A Spicy Weekend!

Well, I'm back in Sorowako after spending most of this weekend at the PTInco exploration camp for the Latou project, about a 2 1/2 hour drive south of here. The project is located on a small peninsula on the east arm of Sulawesi Island and juts out into the Gulf of Bone (Bow-Neigh). Distance wise it isn't that far, being only about 90km by road but it is quite twisty with some pretty sharp switch-backs as the road climbs up the side of mountains and then back down the other. The camp is right on the edge of a small fishing village called Lelewau with no more than about 20 houses. Here is a link to Google Maps that shows Sorowako (spelled incorrectly on the map as "Sornako") and the fishing village: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=-2.794911,121.172333&spn=0.642618,1.054688&z=11

Myself and 3 others drove to the camp and then, after we had been shown our rooms and had a chance to change, we boarded a large fishing boat which took us to our final destination, a coral sand beach just around the point from the village. Here are a couple of photos, one showing the second boat load off-loading and the other of the beach and the camp that had been set up for the weekend. Altogether there were about two dozen from the exploration department in Sorowako, including the department general manager, Arief Hendarman, and his wife Hermin all for a holiday excursion. I was the only non-Indonesian (Bule - boo-lay, Indonesian slang for Westerner).




While Arief and I are about the same age he started with the company 4 years later than me (although he started right out of university when he went to school it typically was for 6 to 7 years before he got his degree although now they are more in line with places like Canada where it is now 4 years). As a result he will be joining the Quarter Century Club - the Inco activity for rewarding long-term service that typically consists of a dinner party and gifts to both the new members of the club and their spouses.

We had lunch of grilled fish, rice and chicken. And then spent the rest of the afternoon swimming or playing volleyball (they had a net set up at waters edge). I had a great time as the water is not very deep but rich in marine life, including corals and many small fish. I even came across a sea cucumber and brought it up the surface for a closer look having never seen one in person before. It emitted a mass of sticky tendrils so I tossed him back and took a few minutes rubbing off the dozen or so that had come in contact and stuck to my hand.

Later on I found all kinds of sea dollars close to shore. I had seen dried examples of their shells before but never the living creature. It was pretty neat watching them plow through the sand using millimetre long cilia that cover both top and bottom. Also near the water line, on shore, were dozens of hermit crabs. While they quickly retreated into their shells when picked up with in a minute or so they would come back out, nip at your hand and try and walk away.

Late in the afternoon most of us then made the boat trip back to the village and the exploration camp. A number got into their vehicles and began the return trip back to Sorowako. I and the rest had supper at the camp and then retired to our rooms. I was supposed to share a room with one of the people who had come out with me by the name of Hassan but he had decided to stay at the beach and spend the night in several tents for those who wanted to have that experience.

Before it got dark I came across on one of the walkways a big black millipede with bright red legs. And of course I had to take a picture of another one of novelty (at least to me) creatures to be found here. I later discovered that this was only one of many here at the camp! When I finally went to bed there was one on my shirt that I had hung up on the wall earlier! And in the morning another was crawling along a board on the opposite wall.













One interesting thing about this camp is they have power being supplied by a micro-hydroelectric plant located on the stream right by the camp. here is a picture of the generator and the impeller mechanism (manufactured right in Sorowako).















And here is one of the small dam and the intake for the system. The dam is about 12 metres higher than the generator and the average flow through the system is about 60 litres per second through plastic pie: 12" that is reduced to 8" and then 4" and finally 3" at the inlet side of the power unit. Pretty nifty system.














On the way down Hassan pointed out numerous black pepper plantations on the hill sides. Along the road side, at several small villages we passed through we saw cocoa beans drying and something else that Hassan told me was "cengkeh" (pronouncd cheng-kay) but he was unable to tell me what the English equivalent was. On the trip back to Sorowako we stopped at one place to take a closer look and they were cloves! So Hassan took me to a clove plantation where I could see the trees up close a personal.












As I have mentioned previously Indonesia used to be the centre of the spice trade, thus the name "Spice Islands" with the two most important being pepper and cloves and now I can say I have stood in the middle of plantations of both! And the aroma of these fresh spices as they dry in the sun is great in stark contrast to the local markets where "fresh" fish hangs heavy in the air. And so ends another chapter of my continuing adventures here in the Spice Islands!

