Breaking the rules in Indonesia

Arieh here. Many rules have been broken in the last few days here in Indonesia.

#1. Don't drive (or be driven) at night between towns or cities. Violated? Yes, we spent about 1.5 hours driving in the dark in order to get to Solo. The bigger the vehicle here, the less they care about anyone else. Buses and trucks pass everywhere and anyone. Oncoming traffic must move over to the edge of the road. Often a motorscooter is approaching and they simply move to the edge of the road and keep going while the bus or truck does the same (except the bus is on the wrong side of the road).


#2. Don't have ice in your drinks. Violated? You bet! All the drinks (juice or just plain soda) have ice thrown in to them and gosh they taste nice and cold.


#3. Don't leave money or documents in your hotel room. Violated? Only by Arieh. Val "told me so"!!! Fortunately, the $1,100 in travellers cheques are replaceable; the $100 cash is not. Where did the brilliant one leave my pouch--inside the pillow case. Who would ever look there?? We think it happened in Bromo and discovered it 4 or 5 days later here in Solo.


Val here:

#4 don't get enchanted by the chant of the call to prayer! It is supposed to be imposing and yet after a few days I find it haunting and beautiful!

#5 Don't ride on the back of a motorscooter in the raucous traffic of a developing country - well, only if you want to get somewhere with new friends!!

#6 And be sure to wear a solid and fitted motor cycle helmet not a sloppy fitting eggshell - well only if you want to go to visit a classroom or the home and neighbourhood of new Indonesian friends!

#7 Backpackers don't stay in luxury hotels. Well - only if the budget hotel where you first stayed no longer has airconditioned rooms available (and no windows in those rooms) and it is 35 degrees celsius during the day, and the pool is gorgeous and immediately outside the door of your hotel room.

#8 Don't eat street food. Only if a friend gives you an absolutely delicious bag of satay ayam (chicken stay) with longam (rice cooked in banana leaves) and scrumptious sauce.

#9 You won't hear Christmas carols in a Muslim country - well only AFTER Christmas at the hotel restaurant during breakfast (a rather jazzy version at that!) and when the Luves roti man wheels his (ice cream) cart around (see photo) attracting buyers to his wares to tinny tunes of Away in a Manger and Jingle Bells.