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Service for Goodies car crash
In what might seem like a bizarre ritual, the Indonesian staff today held a short prayer service regarding the car crash into Goodies Restaurant we had two days ago. The car came down Smiling Hill,...
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A customer for my used crutches
AUSSIE Shane Andrews had a rough start to his Batam holiday last Saturday night, breaking his ankle in a fall at Goodies. Well, it wasn’t exactly a fall. Seems he had a few too many drinks and decided...
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Valentine’s Day in Batam
The Valentine’s party started inauspiciously – with a power outage at Smiling Hill at 5 pm. The lights didn’t go back on until 11 pm but, luckily, Goodies has a generator, so the party went on. When...
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From the Oz bush to Batam
A short profile I wrote for the Smiling Hill newsletter: Pete Schlothauer has been around. Mostly, he’s been around Australia, although he did spend two years in the United Kingdom, with a few forays...
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The Spanish are here!
One of the Batam shipyards (there are more than 70 on the island) has hired a Spanish contracting firm – and they have discovered Goodies Restaurant. Many of the men brought their wives to live here...
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Dinner at Goodies
I have learned that when Via shows up at my apartment in a nice dress that “we” have plans for the evening, and that was the case Saturday night when she arrived in a short, black, frilly number and...
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Party time at kampung bule
Batam is hosting warships from 17 countries this week for some disaster response exercises and with all those sailors perhaps getting shore leave, I thought the bar district (kampung bule) would be a...
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Election day in Indonesia
Actually, there are two election days here – one today for the national legislature and local offices, and a second in July to elect a new president. The world’s third-largest democracy after India...
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A vagabonder’s birthday
Sunday was my birthday. And Father’s Day. And the first time in many years that I had family around for either. It was so great that my daughter and granddaughter could come to Indonesia to visit. Such...
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A fond farewell to Batam
My final contribution to the Batam Happynings newsletter that I have been compiling for the past 2 1/2 years: Well, dear readers, my time in Batam, and Indonesia, is coming to an end. For the past 2 ½...
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Back in Batam
Where was I? Waiting for the Singapore plane? Well. Now I’m sitting up in a bed in the downstairs suite of Neal and Emelda, after a rather interesting day of travel. Yes, I made it to Batam, but the...
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Life in Nagoya
A trip to the fresh market Every Sunday now I seem to be going to the fresh market, which is about a block from my apartment. This is where I get my fresh vegetables, fish, pork, fruit and chicken....
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Friday happy hour at Goodies
Pretty much my only contact with my former place of employment – Smiling Hill and Goodies Restaurant – is on Friday for happy hour. An excellent venue for networking for business, and talked to four...
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