Miscellaneous

Earlier this week, when I arrived at the office, I observed another geologist who had arrived just before me, as he was walking across the parking lot stop, pick something up, and then carefully carried it over to the garden and put what ever it was down. That got my curiosity up so I walked over, after he had left, to see what it was. And lo and behold there was this humongous rhinoceros beetle!


At the end of the day I checked to see if it was still there and it hadn't moved very far so I picked it up and took it back with me to the house where I could take some photos before releasing it back to the wild. For scale I have included a loonie, which looks awfully small beside this monster! Note the dangerous looking hooks on the ends of its legs. While it looks pretty intimidating it actually was pretty passive.




On a previous trip here one of my friends pointed out to me a very unique plant. It is very innocuous looking having fern like leaves. But if you touch the leaves in a second or two it folds them and then the branch drops down! Absolutely amazing to watch as it does this in relatively slow motion. So this past weekend I came across some on the side of the road and took before and after pictures. In the second one notice the three leaflets at the bottom of the cluster as they have closed right up just like shutting a book. So there you have just two of the many unusual plants and animals here.












Yesterday I went out onto the mine proper with several other geologists to take a close hand look at how they do their grade control sampling here. From what I saw there certainly is room for improvement, both in the type and quantity of sampling never mind more efficient control of the mining equipment with trucks sitting waiting their turn to be loaded. But even so the equipment is pretty impressive. For example this next picture is of a backhoe loading a 90 tonne truck with ore. Yes, that red "mud" is ore, averaging between 1.8 and 2% Nickel!





This next one is the largest backhoe I have ever seen! It is used to strip off overburden to expose the ore beneath. Pretty impressive looking machine!

Some "Fotografi"

This past Sunday I went on a trip to visit Matabunto Falls accompanied by my friend Younsel. I wanted to scout out the road to see if it had been upgraded from when I was there last (it had not) and Younsel just wanted to take some photographs. In Indonesian the word photography is "fotografi". As mentioned previously Younsel is an award winning photographer and recently placed in the top 18 of a competition sponsored by Garuda, the Indonesian national airline. Here are a couple of examples of his handy work. The first is one taken of me the day before while we were on our rafting excursion and the second is of the upper cascade at Matabunto Falls.

And here is one I took of Younsel while we were at the upper cascade.

The falls as you may have figured out by my frequent reference to them (this was my 3rd time there) are fantastic! Even though the road is passable only by 4-wheel drive, or motor bike, the number of locals visiting it on any weekend appears to be increasing by leaps and bounds as more and more people learn of the place. Many go there and have a picnic, swim in the many pools or just lie back as the water falls around them.

My First Day Off!

My modelling was finally going quite well so I decided to take the full weekend off. Now that I have been here a few time I no longer wait for invitations but try and see if I can get something organised, or at least started, myself. So late in the week I asked Selvi what she was planning on doing and she told me she was going to go to Matano village at the west end of the lake as she had dropped her camera during a dive the previous weekend (she is an active scuba diver). So I asked if I could go along!


Before I knew what happened arrangements had been made to rent a "raft" from the village fleet and so it quickly grew to a much larger group. I invited along Younsel Evand Roos, who is very active in photography and has won some awards for his pictures. I also extended the invitation to Rosalyn, Alan Matano, Arham and Anto and their family's. For various reasons only Arham, his wife and their young son made it. Selvi invited some of her friends including her close friend Tuti (short for Pujiastuti - one of the people here who go by a single name). Here is a picture of our raft.





Unlike the ones owned by the expats which are made using steel fuel drums the two hulls, as can be seen, are conventional wood construction. Power is provided by two single cylinder diesel engines directly connected by a long shaft to fully exposed propellers! Note the aquamarine colour of the water, likely due to high levels of dissolved limestone which also make the water very clear.







