Party Time

Wow, what a shindig!  

Rob* & Alia

It was Alia's (Welsh Rob's wife) birthday bash.  It was held at their home with a theme of black and silver (or gold as was the case with our hostess) and their entire garden was laid out with at least 20 round tables and chairs decorated with black and silver table cloths.  Additional long tables were laden with a huge variety of food and drink, and a live band played under the arbour which, in turn, was festooned with coloured fairy lights and balloons.  All the palm trees had uplighting and the side hedges were full of blinking LED lights.  Alia had certainly gone to town to make it festive.

The ladies, particularly the younger ones, were dressed to the nines wearing glittery dresses, tons of jewellery and stiletto heels (wonderful on the soft sandy lawn).  Verdict:  social life in little Jepara does not have to take a back seat to the likes of Hollywood.

Peter* and his wife, Setta

There appear to be some interesting traditions when an ex-pat holds a party of this nature.  It is necessary to pay a certain amount of money to the local principals as compensation for the noise (unfortunately, this doesn't apply to the muezzins and their loudspeakers which we have to endure five times a day starting at four in the morning) and the extra traffic created.  It's also customary to supply lunch boxes to the local residents who haven't been invited.  It seems like a win-win situation as everything runs smoothly and you can be sure that there are dozens of curious eyes viewing the proceeding through the gates the entire evening.

A very enjoyable night. 

*Peter and Rob are the two chaps Paul is working with

And us, trying not to look like typical cruisers for a change

Never too old to learn new tricks

Here I am, at the ripe old age of....... well never mind, donning my helmet and riding on the back of a motorcycle through chaotic traffic and complete madness.

This is not something that I've experienced in my life before except for a brief few hours during a trip to Pattaya, Thailand over a decade ago.  I wasn't a happy camper then and I'm not so sure I am now but I'll get over it (I hope).

Paul's still a bit wary on the bike; not with riding it but with the way the traffic scurries around here from every which way obeying no rules and seemingly no logic, so I've only ridden pillion with him a couple of times so far and then for VERY short distances.  Today, a friend's domestic worker took me into town on her bike to try to sort out an ongoing internet problem I've been experiencing.  It involved several trips to several places and I actually managed to stay cool, calm and collected the entire time despite feeling as though we were a target in some silly arcade game.

I've thought about getting a bicycle but not sure it would allow me to get to my next birthday if I ventured beyond the gate of this complex.  Everyone here has grown up on a scooter or motorbike.  You see kids who can't be more than 12 years old collecting their younger siblings (and I mean that in the plural) from school and they're so young that their feet can hardly reach the ground.  But they all drive around, weaving their way in and out, with no concerns whatsoever.

Once Calypso is safely in the harbour, I'm going to have to work out how I'll get back and forth to supervise the work aboard.  It's a good five kilometres away across the bay and there are no buses:  I'll probably have to hire someone to fetch and carry me.   Everything here is a learning curve.

Jepara's wildlife

Living on the land has its challenges and the first of those was a midnight visit of a rat!  NO NO NO!  

 

I frantically went in search for traps that Paul then laid out with tempting peanut butter.  Rats apparently don't know what cheese is in this part of the world (neither do the Indonsians for that matter).   And we've caught one already.  THIS IS NOT FUNNY! 

We've taken down our sails and removed all the soft furnishings from Calypso which are currently stored in a little room beside the house and I have visions (no, make that nightmares) of putting up the sails in nine months time to find them all chomped and shredded.  Got to get more traps and pellets!  Then there are the cockroaches, geckos (cute but messy) large iguanas, frogs and, I'm told, snakes.  And I musn't forget the mosquitoes, ants and spiders.

Living on the land is not all its cracked up to be.  My perfume of choice is Eau de mosquito spray, the air freshener is Essence of Doom, and the aroma of lavender Baygon mats burn gently beside our bed at night which is still not rocking me to sleep.  

