out the head chef and together they worked out a plan where he'd come up with something especially for Anirudh. The rest of us weren't quite as fussy, so we went for the usual arrangement of picking a few dishes for the center of the table and helping ourselves to a bit of each. What we got was Fantastic, and even Mr. Picky had to agree that the food was good - and cheap!
After that, it was drinks time! We headed to this bar called CJs which was supposed to have a live band, but when we got there we discovered that the "live band" was a boy-band type cover outfit who made n'sync look like talented respectable artists! The music was laughable, the drinks were expensive, but we stayed around for a good while nayway. The women were mostly pretty good looking, but the problem is that most of the bar/club scene is based around hotel bars, where a good few of the girls would be working girls trying to latch on to the rich western guests ("western" here equals "rich" - I wish!), so it was hard to tell which was which, girls there for fun or for "business". After a while the smoke was getting to Nina's eyes so we moved on to another, quieter place. where we stayed til closing time (2:30ish, same as back home). So, first real night out in JKT, was an interesting occasion!.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Visa cards
Well, it looks like I may have a problem paying for stuff here. We had to get local SIM cards here the other day to save us a fortune on roaming calls etc, and I put it all on my credit card. Came to about 1,600,000 rupiyah, or about €150. Last night, I went to upgrade my room to executive class so we can use the exec's lounge and get free beer till early AM, but the card was refused. I had to ring home to MBNA and get them to unblock the card again - a nice long expensive 10-minute call to home (altho by call center standards 10 mins is blindingly fast). It seems according to MBNA I'm in a "high risk" zone, so every so often it's going to come up with a "check with vendor" message when ppl try to swipe the card, and whoever I'm buying off is going to have to ring Visa to confirm that it's a legit purchase. That is going to make things fun! Wonder will that happen for drinklinks as well.....
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
So far so good
Well, I survived my trip over anyway. Is bloody hot here tho - will take a bit of getting used to walking out of a building and feeling warmer rather than colder! Is like walking onto a public swimming pool except without the smell of chlorine - hot and sticky, is like 30+ degrees and 95+humidity. Also, I have to wear "casual smart" - decent pants, shirt, suit jacket - so that makes the heat worse.
The flights went without any problems, apart from the button on my seat that's supposed to recline it not working and having to sit upright the whole trip (made sleeping uncomfortable). Oh yeah, had a few screaming babies within 3 rows of me as well. Plus the taxi from the airport dropped me off at the wrong hotel. Apart from that tho, everything has been fine!
Work-wise, there were a few sticky moments the first day yesterday where I had to bullshit a bit but I managed to get through it by letting the other guy who's here with me talk. The people are nice enough but there's an undercurrent of politics involved that I don't like - have had to say a few times "well, you'll have to ask Angelo about that" (my project manager) when they were pressing me for stuff I shouldn't really be giving them.
My hotel room is cool tho - is about the size of my apartment without my bedroom! Haven't been able to do any sightseeing yet as it gets dark here earlier than at home, was fully dark when we left here at 7 last night, so we just went for food. We're planning stuff for the weekends though - maybe a trip to Bali or to see Krakatoa.
The flights went without any problems, apart from the button on my seat that's supposed to recline it not working and having to sit upright the whole trip (made sleeping uncomfortable). Oh yeah, had a few screaming babies within 3 rows of me as well. Plus the taxi from the airport dropped me off at the wrong hotel. Apart from that tho, everything has been fine!
Work-wise, there were a few sticky moments the first day yesterday where I had to bullshit a bit but I managed to get through it by letting the other guy who's here with me talk. The people are nice enough but there's an undercurrent of politics involved that I don't like - have had to say a few times "well, you'll have to ask Angelo about that" (my project manager) when they were pressing me for stuff I shouldn't really be giving them.
My hotel room is cool tho - is about the size of my apartment without my bedroom! Haven't been able to do any sightseeing yet as it gets dark here earlier than at home, was fully dark when we left here at 7 last night, so we just went for food. We're planning stuff for the weekends though - maybe a trip to Bali or to see Krakatoa.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Good job I didn't bring my stash with me!
This is pretty much the first thing you see when walking though the concourse in Jakarta airport after getting off the plane:
Nice way of saying "welcome" isn't it? :-)
My flights were pretty uneventful anyway. Made it here on one piece with no difficulties (apart form the little button to tilt my seat back not working so had to try to sleep upright). Made my connecting flights no problem for once, and miracle of miracles, we were nearly on time leaving Dublin! Think we took off maybe 10 mins late, which suited me as I got to watch the extra time in the FA Cup final! :-)
Haven't done any sightseeing after getting in as I was a bit tired after the flights and all, it was dark and it didn't look like there was anything of interest around when I came in in the taxi. So, just had something to eat in the hotel and have been sorting out my stuff in the room. My room is nearly the size of my apartment in dublin! Time to see what the bed is like methinks <yawn>
Getting a bit nervous now about tomorrow but shur what happens happens.....
Nice way of saying "welcome" isn't it? :-)
My flights were pretty uneventful anyway. Made it here on one piece with no difficulties (apart form the little button to tilt my seat back not working so had to try to sleep upright). Made my connecting flights no problem for once, and miracle of miracles, we were nearly on time leaving Dublin! Think we took off maybe 10 mins late, which suited me as I got to watch the extra time in the FA Cup final! :-)
Haven't done any sightseeing after getting in as I was a bit tired after the flights and all, it was dark and it didn't look like there was anything of interest around when I came in in the taxi. So, just had something to eat in the hotel and have been sorting out my stuff in the room. My room is nearly the size of my apartment in dublin! Time to see what the bed is like methinks <yawn>
Getting a bit nervous now about tomorrow but shur what happens happens.....
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Here I go.
