I'm lucky enough to have flown by helicopter on many occasions, but I never fail to be excited.
Today was no exception as I took off from the helicopter pad on the roof of the corporate tower block headquarters of my hosts, Sampoerna, one of Indonesia's leading tobacco companies.
I saw the sprawling city of Surabaya, huge areas of waterlogged rice fields and the mangroves, which I had visited yesterday. But the most stunning site was the so-called Sidoarjo mud flow, which is an incredible mud volcano caused by a blowout of natural gas well in 2006. Although the company involved contend that it was actually caused by a distant earthquake, the Indonesian government is insisting that they pay reparations to the estimated 30,000 people made homeless as a result of this catastrophe.
The equivalent contents of a dozen Olympic-size swimming pools of mud gushes out every day from three sources which can be distinctly seen from the air. One of the holes was really gushing, another was smoking and a third just bubbling as we flew over the devastation. It is expected that the flow will continue for the next 30 years.
This incredible site was part of an incredible day, which culminated in my arriving in Singapore to a very special welcome by the staff at the Conrad Hotel. I stay often at this hotel, and it turned out that this was to be my 100th night. So they took me direclty to the President's suite, which is an amazing luxury space larger than my apartment in Prague, and presented me with a plethora of gifts. Most touching was a pillow case with my name embrodered on it. Each time I come to the hotel in future, the pillow case will always be on my bed. Isn't that lovely?
Grandpa Jonathan
Singapore
