When it rains....it reigns

There can be no uncertainty as to the arrival of a tropical storm 'shower' in Jakarta.
A gentle tapping becomes increasingly rapid and builds in volume to a roar that beggars belief, leaving absolutely no doubt about nature's reign.

This video inevitably fails to capture the true ferocity, but hopefully provides a 'flavour' (it's night so don't expect to see anything, it's the audio that hopefully conveys the scene).

What did we sign?

Last Friday we had our date with immigration.
Under normal circumstances this can be a 2 or 3 day process. Fortunately, the company uses an agent which ultimately means someone grabs a ticket on our behalf (think nrma/vic roads) allowing us to waltz in hours later and be near the top of the queue.

We sit and wait our turn, and regardless of how you tuck away your feet and elbows you're trampled as is local custom.

Eventually we're called into another room and first up I'm directed to 'sign here, here and here'. The forms are in Bahasa Indonesian and our guy doesn't seem too forthcoming with explanations. I sign whilst Shell looks on with that "what are you thinking!" look.

We have a quick whispered conversation about signing unknown agreements, and Shell is adamant that she won't do the same.  She's called over and asked to sign.....which she does......in silence...  yeah, that's telling them! You go girl!

We're then photographed and electronically fingerprinted and sent on our way. The agent advises we'll get our passports back Tuesday or Wednesday of the following week.  This turns out to be correct, except my passport is immediately sent off to the shipping company to organise release of our shipment, so I won't get to see my passport for another 5 to 10 days. What did I sign?

posted from Bloggeroid

This house is such a crack up! #2

The big cracks in the walls that we previously reported were duly repaired on Tuesday 8th.  By the end of the same day it appeared the new and the old paint had started having a disagreement:

By Saturday (fours days after the repair) all peace talks had been abandoned, and war had been declared:

Rock Art

Literally around the corner from our home, is this place.  All of these items are made from petrified wood, and are absolutely gorgeous.

We're particularly enamoured by this table and bench-seat set.  The bench on the left is petrified mahogany, the table base is petrified teak, and the table-top and right hand bench are petrified ebony.  Apparently they're just sanded smooth with fine grade paper and then polished.  All up, there's over 400kg here!  Each bench was around 120kg if I recall correctly.

The Breakfast Anomaly

After a lazy morning at the pool, Shell offered to make us a nice cooked breakfast :-)

We've already learned that bacon is totally unlike any bacon you've ever seen before, and certainly isn't something you'd actually enjoy, so we stuck with egg, beans, toast and sausage.

Weekend Warrior

Ahh, right, so this is what expat life is all about!

Lazy afternoon by the pool? Don't mind if I do :-)



All that's missing is bar service...I guess chips and ice coffee will have to suffice..

posted from Bloggeroid

Singapore Trip #1: The Temple

Whilst we waited for the return of our passports, we decided to go for a visit to the China Town.