November
2012
In
early August we arrived back in Tanjung Lesung after five weeks in Europe. The
weather in notably U.K. and to a lesser extent in France, Germany and
Switzerland made me rather pleased to be back in the T.L. sunshine. Italy was
the exception, brilliant hot weather akin to Indonesia. We drove over 2500
miles with no set plan just explore and eat as we went along. Food everywhere
fantastic and since my only exercise was moving my left foot I put on 5 kilos. However
this was remedied by supporting my staff on my return by strict fasting over
Ramadhan. I am now back to pre holiday 75 kg.
One of our first guests welcomed on my return were
honeymooners Chris Gow from England and charming Anna from Germany, both
currently working in Brussels from whence they flew to Soekarno-Hatta and our
pickup. For over a week they enjoyed the sunshine and food, sailed and even did
a two day Ujung Kulon jungle trek. They left us to journey by train, bus, ojek
to Bandung, Jogjakarta, Mount Bromo, Bali, Lombok and eventually we got a much
appreciated call from Brussels saying how much they had enjoyed their stay.
For two weeks, probably like many expats, I woke up
everynight to watch the London Olympics live. I well remember in 1948 listening
(no T.V then) to all the commentaries at primarily the old Wembley Stadium.
Most recipients of this newsletter would have heard of or known John and Gwen
Shackleton who now reside in England but still own one of the villas behind the
sailing club. Well, once again they arranged for Lebaran gifts to be
distributed to our staff even though they haven’t been here for two years. Last
month I received a medical report on John and he continues to battle on with
the help of countless pills and experimental medicine. We all wish this very
generous and jolly couple the best of fortune and a riotous Christmas. In
August we welcomed for the first time Kenneth and Emmy Hill and family. They
are with the U.S. Embassy. We all fondly remember their predecessors, the
“Crazy Gang” and leading lights Kathy and John Hickey, Amy and Wade Martin. Tom
and Mary Spare, Matt and Claire Marlow, George Hale (just to mention the
ringleaders) who enlivened things here for three years. Sadly when they all
departed for Washington all those people they introduced disappeared as well.
Russel and Sarah Bailey are the exception even though they stay in the villas
behind they eat here and their sons Shaun and Jamie are progressing well on the
sailing front. We had a Phillipe and Anne Danielsky booked at the S.C. over
Idul Fitri. To our surprise they arrived in the cruising boat ‘Cecilia Ann’.
Phillipe was in a Laser immediately and promptly signed up as a member. He was
considering the purchase of Robert Rusnak’s Laser. If he didn’t buy it someone
should. Its hardly been used, is in excellent condition and competitively
priced.
On Idul Fitri morning the staff have time off to
visit their mosque and visit close relatives so breakfast is not served until
10.00 am. Which means yours truely has to do the honours and produce coffee and
something basic for those adventurous enough to ask. I screwed up the first six
eggs before Sarah Bailey (who had volunteered to help the night before) took
over and for two hours never put a foot wrong. Likewise her two sons did a
great job taking and delivering the orders. No doubt their c.v. will include
the entry “Restaurant training at an Indonesian Yacht club”! In September we
had our first visitor from Afghanistan, Marie-Christine Arpin who flew here
from Kabul! She had booked up months ago and we collected her from
Soekarno-Hatta. Christine is attached to the Canadian Forces and is in a
compound in the highly dangerous Helmund province. She came specifically to
learn sailing and do some trekking. With Dadang’s help she soon mastered the
Laser, then snorkeled, cycled and swam before leaving on a flight to Jaya
Pura in Irian Jaya. Thence by light
aircraft to the Baliem valley where she had booked a 10 day trek with an
Indonesian guide and bearer. We tried to monitor her movements but no
reception. Eventually she emailed us from Kabul reporting that she had had a
great time in spite of some falls and what became a badly effected leg. No
doubt the military hospital in Helmund would sort this out. A great customer we would love to see again.
She joined as a member.
A group of staff from the Australian International
School stayed at John Holmes’ old villa behind us. They eat and drunk at the
S.C. and had everything out on the water, Lasers, Picos, canoe, kayak. Fishing
was popular resulting in quite a few edible delicacies. My close colleague from
my Banten West Java days in 1998 Bapak Giarto Sugianto visited us with his
extended family. When I came to T.L. 14 years ago I was assigned to Giarto as a
fellow engineer. We got on well together and have been friends ever since. He
informed us that the light aircraft runway for which he was advising on ground
foundations etc would shortly start construction alongside our sailing club.
We’ve heard from old member and much missed (especially by me) “Mr. Red Cross”,
Vincent Nicod. He was unexpectedly transferred from here to Japan earlier this
year. He’s having a torrid time trying to find something edible and learning Japanese. For the latter he was
dispatched away from Tokyo to a language “crammer” where they expected to teach
our wine loving friend Japanese in a matter of weeks. Well it didn’t happen.
