Calypso's Journal: How does one say enough thank-you's?

A fairly elaborate fish trap (no lights at night)

The trip from Bali to Jepara took us three days and nights instead of the two we'd originally thought, primarily due to those crazy winds or lack thereof but also because the entire trip was like trying to negotiate a maze with all the fishing boats, fish nets, general boat traffic and dozens of oil rigs en route.

We anchored amongst fish traps in a bay a short distance from the city as one of the other boats that had arrived earlier indicated that the city harbour was not good. My first thoughts were, 'there's nothing here, what are the guys going to do while the rest of us are off touring?' I needn't have worried 'cause I couldn't have been more wrong.

Here, we met some of the most incredible people. All ex-pats who are working at either the power plant there or in various forms of furniture manufacturing, the main industry in Jepara. From the moment we arrived until we set sail a week later, we were hosted and entertained like never before. They were just so thrilled to have foreign visitors arrive in sail boats, they couldn't do enough for us. I think they mentioned that the last visitor was some two years ago!

I can't begin to describe their hospitality. We were taken shopping, toured the furniture factories, hosted at the local yacht club and in their homes and even had fuel arranged to be delivered to us.

During the time we were away, the two chaps who stayed behind worked on various boat projects during the day but, by evening, it was non-stop socialising.

Jepara wasn't a stop on the rally route but we wanted to take a tour of some of the famous temples on the island of Java and stopping there made it the most economical method of doing so. Sadly, two guys had to stay behind to mind the boats and Paul was one of these; we simply couldn't manage the cost of having us both go, but the feeling of guilt will stay with me for a long time to come. I'll write about the temples in a later entry.

The city of Jepara has literally hundreds of cottage industries all dedicated to making furniture primarily from teak. We passed yard after yard and truck after truck with piles of huge logs, not to mention the displays of finished and half-finished furniture, animal carvings and all things wood. We stopped to watch dozens of carvers chipping away at designs in chairs, tables, cabinets, headboards and the like and as we drove through the outskirts of the town, we passed mile after mile of these workshops, most using little or no electricity. Quite amazing.

Now comes the perplexity of the severe deforestation taking place throughout this part of the world because of all this. Although we've learned that there are laws in place to control illegal logging, it is almost impossible to monitor such large scale devastation. On the positive side, in order to sell to the European and North American markets, only furniture made from 'legal wood' is allowed, however, so much more furniture is made from illegal wood which is sold locally or to the less discerning nations. So many of these forests are not being replanted with new trees but rather with palm trees for palm oil which is unsatisfactory in the overall scheme of things; the forests are still diminishing rapidly, but with a population of 260 million people and Java being the most densely populated, something has to give. One has to wonder when it will ever end, if ever.

Our wonderful hostesses

On our last day, we were invited to Rob and Alia's home for a prawn barbecue. Some of the chaps went for a sail on a hobicat and the wives had their first ever visit aboard ocean going sail boats while the rest of us laid back in the pool just chilling out. Such luxury. And the prawns, dozens or them – what a meal.

Rob, Alia, Peter, Joost, and so many others, thanks for making Jepara such a wonderful stopover, your hospitality was simply overwhelming.

PHOTO ALBUM:

A very tiny little sample of the hundreds of furniture carvers along the roadsides: