Persis and I wanted to visit our friends in the Balai church since the beginning of 2009, but haven't been able to find time to do so. Managed to free up one weekend in Nov, so I contacted Phei Phei, Uncle Subas, Rev Lee KK to make sure the slot is available for us to go there. We were open to serve in the Sunday School.
Persis teaching dance for the children's Christmas outreach
Surprised to see them use projector and Opensong software!
Saw uncle Daniel there, he was preaching for Sunday Service.
After service, Persis and I almost walked to the jetty, but she decided that she wanted to go shopping at the supermarket, so we took oplik to Indo A Yani to shop.
And then, tragedy happened. As we reached the jetty and almost checked in at the customs, the officers told us that the jetty has closed. The last ferry back to Singapore has been cancelled. we were as helpless as other Singaporeans. But thank God we have friends here. So we changed our ferry tickets to the next morning's first trip and called PP to inform her what has happened, and Asun gu-gu came to fetch us to his house. He came in his motorbike which can only take one other adult as pillion rider, so he actually waited to see if he could bump into a friend to give us a ride.
Watching the coast guards and the ambulances waiting at the jetty to bring survivors and dead bodies to the hospital.
Uncle Daniel was due to return to singapore the next morning, so we planned to make a trip down in the morning to try to see if we could take the first ferry back. Since we had nothing planned for the evening, we had dinner at Asun gugu's place and went to visit a church member to chitchat. That's the national pasttime for Indonesians.
While we were chitchatting at a church member's house, which is right in front of the main road, we heard ambulances driving by many times. That meant that there were still survivors found.
Aimei's now in primary school! Persis and I actually watched her grow up.
Since Persis and I didn't plan to stay overnight at all, we didn't have change of clothes, toothbrush and stuff. It was gross enough that we perspired alot in the hot Indonesian weather... we wore the same clothes for an extra day thinking we should just tahan till we get home! But thank God, Persis and I actually brought more than usual singapore dollars for other reasons, but it came in handy. So we spent our last rupiahs on gifts to thank Asun gu-gu for taking care of us the extra day.
The next morning, we boarded the first ferry. But alas, while waiting for it to leave the jetty, which was a longer wait than usual, we were told to alight. The ferry trip was cancelled again.
All the ferries lined up, none of them could leave the Indonesian waters.
All the irritating DOMs panicking, dunno how to explain to their wives about their trip to Balai. Crowded around the ferry ticketing booth.
My passport was stamped, that means we have "left" Indonesia, so our white cards were returned to us as proof.
On board the first ferry on 25 Nov, 3 days after our scheduled return. Thank God we made it back to Singapore! What an experience! I should have bought travel insurance to cover my expenses like handphone bill... :(
Now u know!
