Indonesia

Happy Easter from The Future,

All around the world
We could make time
Rompin’ and a stompin’
cause I’m in my prime! (Red Hot Chili Peppers)

Before I get into my weekly recap, I would just like to say thank you to everyone reading and sending me cards and emails. Ginger Spice, I received your note this week, it was very thoughtful.

After a month of not posting any pictures…you’re in for a treat. I put up a whole bunch from my trip to Batam on Friday. I took most of them with my new cell phone (the gadgets they have here are so cool) and some with my digital camera. You’ll notice that the first couple look funny because I forgot to turn off (I didn’t know I turned it on) the Sepia effect on my camera which means they look old-timey.

On to the trip:

I went to Batam with 7 other guys. My buddy Andrew from home, his roommate Leigh, and five savages from Australia who were friends of Leigh. The were great guys. We caught the 9:00 AM ferry from Singapore and it was packed because of the long weekend. After 45 minutes or so we disembarked in a new country, Indonesia. Our package took care of everything. For $163 Sing dollars we were provided with round-trip ferry tickets, our visa, transportation to and from the course, our greens fees and club rentals. Only one thing was missing…the adult libations. And boy did these Aussies know how to buy in bulk. We spent over a million Rupiah in the duty-free shop…or about $200 Sing dollars (for the rest of this blog just assume everything is in Sing dollars unless otherwise noted). They also found 10AM the proper time to start elbow-bending; who am I to say no?

The course, Palm Springs, was great. It wasn’t too difficult yet still had spectacular views. At one point I thought the Aussies might get us kicked off but instead our entourage just grew larger. Some of the pros, the Marshall and the Caddy Master all decided to hang out with us at one point or another. I played pretty well for not having played in many moons and using some rental sticks. All in all, it was just a great experience because Andrew and I just kept looking at each other and saying stuff like, “Can you believe we are golfing in Indonesia right now?” What a day.

You’ll see my last couple of pictures are completely out of focus and it looks like I’m at a rave. I’m actually on the ferry back and the rocking boat messed up the pictures. I decided to keep them and post them because I wanted to remember the full moon that night. I’ve never seen anything like it. It was in the southern part of the sky so there was almost no light pollution except for the random boat or two in the distance. It was the brightest moon I have ever seen. It was one of those times when you think to yourself, I’m floating in space on a tiny, blue marble. I thought going over to Batam would satiate my wanderlust but after seeing that moon it just egged me on. There is so much to see, so much to do, and so little time. (I hope that song lyric at the start makes a little more sense now.)

That’s why Andrew and I are planning a trip to Vietnam in May. May 1st is Labor Day over here and it’s on a Thursday. So our plan is to take that Friday off and have a nice 4-day vacation in Southern Vietnam. With flights as low as $208 it would be a crime not too.

I’ve got a big week of work coming up. It’s the last full week of the quarter so they really want people closing. I also get to go to my first conference this week. I’ll let you know how it goes.

And in some of the most exciting news…I’M GOING TO HAVE A VISITOR! My good friend from BC, Dan Lennon, will be making the trip and staying with me the last full week of April. Who’s next?!?!
Adios,

BD