Day 2
Today was challenging. Why? We were going to visit a place recently with unstable political changes. The only reason made us to go there was we want to collect one more stamp in our passports. Also, I wanted to send postcards to my friends from Indo nesia. Indonesia is not that a big country. However, its population density is quite high. The island we went is about 40 minutes away from Singapore by ferry. I wonder why lives are so different between the two shores.
We got up at around 7:30am (luckily Derek didn\rquote t complain to this! He always gets up after 11am in holidays) and took the 10am ferry heading to Batam Island. The ferry ride was fine. I heard from some Singaporean friends that Batam is a place for resorting. Lots of people go to th e island during weekend for golfing. We both pictured Batam was a nice tourist spot. Streets and restaurants should be clean. But, things were sort of shocking immediate after we landed in the immigration. Perhaps, I should not use the word "shock." However, the scene in the immigration greatly deviated from our expectation. To describe the immigration briefly, there were only two counters: Indonesian and Foreign passports holders. The light was dimmed although it was 10am (there is one hour time difference between Singapore and Batam). Also, there was no air conditioning facility under hot temperature. While we were waiting, we saw some golf player did not go through the immigration counter. They were led by an officer, and left the hall with an o ther exit. We were curious if those golf players had a special pass to enter the country or they had some unusual connections with the officers. After the customs, we approached to a taxi stand. They offered us a ride to the town center with 35 000 RP. However, the rate would be 30 000 RP if we chartered the cab until 1pm. How could a half-day charter be cheaper than a 20 minutes trip? We were not moved by this ridiculous offer, and paid 10 Singapore dollars (they said it equaled to 35 000 RP.) The c ab we took looked a bit old from outside. However, the inside was not quite acceptable. All the locks were broken. No windows could be open as the handles were gone. We were like sitting in a dry sauna for about 20 minutes. During the trip, the scene s outside were unforgettable. The island was made up of many less developed villages. We could see how hard people's lives were. I don't know why. A strong sense of unsecured came across my mind. All I knew about the chaos in 1998 were suddenly recalled in my mind. All I hoped was to finish the trip as soon as possible. The driver dropped us in Nagoya where the best shopping malls and hotels were located. The malls were not impressing, and we decided to take our early lunch in McDonald's. While walking on busy roads with no traffic lights, we spent minutes in competing with the motorbikes to cross the road at each interaction. Eventually, we made it to the McDonald's. A staff was standing in front of the door. We got curious because he was not doing anything. As we got closer, he opened the door for us! Later we discovered that McDonald's might be a luxury to the locals. Each of us paid 5 Singapore dollars for our meals. Although it is only about 4.5 Canadian dollars, I consider it is expensive in Indonesia. It rained suddenly. We could only wait inside the restaurant till the rain got weak. I saw a fried hawker was setting up his stall under the rain. I was kind of pity on him because it rained to the oil. The boiling oil had to split int o his skin. What a torturing business! We went to a small market as the rain got weaker. Again, nothing much impressing. Then, we dropped by a hotel and called a cab. They charged the same price 35 000 RP. But, we only needed to pay 6 Singapore dolla r s this time. We were in a rush to the ferry because we wanted to catch an earlier ferry. We made it and left the island an hour earlier than planned. The ferry arrived Singapore World Trade Center around 2:10pm local time. However, the ferry could not taxi to the pier for some reason. I was very annoyed because I would have to show Derek some more places before meeting another friend at 4pm.
About 15 minutes later, we landed and headed to the train
station for our tickets to Malaysia. After that, we visited
Chinatown. The time was quite tight and therefore, we did not
stay there for too long. 
Jenny is my classmate in McGill. She
graduated this year. We met her in front of the Singapore HMV in
Orchard Road. We chatted for a while and had an afternoon tea in
McDonald's. I always think Derek is like one of Jenny\rquote s
lady friends. When I was asking Jenny if Derek was like her
friend, I expected she said, "No! You're stupid!!!" In
my surprise, she said, "maybe their eyes look alike!" 
After that, Derek and I went to an Internet cafe. You know what, I was anxious of my Japanese course's grade. I could not believe my eyes! I got an A! This is a very intensive course. I only expected to get an A- at most. At the same time, Derek got first honor in his program. July 20, 2001 was really a meaningful day for us. At night, I paid Derek for "La sak." "La Sak" is a Malaysian style curry noodle. After "La Sak" , I ordered Durian Mountain Fuji. The "mountain" consists of hard jello, colored sweet syr up, minced ice, durian paste and durian ice cream. It tasted so good that all extra heat in my body was removed. After the meal, we went home to pack our stuff for Malaysia tomorrow. I also spent some minutes to write postcards. Also, we watched "Beautiful Life" before sleeping.
Is life that beautiful? In the morning, I experienced the lives of a developing world. In the afternoon, I met a good friend and got my grades back. The Indonesian trip is definitely not as tasteful as expected. I guess I should see it is a good chance to realize how good my living condition is. Although I can't judge the people from my standard, I strongly believe that people should concentrate more in developing tourist spots in the island instead of making short-term money in the ferry pier. They only leave a bad impression on visitors\rquote mind. Less and less people would visit them and they suffer at the end. Anyway, I think only a minority people commit to such dishonest act.
