A post by GJ again, wheres the internet!!!!

Hello loyal blog readers. Its GJ again!!!

Miss Jen is going stir crazy with no Internet access, really making my life hell!!!

Sorry for the delay as I have been on the National Sales Meeting at the Kota Bukit Indah Plaza Hotel. Quick update as I'm at work and the end of our financial year is fast approaching 31March. The hotel was quite nice but after spending so much time lately in Hotels they have really lost there gloss for me!!! The area was very quite, you could see what plans were in place for the region, as there were wide roads and tree lined avenues, just no buildings. The Hotel was located at the end of a road, but you could see where the roads should have continued on. The reason for this was apparently the 1997 Asian melt down. Basically everything stopped!!! So the result was a strange place for a resort type hotel.

When I returned home on Sunday, I found the pool turning GREEN. SO I tossed in a Chlorine tablet and decided to turn on the filter. This is done at the switchboard in the garage. To my surprise it was already on, so off I trot to the pump/filter enclosure which is located in a concrete bunker below ground level( this appears to be normal in Indonesia, heaven knows why as my problem will demonstrate). As I raise the large heavy metal trap door I find the whole pit filled with over a metre of water, completely submerging the pump and almost the filter. So back to the garage to shut down the power. Then back to the pump room with a bucket to bail out the water. Once inside this small area about 5 feet square and 6 feet deep, I see the Problem!!! Pak S had obviously cleaned out the leaf basket at the pump input, only to refit it incorrectly, causing a leak. Now if the pump/filter were above ground like at home NO ISSUE, some one would spot the leak rectify the situation almost immediately. Not here in Jakarta it goes unnoticed for may 2 whole days, just enough time to submerge all the electrical components!!!! So Here I am bailing bucket loads of water out of this room in the hope that after drying out all may be fine. The up shot is after drying the pump is shagged and Pak S has to arrange for repairs today. But that's the way we do it here!!! No drama, it will all turn out OK!! It just gave Jen one more excuse not to have been in the water since we arrived, this was to be be "her" weekend to have a swim with the Kids.

Monday was a holiday here "Hari Raya Nyepi" Just make a mental note, don't travel to Bali when this holiday is on. Apparently the Balinese are silent for the holiday, so the easiest thing is to shut up shop, therefore it is very quite (excuse the pun). We still managed to go shopping here In Jakarta, ordered our DIY wardrobe to hold about 14kms of clothes we have, NOT TO MENTION THE SHOES. We were in the hardware shop and at the checkout we had 5 people attending us!!!! not because we are special just its normal practice here. There were 3 girls to handle the deposit for the wardrobe, which is the be delivered. One copied the information from one form to another form that I watched one of the other girls copy at another counter, apparently the 3rd girl is critical to the process as she is needed to make up the numbers!!! I made the process harder as I wanted to pay the whole amount rather than the standard 30% which would have necessitated numerous trips to an ATM to have the cash ready when the robes where delivered. It seemed too hard to try and give my money, I'm use to people not considering anything until they see the colour of my money. On the plus side!! if it takes 5 people to do the business at least 3 were attractive "chickee babes" so its not all bad.
Anyway off to Central Java tomorrow, I'm really looking forward to seeing more of Indonesia. One of my colleagues informed me at the conference that I should rearrange my schedule as it didn't really suit sightseeing, I did explain that it was a work trip after all. I'm sure that I see so much anyway. I will pack the camera so I can post some pics. Look forward to posting again next week.

Somebody from Kabelvision is attending our house on Thursday, not sure why?? Jen informs me they ring everyday about something. She is hoping that is for the Internet connection, but I'm not so sure.

Cheers GJ