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Indonesia, Jawa, Genteng
So, well on our way now to Yogya. We loaded up our Toyota with 200 litres of water, 250 kg of rice, medical supplies and some other badly needed items. We will pick up more stuff on the way. After a brief ferry ride from Bali to Jawa, we arrived in a totally new world without leaving the country. Jawa is primarily Muslim, where Bali is primarily Hindu.
We made our first step in Genteng and as we checked into the hotel (circa 4am) the people from the local mosque asked if their morning singing would be a problem. I said, “No, I am a guest, sing away."
As it turns out, I could not sleep anyway so I decided to go for a walk and rumour had it that there was a 24 hour internet café about 2 miles down the road so that was where I headed.
I left the hotel at 4am and it was dark and quiet. I saw only very few people, mostly whipping buy on bikes at high speed. A few more mosques joined in the morning prayers and it became seriously loud.
As I walked along,
listening to these very foreign sounding prayers I found myself thinking about religion, terrorists and, unfortunately, hostages. I mean, Java is a fairly peaceful place and everyone we had seen thus far had been unreasonably friendly but the braying through the load speakers had this affect on me. (Not to mention the news article that a few weeks ago some people were arrested in Java with bombs equipment similar to the bombs used in Bali.)
I then reminded myself of something I think we can all stand to remember - extremists are extremists. Al Qaeda is to Islam what the KKK is to Christianity. (So, with that in mind, perhaps I now have an idea of what it felt like to be a black man walking down a Mississippi street at four in the morning forty years ago? No, I don't think so.
Anyway, as I considered these things, 4:30 was approaching and suddenly people came out of nowhere and descended on the street and set up a fruit, vegetable, nut, spice and t-shirt market. Hundreds of them. They did not take much notice of me and I carried on until I got to the cybercafé, which was
Bike Safety in Java
Bikes and motorbikes are the main mode of transport in Java and scenes like this are disturbingly common.open and so cheap it may as well have been free. I had a nice chat with a few friends (Hi Aline, Mark, Mark, Emily and Reggie!), checked some mail (a few new donations at www.EricEdmeades.org) and then headed back to the hotel.
When I passed the market this time it was up and running and fascinating! I walked through and this time I was much more interesting to the various vendors. They stared, and some tried to speak to me. A few tried to sell me things that I could not identify and then one women offered me something for free - a small round think with coconut shavings on the outside. I wanted to say ‘no’ so badly, but I could not. I held out my hand…. And she pushed it away, “other hand” she said! Oops, I had held out my left hand! God (Allah) forbid!
Anyway, with this thing now held in the ‘clean’ hand, I popped it into my mouth and chewed. It wasn’t bad. But it wasn’t exactly good either. Oh well, when in….
My walk took me past a school full of some of the most enthusiastic photographic subjects I
have EVER seen. Everyone was a joy to meet. And when they asked why I was here I would simply say, "Jogja" and they would smile and thank me profusely.
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Nick Edmeades
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little guy
I know I don't want my kids riding a tuktuk again... But that little guy looks happy, spending some time with his granddad. Nick Edmeades on the Road