Sunday, July 03, 2005

Gathering at Changi Airport

As earlier arranged via email, I met up with the other seven members of Team Pembantuan ('pembantuan' has the meaning of 'provision of assistance' in the Indonesian language) near Check-in Row 14, Terminal 1, Changi Airport at 9 am. The team comprised six men (Alvin, Hiew, Hock Teck, Hosea, Lark and I) and two women (Adele and Waiyan). We took a few photographs with the Habitat for Humanity Singapore banner and then waved our good-byes to our family and friends who had come to send us off. We caught the 11:10 am GA 839 flight bound for Medan.

Team Pembantuan
From L to R: Wai Yan, Hosea, Chris, Hock Teck, Lark, Hiew, Adele and Alvin

Arrival in Banda Aceh

Our Garuda Airlines aircraft touched down at Banda Aceh Airport at around 5:50 pm, local time. The airport was rather small and very smoky (it seemed as though all the porters were puffing on cigarettes!) and there was a single, simple baggage collection belt. :)

There, we received a warm welcome from some of the staff from Habitat for Humanity Indonesia (HFHI), Thay and Aan. Thay was the Volunteer Manager tasked to manage the teams flying in from Singapore for the builds, while Aan was his Assistant Volunteer Manager. The two of them led us out of the airport towards two vans, one designated to carry passengers and the other to carry our luggage. It had been a long and exhausting day of travelling for Team Pembantuan. We quietly clambered onto the vehicle, and off we went, into the heart of the city.

We stopped by a rumah makan (eating-house) for dinner. The meal was delicious, albeit a little spicy. For many of us, it was also the first time we drank Teh Botol Sosro, arguably one of the most popular drinks in Indonesia, even more popular than Coca Cola! I personally liked it a lot. We also popped by a small grocery shop to purchase any last-minute daily necessities.

Arrival in Medan

During our flight, Hosea discovered a dead lizard squished inside the cup provided with the in-flight lunch-tray. The little incident caused quite a stir on board, which made the flight much more memorable than it would have been otherwise. :)

We landed in Medan about an hour after taking off. As our connecting flight to Banda Aceh, GA 186, was not due until 4:45 pm, we decided to while away our time at a fast-food joint, California Fried Chicken, which was conveniently located near to the departure lounge of the domestic flights terminal. It was a long wait, but fortunately, there was a silly but distractingly entertaining Spanish game-show screening on TV inside the restaurant.

When it was about 3:30 pm, we checked in our luggage, paid our airport taxes (15,000 rupiah per person), waited a little bit more, and soon we were on our way to Banda Aceh. Other than Hosea, the rest of us have never been to this tsunami-stricken region before, and so we were extremely nervous and apprehensive about what we were going to see when we got there.

In the Medan Domestic Flights Airport rumah tunggu (waiting room)
Having a bit of fun in the rumah tunggu (waiting room, i.e. departure lounge) in Medan

Arrival at Hotel Cakradonya

By nightfall, we had arrived at Hotel Cakradronya, a 3-star hotel located along Jalan Khairil Anwar in the Peunayong district. We were assigned four twin-sharing rooms. Adele and Waiyan bunked in Room #224, Hosea and I in Room #225, Hiew and Alvin in Room #226 and Lark and Hock Teck in Room #227. The rooms were much better than we had expected; we had initially pitched our expectations for our accomodation at a really low level...some of us had even brought along sleeping bags just in case we were made to sleep in tents! :)

As the team leader, I was also given a Habitat mobile phone, to be used to contact HFHI staff in cases of emergency. Thay also provided me with several Accident Log sheets, to document any worksite incidents that might happen over the next few days. Having sorted out the preliminary administration, Thay and Aan bade us goodnight and drove off.

Team Pembantuan proceeded to unpack and shower. All of us had a very good sleep that night.


Room #225
The cosy Room #225 which Hosea and I shared