Jakarta, Hilton Hotel, Wednesday, 1996-05-22 08:00 local (Z+7)
Good morning, everyone. I realize it may not be morning when you pick this up, but it's morning here and after my second good night's sleep, I feel fine.
C.J., I found the email address of the person at A.I.A., so you don't have to worry about that. If they call again, in addition to giving them my email address, ask them to tell Renee to check her email. I'll be leaving a message for her shortly concerning the program.
I'm scheduled to fly tomorrow morning, Thursday, with a show time of 08:00. Takeoff for Saudi should occur around 10:00. It appears that I will do two round trips. The schedule is due to be completed on the 31st rather than on the 29th as I had earlier thought.
This hotel is definitely not as good as the Borobudur last year. Location is not as good, the buffet breakfast selection isn't as good (no waffles, damn it—the Borobudur had great waffles), and the grounds are not as nice (no running track). However, it's still quite acceptable.
Yesterday was a combination of working on my laptop, laying in the sun at the pool, running during the heat of the day, napping in the afternoon (remember, I got up at midnight), and a long walk and more computer work in the evening.
My Western compatriots think I'm crazy for running at high noon, but that's when I like to do it. It's almost as if the heat energizes me—until it and the humidity finishes me off. Yesterday I made it to the sports's stadium, twice around it, and back. Today I'll try for three times around the stadium.
The Indonesian reaction to my running is interesting, although I'm not sure what to make of it entirely. There's a park that is on the way to and from the stadium. During the heat of the day, the park is filled, everyone seeking shelter under the trees. As I ran by (out on the path/road in the sun), several said something to me in Indonesian and stretched out their hand with their thumbs up. I think that's good. I just smile and give them a thumbs up. Once a group of them even started clapping. I don't know, maybe I'm just proving that all Caucasians aren't fat and sloppy and unable to take the heat. I can't take it when I have to dress up. Tomorrow in my uniform I'll be miserable.
My paranoia insofar as a possible probation extension is in full bloom thanks to a conversation with another f.o. who is just completing two years at Tower. They extended his probation one month because he had had trouble getting a visa for Brazil. I had trouble getting a visa for India. It's a bottom line thing for Tower. If they extend your probation, they don't have to raise your pay. So, if they can find a legitimate reason to extend, it saves them money. How's that for a punitive system?
I dined at Wendy's last night. It took me over an hour to find McDonald's, Wendy's, and KFC, and they're quite a ways away. Interestingly, all three of them are in the basement floors of bank buildings. Jakarta is a city of banks. I've never seen so many banks in one place. The economy here is growing by leaps and bounds, so to is inflation I suspect. There are signs all over from the banks advertising 20% interest per year. Eating in Wendy's last night was slightly cheaper than in the U.S. It was US $3 equivalent for a double, coke, and large fries. Tonight I shall taste the delights of KFC. <g>
To get to the sport's stadium, I cross a very large parking area. It's in use as a driver training facility. It's interesting to watch. In the U.S. we learn to drive when we're young, when we're learning everything. Here, there are people my age (lots of them) who are just becoming affluent enough to afford a car. Watching these old guys trying to learn to drive is amusing. They regularly run into the tires laid out to mark lanes and parking places in the parking lot. They're especially bad at parking, but then aren't we all.
Well, my task for the day is to get the weight & balance program to recognize a Lockheed L-1011. I'd better get to it. But before I go, the lead paragraph from an article in today's. Jakarta Post:
“An official who had been absent without leave for eight months returned to work last week only to rock the boat by alleging that '96 percent' of Tana Toraja's high school students have lost their virginity to foreign tourists.”
A less amusing bit from the same paper is the following three paragraphs that start a lengthy article entitled, “Golden Triangle Traps Its Children.” As usual, the drug war's real effect is the opposite of its supposed intended effect.
“CHIANG MAI, Thailand: The good news is that traditional opium pipe smoking is a dying habit in the Golden triangle, the remote hilly opium producing region on the borders of Laos, Myanmar and Thailand.”
“The bad news is that a potentially more harmful vice has taken its place—heroin abuse.”
“Heroin addiction rates among locals here have doubled every year for the past five years. Ironically, the phenomenon has coincided with effective international efforts to replace opium-poppy cultivation with alternative cash crops.”
Interestingly, the local people are mostly the Hmong, the same people that we encouraged to greatly increase their opium production during the Vietnam conflict. The proceeds were used to support the CIA's secret army in Laos. Much of the dope was flown by the infamous Air America into South Vietnam and sold to our troops there. Nice, huh. Will we never learn?
C.J., you will remember visiting Chiang Mai when we returned from Saudi in 1982. It's the southern tip of the Golden Triangle.
Terry