Doing the Kampong Shuffle

We are watching as Ramadan comes to its culmination once again this year. The lead up to Idul Fitri is always a more and more intensifying celebration. About a week before the actual day of Idul Fitri, people begin to travel to their native kampongs (can also be spelled kampung). What that means is there is a massive exodus from Jakarta, which is pretty astounding, to destinations all across the Indonesian archipelago. Some people make pilgrimages to Mecca during Ramadan. But those numbers are few as it is a very expensive trip for the average person.

I saw in the paper last week, that an estimated 7 million people will leave Jakarta for Idul Fitri. That means over half of our population will be trying to "get out of Dodge" by train, plane and automobile - well and of course motorcycle and bus.

Today is Monday, and the traffic has been above insane. Tomorrow I know it will be worse and the real peak will begin on Wednesday. Wow! Wednesday. That is the day sweetie and I will be returning to our kampung called the US of A. I am trying to decide what time we need to leave to get to the office to pick up honey pie and then go to the airport. Now, we are in the minority as we will be going by plane out of Jakarta. However, what is the minority of 7 million? Is that like two million? One million? And we can't just magically fly over all of the other vehicles that are packed with people driving on their journeys home. We will just have to resign ourselves to being part of the experience I guess. There is no other solutions.

It will be like traveling on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving in any major city in the US. Holy cow! Should be exciting.

There is lots of food purchasing going on along with new outfits and gifts. The stores are having huge sales and the paper even says that you should stock up on supplies four or five days prior to the holiday if you are staying here as nothing will be restocked until several days after Idul Fitri is over.

We are now to the stage of Ramadan where folks in the neighborhood are setting off very loud fireworks after the final call to prayer has ended. Thank goodness it doesn't go on too long. However, on the night before Idul Fitri the celebration begins about 6:00 PM and gets more and more wound up as the night goes on. We were totally uninitiated last year and had no idea what the night held for us. The celebration continued on and on until about 3 AM. We kept turning the TV up, but couldn't hear it. There was very little sleeping. I am not sure earplugs would have helped. Ambien is your only hope for some shut-eye.

On the day of Idul Fitri, there was no one out on the streets. It was almost a ghost town. That is a truly amazing sight in what is a normally a city crawling with 13 million. If we were going to be here for that experience this year, I would be out driving my Scoopy all over Jakarta. It would be the safest place in the world to drive. I almost hate to miss the opportunity.

So, to all my friends remaining here in Jakarta, stock up and try to get some rest. To all of my sweet Indonesian friends and acquaintances, safe travels to your families and to your villages. I know we are looking forward to seeing our son and sleeping in our very own kampung.