House 21 Waiting To Move In

What is it with living overseas and finding somewhere to live, that is always such a pain in the bum?

After we arrived having looked at different houses in the different locations in Jakarta we decided that we wanted to stay on in the housing complex we are currently staying in with the apartment.

I decided that I would look at the different style housing here and see what would meet our budget. When you view houses they don't really tell you the rental costs until you choose something. What I did was I viewed about ten different houses, some empty and some that would be free in about four six to eight weeks and rated them from my first choice to last choice. Then I had to wait to see what was in our budget. Most where out of our budget being the first price quoted from the complex. Then we had to start negotiating the prices down hoping that one of the houses on the top of our list would be in budget.

Here in Indonesia you also have to consider VAT which is a tax not included in the rental so that always makes the TOTAL cost of rentals quite high.

Other quite common practises here in Indonesia is landlords would rather have a house remain empty then to bring the rent down, empty houses are never maintained until someone decides they will rent the property then and only then will any extra money be spent fixing it up.

We did decide on one house which we could of moved into straight away but the complex wouldn't come to the party in meeting our budget. So it felt like I was back to the drawing board looking again. Another day another couple of viewings. This time a couple of houses that had been vacant for quite a while and in need of some repairs looked promising.

You always ask for items that you want done in the house before signing a contract here because once a contract is signed you never get extra things done. After submitting a five page list of requests which ranged from minor to major items I can say that the decision is made and we have found a house. We have been in the apartment coming up to four weeks now so I am hoping at the longest it will only be another three weeks until we move in to the house. There is so much to do from painting, knocking out a wall, replacing the bathroom and kitchen the finish line seems a long way off. Below are some pictures of the progress so far.

Picture: House 21 is were we will be living


Picture: A wall in the kitchen is being taken out




Picture: Lounge room ceiling being repaired

Picture: Old kitchen is being replaced

Picture: One of the bathrooms is being re done

Picture: Cupboards being built in


Picture: Louver windows being replaced with other windows

Picture: Air cons being added to the main bedroom

Picture: Ceiling and windows being fixed in small second living area

Picture: Side garden needs cleaning up

Picture: Back yard needs cleaning up

Picture: Back area needs cleaning up

Mine Site Location

The main reason we are living in Indonesia is because of Ben's new job. Here is some information about where Ben is working.

Ben writes;
I am currently working at the Satui Mine Site. Satui is one of a number of coal mines run by PT Arutmin Indonesia. The others are Senakin, Asam-Asam, and Batulicin. They are all located in southern Kalimantan, Indonesia.

Picture: Map of the area

Picture: Mining at Kresna Pit at Satui

I won't go into much detail, but the Satui project has an overall length of 40km with multiple pits over this distance (not all working simultaneously), so it's not small. It's being operating now for ten years and has quite a few years left in reserves. There are over 2000 people working here, most of whom live at the nearby town of Sungai Danau (5 minutes from site) or in Banjarmasin.

Coal is hauled to the port at the estuary of the Satui River where it is loaded via conveyors onto barges (20,000 tonnes/day) and towed to its destination (a ship, or other port). Over 120 million cubic metres of waste and ore is mined annually using a variety of large mining equipment.

Picture: Coal exposed in the pit floor. The trucks on the left are Cat785's

So, to get to site on a Monday morning after my four day break, I leave home at 4am, drive for an hour to get to the airport here in Jakarta (the return drive in the evening takes around one and a half to two hours depending on traffic), then I catch a Garuda flight to Banjarmasin and then a contract company driver picks me up at the airport and drives for three hours to get to the Satui mine site.

Picture: This is what it's all about, "Batu bara" (Coal)

Picture: Coal loading onto barge

One thing that is a little unusual for me here is there is a problem with the local population of monkeys. They have grown a bit too aggressive and can be heard running over the roof of the office.

Picture: A cheeky monkey looking through my office window

Picture: A safety sign

Fabric Shopping

Today I went out with my friend Marina fabric shopping. Here in Jakarta you can have any piece of clothing copied but finding the right material is the key. Indonesia being such a humid climate it is best to try and wear cotton but to find any material made of cotton is quite hard. Wanwan, Marina's driver said he knew of a good market that we could visit to find what we where looking for so we thought "why not, lets give it a go".

Picture: Some of the market stalls

Picture: Some pretty materials on show

Picture: Marina taking a closer look

The market was called Cipadu Market. There we found a number of stalls selling all types of materials. We walked along hearing "masuk Mrs" (come in) if something caught our eye we would enter to see and feel the material. From satin, polyester, lace and fleece we made our way along the stalls looking for that holy grail of cotton. I found the locals quite friendly and helpful offering suggestions without really knowing what we where after. Flower patterned material seemed quite popular because that's what the shop keepers kept pointing out to us to see. There where some beautiful materials that maybe would been worn by the local ladies when they got married, so much choice but not what we wanted. Our persistence paid off as we did manage to find what we think is cotton in a colour we liked so I am sure our next visit will be to the tailor.

