Thursday, January 31, 2008 | 7:41 PM

Life of an auditor @ Balikpapan

Day 1

Departure at Changi Airport
My flight - Only SilkAir flies to ulu Balikpapan

My travel mate & I on the bus to the airport from the plane

My messy luggage was opened up at the customs. Haa he didn't really bother to check after seeing all my nicely packed stuff. =)

Jabir who picked us up - aka driver for the entire trip

While waiting for the car outside the airport (or probably I shouldn't even call it an airport - think of old Tuas checkpoint)

All fresh and ready to go after a quick shower

Our dinner was at a western restaurant. Introducing their local drink - Ponkat (avocado+ chocolate which is really thick & sweet)

Day 2

Breakfast at the hotel lobby

Wells, my hotel is really not bad at all. It's called Le Grandeur Balikpapan. They remind me of resorts at Bintan/Bangkok (unlike those huge international hotels). But they have facilities like gym and even a tennis court! Arh I should have brought my racquet!

And they even have a private beach right in front of the hotel. Shall take pics of it during the weekend..

Haa this is not the tennis court I am referring to. This is one that I caught at the clubhouse where we went for lunch.

Dinner place

The chinese food is surprisingly yummy!

Haha this is just a random photo of our receptionist - notice how short her skirt is?

Oh and with reference to Plaza Balikpapan I was referring to in our previous entry, there is really nothing to buy back except for local foodstuff at the supermarket called 'Hero'.

So ladies and gentlemen, look forward to your gifts!

Day 3

Lunch at this new restaurant which the client brought us to

I wanted to take a photo of the scenery outside and therefore volunteered my team (pardon the lousy resolution from my 3.2m handphone camera)

My lunch - yummy but why are flies so attracted to our food?
We have to keep chasing them away throughout the entire lunch. This happens in Balikpapan when you dine at non-aircon places.

Alright, you might think that our lives are quite good here.. But we work in harsh conditions! (Photo taken at client's place when there was a blackout - water & electricity problem is quite serious in Balikpapan)

So that's all for now folks!