It took us about an hour to get to our destination which was not to the village at the west end of the lake as it turned out but a small group of islands not too far way. Apparently there are a lot of pottery artifacts in the water off of one of the islands and that is what Selvi had been exploring. When she surfaced she gathered all her equipment together but forgot she had her camera (a Sony digital in a plastic water-proof case good to 40 metres depth) and had inadvertently let it go. As it turned out it didn't take very long for her to swim to the spot and found it lying on the lake bottom. Based on the quality of the case I would say it was pretty expensive so it was no wonder she was happy that she had found it. We stayed there for about an hour swimming then had lunch on board of "padang" - an regional ethnic cuisine noted for for being spicy and typically eaten with your fingers. Many of the Canadian expats, especially the ones from Thompson, usually go to a padang restaurant for lunch every Friday.

Here we have a picture of Younsel, Tuti and Selvi. And on the left is Irada, another geologist working in the exploration and mine development department.









We had a great time! As is typical I got a bit of sunburn - too stubborn to put on sunscreen and always underestimating how much UV gets reflected off the water even when under shade. But no big deal as it is a light burn which for me will soon change to a tan. The scenery from the raft was gorgeous and the weather cooperated very nicely. Fortunately it usually rains only in the afternoons so it doesn't pay to be tardy.

And finally, here is a picture of the "Yacht Club", a place I have mentioned a number of times previously. Rather rough looking but does an excellent job for being a demarcation point for an adventure such as the one we had this day.

A week in Sorowako

As mentioned in my previous entry I am now residing in a house located at 52 Jalan Anggrek (Jalan being Indonesian for Street, or Road). It is quite large and spacious. All of the PT Inco houses are of similar design but with more living area the more significant ones position with the company: the "A" house is the largest and is occupied by the Chief Operating Officer (the highest ranking position on site); "B" houses are for General Managers (the next level down from the COO); "C" are for managers and "D" are for superintendents and lower ranking staff. The house I am in is a "B" house. Note that the design style involves being elevated on posts and essentially is a single floor layout but that there is a small concrete block room at ground level that is typically used as servants quarters (the latter only with A, B and C houses). No one on staff appears to own their own home here. Instead they rent from the company. As such the size of the house is dependant on ones standing and not on family needs. Very different from what am used to but I believe harkens back to an older time when even Thompson was dominated by company owned houses.

The black van is a "Kijang": a rear-wheel drive Toyota that is pretty basic. While it has air conditioning, it doesn't even have demisters! I guess they assume it is too hot for moisture to condense on the inside of the wind shield. That is my personal transport while I am here.

Being in this house is not so bad as I sure have a lot of space. Lots of furniture and a nice bed in the master bedroom, since I had first dibs. But there have been problems. As already mentioned it was about 4 days before I had network access. Then this past Monday I found myself without hot water. It was quite a shock to the system taking a cold shower to start the day. Plus I had cut myself when shaving that morning too! The next day I found myself with the beginnings of a cold sore which has now become two (the second on top of where I had cut my upper lip when shaving). It has been some time since I have had a cold sore and now I have two! So no, it is not all beds of roses here, but I do admit it could be a heck of a lot worse!

About the middle of the week I finally quit a little early, in the middle of the afternoon, well before sunset. I therefore finally had time to go for a walk while it was still light (I had been pretty reclusive up until then and definitely not getting enough exercise). Not far from the house there is a tennis court so I went there to see what was going on and to explore a bit. Low and behold and what did I find but some kids, and one adult (obviously Canadian) playing road hockey! That sure brought a grin to my face.





After watching them play for a while I noticed that the area they were playing in was beside a cultivated area with plants that at first I didn't recognise. So I went and had a closer look and discovered they were growing pepper! Not the vegetable but the spice. And that reminded me that Indonesia used to be called the "Spice Islands" and is famous for things such as pepper, cloves and other formerly exotic spices. Here is a picture of a pepper bush (actually it appears to be a vine as they have a central stake for it to cling to).

At work they operate in conditions totally foreign to what I am used to. The group I am working with consists of 6 people all crammed into an office no bigger than the one I occupy back in Thompson. And only just recently did they get some new computers to replace the ones that are at least 5 years old. Here are a couple of pictures showing most of the crew. We have Alan, Arham and Rosalyn (I usually occupy the spot behind Rosalyn). On the other side of the room is Anto. Sopi usually occupies the spot taken currently by Anto but is away in France on a training program for the next 9 months. Also missing is Mashury who provides technical support and is the only one native to Sorowako. So here I am living in this huge house but working in this small, cramped office. But the latter is pretty good in that they are a great bunch of people and they frequently take advantage of me being there by asking advice or instruction on numerous matters associated with the job. It sure is nice to feel useful!

