Driving Miss Judi

On Sunday, sweetums and I attended a wedding (actually a reception following the wedding) in a town called Bandung which is south east of Jakarta. This was not only our first Indonesian wedding reception, but it was also our first trip out of Jakarta by car.

First off, let me say when you say the word wedding or wedding reception, it brings to mind bad bride's maids dresses, organ music and little pink and green butter mints (that is really showing my age and my point of origin). That is not exactly what happened here. I knew that the western idea of a wedding was most likely not going to be what we would see and would have been a little disappointed if that is what we got.

Prior to our trip, honey bun decided he needed to have a long sleeve batik shirt. A long sleeve batik shirt is about as dressed up as you get at many affairs in a very tropical environment. Off to the store we go on Saturday morning and secure appropriate attire. It is determined that I can get by with a blouse and skirt and maybe a pretty batik scarf to top things off. I therefore bought lovely batik scarves (notice it is plural - it is like potato chips - one is never enough)and honey's shirt and returned home.

Bandung is about 180km away (since I am living in a metric world, I am going to make you do the math). We left around 7:20 Sunday morning as the traffic can be really bad since it is a very popular destination from Jakarta.

Bandung is at an elevation of about 2,500 feet. It is sometimes cooler up there, but on Sunday that was not the case. I am going to let Wikipedia take over here and do some of the typing:
Bandung (pronounced [bʌnduŋ]) Indonesian: Kota Bandung) is the capital of West Java province in Indonesia, and the country's third largest city, and 2nd largest metropolitan area, with 7.4 million in 2007. Located 768 m (2,520 ft) above sea level, Bandung has relatively year-around cooler temperature than most other Indonesian cities. The city lies on a river basin and surrounded by volcanic mountains. This topography provides the city with a good natural defense system, which was the primary reason of Dutch East Indies government's plan to move the colony capital from Batavia to Bandung.

The Dutch colonials first opened tea plantations around the mountains in the eighteenth century, followed by a road construction connecting the plantation area to the capital (180 km or 112 miles to the northwest). The European inhabitants of the city demanded the establishment of a municipality (gemeente), which was granted in 1906 and Bandung gradually developed itself into a resort city for the plantation owners. Luxurious hotels, restaurants, cafes and European boutiques were opened of which the city was dubbed as Parijs van Java (Dutch: "The Paris of Java").

Thanks for the hand Wikipedia.

Since we were attending a function, we didn't really get to explore the Paris analogy. And since I have never been to Paris, I still might not have appreciated its similarities. Be that as it may, I am looking forward to returning to Bandung and explore more of what the city has to offer.

Should mention here that it is not unusual for couples to have a private ceremony earlier in the day and then have a big reception following. To get this shin-dig started, the couple is introduced and they lead a procession down a red carpet that leads them to a stage. They are followed by both sets of parents. The stage is decorated with beautiful flowers and there are wide, heavy wooden chairs that the couple and their parents get to sit on very infrequently.

The bride and groom are so handsome together. The bride is absolutely stunning. I don't think I looked anywhere nearly that beautiful on my wedding day. She is wearing a rich, claret color full-length skirt with a striking floral motif on it. A long sheer over-blouse of a very light peach hue(close to flesh color) covers a long sleeve cream top. The over-blouse has wide trim that has the wine color repeated in it along with accents of gold. She has a beautiful broach at her throat. Her head covering has a wide wine color band with the same trim. On the side of her head covering are orchids that repeat this wine and cream color scheme. The rest of the wedding party are dressed in the same colors and look most dashing. The couple both have long strings of jasmine that have been strung with gold beads in between the blossoms. They are five strands of flowers wide so it looks like a floral scarf. Hanging behind the wedding party are colorful flower arrangements with more of the delicious jasmine hanging down. Different groups are invited up on stage to congratulate the couple. When it was our turn I couldn't inhale enough of the jasmine's delicious scent.

After all the various well-wishing groups are called and have said their piece, it is then photo and buffet time. The different groups who have come to share in the celebration of this union are once again called on stage to pose with the couple and their families for a photo. The folks waiting for their photo op hit the buffet line and begin scooping rice(nasi)on to their plates and then add a little beef something and a little chicken something, a little veggie combo something, a little fruit salad. At the end of the buffet table is a pot of steaming broth that has chilies, garlic and I think chunks of tofu (No comments please. I happen to like tofu. It is amazingly versatile). You ladle the broth over nasi and the meat and veggie goodies and chow down. I really only have a vague idea about what I was eating, but it was pretty tasty stuff.