I’m awaiting his next communiqué. Before he left us he dutifully introduced his
successors Frederic Fournier and Danny Agob. Sadly we haven’t seen them since.
Perhaps something caught their eye in Jakarta!
Last
month an article concerning Tanjung Lesung appeared in the Indonesian press. It
was entitled “building for the future”, and the section concerning us ran as
follows: “The development of major integrated resorts (IR) has been prescribed
for several destinations in Indonesia, including Bintan, Lombok and Tanjung
Lesung, with an aim of speeding up tourism growth in these areas. Lombok and
Tanjung Lesung in particular, have earned special attention from the Indonesian
central government, who has granted both destinations Special Economic Zone
status. Investors keen on developing
Lombok and Tanjung Lesung are offered incentives such as tax breaks. Located on
the western tip of Java island and some 170 km from Jakarta, Tanjung Lesung has
been seeing construction of a 1500 hectare IR, led by master developer Banten
West Java Tourism Development, for years now. When complete, it will have a
marina, a yacht club, a ferry terminal, two 18-hole golf courses, a water theme
park, hotels and residences.
Banten West Java Tourism Development director,
Setiawan, said the IR would not only function as a destination in itself, but
also act as a hub to draw international visitors to Ujung Kulon National Park
and Mount Anak Krakatau. “They are internationally renowned but the lack of
accessibility and facilities are keeping travelers from visiting them”, he
said. An airport is due to complete in 2015, while a toll road that will
shorten traveling time between Jakarta and Tanjung Lesung by several hours will
be ready by 2016. Deputy Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Sapta
Nirwandar, said: “The IRs are crucial in helping to grow other Indonesian
destinations (beyond Bali), as they provide facilities that can accommodate
large numbers of leisure and MICE visitors”.
There is
evidence that the announced T.L. Development into a major resort is well
underway. Naturally infrastructure is a priority and in this area we have seen
an entirely new road laid between Citereup and T.L. including three white lines
and “cats eyes” in places. Clearly Banten province has backed this up by
concreting the road from Labuan to Citereup. This work is underway. P.T. Jaba
Beka has purchased the hotel previously build by and owned by their partners P.T.
Banten West Java. The hotel is currently having a major restoration to bring it
back to the condition it was when build. In addition the area to the right hand
side of the hotel which holds footings for forty or more cottages is being
cleared with a view to extending the hotel as originally planned. In 1998 P.T.
BWJ built an entire village at Cikadu, 5 km away, comprising a mosque, school,
clinic for residents displaced by the original T.L. Development. Most of these
buildings have been demolished and new ones are under construction to house
incoming P.T. Jaba Beka staff. So a lots happening. There’s probably much more
we at the sailing club don’t know what!
In October popular Frenchman Jerome Gatti visited
again but this time he brought his girl friend, Miss Denmark. It has to be said
they did occupy their cottage for long periods, usually doing without
breakfast, but when they did come up for breath to do a bit of sailing, at
which Jerome is very proficient, and snorkeling, you could see they were having
a great time. It would be hard not to be very happy with Miss. Denmark.
The relevant Government department has stated that
currently a major Tsunami eminating from Krakatau was virtually impossible in
our area. To effect our bay Lagon Dadap the Tsunami would have to cross over
the T.L. peninsula like it did in 1883. Then Kakatau was 2000m high with a
caldera 8km across, currently Anak Krakatau is 350m high and the caldera is the
size of my restaurant. Someone should pass these facts onto the “Jakarta Post”
who are so fond of dramatizing any eruption of Krakatau to the detriment of all
businesses along the Banten coast. This government directive is posted on our
notice board.
In October / November we had two National holidays,
Idul Adha and Muslim New Year both resulting in long weekends. We have to thank
long standing member and our keenest sailor Nick Elliot for the groups he
brought in for the two holidays. He spent countless hours introducing them to
sailing, most for the first time. At times his trimaran ‘Weta’ was seen gliding
along full of social sailors. On the positive side some of his inductees have
taken a real interest in sailing and we feel sure we’ll see them again. We had
a geologist Rob Mooney staying with us for a few days. He has been on a survey
in Kalimantan checking out coal deposits. I was able to take him to Pulau
Liwungan to get his professional opinion on the unusual rock formation on the
west tip of the island. I am inclined to agree with his analysis that the rock
formation was formed as a result of the
1883 Krakatau explosion and are not from the Jurassic period as theorized by
previous geologists. Very briefly the “Giant Causeway” looking rock formation
was created by very hot injecta which came through the air as dust clouds in 1883.
They came as countless layer upon layer and formed a red “pillow” which we see
today as a type of soft red stone 10cm thick. Then came very hot volcanic dust
which piled on top of the red ‘pillows”. These two layers cooled, and
retracted, this process producing the cracks resulting in the separate squares
we see today.
