Jakarta Weekend Golf, INDONESIA

AUGUST 8 – 9, 2008

DI asked Zack and me to join him for a weekend of golf in Jakarta. It sounded like a crazy arrangement. Take the first flight out of KL on Saturday to Jakarta and return the next day after 2 rounds of golf. If there was ample time, we were supposed to play the third 18 holes before the 7.45pm flight back. We were following the Minister of Information, Datuk Shabery Chik and his entourage. We just could not resist. Datuk Bahar, another crazy golfer joined our flight.

We left KL by Malaysian Airline with the Minister and his gang. Upon arrival in Jakarta, we made our way in a separate transport arrangement to Pantai Indah Kapok Golf Club, a beautiful course not too far from the airport. I had played there before and loved the course.


PANTAI INDAH KAPOK GOLF CLUB

Kapok's Green

Coconut Trees Fringed Fairways

We were at the club house early. The embassy booked our round at 1.30pm and it was not even 11.30am. DI just could not wait to hit the fairway. When the minister’s group arrived, we were ready to tee off. The weather was excellent with no cloud in sight. It was mid day. A recipe for my migraine was in the making. The hot sea breeze was of no help to cool the afternoon heat. We were roasted on the fairways.


Zack teeing off

I was losing more balls in the rough fringing the fairways. Even when I found the ball, it was a tough job trying to get out. Other than the tough rough, the fairways were in pristine condition, a golfer’s dream. The greens were so fast that only those with PGA experience could manage a decent putt. Zack was putting well, liking the greens to his Saujana course back in KL.

Pantai Indah Kapok is a Robert Trent Jones Jr.’s designed course. It measures 6,084 metres from blue tees. The fairways are fringed by coconut trees and “tough” rough. All holes have water ponds on their left or right side, a uniquely designed course. The biggest man made pond fronting the club house gives the course its picturesque backdrop. From afar, it looks like an ideal pond, azure blue water with white sandy beach. However, sandy white beach is actually made from cement and painted white. It looks stunningly beautiful.

DI and the caddies

When the dust settled, everybody had a tough round. I liked the course so much that the score did not matter.

Kapok's Club House

After the game we left for our hotel without taking the usual shower after golf round. We checked into our hotel, Red Top. We stayed at this 4-star hotel during the last trip.

We had dinner at Laguna Restaurant, a popular place for tourists and locals alike, serving Sundanese foods. It was jam-packed with diners. Our group was one big entourage due to the presence of the minister. Sundanese foods were served hot from the kitchen, unlike nasi padang, another Indonesian favourite cuisine.

ROYALE JAKARTA GOLF CLUB (HALIM 3 GOLF CLUB




This is one course in Jakarta that is gaining popularity with golfers especially Malaysians. It also means a slow demise of Bogor Raya. Just like Bogor Raya before, the main attraction was its big pool of beautiful caddies. The club house was still under construction. The makeshift club house with restaurant, registration desk, caddy shack and pro shop added to a crowded welcome.


The Minister's Big Group

The Caddies

The golf course is still relatively new. The trees were just planted making the place one big open course with no shades. The fairways were well kept, just like most good courses in Indonesia.
I was not hitting the balls well enough, registering triple bogeys all over. I decided to quit half way and waited for the rest at the makeshift club house. It was hot and crowded. I could not believe the number of golfers coming to play at this club. After more than 2 hours, the first flight comprising the minister and his big betting golfing buddies came back. Then, the rest followed. We had bets carried forward from the day earlier. The purse total was impressive in Rupiah, 4.8 million.

The Green

We left to have lunch in the city. We had plenty of time to kill before our 7.45pm flight.

Island Hopping, Boracay, PHILIPPINES

August 1, 2008

We booked island hopping tour on the second day of our stay in Boracay. It was drizzling when we went for our breakfast. Maco, the tour guide and cousin to one of the hotel’s waitresses was there early. The sea from the Long Beach side was rough and choppy. Our itinerary was on Bulabog Beach, the other side of the island. From our place we walked to the beach to board our boat, Mae Anne. The sea on this side was a lot calmer.

Our "Yacht" Mae Anne

We made our way amidst drizzling rain to the first destination, a snorkeling site near to Crocodile Island. I was the first to take the plunge, after securing the life jacket on. The water was crystal-clear, you could see the bottom of the sea. Somehow, there were not as many fishes as I would like to see. The boat crews were busy throwing in shredded bread to attract the fishes but with not much success. I was beginning to swallow a lot of sea water that got into the snorkel. At one point, I was having difficulty to breathe, so much that I decided to climb on board the boat. Zack and others were just getting into the waters.

Buko (coconut) Peddler Approached Our Boat as We Reached the Snorkelling Site

Looking For Fish

Our next destination was Crystal Cove Island. By then the rain had stopped and the sun was coming through the clouds. Crystal Cove is a small islet with some caverns shaped by sea water for the visitors to explore. That was the highlight of our visit to the island. There were also man-made structures for added attractions. We spent more time wading through waters getting into the caves. It was fun.

Entrance to Crystal Cove

Entrance to 2nd Cave

2nd Cave

Inside Cave

Emerging From Tunnel


Coming Out From the Cave

From Crystal Cove, we proceeded to Illig Illigan for our lunch. It was one of the many beaches on one island. We were swarmed by vendors of all things for the tourists. I bought some pearl jewellery for my wife and daughter. The vendors were hard pressed to make sales. We had fish for lunch. They were really very fresh from the sea.

We Had Lunch Here

Mr. Boracay

After lunch, we made our way back to Bulabog Beach and to our hotel. It was a good outing.

Seafaring Golfer

Boracay, PHILIPPINES

July 31, 2008

We checked out from the hotel slightly after 10 am. I was having a winning streak at the casino right after breakfast. At least I managed to recover some of the earlier losses.

We left by taxi to the domestic terminal only to be told that all flights to Caticlan would depart from Terminal 3. It was still early for us to catch the 12.10 pm flight. Terminal 3 appeared to be still under construction. We had some light meals at Delifrance and proceeded to catch our flight.
Our plane was a small turbo prop with 2-seaters on each side. The flight was full with local and foreign holiday makers.


Our Plane


Boracay is a popular tourist destination. After about 1 hour, we reached Caticlan small airport. The “Welcome to Paradise” signboard was visibly seen at the exit. A guy claiming to represent the tourism board volunteered himself as our unofficial guide. First, we had to pay for some environmental fee plus the ride to the jetty. A van took us there. We were supposed to go in tricycle.

Caticlan Airport: Gateway to Boracay

From the jetty, we boarded a small boat with bamboo side skirting. It was overloaded with passengers. I was worried and kept looking for life jackets just in case. After 20 minutes at sea, we reached Boracay.

The Boat to Boracay from Caticlan

The Journey Continued

The guide took us on a tricycle to look for our hotel. It was another thrilling ride through the crowded streets of Boracay. The cement-paved streets were small and full with traffic trying to jump queue and overtake at the most unlikely spot. We passed through some villages along the way. We could see some of the less fortunate Filipinos living in what is supposed to be paradise.


Ready to sail


Long Beach

Long Beach

After walking into and checking the rates at a few beach front hotels, we opted for a chalet-like place called La Reserve (http://www.lareserve-boracay.com/). Everything at the place went by French name. We stayed at a chalet called Perrier Jouet, named after a champagne brand, I guess. It was a small bungalow-like chalet but nicely decorated. It had everything except the beach frontage. The price was reasonable at around RM200 a night, a bargain for a hotel in a popular tourist area.

The front of our hotel

We were in Boracay during the low season. That explained why we still managed to get a room despite not having any reservation. Even during this supposedly low season, the place was alive with tourists mostly Asians (Japanese, Koreans, Taiwanese).

We had dinner here.

Boracay is a small island measuring 7km in length and only 1km wide. It is like what Phuket is to Thailand or Bali to Indonesia. To get there you got to do some island hopping by plane followed by boat and then automobile or tricycle. It is a full pledged resort complete with open air shopping mall called what else, D’Mall. The shops sell souvenirs and other stuffs normally sold to tourists. There are plenty of restaurants and bars. The prices are reasonable.


D'Mall at night

I went around the place after 3pm since there was nothing much to do. I saw a plate of sea food with, a mini rock lobster, 3 medium size prawns, some squids and clams advertised for Php 600,000 (RM45). I could not resist. It was a good decision. After late lunch, I hanged around the hotel’s restaurant cum lobby checking on forex trades and surfing the internet. The hotel provided free wi-fi.

Manila, PHILIPPINES

July 30, 2008
We took the 10 o’clock flight to Manila. It was a big Airbus and we had a smooth 4-hour flight. We reached Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport just before 1 pm. We hailed a cab to Heritage hotel for an overnight stay. We stayed at the hotel before during our last visit.

After checking in and an informal business meeting with our associates, we made our way to the place that would be opened 24/7, the casino. We stayed there most evening, losing all the way. It was a case of things not going in my way. Zack had better luck. Came dinner time, we took a cab to a place called Serendra located at the Fort. It was a hip area meant for the up-market clients. The place was heavy with pedestrian traffic, mostly youngsters hanging out with their buddies.

One thing that surprised me was when the taxi driver asked me to lock the door while we were moving. I was much puzzled by this. The cab driver just told me that I was in Manila, anything could happen. I got the message loud and clear. Another interesting thing was, I was always mistaken for a Filipino. People would greet me in Tagalog only to find out that I was a foreigner that looked very much like any one of them. Walang problema!

The Manila streets were always congested with traffic even though it was past rush hour. The indiscriminate stops made by the jeepneys contributed more problems to the already chaotic situation. I don’t think I dare drive in Manila given the option.

It was another shot at getting easy money after dinner and as usual, I failed miserably. I met another Malaysian at the roulette table, his Excellency the Ambassador. By 3am, I was ready to call it a night.

Tawau, Sabah, MALAYSIA

July 25, 2008

We reached Tawau in time for us to have our breakfast at the local restaurant in town. Jamil, Zack’s son and our branch manager was at the airport to fetch us. After breakfast, we proceeded to the warehouse and thereafter to Shansui Golf Club.

The flight at Shansui: Me, Jamil, John Phung (JP), Shahrul & Zack

I called my friend John Phung to join us for a round of golf. John only played golf when I was around, or so he told me. I believed him. He was struggling with his game so much that we asked Zack, Shahrul and Jamil to proceed leaving the two of us behind.

With JP at Asia's Best Par 5

The game was getting from bad to worse. Before we reached the 9th hole, we called it quit. We drove back to town for lunch. Later we went to Jamil’s house to join Zack and Shahrul to go to the airport.

Shahrul at Asia's Best Par 5

John Phung in action

That was the end of our Borneo tour of duty.