Well, I'm just finished packing and am ready to head off to the airport. I'm not sure if I can totaly say that I'm looking forward to the trip - despite this being exactlyt he reason I joined my current job in the first place, the travel. I think last year I was a bit nervous going over to China 'cos I didn't totally know what to expect, but this time I have a fairly good idea what to expect work-wise.
My main issues with the trip this time are:
Ah well, whatever happens, I'm there for at least the next 4 weeks anyway. I was originally supposed to be there for 7 weeks, but it seems there was a miscommunication between the project manager and my boss as to whether or not I was doing the User Acceptance Testing phase as well. My boss won, so I'm back in dublin on the 26th June now instead of the 7th/8th of July. ta least I'm still geting my trip to Singsapore in! ;-)
Ok, here goes, catch ye on the flip side.....
My main issues with the trip this time are:
- I don't really like the guy I'm going over with - I have a feeling that at some stage he's just going to drop me in the shit just to see how I perform under pressure (and I don't know even myself how I'll do, as it's never happened really yet).
- The crowd that I'm going over to don't seem to be the most organized people on the planet - not by a long shot. Plus, I have to stall them for a week when I get there as the build i'm going over to install doesn't actually work yet according to the developers - and probably won't work for another week!
- Every second review I read of Jakarta says it's pretty much a shithole - the advice is "fly into jakarta and then get the hell out as fast as you can to see the rest of the country.". Plus, I don't have any guide book for it yet or anything. No place in Dublin has any lonely planet guide or anything like that, and the few indonesia books 've found have 5-6 pages max on jakarta - and no decent maps.
Ah well, whatever happens, I'm there for at least the next 4 weeks anyway. I was originally supposed to be there for 7 weeks, but it seems there was a miscommunication between the project manager and my boss as to whether or not I was doing the User Acceptance Testing phase as well. My boss won, so I'm back in dublin on the 26th June now instead of the 7th/8th of July. ta least I'm still geting my trip to Singsapore in! ;-)
Ok, here goes, catch ye on the flip side.....
Monday, May 14, 2007
flights!
Well, I finally have flights! Checked www.lufthansa.ie this morning, saw that there were seats available on the flights I wanted, and rang up Amex. Sure enough, they said the flights were booked. I'm still not very impressed with them tho. Not letting me know that I was on a wait list was bad enough, but at what exact point were they going to let me know that I had the flights if I hadn't been pestering them? Am I supposed to be clairvoyant now, or shall I just wander over there and do their jobs for them?
Now all I have to do is get a visa! I had to email them over a copy of the pic page of my passport - is lucky I keep a photocopy in my wallet as a spare ID! They're not sure in the indonesian office tho if can I get the 60-day visa in time or not. Apparently if they can't get me one I'll have to just turn up, get a 30-day tourist visa and then head off to Singapore about half-way though for a weekend and come back in again to get another 30 days. If this happens it means the company pays for flights to a place I was planning on going anyway! :-)
Hmm, must look up whether I need the malaria tablets now.
Now all I have to do is get a visa! I had to email them over a copy of the pic page of my passport - is lucky I keep a photocopy in my wallet as a spare ID! They're not sure in the indonesian office tho if can I get the 60-day visa in time or not. Apparently if they can't get me one I'll have to just turn up, get a 30-day tourist visa and then head off to Singapore about half-way though for a weekend and come back in again to get another 30 days. If this happens it means the company pays for flights to a place I was planning on going anyway! :-)
Hmm, must look up whether I need the malaria tablets now.
Friday, May 11, 2007
More Muppetology!
Here we go again. It seems nothing is destined to be easy with this trip of mine.
It seems now there's a bit of a glitch in my flights. I rang Amex (our "travel partners") on tues to book them, and they said they would get onto it. I hadn't heard anything by yesterday evening so I rang them up a few mins ago to find out what was happening. Apparently I'm on a wait list for a Lufthansa flight - but they never bothered telling me this til I chased up on them! So much for "your call is important to us"......
I've been looking at alternatives and it seems I can maybe get flights on friday instead, which would mean changing my going-away do to thurs night, maybe having to take a day's hols from work and ringing Thomas Cook to see can I get my money a day early. Is either that or flying Dublin->London->Kuala Lumpur->Jakarta. Great eh? Can see myself standing on the end of the runway in Dublin with me bags with a sign saying "Jakarta" trying to thumb a lift!
It seems now there's a bit of a glitch in my flights. I rang Amex (our "travel partners") on tues to book them, and they said they would get onto it. I hadn't heard anything by yesterday evening so I rang them up a few mins ago to find out what was happening. Apparently I'm on a wait list for a Lufthansa flight - but they never bothered telling me this til I chased up on them! So much for "your call is important to us"......
I've been looking at alternatives and it seems I can maybe get flights on friday instead, which would mean changing my going-away do to thurs night, maybe having to take a day's hols from work and ringing Thomas Cook to see can I get my money a day early. Is either that or flying Dublin->London->Kuala Lumpur->Jakarta. Great eh? Can see myself standing on the end of the runway in Dublin with me bags with a sign saying "Jakarta" trying to thumb a lift!
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Thought I'd lost this...
I was talking to my boss about the Matrix for some reason this morning, and I mentioned the low-budget spoof of it I'd seen ages ago - "Computer Boy". I realised I'd mislaid my copy of it somewhere before, and I remembered it wasn't easy to find on the web. I went looking for it anyway, and I found it here. There are nearly zero special effects, but at 49mins long it's better than most spoofs out there. After seeing this I was never able to watch The Matrix again without imagining Keanu picking up the phone to talk to Morpheus and saying "Mom?" :-)
Thursday, May 03, 2007
woohoo!
Got the OK off the boss to take the week off after I finish, and go on a bit of a holiday! :-)
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