Day 67-68 Jambi to Palembang to Bandar Lampung

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Day 67 Jambi to Palembang (Wed 8th Sept)

So another early start today but I was at least feeling a bit better, despite the rather large goose egg on my head. We spent the day travelling and watched a couple of movies. Now Die Hard and Lethal Weapon have a few things in common, but one just happens to be that they are both set at Christmas time. So we decided to have a Christmas party at dinner tonight. Obviously.

Arriving in Pelembang we took a walk down to a shopping complex to get some tinsel and balloons and buy our secret Santa present. Of course with a limit of 10000 (€1) it was actually harder than you would imagine. And the shopping was a bit odd too. You selected an item, and a worker took it off you and wrote it down on a piece of paper. When you had all the items you wanted from that section, you took the piece of paper to the cashier and paid. Then you went to another counter to pick up the items you had chosen. A bit bizarre actually.

We all got dressed up and it was an included meal tonight so we got a lift on the coach to a floating restaurant. It was really nice too and we had a table out on the small outside deck with a nice night view of the bridge. The food was good too and there were a few dishes I could eat. I think we must have looked a bit ridiculous in our tinsel and hats and muttering Christmas songs under our breath. Everyone joined in though, even Anto.

My gift consisted of a small bottle of chilli sauce and a fluffy pink headband. Rather hilarious actually and I think the idea was to give the sauce back to Jo so she could eat it...
I wasn’t the only one who got a joke gift. Stephen was given hair spray, Heather a baby’s dinner set, and Ali an egg slice (obviously a lot funnier if you know the stories behind them). It was a lot of fun though, and made up for the fact that we couldn’t go out to a pub after because everything was closed for Ramadan.



Day 68 Palembang to Bandar Lampung (Thur 9th Sept)

We left today at 0630 and I had one hell of a time waking up Lynn. I know she had a few beers last night but hey! Turned out we were late leaving anyway, as the guys both had to be woken up by Matt when they didn’t turn up to the bus. We had a packed breakfast again but I couldn’t eat this one either. Shame because it looked good.

It was a long day of travel and we didn’t arrive at our hotel until 1700. We decided to head out to find somewhere to eat dinner. It wasn’t all that far away that we found what looked to be a decent place. Unfortunately it was across a rather busy road. Stephen went across to check it out and for some reason Norma followed. Unfortunately she wasn’t as careful and caused an accident. A young guy on a motorcycle came off. Considering how busy the roads were it was lucky he wasn’t hit by any other vehicle.

A couple of guys from a nearby hotel came out to slow traffic for us to cross over. I’m not sure if they were guards, or parking attendants, but either way they were the only reason we managed to get across. The guy on the bike stuck around until after we ate and got something sorted with Norma (after Anto and Matt were brought down) in regards to medical treatment. Enough said.

Fortunately the restaurant was worth crossing the road for. It was a seafood restaurant with tanks for the fish and crabs and such. There were no prices on the menu which had us a bit concerned at first but when we asked, it all seemed reasonable. I had a delicious meal of fish and breaded prawns and everyone else enjoyed their meals too. For what we got, it was not all that expensive.

Afterwards, Helen and I walked nearly 1km down the road in order to find a set of lights to cross at. All the roads seemed to be one way and ended in a huge roundabout, where we managed to cross with relative ease. Then back to the hotel where we realised that the noise of the mosques that we could hear would be going on all night - the last night of Ramadan.

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Photos

Dinner
A beautiful view from the restaurant

Dinner 2
The bridge by night

Dinner 3
Heather, Jo, AJ - Christmas party

On the Road
Cultivating Rubber