Hectic FInal Days

Time grows short, and, as these go, there is a lot going on. There's been two more earthquakes, a tsunami, our personal little cash crisis, and we're trying to figure out how we are going to get all the STUFF we've acquired home within our airline baggage allowance. Breaking it down:

Earthquakes, one off the southwest coast of Java near Pandangeran Beach, which created the tsunami I'm sure you've read about. We're on the northwest coast of Java, so the quake caused buildings here to sway a bit, but there was no damage in Jakarta itself. We are heaing about 5 or 6 deaths in Garut, where we were in the mountains last month, from this earthquake. The second earthquake occurred about five days later in the Sunda Strait west of Java. The people staying at the Mandarin Oriental hotel said they felt it easily, but we didn't notice it. I think that's because they are all staying on the 21st floor at the Mandarin, and we are only on the 4th floor in our building. Tall buildings tend to amplify the effect.

Cash Crisis: This one is our credit union's fault. They "upgraded" their systems last weekend, and in the process managed to disconnect our ATM card from our bank account. They've spent the last four days trying to figure out how to fix the problem. In the meantime, we've lost our only access to cash in a cash-based society. Not very comforting. The ironic thing about this whole event is that it's actually been cheaper for us to get cash here in Indonesia than it was back home, since there are no local ATM fees on cash withdrawals here.

After much thrashing about, we've managed to set up (very expensive) money transfers via Western Union until the bank gets their act together. Fortunately the credit union has agreed to pick up the money transfer fees. Lesson learned: always have PIN-based access to at least two different accounts when travelling. I have requested PINs for my American Express and Visa accounts so that I have a backup if we ever have an issue again. There are ATMs everywhere in the world today, and they are still the easiest and cheapest way to get cash.

Finally, packing. This requires an advanced degree in logistics management. We are jettisoning quite a lot of stuff we've managed to acquire while here - towels, housewares, and pillows. We're also having to go through and get rid of some of the clothes and other stuff we brought over to make room for all the souvenirs. If all else fails, we could end up paying the excess baggage fees, or a 50 lb Fedex box costs $250 to the US. I think we'll avoid that fate, but it's going to be close.

Joel