Arrived at Banjarmasin

  Banjarmasin, Borneo, Indonesia
Tuesday, July 22, 2008

(Indonesian)
Menjelang pendaratan, hanya terlihat beberapa lampu rumah, selebihnya gelap tidak terlalu terlihat lampu penerang.
Bandara tidak terlalu besar dan segera keluar tanpa harus mengambil barang di bagasi.
Di luar banyak taksi, tapi tidak terlalu peduli dengan orang orang yang baru keluar dari gedung bandara.
Ternyata harus beli karcis dulu di loket bandara dan sekalian menyebutkan tempat tujuan kita dan di situ di tetapkan harga tiket. Jadi taksi bukan pakai sistem argo.
Untuk sampai hotel harga tiket Rp.70.000,-
Selama perjalanan, terasa jalan lancar karena sepi dan agak gelap. Yang terkesan sepanjang jalan tidak ada lampu lalulintas dan terus berjalan lurus.
Kira kira 30 menit sampai di Hotel. Kecil tapi fasilitas cukup, ada WiFi internet di lobby dan mujurnya WiFi sampai ke lantai 2 tempat saya menginap Jadi tidak perlu repot ke lobby.
Jam 23.00 saya bertemu dengan rekan yang akan bersama selama perjalanan kali ini
Kita sempat bertemu di cafe di lobby. Tapi malam itu terkesan bukan cafe lagi, suasana remang remang dan hinggar binggar dengan orang berkaraoke dengan suara yg cukup memusingkan.
Kami bicara workplan di tempat suasana seperti itu.
Yang menarik, pemilik cafe di hotel ini seorang wanita setengah baya dan dia sedang asyik menyanyi sambil teriak teriak ke rekan dia yg di sekitar situ.
Ternyata dia sedang mabok berat dan jadi tontonan beberapa orang yg sedang di cafe itu.
Oh iya lupa.... sempat itu wanita melempar notebook rekan nya... ha ha ha ha....
Sepertinya dia sudah meminum 1 botol burbon ^_^
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(English)
Seconds before the plane landed, I only saw few houses with lights on. The area was covered in darkness. The lights at the airport were hardly seen.
The airport wasn't big. I walked straight from it without even taking baggage. Outside, there were lots of taxis standing by. But the drivers didn't seem to care for the newly arrived passengers.
No meter taxis were available here. Passengers must first buy tickets at the airport's lockets. There they mention their destination. Fixed price already determined to each destination. I paid 70.000 Rupiah for the taxi's ticket to my hotel.

Darkness and silence accompanied me on my trip to the hotel. Redlights and crossroads were nowhere to be seen here. My taxi moved smoothly along the roads.
Thirty minutes later we arrived at the hotel. It was a small one yet equipped with modern facilities. At the hotel's lobby WiFi internet was available. Luckily for me, the WiFi was connected up to my room on the second floor. So surfing the internet was done straight from my room.
At 11 pm I met my colleague who will join me on this trip. We met at the hotel's coffee shop which located at the lobby. This evening that coffee shop looked and sounded more like a nightclub. Its surrounding's were dark and noisy. People were singing karaoke loudly. Their singing would probably made headaches to people who heard them. We talked about our work plan in a place like this.

The owner was a lady, she was probably aged fifty years old, and she too was singing. Unfortunately her singing sounded more like a howl to me. Apparently she was very drunk. She was being the central of attention from the coffee shop's visitors. That drunken lady was even throwing her colleague's notebook. I thought she already drink a bottle of bourbon this evening.