I was down to Gresik again last week with a colleague of mine and this time we stayed at non-star hotel for the fun of it as oppose to staying in five stars hotel we used to stay. Some people in the office thought that it was a crazy and unnecessary decision, but I guess we just want to expand our comfort zone. Prove our selves that we can live in any given situation. However, I secretly called the hotel and when I found out that they do not provide hair dryer I packed my own. I can live in any given situation with good hair.

When we left Jakarta, the timing could not be any better. It was during the Isobel storm that caused our rig crew evacuated the weekend before, one commercial flight missing and 4 boats capsizing. I could see a lot of people citing prayer during the flight. The flight it self was quite bumpy but in general it was not too bad.

We arrived in Saptanawa Hotel couple of hours before midnight. The condition was as expected. Lots of mosquitoes, no hot water, the towel was rags, the bed was dusty and the toilet smelled funny. I felt like in a Fear Factor episodes. But the Hotel staff was very nice. They helped me put the mosquito repellent, boiled some water for me to clean my self, change the towel and bedsheet in the speed of light but there was nothing they can do about the toilet other than putting more mothballs. It was liveable. Later on I realised that we were the only women staying in that hotel! The rest are rough necks and operators from other oil service companies operating in that area. During breakfast, we were surrounded by men in their colorful safety gear. They were looking at us in wonder. Or maybe they were looking at my pink outfits in wonder.

The trip it self was a success. We had whole day meeting with our colleague in Gresik and met a lot of new employees that I knew only the name. It was always nice to put name with a face and it was really heartening to see how the project goes. What used to be a half done building now look more and more like a real On Shore Production Facilities. The administration building is ready and couple months from now, we will be producing gas and making real money!

The jewel of the trip was actually when we managed to visit Mermaids. It’s the name of our rig. She was towed back last weekend due to Isobel Storm that hit the Java Sea. And whilst she anchored in the Surabaya shorebase, we managed to get approval to board her. It was really exciting. We had lavish lunch there and one of our colleague took us anywhere. Up and down. Back and forth.

I went back in the afternoon all by my self. The flight was still under the threat of Isobel Storm. But Thank God everything was a okay. The sky was clear and there were fluffy white cloudes here and there. There was no sign of the scary gray cloud until I landed safely. I will try to post some pictures later.