8 days in Samarinda: Day 2

8 days in Samarinda: Day 2
11 April 2009

6:18am... Outside at front entrance...
I'm awake very early everyday through the week thanks to Mr. Rooster here... I'm named him "Cockanathan"...Cockanathan starts to "sing" at 6:00am sharp EVERYDAY... I almost wanted to take a chopper outside and make KFC outta him...

Also in the "choir" group were this 6 puppies~ howling and barking in the morning~Here's the house I stayed in... didn't do a good job joining up the picture...Swiftlets were out and about for food, and only a few remained in the vicinity...Sun rise from the distant...
In the garage...
Motorbikes for the workers...
Lovely budgies~
7:30am... at the Gudang (Warehouse)
Overhauling 2 Caterpillar disel 399 engines...
More workshops in the area.... nothing much around...
There to pass down couple of instructions and teach the workers on the overhauling job...
While I practically got nothing to do, so started to appreciate the little things in life that mother nature grants us...Mimosa flower... this pretty thing got cut off the next morning... darn!
8:20am... headed into town... motorcycles were aplenty... and irritating...Further ahead... the largest mosque in Samarinda... the people there were mostly poor and living in dilapidated house.... yet they spent millions of rupiah building big sized mosques...Fuel kiosk... you settle the petrol / diesel directly with the attendant here. Oh, diesel is called "Solar" there.
Moving on... the streets of Samarinda are lined with rows and rows of hardware stalls, workshops and mills... Samarinda is a major port city, so businesses revolve around shipbuilding, timber and coal mining...
The roads run parallel to the river bank... and barges and tugboats crowd the river bank...Common sight... its not at its maximum load yet... the people there wear helmets, although I do see a lot who didn't. Underage riding were common sight too.
Governor's place...
We arrived at Warong Coffee Shop... a popular hangout amongest many Singaporean Chinese...The price at the coffee shop is comparable to that in Singapore... Kopi Susu goes for Rp9,000 (approx. S$1.20).
Mee Soto~
A stone throw away, Samarinda Central Plaza... abbreviated "S.C.P."... the biggest shopping mall (thus far) in Samarinda...building's owned by one of our clients whose office building is just opposite...
When you see these familiar logo, you know you ain't "that far" from civilisation~
9:26am... crossing the bridge to the opposite bank and headed for another area called "Sanga Sanga"...
View from the bridge... that's the mega-sized mosque I mentioned earlier...
pretty much populated across the riverbank too...
Dangerous driver...
One of the few traffic junctions that road-users ain't quite like adhering to...
Headed into the countryside and the road gets dusty...
There to meet up with Pak-Kabay... morning meeting....
Gasoline sells for Rp5,000 per litre...
NOT durians... I repeat, NOT durians... the locals call them "Lai"...
If those motorbikes ain't irritating enough... many have a habit of retro-fitting their rides with cupboards and shelves... They run slow and horde the road... forcing cars to overtake on these 2 way 2 lane roads...
... and if roads ain't narrow enough, the quality and integrity of the roads were very bad...
Crossing more bridges...
and rivers.... its an hour drive from Samarinda to Sanga Sanga...
Occasional cow crossing...further into the countryside... the roads get lousier...
school children walk dangerously alongside the roads...
the more richer ones cycle home...
10:43am... finally arrived at our destination... vehicle's all muddy~
Hanged around first until this crane done hauling the pump into the tugboat...Right across the river... TANJUNG PURA 7 on standby beside a coal-barge...
TANJUNG PURA 7 is in our portfolio of tugboats installed...
Tugboats are essential in Samarinda because the riverbanks are not deep enough for larger ships to enter... so the Timber and Coal Industries rely on these tugboats to pull their loaded barges out... and shipbuilding firms scramble to provide these tugboats... big money to be earned in Samarinda...
Was waiting on a rather short jetty... and wat a jetty... oh, heard that the jetty got reduced to half when a barge sailed too close...
Was gonna cross to the other side of the river... and initially thought we're gonna take this boat...
until this sampan came....
boarded the tiny sampan along with 8 other people (total 9 persons, including the captain)... kinda overloaded as the sampan got pressed down so much we were 4 inches to sinking the boat...

Reached the other side and climbed another tugboat... darn edges were all oily
This is TANJUNG PURA 6... an incomplete project that someone else left behind... so the boss had to rope in a team of experts...
TANJUNG PURA 7 is right infront of us...
deck...
Heading in to the engine room...... so dark inside...
...you dun wanna miss a step...
Giving out the instructions...
A view of the engine room...

got nothing to do... so I headed up to the wheelhouse...... another tugboat behind TANJUNG PURA 6... didn't wanna take up that project... overloaded already...
can't find my way into the wheelhouse... doors were locked both sides...
the interior was still half done...
opposite... the jetty from where we came over from...
Video overview... water current is actually rather strong underwater...

12:03pm... sun was right above our heads....
and the engine room below is hot and stuffy...the cabin was more shady but was littered with spare parts...
found my way up the wheelhouse via an interior staircase...
Across the river... Children frolicking in the waters... crocodiles was reportedly sighted a couple of times in the vicinity...1:28pm... waiting by the edge of the tugboat to hop onto another smaller boat to get ferried back to the jetty...
its a stone throw away... if its at the Maldives, I would have just swam across myself...
back in the car... just realised that Gatsby produce car mats too!
on the way back... spotted a machine pumping oil...
1:42pm... stopped at the roadside for lunch...You'll always find keropoks like these at eateries...
complaining about the new watch...Instant noodles~ yummy! 2 plates of instant noodles and 5 bottles of mineral water only costed less than 30,000 rupiah (S$4.00)...2:43pm... on the way to another shipyard...more cows roaming the roads...
2:45pm... at another shipyard... those two tugboats were also under our charge... project on-hold...
on the way back... tugboat towing an empty barge...
3:51pm... Home~ and shower time~
... then its relaxing by the TV...
Kitchen has water filtration system set up...
and an emergency water reservoir in case of water supply cut...dunno wat the kids did... barely 3 months old, this computer we gave them was already corrupted... spent the next few days trying to solve the problem...
stairwell... worker's room is upstairs, didn't wanna disturb their privacy...
the kitchen...
wok is darn dirty...
Papaya tree right outside...
Door leads to the birdnest house...
Extension was built with the intention to expand the birdnest house into another room...
6:00pm... dusks setting and the swiftlets are returning...
further out... the mosques are chanting their prayers... there are so many mosques and literally the entire city is chanting prayers... and they broadcast it out... loud...
We headed to the balcony at level 3...to watch the swiftlets closer...

Worker told us that swiftlet gets attracted to the broom and will fly closer... I reckon is due to the tip resembling a bigger swiftlet~Video footage...

Car getting washed...
6:20pm... the swiftlets returning in hordes...
I estimate there was at least some 300 over swiftlets...

By 6:36pm... most swiftlets have returned safe for a few latercomers...