Made It To Indonesia But It Has To Have Been the Longest, Hardest Trip I've Done So Far.....

.....and surprisingly, the 17 1/2 hours from Los Angeles to Bangkok nonstop wasn't the hardest part--the layovers at three airports were the killers. We did our first day at work yesterday and I'm not sure right now what to expect for the next four weeks.

My initial reaction has been mixed--Pekanbaru is a city of about 750,000 people on the island of Sumatra which is the largest of approximately 1,000 islands that make up Indonesia. Flying in from Jakarta at low level, I could see the speckled dots in the water everywhere and I'm told many of the really small islands are uninhabited while other islands still haven't really been surveyed. The city is nice and clean but is very isolated and there is no tourism here that I've seen yet. I don't really think we'll be getting out from the hotel much even on weekends.

The hotel is nice but calling it a 4-star is a bit of a stretch. As was the case in Rwanda, the hotel grounds are really pleasant and even include a good sized jogging trail. My room overlooks the swimming pool and you can see the landscaping is really attractive. Almost nobody at the hotel speaks English which makes it a bit difficult at times. The restaurant is good although limited to Indonesian food which I'm still experimenting with but like what I've had so far. It does seem to be spicy in everything they prepare.

I only slept about three hours on the trip over so I got a good night of sleep the first night and my appetite seems normal so hopefully the effects of jet lag will be minimal.

The first day, we went out to the Chevron compound for a couple of hours to meet the interpreters and set the training up for the next four weeks and the compound is really a city in itself--very large with a commissary and even a golf course which doesn't help me but it does give you an idea how large the facility is. In lots of ways it reminded me of a military base.

Back in Pekanbaru, the Australian trainer and I walked around a little but frankly didn't see a lot of interest. There is a large building down the street from the hotel and we walked down and took some photos of it and a large statue in front of it. The statue was a bit unusual because as you see in the close-up, the soldier on the right has a Heineken beer bottle in his pocket.

The first day of work went pretty well but there were some major mixups--mostly language-related I think. For one thing, they didn't have training vehicles for us and that has to be straightened out today. Chevron hasn't been difficult to work with but they haven't actually greeted us or given us an orientation as to what to expect, what to avoid, etc. Kind of unusual for these jobs.

I had three students today, but like I said, we spent the whole day in the classroom. They speak pretty good English and my interpreter is really good so that part of the day went well. Back at the hotel, I had Thai green curry chicken for supper. So far, so good.....should know more tomorrow.