I thought i was done with flying for the time being. Apparently not. One more flight to Marmul where the base camp is. Thankfully, i was not alone this time as there were two other crew members at the accommodation; Manish, the assistant project manager and Wanidi, a new journey manager. We left the bungalow around 12pm to catch the 1.30pm flight. I just followed blur-ly (if there's such a word) as Manish led the way.
The flight took only about an hour plus and we were at the base camp by 4pm. Wanidi and I were immediately given the safety induction and a short tour around the base camp. The facilities available here make life here comfortabler; they've got the basic ones like toilets, bathrooms, mess rooms and laundry (you don't even have to do it yourself, they'll pick it up from your room and deliver it back when they're done). They've also got an internet room and wireless throughout the camp (signal's weak and slow, but sufficient), a gym and recreation room and even a small bar to cater to the westerners. With the tour done, my first day here was pretty much finished.
The flight took only about an hour plus and we were at the base camp by 4pm. Wanidi and I were immediately given the safety induction and a short tour around the base camp. The facilities available here make life here comfortabler; they've got the basic ones like toilets, bathrooms, mess rooms and laundry (you don't even have to do it yourself, they'll pick it up from your room and deliver it back when they're done). They've also got an internet room and wireless throughout the camp (signal's weak and slow, but sufficient), a gym and recreation room and even a small bar to cater to the westerners. With the tour done, my first day here was pretty much finished.
The day shift here starts at 6am, so i was up by 5.30am. My second day here began in the QC department and there i stayed for the next few days. I observed how the QC was done through a few steps and tried my hand at parts of it. The checks are quite thorough and stringent. Basically, data from the field is recorded in external disk drives called NAS (Network Attached Storage) disks and they're brought in twice a day. They then load it into the system and make backups in 3592 tapes. Support data that includes navigation, observer logs and geometry/offsets are sent wirelessly and these data are checked for errors before being used to generate the geometry. Shots are also checked for bad shots, bad traces, etc. before the geometry is applied and the brute stack generated for the final check. I didn't really get into the details as a general overview was enough for my purposes. And so, i was pretty much free after two days in that department. I didn't want to impede their work, neither was i really that interested to really delve into the subject until i could really QC on my own as i figured it was unnecessary for my job scope to know that much. Call me lazy if you like, ha ha.
I've found that the people here are really friendly. They'll greet you and ask you how you are whenever they see you. I've also found that most of them have a really good impression of Malaysia. "Malaysia, truly Asia", was almost half of the response i got everytime i answer their question of where i'm from. Ahmed, an Egyptian in the QC department told me that Egyptians really have a high regard for Dr. M and everyone says Malaysia is a lovely country. Makes you kinda proud and appreciate what you have when they say that. Sure, people can complain about a lot of things but if you've never been to other poorer countries, you don't know what you've got. That's my opinion anyway.
I've found that the people here are really friendly. They'll greet you and ask you how you are whenever they see you. I've also found that most of them have a really good impression of Malaysia. "Malaysia, truly Asia", was almost half of the response i got everytime i answer their question of where i'm from. Ahmed, an Egyptian in the QC department told me that Egyptians really have a high regard for Dr. M and everyone says Malaysia is a lovely country. Makes you kinda proud and appreciate what you have when they say that. Sure, people can complain about a lot of things but if you've never been to other poorer countries, you don't know what you've got. That's my opinion anyway.
Tomorrow, i will finally be able to go down to the line to see the acquisition in progress. I'm looking forward to it as i hope it will help me to understand land acquisition better. It'd be interesting to see how things work anyway. And i hope that i will finally get a topic for my presentation back in Houston tomorrow. Instead of just being given one, i'll have to think for my own on what would be suitable. I got one or two ideas, hopefully they'll be enough. With that, i'll stop here with a few more pictures i took today, including the one with the camel. By a stroke of luck, i saw them close to the base camp. Next time, i'll try to get close up shots, hehe.
Yes, those are tracks from my shoes inside the tyre tracks
Sunset
One of three camels i spotted heading towards the garbage dump. The men are not the owners, they're part of the workforce hereP.S.: My stomach is finally ok now, so don't worry Mom.
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