friday the 13th is sooooo yesterday (pun intended) the new thing is saturday the 14th... what is so special about the day you may ask, well lemme tell you, it's the day when everything became weird :p
it started out normal though. me and my weekend in this quaint little space of the earth. i have decided that it'll be the day when i'm going to pamper myself. so pampered myself i did. i've booked a spa for the day, so off to pamper myself i go. and it has been a while since i did anything remotely nice to my body (remember when i put on 20 pounds to it and let it caved in to old age??).
the spa was nice, and i just remembered it was my first facial in probably a year. when the lady asked me why did it take me so long from one facial to another, i simply said i have no time, when i supposed to say was that i was broke as hell for the last couple years :p
in the middle of the spa, i had an offer that i can't refuse, that is going to the beach. i love the beach, and i've been told, by the event organizer, Mr. Elpramit (El), this beach was quiet and not a lot of people know about it yet. so i have to go... i don't swim though, not very well at least. but i do love the beach. and there was always something to snap at the beach. whether it's sunset or children playing. so i took my uncle's old girlfriend and looking forward for capturing sunset on the quiet beach (i'm back to film these days, partly because i kinda hate the dslr hype that is going on right now, EVERYONE has one!!! and i think i told you this before, it's like seeing annoying teenager in your favorite hangout spot, it kinda ruined it for me).
so the plan was, we leave yogya at 2...scratch that...3 pm, and off to this unknown beach which was 2-hour drive away from yogya. we're planning to take a car, not mine, since it can only hold 5 people (at most) so i've been told there was a car we can share, so yuyus picked me up with a bike and we left my place to go to the rendezvous point.
okay, part of the delay is probably our fault, since we got lost to meet up in the rendezvous point, but the first surprise of the day was, that we are no longer taking a car. the car deal fell through, so we are taking the bike for two hour trip to the beach. the last time i was on the bike that long was when mbak ernie drove me from my house to PU (which is not as far as this beach, but still took as long). and i remembered my ass was complaining to me (my ass is that big it has a mind of its own). but i kinda prepared myself for it. i mean, i did this before, took a long ride with a bike, so no biggie.
so from the planned 3pm departure, we experienced a 1-hour delay (yes partly our fault, only PARTLY :p) still off the beach we go. before we go, El once again reminded us not to complain (a lot), it was there on the fine print when we signed up for the trip, do not make any complaints. but it's us, complaining and making El's life a living hell was like second nature for us. El also told us, right before we go, that we're taking the long way there, because the lady that was riding with him needed to make a stopover somewhere. well i don't have a mental map of yogya yet, so i complied, plus i did not think it was a big deal, i always love an adventure :) what i didn't realize that we were on a time crunch and the road condition.
this is what happened to a child of the capitol when she was put in the district (okay i know hunger games pun, stay with me here), she would assumed every district have the same luxury as the capitol...as least if it's located on the same island... what she forgot was how awfully different they were. streetlights are luxury in here, so when we were going there, i was looking at the scenic, breathtaking as it is, i realized there were no streetlights. i made a mental note to myself that going back would be an adventure in the pitch dark, not something that i look forward to when riding a bike.
anyway, we were still going, the 7 of us, plus the 'navigator' as El put it. so four bikes, with 8 people who were mentally prepared for a car trip (i had my flip-flop on for two hour bike ride, tells you a lot huh??) a couple of hilly road later and a near-missed sunset we've arrived on the beach. and what's a trip without blaming the event organizer, especially when it's El. ow gosh, if i have to repeat the words we threw at the poor guy, who was taking it like a champ actually. i mean i really love this guy when it comes to taking the beatings from us, he just laughed at it. which for me kills the whole joy of throwing sarcasm. and all those time on the beach, i kept saying, "it's getting dark you know, we should head back."