We welcomed our second Colombian family, Marcella,
John, Samuel and Paula who sailed and kayaked. Also Phil and Melanie Siedel
from Australia with three blond daughters who kayaked and sailed Optimists. The
two year old insisted on ordering chips and fish fingers for breakfast each
morning. Anthony Murphy came with his charming French wife and children. They
tried everything and happily were reluctant to leave. In October we welcomed the German School for the first
time. Led by Sandra Lenz and Indra Yuda the 20 odd students were a pleasure to
have, polite and enthusiastic. They experienced the first rain (one heavy
shower) we have had for 6 ½ months. Unfortunately this came midway through the
football match with the local kampong so the second half was more a kin to
water polo. Member Uwe Schurman’s diminutive daughter Fidanya excelled at all
the sports especially sailing. Fishing was popular, students catching their
supper on two occasions. We hope to see the German School again in 2013.
The successful German School visit resulted in an
influx of teachers some weeks later. They all had a great time, same as the
kids! In September we welcomed the Australian International School in two lots.
Approximately 80 personel in total. The first group were ably led by Australian
Jackie Setiawan and her team, the second group came two weeks later with Ms.
Cynthia (a Haja Australian) heading up her team. Mrs. Sung Sook their
photographer had a modern digital Leica camera the first I have seen. Leica of
Wetzlar in Germany produced the first 35 MM (miniature) camera in the late
1920s. Since then, to this day, Leica has been a byword for photographic
excellence.
Over the Idul Adha weekend we had a welcome
visitation from a completely ‘over the top’ Italian called Monica. Her husband
Achim Laube was a German Banker and had inadvertently booked into (and paid up)
the Bay Villas, so they couldn’t move to us. However they spent all their time
here mostly eating, drinking, and doing all the activities. Monica proved to be
a very competent sailor. She was a riot and we loved her and hope to see her
again.
In September Susanne Riedel, husband Sascha and
daughter came for the second time, and promptly joined as members. This in
spite of Sascha being bitten in the water by an unknown predator. He was in
great pain for two days even after a hospital visit and assistance from our
local doctor. They are scheduled to return in November. We wish them a long and
happy membership.
In October we welcomed our first Turkish visitor the
charming Ms. Maximowitz and her beautiful daughter. The ever popular Franziska
Astor and husband Markus with their four children are regulars, especially
popular with Idrawati and Sophie is baby daughter Lina who gets regularly
highjacked for long periods. Other regulars are members Kathrine and Tony
Mathias, with Laurie, Finlay and Angus. We will have the pleasure of their
company again in November. Uwe and Marie Schonrock joined as members in October
as did Russel Hiser an American on his first visit. We wish both new members a
fruitful membership. We must mention Vegard Heskestad from Norway and his
charming wife Debbie. A guest from some years ago when he worked for Siemens
Jens Domeyer and wife returned to the Sailing Club for a short vacation. They
flew from Shanghai where he is currently working. Already a two time visitor
and booked for December is Missy and Firmansyah and their three children.
Remembered by the staff because of their “hush puppies” dog was Chris and James
Briggs. He a keen sailor. Andy and Eileen Robey returned with ‘Pinky’ their
prize winning Indonesia “AGAR” (wild dog) born at the Sailing Club four years
ago. Daughter Megan has done a fantastic job nurturing and training this amazing
dog. One early morning I came down from my house to the restaurant to find a
newly born puppy and the mother close by having died in childbirth. The puppy survived without mummy’s milk but
on Indonesian “Ultra Milk”. Andy and Megan saw “Pinky” when it was about a year
old and I passed her onto a far better home that I could have provided.
We want to thank all our guests for supporting us.
To a person we enjoy and value your patronage. If you haven’t been mentioned
here its because my memory has somewhat deteriorated after 14 years in the
jungle and not because we don’t appreciate you.
Currently
the road from Karawachi to Tanjung Lesung is the best its ever been in the 14
years I’ve been here. I shop in Karawachi once a week and driving conservativley
in our ‘Carry’ it takes three hours door to door. This assumes you take the
highly recommended scenic route from Pandeglang to Labuan via Mandalawangi and
Jiput. The route is not only quicker but devoid of trucks, buses and pot holes.
We apologize to those customers who have tried to
book in October and November and find we were full up. There’s always a lot of
juggling to do especially on holidays and Idrawati does her best to get
everyone in or to place them at, for example, Blue Fish hotel. The key is to
book early. December will be a busy month so contact her early, details below. Since
the next newsletter will be in the New Year we take this opportunity to wish
all our friends, members and guests good wishes and a happy festive season be
they here in Indonesia or their homeland.
Please
note booking and enquiry numbers
Idrawati 081386454544
Idrawati 087741114099
Sophie 081385151999
Email sailing_alfa@yahoo.com
Web wwwtanjunglesungsailingclub.com
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