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