it's 15 minutes after the dusk, we were still enjoying (if you call throwing endless comments at El is enjoying) the beach. to be fair to the rest of us, so we do not sound like a bunch of jerks who took El's kindness for granted, the beach, beautiful as it was, kinda blows... i mean, it was a fishing beach, so it wasn't as clean, and it looked like it was done for the day. so we were the only 8 souls (that i can sense) there. to make matter worse (for me at least) no cell reception AT ALL!!! (i know i'm kinda a brat when it comes to that, i'm THAT addicted to my smartphone). anyway, not that i didn't appreciate the view. but it was getting dark. and the way there, we have to pass cassava field (which provided no lighting), a couple village (very low lighting), and some more cassava field...and that just get us into the main road, not back to yogya. the lady (mbak rani) suggested that we should stay over at her place.
ow, and here's the second surprise of the day...no one really sure on how to get back!! well yuyus and el admitted that they somewhat knew the road, but they weren't so sure. and the rest of us were totally in the dark (literally and figuratively). i know that google map is out of the option, with the limited cell reception and i personally wasn't looking forward to get lost. with daylight, getting lost is an adventure, but in the pitch dark, with bikes, in no-man's land, that's suicidal. and luckily i have an aunt who lives there (this made me sound like that one character in bajaj bajuri...who always have an uncle for everything). i suggested we stay at my aunt's place, since it's just by the beach. so if they still want to swim on the beach, they can do that early in the morning. i must be a very convincing person, or they were just scared of me, because they agreed to spend the night at my aunt's place.
but not before we drop mbak rani to her house. we were all exhausted, looking forward for a nice warm meal and just to sit still. mbak rani's house is in the opposite direction of my aunt's place. and that trip is worth another story. maybe it was me, looking forward to just stay still drinking some warm drink looking over a darkened beach, or i'm just not accustomed to the small talks and the 'hospitality'. another thing i noticed about me, being the child of the capitol and all. i never do small talks. i was always straight to the point, which is considered impolite in this part of the world.
i feel the need to explain myself here. i was raised in a liberal household. liberal in the sense that i lost some traditional values such as small talks, partly because my mom is not big on this also. we prefer being practical. so i don't beat around the bushes (except for this tiny thing call relationship...we can talk about that later) i say it clear, and i always state my purpose in the beginning. time is money...at least that's what i was taught.
anyway, back to saturday the 14th, mbak rani's house trip proven to be another surprise. she was a full-on javanese. i mean, if it was up to me, i would just drop her off and tell her i still have a long way to go, so i can't drop by. but no, make note of this boys and girls, you have to drop by. which was really uncomfortable for me, please don't judge me by this, she was in no condition to entertain 7 strangers, yet she pulled out all the stops to make sure we felt welcome. she even made us stay for some food, and lemme tell you again in javanese custom 101 (i'm still learning as we go, so feel free to correct me) it is offensive if we refuse the food they gave us. i, the master of disguise that i am, cannot conceal my exhaustion and desperation to move on. i was in no mood for eating anything (which reminds me, my last meal today was breakfast...) this attitude, sometimes is scowled by my own mother. the very same mother who taught me to be practical; if a host prepared a meal for you, you have to eat it no matter what. i just took a sip of the tea they gave us, which i know made me look like a snob. at this point i couldn't care less. i appreciate all this hospitality, but it did feel forced, and to be honest, it made me feel really uncomfortable. well the guys ate the dinner, and as soon as we finished with the meal, we excused ourselves.
then off to my aunt's place where she cooked the meal and we sat down and recalled our day. we each have different take on it. i for one, genuinely enjoyed the day. it has been one of the most interesting day in this month. i might look like someone who is high maintenance and stuff, but it really doesn't take much to make me happy. just looking across the table while i'm eating dinner, it made my day. we went off to the beach albeit the exhaustion. the salty air boost my mood, and the stars are really out that night my day was not a waste at all. and i might just had one of the perfect trysts in my life (i hope there are series of that to come).
so that was the weird saturday the 14th for us, and we were talking about it and agreed that maybe saturday the 14th was the day when traveling became weird :)
and we are talking about taking a bus trip to bali (yeah i know, aren't we supposed to study here?? :p)
well, i sure hope it'll happen, but i need to buy a new swimming suit then (since i lost mine). i sure hope it doesn't fall on saturday the 14th again... but then again, it might be another adventure :)
a little side note, is the small thing in this trip that made it awesome for me. and i thank you, i can't wait until our next trip :)