Picture: Marina & Wanwan, Marinas driver surrounded by lots of material



Picture: A little girl I met on the visit to the market


Picture: Wanwan happy we found some cotton material

Visiting The Museum Indonesia

Museum Indonesia looked interesting in American Women's Association directory so we thought we would take the time to visit.

As we arrived at the address that is written in the book we where surprised to find that there was a entry toll for parking and that the museum we wanted to visit was located in a large park and later we found out the park was called Taman Mini Indonesia http://www.tamanmini.com/

The area surrounding the Tamin Mini Indonesia also housed other museums in separate buildings. Our driver dropped us off at what we thought was the museum we wanted and as we walked through the wooden building we where quite disappointed and thought 'We have spent an hour in the car for this?' With no map or information in English we where left standing there a bit shocked.

We ended up stumbling onto the information building where we where given a map and pointed in the right direction towards the museum of Indonesia. What we didn't realise was where our driver had dropped us was at one of the houses that was on display and that the building we wanted was around the cornor. What can I say except "the I factor" got us. I think I will explain the "I factor" in another blog.

Picture: Ben & Paige being shown the park display at the information building

Once we found the Museum Indonesia we where pleasantly surprised at the displays and information which where housed on the three levels of the building. Arts crafts, traditional costumes from the different regions of Indonesia, musical instruments, masks and a large variety of utensils and equipment used in every day life was on display and we where able to get a taste of the different regions that make up Indonesia as a country.

Picture: Ben & Paige sitting on the steps to the museum

I think you need more then just a couple of hours to discover the park "Taman Mini Indonesia" so I am sure we will take another drive out this way.

Picture: Outside of the Museum Indonesia

Picture: Paige paying the entry fee

Picture : Paige standing next to a carved garuda

Picture: Paige looking at some of the costumes


Picture: Ben & Paige listening to the different musical instruments

Picture: Some shadow puppets

Picture : Display of fishing equipment

Picture: Display of rice covers

Picture: Display of baby caring baskets

Picture: Display of jewelry

Picture: Ben & Paige standing next to the tin carved tree of life

Picture: Sail boat made out of spun silver

Picture: Ben & Paige walking over the bridge in the surroundings gardens

Picture: Ben & Paige having a cool drink at lunch time

The Week That Was

As I sit here and write this entry I feel like its been longer then a week since my last blog.

On Saturday night I went to the 28th Annual British Woman's Associations (BWA) Spectacular Fashion Show Ball. What a great night. The fashion show was more like a professional event , the people who took part where amazing and all volunteers, they had been rehearsing since November last year and the outcome to this event was just AMAZING. They should be proud of putting on such a great show. The idea of the night was to raise money for the different causes the BWA support. My friend Thalia was in the show and with the cartwheels and dancing I am sure she has missed her calling in life as a performer. The night took place at the Shangri-La Hotel here in Jakarta. I forgot how many staff a 5 star hotel employs as everywhere you looked there where waiters and waitresses delivery the amazing tasting food to the tables and I don't think the glasses where ever empty through out the night. I had a great time catching up with some old friends Anne-Marie (she lent me a dress), Jason, Thalia and Joe who I know them all from when we lived in Balikpapan another part of Indonesia. To top the night off I won a raffle prize which is a three day cruise on one of the boats that travels up a jungle river in Kalimantan in another part of Indonesia.

Picture: Bernadette, Francesca, Dana

With Paige going to school and settling in this week I was able to look at many houses in the complex, we are wanting to remain living in once we find a house. There are many houses here but getting something in our budget I found was a little harder then I expected. Everything seems to have tax excluded so when you get a price of the rent then add the VAT (tax) on top of it drives the rental cost up.
We had a look at some housing in other parts of Jakarta but many of the rents are just too much over our budgets and many housing compounds feel very closed in when you walk around them.

Between the school run, house hunting, discovering supermarkets, interviewing drivers, keeping dry from the afternoon rains and travelling in the car dealing with all the traffic, this week has just flown by and I can say I am exhausted.

Currently we are staying in a three bedroom apartment (flat) at a housing compound called "Country Woods". This is where will would like to remain living once we find a house within our budget. Being only a twenty minutes drive from Paige's school and close to a couple of shopping centres I think it will be a good location to call home.

There is a saying "things happen in three's" so in saying this the washing machine broke and the stove broke all in a three day time frame so I have gotten to know the maintenance department quite well. I am not sure what the third item is going to need fixing but I am sure it wont belong before I get my answer to that question. I am glad I have been an expat before as I think when things happen like this I just laugh about it as if you get angry then it will drive you crazy.

Picture: Main Entrance to Country Woods

Picture: Paige doing limbo under the front security boom gate

Picture: The apartment block we are staying in, we are on the ground floor

Picture: The shared pool room & library

Picture: Small shop area in compound

Picture: The grassed sports field

Picture: Pool area number one

There is also a playground for children, tennis courts, gym, sauna, another pool area and a small restaurant so there is everything we need to make our stay enjoyable here at Country Woods.