kukup

28/2/11
Really need to find this orphanage, am getting a bit bored of my leisurely routine.. sleeping in, playing cards, reading, gym, swimming, eating, a bit of cleaning here & there..
spent the weekend @ pantai kukup (kukup beach), a place that is 1.5hrs away from Jogja by motorbike, apparently, and 4 hours away by means of taxi, bus & hitching a ride on the back of a local's motorbike. It was a fun adventure to get there, especially having no real idea where to go or where the next bus stop would be, or if there would be a terminal. People were pretty helpful and we made it to our destination. There we spent a couple of hours bumming on the beach until sunset, then had a mandi (bucket wash) with cold, cold water, before heading across the courtyard to dinner. I had a pretty good veggie soup, tasted a bit like mum's winter soups minus the big fat peppercorns (not as good without them it turns out). We played a few boring rounds of a card game called 500 that I found kinda anti social as only four people could play and seven of us were there. Meanwhile we boozed a little, then headed upstairs in our "hotel" and played a few more games while polishing off johnny walker & gin as well as listening to the people next door belting out Indonesian songs via Karaoke, which is as massive here as in any other asian country. Most of the folk we were with found this incredibly disturbing to listen to but Ben decided it would be  a good idea to go & join, so Ben & I did. I mainly went to serve as translator and not to sing but of course after a few drinks I couldn't help myself. The english choices were limited but we sang classics like "I will survive", "Only you", "What a wonderful world" & "The power of love". I think I made the cats scatter when I started on Celine Dion's love balad. We had crashed a party for someone's uni graduation and at midnight they invited us to the beach for a fire. That fire was really hard to get going but after perserverance & kerosene, it finally started to ignite & we formed a circle around the fire with about 15 to 20 Indonesians who began one by one saying what they were grateful for in their lives. It was moving to hear & I was happy I could understand some of what they were saying as they became more and more emotional. Then of course, unfortunately it started pouring with rain after getting maybe three people deep into the circle of thanks and we all had to bolt to the hotel!
The next day I couldn't remember all who I had met the night before but they stopped us to say 'Selamat Pagi' as we walked back down to the beach. They were lovely people and Ben's idea to join the karaoke was great and led to a very memorable and spontaneous night. Hitched a ride with our housemate on a scooter to Pantai Baron (Baron Beach) then a rickety old bus through very windy roads with beautiful scenery.  It was great to get out to a more rural Indonesia. My stomach didn't particularly cope well with the winding roads, the exhaust of the bus, the heat, lack of air circulation and of course the cigarettes being smoked by men in the bus. Eventually we made it back to Jogja, after hitching a short becak ride with a very old man who could barely get us passed a snails pace. He convinced us it was too far to walk to find a taxi. I had to barter his price down to 15,000 rupiah (about $1.60ish) as I didn't have small enough notes to give him the 20,000 he wanted. We felt terrible & I kept telling Ben to get out and ride the Becak instead and give the poor old boy a break. We felt so gluttenous but here no one walks and they think you are crazy to walk even 500 metres.
It has been raining heavily periodically for the last few days, limiting what I can do & where I can go. I hope it clears up a bit tomorrow so I can find this orphanage! It is supposed to be really close to here & I have directions but they lack charisma.