Thanks for the welcomes, one can only wish it was welcome drinks i was getting.....not a chance of that where i am at the moment.
The following should answer a few questions and shed a bit more light on myself.
Im renting in Seminyak. Ive spent enough time working in the Jungle and in places i cant pronounce, and exploring remote coastlines that i kind of need some creature comforts when im back in Bali and off work now.
Jimbo im on the other side of Russia mate, Sakhalin Island, just north of Japan and Sw of Kamcachcka. No H2S here and a 4 week on 6 week off roster!On the downside, the ocean here turns to nealry solid ice during winter and we are often delayed getting home becuase of the weather - crew boats cant get through the ice, and the Russian chopper pilots wont fly if theres even a whisper of a cloud on the horizon.
Trinrik, as for the Russian language barrier, its a problem for me too. Im still trying to work out if i want to just speak the languge or learn it properly. Depends on how long my contract lasts here. Any language that doesnt use a 26 letter latin alphabet is gonna be a massive undertaking to learn properly. Russian has 32 letters (i think) and the letters that look half remotely like latin letters dont even sound the way we learned to recognise these letters, so you need to completely rewire your brain to learn this properly. Too hard for me with the remaining neural transmitters i have left in my head. The way Russia is going now though, I may be forced to learn it if I want to continue to work there. I speak Indonesian and English. Thats enough for me for me for now. I find most of my Russian assistants understand me just fine when they want too.....(the MIL-26 is a fine chopper by the way, ill be one one in 9 days and counting!)
As for my experiences in Indonesia, like all expats working/living/playing abroad , i have my share of the good, bad, sad, and truly bizarre
I first starting visiting about 10 years ago, doing yearly trips for 6 months a year until flat broke every time. I did 3 of these trips and a few more smaller ones before realising i needed to get serious and get a job that placed me here if i wanted to be here, rather then going home broke and in debt all the time. Id always go home to my job in the oil exploration industry in Oz and tough it out and save my $$ and take off back to Indo as soon as i had the funds, only to return broke and depressed. So i put myself through some courses in the States, beefed up my CV, and then ended up (after much effort) being offered a contract in Indo. I've lived here ever since (2003)
My early trips to Indo were all about surfing and finding magic places. I travelled from Sumbawa through Lombok, Bali, East west and south Java, up through Sumatra and Aceh. I spent a lot of time on the Islands west and north Sumatra, but also explored some others off west Java /south Java , and Aceh. I hired a car and drove from Sumbawa to Bali, then hired another car and drove around Aceh for 2 months back in 98.I spent a lot of time bobbing around in boats too. This all took place over the course of about 6 years, and those spots i liked, ive visited often.
Most places certainly werent first class, some even involved bringing my own chickens to eat and enough food and water for a 2 month stay in the middle of nowhere. No electricity, bucket in the well for a mandi kind of stuff....forgetting which month it was, living in places where they dont speak Bahasa.Magic. My last trip was 5 months ago back up to north Sumatra...where it all began for me, back on the very same island being looked after by the very same family (and with my current gf whom i took there all those years ago!).
I travelled around on stinking rubber plantation trucks, did 4 days pelni trips from JKT to MDN during ramadan, jumped of a boat off west Java once seasick and was told my village was "just over the hill" and got hopelessly lost in Ujon Kulong national park with nothing but a surfboard for 14 hours. Ive also had a plithera of boat, bus, car, charter transport and other travle arrangements go horribly wrong in the middle of nowhere, and also ended up in hospital in Madan with Malaria. These days i tend not to travel like that....but those memories are etched.
Work wise i spent 2 years on and off in Maluku and recently had a stint in Papua ( unbelievable mudcrabs only 15,000Rp each).Was often called into the office in JKT and sent here and there, including my least of all favourite places....Palembang. Working and integrating with a workforce in Indonesia has given some "unique challnges".
Having said all the above, i wouldnt still be here if i truly didnt love it.
