Day 1:
Regular audit day conducted in Palembang. Another usual day of document checking ;-)
Day 2:
Started with road journey, 3 hours to reach the nearest port and then changed to speed boat. Do not imagine modern kind of speed boat like we see on television. This type of boat, although fast enough, is long and narrow. And the driver was very skillful considering how very wide and how very narrow the stream was.
When we got into the boat, it was already dark on some parts of the sky. I did not wish that the rain won't fall, I wish the other way instead. And yes, through the 2.5 hours boat ride we got 1 hour of heavy rain. It was fun (for me) and I enjoyed it a lot. Luckily I had my phone securely placed inside an underwater pouch so I got to take video and photos during the rain.. My pants did not survive the rain though but I had my spare one ready while I had it dried (naturally) when we got to the location.
The camp was very modest, elevated wooden housing which we called Rumah Panggung. I saw this one row consisting 3 stars (anyone remember the name?) and one beautiful bright moon... (So beautiful that I wished I had my DSLR with me to capture it)
Day 3:
We conducted the audit until noon and then we started to move to the next location after lunch time. A bit delayed by the heavy rain, however we cannot really wait for the rain to stop because otherwise it will be too late and we might collide with the bathing time of the elephants. The elephants use the canal that connects this location with the rest of the world, so if they got ahead of us in the canal then we have to wait until they finish their bath, which will be too late and too dark for the water journey.
Rain did not stay long and we went to the next location with another (same type) speed boat after being transported with other type of boat called "Ketek" to the end of the canal. This is the boat type that made very loud noise and we had to use proper earmuff during the ride.
Safely arrived at the next location. Beat tired. We got small rain during the journey but not as extreme as the day before. The soil was all wet, slippery and sticked on my shoes :D making my safety shoes heavier than they already were..
What did I got here? A sky full of stars. No moon but the stars are just marvelous. Its like being sprinkle to fill the sky. The last time I saw something like that was in Mount Bromo, last year...
Those are additional benefit of my audit work. Nature that is not available to see from where I live...
Wait, but don't ask about clean water supply here... We had brown water from the river for bathing :p I cannot imagine myself brushing my teeth with that water so I had to use the mineral waters from the bottles *grin* (not so adventurous, huh?)
Day 4:
Same schedule as the previous day, audit until noon and then we went back to the city. Another 2 hours by boat and 3-4 hours by car.
Hit the hotel. Had a bath tub and enjoyed the clean warm water :-)
You need to appreciate what you have and sometimes you do not realize that you are so lucky before you are faced with the worse condition....
Day 5:
It will be just another audit day at the office, closing meeting, and fly back to Jakarta...
I am beat tired now...
