Going to Palembang

It was Wednesday. In the morning at 05:00 after doing dawn prayer I, Mahardi, and Gilang went to the temple again. The driver was the same, Aping (李水平). The purpose was to make pictures of sunrise. About 30 minutes later we arrived at the Vihara Tri Agung (叁圣殿). Unfortunately, the horizon was covered by cloud. So, we failed to get the picture. Instead, we made pictures on the background of the see or the temple.

We then went back to the hotel. On the way stopped by the the Rebo Beach where fishermen unloaded his catched fish. About 50 small boat were there.

At 10:30 after having breakfast in the hotel we went to the air navigation authority. We met two officers someone and Agung. Then, we went to the airport authority chief again. Mr. Aditya Janu Saputro, an officer from the airport operator headquarter, was just arriving. Later, two officers of the Directorat General of Transportation, Thomas and Handojo also arrived. We gathered in the grand manager room to make a coordination.

After dismissing we went out to have lunch at the Adok Resto. We separated in 2 cars. In the first car there were Mahardi, Aditya, Thomas, and Handojo. The driver was Aping. The second car loaded me and Gilang. The driver was Hendra (常金浩), a guy of 31 years old. The restorant provided seafood.

After having lunch we went back to the office again. We separated, Mahardi went to the terminal building while I went to the pond where the raw water came. Gilang stayed to settle the pass cards. An airport employee named Mirza was with us as a guide.

I went to a pond on the west of the airport. Itu was the raw water resource for the airport. The size was about 150m x 600m with about 6m in depth. The water of about 2 liter/second was pumped into a simple treatment plant. According to Mirza, aluminum sulphate was administered occasionally. The treated water then was pumped into an reservoir in the airport land side. It was pumped again into an elevated reservoir before distributed gravitationally to the service area.

We then go to the new terminal building on the other side (the east of the runway). Mirza told that the water was supplied from 2 shallow wells in the airport area. A supply was also provided from a water supply system operated by the local government (Drinking Water Authority of the Regency Government of Central Bangka). MMr. Kodri told that the capacity of all was 120m³ per day adequate to serve the airport.

After dropping Mirza back to the office I went to the Tung To coffee shop. I ordered a cup of coffee O and a plated of grilled bread. I thought it was the best combination I ever got. The coffee was just Rp8.000 per cup and the grilled bread was Rp16.000. We then went to the airport to pick Gilang and went back to the hotel.

At 16:30 I and Mahardi checked out of the hotel for the airport. Aping accompanied us. After entering the first inspection we checked in. Mahardi was at seat number 30D while I was at the 30E. We passed the second inspection to get to the waiting room. At 18:15 we got call for boarding (the schedule was at 17:45). At about 19:45 the Lion Air Boeing 737-800NG flight number JT0143 took off. After about 30 minutes we landed at the Sultan Machmud Airport of Palembang. The airport terminal was great. It made Palembang people proud of, I guessed.

A taxi then took me to the hotel. It took about 1 hour to get to the Wisata Hotel. We avoided the usual road because it was almost congested all the time. A light rail transportation was on the median of the road was under construction. The taxi costed Rp95.000 and I gave the driver Rp100.000. We checked in the hotel and we got room number 616. We had dinner in the Selatan Indah Resto (南美酒饭).