Going to KL

Traveling again, on the way to KL

Left Banda after another pleasant visit with Sosi, who got up early to have breakfast with us at the hotel.

The last couple of days have been bittersweet, with farewells all ‘round. We visited the library one last time and couldn’t resist making the staff work for a little while on the evaluation statistics and we even did an on-the-spot demonstration of how to apply a book jacket cover onto a hardcover book.

One of the last things that we did was to give the staff certificates for the training they received. The idea for this came about when we were conducting stakeholder interviews with the staff. One of our questions was about the training they received and if they were applying it to their day-to-day work. We were flummoxed when one staff member reported that she hadn’t received any training. We had delivered almost 20 training sessions over the previous 4 missions. Mita was the one that figured it out…..in Indonesia training is documented with certification….so we made up some certificates and handed them out. Everyone was happy and we had another chance to reinforce the range of skills that had been transferred.

We went out for a traditional Acehnese meal with several library staff. There was much formal speech-ifying from both sides. We exchanged gifts with the staff, leaving behind a gilt cookie jar set and many calendars and posters for the staff. We noticed each of our bags were about 10 kgs lighter upon departure.

Then the goodbyes at the house….Yulia, the person that takes care of the house is still yearning for Mr. Roy who had come with us on the first mission. She was hoping they would marry, but alas that was not to be. We have come in contact with so many people that have been helpful and kind…we had little gifts for the staff and probably the Canada luggage tags were the biggest hit, while we were expecting the Canada flip flops to be the show stopper. Ironically, these dollar store items have circumnavigated the globe, we try not to think of the carbon foot print while gift giving.

The ride back to Banda was uneventful, only notable in the fact that it is the LAST time that we will have to travel that wacky road, which is always under construction. Lately it has also been raining. In case we haven’t mentioned, when there is a hole in the road, or some road work coming up they put a big boulder in the middle of the road, to warn you about the impending danger. And if the rock doesn’t get you, you’ll be suitably warned of the hati-hati (danger-danger) ahead. We have always felt a certain element of danger to this drive and there’s a collective sigh of relief when we arrive at our destination in one piece.

We had a very pleasant evening in Banda, on a girls night out. We visited Gemma’s house, along with Louise and Mita. Gemma has a beautiful home in Banda and it was fun to see some of the artwork from Bali and area hung on her walls. We had a very civilized wine and cheese, with olives and wine. Buying wine in Banda is a bit of a furtive activity, at a certain grocery store you say the code words ‘red’ or ‘white’ and take what you get. (Dawna also found that the code word ‘beer’ worked too.) We proceeded to Pace Bene, now at a different location and had a lovely pizza dinner with some more CALGAP staff.


Today was journeying to KL...somehow it was a very tiring day. We have pampered ourselves with a stay at the Pan Pacific at the airport here. We had a lovely buffet dinner and followed by a swim, steam room and sauna. We will sleep well tonight. We head to Siem Reap, Cambodia tomorrow.

Over and out. K. and D.