The house is air conditioned and I don't mean the electrical AC variety.  The entire back kitchen window is open, no glass, no shutters, no netting.  This has the great feature of letting the air circulate but the not so great feature of allowing every creepy crawly in the neighbourhood to pay us a visit.  However, even if this were closed up, where the walls meet the roof, there are huge gaps; the roofing just sits upon the walls.  And then the walls themselves are made up of vertical slabs of old teak, charming in their own way but a bit like louvred doors; there are air gaps between them and the same goes for the floor.  Heaven only knows what this will be like during the rainy season but I guess we'll find out soon enough.  I'm not complaining as it certainly has its charm: it'll just take a bit of getting used to.

If we were going to be here permanently, I'd go out tomorrow and find a new litter of kittens and take the whole lot!  In the meanwhile, there's a cute little black and white kitty who I'm encouraging to visit - perhaps rodent kebabs are right up his alley.

 

Life on the land

Our new little abode

The ground is solid, there are no swells to rock me to sleep, I could swing a cat (just) inside and I'm not living 24/7 with my husband.  All this is definitely going to take time to fathom.

Calypso before losing her friend

Myra and Paraic aboard Saol Eile left us to head up north. They stayed long enough to have a new fibreglass spray dodger fitted to their boat which was made up by the factory in which Paul is involved.   

We were sad to see them go but I think they were equally sad to leave the friends behind that they've made here.  Calypso now looks somewhat lonely out there by herself.

We've been here for just over two weeks and have been involved in non-stop socialising with the group of expats who have made Jepara their home.  In reality, it's quite a limited group of people from many parts of the world (Wales, Germany, Belgium, Holland, India, South Africa, France and Finland) but they all seem to have the Jepara Yacht Club as their common denominator even though it's really only a gathering spot where the guys can enjoy a beer in this outwardly Muslim (read that as liquor-free) country.

Shopping is a bit of a problem as there are no shops near our house and, until Paul has mastered the chaos of the motorcycle traffic around these parts, I'm not overly keen to ride pillion after he gets home from work by which time it's getting dark; the sun sets at 5:30. So, right now, I'm relying on others to take me places but with all our invitations, we haven't needed to eat at home anyway.

That also brings up the issue of driving a car in Indonesia.  No can do.  Most of the foreigners have drivers for the very reason that, were they themselves to be involved in an accident, even if the car is not moving, it would be deemed their fault and they would have to pay compensation.  The logic is, if you weren't in Indonesia in the first place, that accident would never have happened.  You see?  Well, I guess it makes sense to them.

There are two other South African couples living in this same complex.  Both work at the Jepara power station and they've been here for several years and will remain for a few more.  The difference is, they fly home every three months - I'm getting my shopping list ready!

As I mentioned, Indonesia is primarily a Muslim country and we have just endured the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha which commemorates the willingness of Ibrahim to follow Allah's command to sacrifice his son Ishmael.  The myriad of loudspeakers around town hailing their followers to worship start at four in the morning (EVERY MORNING) but on this occasion, they didn't stop for a full 24 hours right through the night until the next morning.  It sounded as though the International meeting of banshees was in top gear.

On this occasion, they slaughter hundreds of goats to be fed to the poor and, for some strange reason, all the meat has to be consumed in the one day.  No leftover doggie bags for them.  Needless to say, I didn't sleep a wink nor, by the sounds of it, did anyone else in Jepara.

Another social occasion was the 40th birthday party for Riaz, an Indian chap we met here.  It was held at the home of an Australian friend of his who has got, by far, the most grandiose private home I have ever seen.  What we saw of it looked like a 5-star hotel lobby, not a home.  There was enough food to feed the five thousand and plenty of booze as well.  Beer isn't particularly expensive but wine! - a minimum of $20 a bottle and heaven only knows what a bottle of whiskey would cost here.  Guess we're really going to miss that trip back to duty-free Langkawi.

In the next few weeks, we have two more birthday parties coming up as well as a Halloween party (I think I'll go as a beach bum) so I think that life in Jepara could prove to be somewhat hectic.  All this for a couple who are used to being in bed before 'cruiser's midnight' (9 o'clock) and having nice quiet dinners aboard one boat or the other.

PHOTO ALBUM:

The house name, pronounced "Choomee Choomee"

Looking out from our front door

The swimming pool & Thai restaurant

Carving around a nearby door

The beach looking towards the yacht club

The breadwinner on his way to work