Passport

Drove to Lombok from Sumbawa in my car at the weekend, which is quite a feat of endurance. I left my house in Sumbawa at 3.30 pm on Friday afternoon and arrived at the hotel in Mataram, Lombok about 10 pm. It's about 75 kilometres from my house to Pototano, which is where the car ferry leaves for Lombok. The ferry takes about two hours to make the crossing. Then another hour and a half drive across Lombok to the city of Mataram, another 70 or so kilometres. Driving across Lombok was the scary bit. It was dark. What with motorcyclists, cidomos, people sitting on the edge of the road, crazy taxi drivers and such, it wasn't a pleasant experience. Indonesian drivers have a completely different code of driving that is quite alarming and different for us from Australia. They don't check for oncoming traffic, they just enter the road without looking and other rather interesting motoring idiosyncrasies. But it was al made worthwhile for two reasons. I met a man from Indonesian immigration who says he can make an Indonesian passport for Oliver, my son. I have been trying in one way or another to procure some official documentation in the form of a passport for him for the past six and a half years. Maybe this time! I will know next week as I have to take Oliver back to have his photograph taken at immigration and the passport will be issued the same day. I am so excited that after all this time maybe he will finally have his own passport. When I asked him where he wanted to go he said, "New York." I will take him there too this holiday if the passport actually happens. The other reason visiting Lombok was interesting and rewarding is a separate story.