After I finished eating, I went to take a few pictures of the activities. When I return, hubby poo had a small container of ice cream waiting for me. I asked the flavor and was told it was durian. Not sure how familiar those of you reading are with durian. But the stuff smells absolutely horrible. It is ban from many grocery stores as it can make your stomach roll over and you seriously think you don't ever want to eat anything ever again. Kind of runs counter intuitive to the philosophy of grocery shopping when you are sprinting from the store gagging instead of filling up a shopping cart.

I smile sweetly at my mate and am aware of several sets of eyes upon me to see what I am going to do about this situation. Most likely, the thought running through their minds was who can I place a bet with to see if the bule eats it or bolts. They should have bet on me as I did take the frozen treat and began to eat it. There are a couple of problems with this dessert. First, the ice cream smells just like the fruit only slightly less intense. You must hold your breath until you have it in your mouth or it just isn't going to get past your lips. Second, while the taste isn't bad (but you are holding your breath so I am not 100% sure about it), you burp up the noxious fumes for hours afterward. Nothing like a dessert that just keeps on giving.

Some of you may have heard the story of when sweetie pie and I were first married and the retired gentleman down the street took up wine making as a hobby. He had a Dixie Cup dispenser right next to his brewing apparatus. Sonoma didn't have anything on him with all their fancy wine tasting experiences. Anyway, dear Mr. Hines served us corn cob wine. Once. Trying to be polite, we took sips from our little wax coated cups and at first it tasted kind of sweet. The after-taste was the gotcha. It tasted very much like really, really nasty, sweaty sneakers smell. Thank goodness the cups were the bathroom size because I wouldn't have made it through anything any larger. I would equate durian to that experience.

I can tell you that this is not a dessert that will be on my favorites list at any time in the near future. Most likely it will NEVER be on my favorites list. If you come to my house to visit, rest assured you will not be served durian ice cream.

After our congratulating, eating and hobnobbing with the other attendees, we headed back to Jakarta. I had noted on the trip up, some beautiful things that I wanted to stop and photograph but couldn't since I was in heels and a skirt. On the road home, I swapped out my skirt for capri pants and sandals, and began planning where I was going to stop first. There were beautiful terraced rice fields (padi)in many stages of the whole rice growing process. Some where lush green and waiting for harvest. Some were bare where the rice had been removed. Some had been sprigged with new bright green rice plants and some were brown and dry where they were harvesting the grain.

It was not only beautiful, but fascinating as well. The fields where people were harvesting were a soft brown and there were ducks all around enjoying the spoils of the harvest. The ducks (bebeks) were the same color of brown as the stalks of the plants and were gobbling up what ever they could. At first I didn't really see them until I realized that it was animal not vegetable that was moving around around the legs of the workers. I think this was allowed because the grains of rice would have been difficult to recover and a fat little bebek would make for a tasty meal later.

At another stop, there was a woman who was scooping up the un-husked rice in a broad, flat basket. She would lift the basket in to the air and slowly pour the rice out. As she did this, tiny bits of debris was blown away by the wind.

We also came upon a guy who had the most awesome hat and was tending a water buffalo. Our driver, Akil spotted him and pulled over. I think Akil is going to get in to the whole photo safari thing. The water buffalo is all covered in dirt and mud. His underside is still wet. The gentleman stilling on a rock watching him, to make sure he doesn't go to far away, sees me coming. I ask if I can take his picture by lots of smiling and pointing. He nods yes. His hat is very broad brimmed. He isn't a really big fellow so his hat appears to be almost as big as he. He has a SERIOUS looking knife tucked in the back of his pants. The reason I think it is serious is that the handle on that sucker is huge. Somehow I don't think something the size of a paring knife was on the other end. Not sure what he uses it for, but I wasn't going to do anything to find out. I take his picture and thank him and tip him. Wow! Did his face light up. I was happy. He was happy. The water buffalo didn't show any emotion.

A little further down the road, Akil sees a cute little old man tending some cows and goats and sheep. Once again we stop, I ask permission to photograph and tip the model. A smile as big as Java crosses his face. If you have ever seen the movie "The Gods Must be Crazy" the little bushman in the movie is about the same size of the fellow I photographed.

All of this was given to me as a gift on Sunday. I didn't have to go driving off the beaten path, even though it looks like I did. All of this glorious stuff was along the side of the toll road that runs between Jakarta and Bandung. Makes you wonder what marvelous things you will see if you travel even just a little off the highway.

The Gods were most definitely not crazy on Sunday. They were too busy smiling on me.