I have arrived

I'm here! Not sure where here is, but... ;-)

OK I do know where I am, I'm in Makassar/Ujung Pandang on the island

of Sulawesi. If you remember, I currently reside in Bogor on the

island of Java.

So this is my first time getting on the airport in Indonesia by

myself. It's better than if I was in Japan, China, Vietnam, Thailand

or any other countries whose alphabet I wouldn't even recognize. I

wasn't so much worried about getting on the plane, but more about

getting on the RIGHT plane.

There are a few differences, it seems that people here don't know how

to be in a line. Well, they do, just the Indonesian way. I'm just not

used to that. People keep cutting in front of me when I would let a

half of a person's space between myself and the next person ahead of

me. When I tapped their shoulder and told them I was in line, the

response was "Sorry, I didn't think you were" and they would look away

from me to ignore me and my subsequent taps.

While waiting in one line, another counter opened up and she smiled at

me and beckoned me over to her counter. Well, my luck with the line is

changing...woohoo. As I gathered my backpack, rolling luggage and the

box of samples I am carrying, several people were tripping over their

own stuff trying to hurry to the new counter. oh well...I guess

when you live in one of the most densely populated cities in the

world, that's what you have to do to get your way.

My one piece of check in baggage is a 1000 liter/day gravity powered

water filter. It's 5 feet tall and 10"x10". When I was at the counter

the person there asked me what was in it and said that it was a very

odd size. And it's heavy too at 33 lbs. I said no, it's not that

heavy, and I have close to 50 lbs allowance. We kept exchanging

exclamations about the size of my box for at least 10 minutes. The

person behind me must have taken pity upon me that I didn't understand

"the system". She gave the person behind the counter the equivalent

of $1.11 and said "let's go". Oh...I see...

After checking in and finally getting my baggage through, I'm ready to

go into the inner sanctum of the airport. I had lots of time and

contemplated about getting some food. I can choose to eat in this area

or inside of the terminal area. I thought that there would be some

decent restaurants inside. Plus I have about $11 of work's money that

I can blow on food for the day. After paying the airport tax to get

into the terminal, I started to look around for restaurants. Remember

this is an international airport. I counted 4 reflexology massage

centers and 4 restaurants and 2 bookstores. So I spent $5 on some

dubious looking restaurant.

Now the waiting games began.

5:45pm boarding time came and went without so much as a peep. I meant

the gate is still closed, we're all still sitting/standing around and

we're all wondering what the heck is going on. At about 6:15 or so,

there was an announcement on the PA system that due to maintenance and

repairs, my flight is delayed 45 minutes. I'm not sure whether it's 45

minutes from the original time, from the time they announced it, or

from the time Santa arrives all sweaty because his coat is way too

warm for Indonesia. Not much I can do about this, they'll open the

gate when they do, so I just waited.

While waiting though, some thoughts about this airplane entered my

head. I really had no idea what to expect as to this airplane. Will

it be a jumbo jet? a single propeller bush plane? I don't know. I have

no idea how big the other airport is, can it even accommodate a jet?

It was such a relief when I saw that the plane I was getting on was a

jet (737) and not a rickety old single prop plane. To be honest I

wasn't sure what to expect. Though I swear the seats are just that

much closer together than what I'm used to, I keep bumping my chin

with my knees.

Two hours of flight and one hour of time zone difference later, I

arrived at the airport of Ujung Pandang (UPG). After I arrived, I

went directly to the baggage claim area. The airport was eerily

deserted, almost like in Stephen King's The Langolier's if you've ever

read that book. After I grabbed my stuff, I was stopped by some kind

of security person asking for the baggage ticket. I have no idea where

it is, and I wasn't really sure what he was asking for.

My Indonesian is not that good when it comes to some stranger

speaking. I have to get used to their spoken words first. I've gotten

by pretty well so far by anticipating the subject. It's not that I

know what people are saying word by word, but I got the gist of it. If

I don't know what they're talking about, I just have to answer by

looking at their body language and the tone of their voice.

Anyway, another disaster averted (my not getting out of the baggage

claims area) and now to find a taxi to the hotel. Out of the whole

event, this was the easiest part. I was told which company to go with

and sure enough, they have prepaid fees. No need to be afraid that I

would be cheated or anything.

And now, I'm in a smoking room, on a smoking floor with the AC on.