~ much too much sun ~
Fri. Mar.26. Moves to the Jakarta! The Rp.50k rooms are basic, clean and quiet as expected. There's an outside window and it has a shared mandi. The Jakarta's run by a 'conservative' but friendly family originally from around Solo in Central Java. The father's originally from Jakarta...hence the name. He relaxes and heads out in the mid-afternoon because there's good light. Heads down to the old style commercial buildings and on to one of Tarakan's 3 port 'facilities'. The sun finally goes down on time. It doesn't malinger around. It's lovely quality sunset light just made for pfotos. He indulges.
On the way home, he eats at the market...at the same restaurant as last night. The giant plate of 'mee goreng ayam istemiwa' is chicken fried noodles. It's special...which means with an egg. It's Rp.13k. Tarakan's great for cheap food. He then heads back to his room feeling very tired. His head has an ache and is hotter than usual. There's a slight pain when he looks at normally mellow street lights. He's been out in the sun for hours without a hat or sunnies and he's about to pay the price over the coming days!
Mar.27-30. Yep. Sunstroke. Painful eyes. Very painful. He must've been looking into the bright direct equatorial sun when he got carried away yesterday. Feels a lot like dengue fever again too. So, four painful days of lying it out, staring painfully at the wall. He's unable to eat and manages only shakily to move at all...for the tea left outside the room and to the mandi. The painful head and feverish thoughts gradually subside with the passing of three days. But he's not sure how long it's been. The daughter of the hotel family who turns out to be 36, married, and with two kids feels sorry for him. She urges him to eat. Occasionally she supplies him with biscuits and cake. “Must eat”. Just like a mother, eh. He thought she was about 19 when he checked in!
Mar.31. He's back to something resembling normal. About 90% that is. He's eating again with only a slight headache and no fever. When is it that his visa expires? It's also time to check the finances. He emails to check the balance of his Sacom Bank account. The charges at the ATMs must be outrageous. Both the Indonesian and the Vietnamese banks are in for the kill. He's got about US$600 left with Sacom! He also has about US$600 in his Thai account. Lastly there's about $450 in another Vietnamese bank but which he needs to be there to access! And that's it! And he needs a new passport. He reckons it's more than enough for another month in Indonesia. He might just pop over to Manado in northern Sulawesi from here or from Nunukan if he can sort a visa extension. He remembers having a good time of it there ten years ago now. The Togian Islands and Tana Toraja also beckon. By then it'll be work time again.
He's sure that Indonesian Immigration officials have so few tourists to scam these days they now allow extensions of travelers' thirty day "visa on arrival" visas. Nevertheless he decides to pursue the extension idea tomorrow at the local immigration office. It's out opposite a golf course! Just a Rp.2k micro ride away. He's still not a hundred percent health-wise but feels he has to do something to try to stay in Indonesia longer. His current visa expires on the third just two days away now. There's a public holiday which could get in the way. If an extension isn't easily and cheaply obtainable, he worries that perhaps ferries to Tawau in Sabah won't run. And although he went from Jakarta through Batam to Singapore once in the '90s a few days overstayed without financial penalty he'd rather not risk it again.