And another trip to Indionesia Begins

Hello everyone! It has been a while since I have posted anything, partly due to not having much to say and in large part due to "technical" issues which I will soon elaborate. But now I have pictures and comment! In fact too much for one post so I have broken it down into 3 segments: my return trip here to Sorowako, life in and around Sorowako, and my latest true adventure!

To those of you who were not aware, I departed Thompson in the late afternoon of October 16 and will remain here in Sorowako until November 15 when I begin the long journey back to Canada.

As has become the norm I ended up spending an afternoon and night in Denpasar, the capital of the island of Bali. This island, as reported previously, is unique in that the primary religion here is a form of Hinduism and is characterised by numerous sculptures depicting Hindu related gods and mythological events. Many times in the past I have been driven by some pretty fantastic looking large scale sculptures and this time I made it a point to photograph two of the most prominent. Unfortunately I cannot tell you anything about the story behind them but still find them impressive! In addition Awang, who is now my regular driver when ever I am here, took me to a Hindu temple called Pura Desa Lan Pusen which of course is decorated with typical Balinese Hindu motifs. He had also tried to take me to a park with more Bali architecture, but it was closed. This was the first of many negative aspects so far this trip!

As usual I continue to be impressed by the artistry that is typical of Bali and the contrast with the general lack of craftsmanship in the building trades here and elsewhere that I have seen in Indonesia.

Upon leaving Bali once again I flew to Ujung Pandang, or as it is usually called, Makassar. There I stayed in the brand new terminal building until my flight to Sorowako. Unlike previous times they were using a 18 seat Beechcraft 1900 rather than the larger turboprops used previously (Dash-7 and then an ATR). As a result they had to make two flight and as it turned out I was on the second one. I finally made it to Sorowako late in the afternoon where I was met by Tim Lloyd, one of the members of the group I belong with who too was in town on work related business. As there was no room at the dormitory I was put up at a local hotel; the Luciana. Unfortunately my suitcase was not on the plane even though it had made it as far as Makassar with me.

Well, that led to an interesting development! As a result I only had the clothes on my back (shorts, shirt and sandals)! Usually I keep a complete change of clothes with me but used them once I arrived in Denpassar and made the mistake of assuming I was now safe from any baggage issues. So the next day I tried to show up at the office looking like a tourist but was rejected by security, primarily because I had no safety footwear! As a result I had to return to the hotel until such time as my suitcase arrived, a few hours later having made the journey by car!

Obviously, once my suitcase arrived, I could get down to work - the reason I am here in the first place. So I spent the next 12 days working away diligently. After 4 days at the hotel they arranged for me to move into a vacant house as there still was no room at the Dormitory. It is a large place which is currently occupied by just myself. While there are network connections none worked and it took a few days for the IT department to figure out why and finally making it possible for me to connect to the outside world!

I only had a short break of a few hours the morning of my first Sunday here whereby I went for a walk with one of my New Zealand friends, Andrew Osborn. He wanted to scout out some potential routes for an upcoming Hash Hound Harriers run/walk. We did our stroll along jungle trails. For the uninitiated "The Hash", as they call it, involves a couple of "Hares" blazing a trail along which the "Hounds" soon after follow and is an opportunity for an organised run or walk, as one prefers, exploring new routes in and around Sorowako. Having walked this muddy and slippery trail in the jungle, along much of which a previous run had been traveled on I vowed I would NOT take part. Especially since it is every Monday afternoon, which of late is when it typically is raining! This picture is of a jungle stream we forded on this trip.

On the return journey we passed by a local Bali Hindu temple which I had been unaware even existed! And to think I had walked by this location a few times in the past and not realised t was there. Again, very impressive statues and other motifs!

Obviously this trip has not started off as well as previous ones! Check the next post to see how this adventure is continuing to unfold!