Another Weekend in Jambi

Time flies. It's another weekend since I returned last Sunday (3 June) from my leave in Segamat. I took the 11.10am ferry from Stulang Laut, JB, to Batam but it left the jetty after 11.30am. When arrived at Batam Center, it's almost 1.00pm WIB. Luckily, the taxi driver told me that he would take the short cut to Batam airport and it would take him 15 minutes to reach there. My flight to Jambi was scheuled at 1.50pm.

When I checked in to get my boarding pass, I was informed that the Mandala flight to Jambi would be delayed to 3.30pm WIB. My friend, Pak Lim (Alex) of PT EMAL, was supposed to pick me up and introduced me to his wife who just made the 1st trip to Jambi. Pak Lim started work in December 2006. He was introduced to me by Pak Goh BH of PT Ukindo and Mr. Seow CL, who is the Agronomist Consultant to his plantation company. I called up Pak Lim and suggested to him not to wait for me since he planned to go to his plantation with his wife. It's not advisible for them to start the journey late as it would take them @ 3 hours to reach the kebun. Instead, I contacted Pak Hardi, our FC (Finance Controller) to fetch me.

Well, flight delay is quite common in Indonesia. We used to joke about it, "Delay is BIASA, on time is LUAR BIASA!" We are so used to it that we just have to take it easy while waiting for the plane to take off. This is the time we can do some extra reading to pass the time.

Nevertheless, I met Pak Lim's wife on Friday (8 June) night when they came out from plantation in Pauh. We had dinner in Terkenal Restaurant with some Jambi friends. Lim's wife is leaving today and Pak Lim accompanies her to Jakarta. She is taking Air Asia tomorrow to TLCC but Lim says he has to come back to Jambi to attend to urgent matters. That's work commitment! Afterall, we are true professionals.

I am writing this in a WARNET (Warung Internet) after church service. That's how I passed my time on Sunday mornings. Then will meet up some Malaysian planters for lunch. Later in the afternoon, will go for regular exercise at Novotel's gym.

Also to keep in touch with other Malaysian planters in other lokasi, we used to sms to each other. Pak AC Liew, Pak Tan PH & Pak How BK in Medan, Pak Goh BH is in Bengkulu, Pak Pun KC & Pak Vincent Hee in Pekanbaru, Pak Choy KW & Pak Paul Chin in Palembang, Pak Saw See Hong in Lampung and Pak D J Ho & Pak Chuah Meng Hap in Padang. Pak Ravi Grill, Pak Goh HS, Pak Kow CC, Pak Boon CC, Pak Kong TC, Pak Tan Ah Kow are all in various parts in Kalimantan.

Communication with friends is essential especially most of us are alone here. Leaving the families behind in Malaysia and feeling loniness most of the time is just an occupational hazard to expat planters. My wife used to come to visit me. Just received a call from Pak Kow that his wife visits him for the 1st time since he came over 2.5 months ago. Well, thank God that our wives are so understanding and supportive of us. Guess for every successful planter and a responsible husband, there is always a strong lady who supports us from behind. Praise The Lord.