Pontianak

I am finally in Pontianak. It’s my third day and so far the weather has not been friendly – hot in the morning and afternoon, rainy in the evening. Since the training finishes at 9, I have the luxury of enjoying the after-rain experience, something that I don’t do very often lately in Jakarta.

The hotel is decorated in a ‘minimalist’ design, not much furniture resulting in a more spacious feeling. My room is 403, fourth floor. Too bad, the walls are thin because I sometimes can hear the neighbor flushes or their chat. I can even smell the smoke from the room next door. Other than that, everything is in order.

The dining room is downstairs and sometimes I have my breakfast before I take the bath. ‘Too lazy to look neat, nobody is watching anyway’, at least that’s what I think. Of course, I was wrong.

This morning, while I was taking some pieces of fried chicken, the waitress came and asked me, ‘Ibu duduk di tempat biasa kan?’ I went straight to the buffet table and had not decided where to sit. I thought, ‘Am I that predictable?’ It’s just my second day, you know. It’s spooky knowing that someone can be so observant about what you’re doing. I answered the question with a nod and a smile, trying hard to hide my surprise.

I took the time to roam the nearby supermarket and observed the prices. Some of the items are actually cheaper compared to the ones in Jakarta. I had talked to the head of affiliate and he mentioned that the price of our program is just a third of the Jakarta’s price. It seems that the people here still have a lower cost of living. One thing that the central government should think hard is how to keep the electricity on every day. Yes, the electricity here is off every other day. They rely on generators for the energy and it is costly. No governor dares to promise that they will ensure the availability of electricity. The old machinery, the old system, and the lack of gas have become excuses for the national electricity company to escape from the people’s pointing fingers. I wonder why is the director here still in office? It’s too bad no one would invest in an area without any guarantee of enough electricity supply, right? The fact really breaks my heart….