THE MAP AND BALI

In 1996, James was asked by the Indonesian Government in conjunction with the Australian Government to train a team of approximately 15 guys how to overhaul an engine fitted to their Nomad aircraft.  It was a 2 year training program. The students skills were quite low, along with the quality of their equipment.

After a stop-over at Bali, Ross and I flew to Surabaya where James greeted us.  I still smile at his comment "Mum!"  I had my shortish beaded hair was camouflaged with a 'coolie' straw hat.

James lived at The Grand Residence, about 15 minutes from CBD  where most expats resided. He lived in a  luxury two story residence, where a house girl cooked , washed, ironed clothes and cleaned. His driver took him to work daily, and was available at week-ends when required.  The grounds sported an olympic size swimming pool and a small restaurant.  Apart from seeing James, is it any wonder we wanted to visit. 




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

SURABAYA TO MT BROMO

Image
James had two friends from Melbourne visit, so he organised his driver Rean to take us to Mt Bromo, stopping on the way to see a furniture factory and a cobra snake charmer!!  The main purpose of our trip was to see the sun rise from the rim of the active volcano of Mt. Bromo. Another golf course under construction.  Here are two deadly cobras!!  I stood at the door ready for a quick take off.  We were taken to a back room  where literally hundreds of snakes were squashed into one pen!!!  The SMELL !! Lots of villages on the hill top. How they farmed on steep hillsides is amazing.  James was fairly conversant with Indonesian language and loved chatting to locals.  Note the contours on the hillside.  They don't have up to date machinery.  At last, Mount Bromo. It's an active volcano and part of the Tengger massif, in East Java.  At 2,329 meters, it is not the highest peak of the massif,...
Read more

MADURA, AN ISLAND OFF SURABAYA

Image
The first visit to Mandura was in vein, as there were no races of the bulls, so we had a nice drive around and came home t have lunch.  Then when Will arrived for 3 days, James organised for another visit and sure enough, there were two lots of races at nearby towns.  How people can enjoyed watching the races is beyond me, because it's very cruel, as razor blades are put into the rump area to make the cattle go faster.  A chap stands between the bulls on the rig, and whips them.  They move so quickly, and people standing at the end have to really run and scatter, as we found out!!  We thought it would be like a chariot race, so seeing the cruelty was enough for us. Surabaya harbour, and the second tallest statue in the world, after the Statue of Liberty.  At least it was in the year 1997. A sculpture at the entrance to Mandura Island. Seems to portray cruelty to beasts.  It's always the women who carry the load.  Markets ne...
Read more