42. Hello Indonesia, you friendly person you!

I must admit that I had gotten rather tired with certain aspects of Asia – for all sorts of reasons – beyond the normal ones that communication barrios provide. In Thailand I speak Thai so this has no longer been a problem but annoyances with the people and culture increased – this is not to say that I don’t love my village and the people that live in it – I do. But. Ah. I’m trailing off into what could be a twenty page essay here, so I’ll just say that when I arrived in India my tolerance levels for certain things were a lot lower, than say.. my sister’s – having just come from Cape Town – and by the time I left India (Yes, I loved it) I was exhausted and what had become an unusually low tolerance level for me was no longer existent.

So I arrived in Jakarta, Indonesia.. and person after person, from the assistant at the airport, to the police outside, to the taxi drivers, the hostel receptionist, the street vendors and train station salesman.. all were the most friendly, down to earth, honest and sweet people I had ever met. I have been overwhelmed by their darlingness, yes that is a real thing hereJ I found myself immediately put at ease, wafting along the streets, smiling at people and getting smiles in return. Having conversations with different local people – a taxi driver, who didn’t try to get me to get a lift somewhere, he did ask if I needed to, I said no and so he dropped it. I asked for directions and he gave them to me, not telling me it was too far to walk but writing down the street names instead. I bought a top from a woman – for a price that didn’t need to be bargained, and then had a little convo with her – and not once did she push me to spend more money. All the people I have met here so far have been so helpful and kind. People talk about the hospitality in India and yes I have seen it, but I felt that it often came with an agenda. That is not the case here. I was sitting eating a millie corn with two vendors and two foreigners. 

One of the Dutch boys mentioned he would be keen for a beer. Hearing this, the vendor (I forget his name..) asks, ”You want a beer my friends?”

“Do you know where we can get one?”

“Yes. One moment.” He finishes up a corn. “I go get for you. ”

“No no no no. You don’t need to do that.”

“No problem. 30.000 rupiah each. ” – this is the exact price, he asks for no more.

He calls out to his friend, a waiter outside a nearby restaurant – asks for three Bintang’s and within minutes the waiter comes over to our side of the street with beers. We tried to tip him and he said “No no it’s ok. Enjoy.” We offered the vendor a beer – he declined and didn’t even ask us to buy another miellie.. and this kind of thing happens a lot here. The men are respectful and I feel safe on my own at night – no one asks where my boyfriend is or if they can kiss me to remember me. Most of them just smile, say “Hello” and tell me they like my colorful J

I could go on about the people forever but I suppose I should mention Borobudur J – what a place! I spent a night at the “Honey hostel” in Jakarta – which was filled with smiles and sweetness (bar one really annoying dude from Toronto.) then I got on an overnight train to Jogja – central Java – and from there a taxi to Borobudur. Now – at the immaculate and organized train station I met three lovely people, Tomas from Belguim and Aneta and Jo from Sweden. They ended up ditching their original plans and joining me for sunrise at the Borobudur temple – after which we all checked into the gorgeous (yes gorgeous – wooden floors, high ceilings, rice paddie views..) hotel, “Lotus 11” Went for a boozy lunch, hired some bikes and rode around the town.. This place gets lots of visitors – but usually just for the temples and then they leave – but it deserves time spent there! Anyhoo – we had a wonderful time – and a good few wizzo’s and laughs with one of the managers into the wee hours that evening!

The following morning my new friendies left – they only had one night left in Java and needed to move on wards to see more. I was tempted to join but my yes click wanted to stay and soak in some more of the place - which I did – I rented the bike for another day, did some washing, read my book, explored the town, sat with some local women and ate lunch, checked out the market and had quite a few Bintang’s with the staff that evening J The following morning I woke up bright and early for the sunrise trip to a view point in the town – were a group of us sat drinking coffee watching the sun slowly climb over volcanoes..there’s a first for me! Later that day I set off for Jogja – had some more amazingly wonderfully sweet moments with friendly fabulous people J lol.. and met some more Swedish girls, explored the Pramadan temple grounds – well worth the trip! Helped out some locals with their English assignments and then had a drunken reggae party with a bunch of people from all over the world, we all sat drinking merrily talking about crayzzzzeeee things - thanks to the wacko Australian and his pouring and pushing tactics:) We danced to live reggae jams and laughed at each other’s stories.. It certainly has been a long time since I’ve had these kinds of evenings and I forgot just how much I missed them! Looking forward to the rest of the month! Free and merry in Indonesia, huge smiles!!

One last thought - everything is so fucking green - no wonder they're so happy here - green being the color for the heart chakra - they're just filled with love!

Cheers all!!