Two Months Till Christmas! Partying Already- But NOT In Aceh!

Heck, it only seems like a month or two back that I took down the tree!

When I lived in the Old Country, that month from early December till early January was the party season, whereas here in Jakarta, freed from the bonds of daily toil, that happy concept has expanded…

..and expanded!

This past week I thought there was only one get-together, then on arriving thereto, one of my pals informed me that not only Thursday but Friday evening too required my attendance at revelry.

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Man, it’s a hard life.

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Yet anyone partying in this part of Indonesia, possessed of anything that resembles a conscience, must surely spare a thought for those wretched Indonesians unlucky enough to dwell in Hell, or that part of Hell that calls itself the Verandah of Mecca.

I often refer, accurately enough, to the Province of Aceh as a stagnant sectarian swamp.

But the adjective stagnant suggests little if any movement, so let’s acknowledge today that the Acehnese authorities are indeed moving, ever downwards in the direction of Hades.

It would be easy to say backwards, but that falls into the trap of defining shariah cruelty as ‘conservative,’ which, in a province once ruled by dynamic Muslim queens, is hardly appropriate.  The ruling fanatics are oblivious to that history and to  outstanding Acehnese women since.

‘Immoral Activities – Sitting in Coffee Shops Laughing and Talking…’ 

Like many other parts of this lovely archipelago, what’s happening is radical, not conservative

Better still, call it Arabisation, significantly led nationwide by people of Yemeni descent, who cling to their alien roots instead of embracing Indonesia’s traditionally tolerant approach to religion.

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• Anyway, what can possibly be ‘religious’ about a masked moron battering a little woman before a cheering, probably sexually aroused, mob of slobbering brutes?

But fear not, it can only get worse!

Syahrizal Abas, the head of the province’s Islamic sharia office, said the current bylaw was still lacking as it only regulated alcohol, gambling and unmarried couples being alone together. http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/10/23/aceh-implement-tougher-law-punishments-friday.html

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So it’s not just the sin of a cold beer on a hot day, or strolling hand-in-hand with a lovely lady on a quiet beach – there are many other ways Syahrizal and his fellow-primitives can drag their people down – read the JP article and marvel at the malignancy revealed therein

Nothing we mere foreign friends of Indonesia can do to ease the plight of the people in Aceh, who BTW were never given a referendum to see if they WANTED shariah law! Except let everyone know what gives up there.

Therefore, let us party ever harder.

For me, next week is easier, two more to go to, but this time plenty of notice to prepare myself and make sure there are no visitors due on either of the mornings after!

At least yesterday was a genuine day-off, my sole weekend visitor scheduled to arrive at 3pm, more than adequate time for my recovery.

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• Today, Sunday morning, that thoughtful guest has yet to leave, busily preparing breakfast as I type – we’re out of bacon, but sausages galore. 

 

 

Kenapa? Macet Terus, di Jakarta!

Hell’s teeeth!

I was planning on going partying tonight, but when I wandered down after a langorous dog-day (so sorry, Ibi, cat-day) afternoon, it took just one look at the traffic on the main road to dissuade me.

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•  macet!
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• Off to the warteg instead, reducing my expenditure for the evening by about several hundred thousand.

Now it’s home again, saving my energy till Thursday, if any brave potential visitor decides to risk the work-day macet, or if not, then Saturday. So how come traffc seems to be getting worse? As Ramadan runs its ourse, Jakarta usually thins out. 

 

I asked the gals in the warteg – they were not yet busy, since I was dining before the fasting break at sun-down – and they advised me that everyone was rushing home to eat. 

Whoever, I wondered, forgot the splendid invention of packed lunches ( or luppers – if breakfast at lunch-time is brunch, then lunch at supper-time should surely be thus described?)

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Then I remembered, that sun-down gluttony which frequently marks the month of self-denial. No packed lunch could sate such greed.

Not everyone’s like that, of course!

There are many who do take self-denial literally, but there is more food eaten during the fasting month than any other time of year!

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 Good appetites galore here, despite unappetising sticky-beaks a-prowl    https://rossrightangle.wordpress.com/2011/08/09/not-fasting-how-about-a-whipping-aceh-slips-deeper-into-barbarism/

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Mind you, I had SEVEN perkadel earlier, with rice, telor puyuh AND cap cay, and all for Rp 26,500 – and that included my es teh AND a take-away of three gorengan with a couple of eggy things that resemble veggie-omelettes, for a late-night snack.

So I must be getting into the spirit of the local Festive Season!

Independence Day – Happy Birthday, Kenya!

Greetings to Kenya readers, on this, their Independence Day!

I hope you have as much fun as I did at the party last night! 

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 Happy Kenyans!

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Celebrations are the essence of December – happy holidays, whatever your celebrating!

Seasonal Fare? Jakarta Party Bus Hits the Road!

Well, the Festive Season is almost upon us!

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•  Or at least it is in Lotte Mart at Kuningan City mall, where earlier this week I was amazed to see an array of wonderful Christmas Trees on sale!

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Yet if Festive Seasons loom, there will be more parties to attend, which brings me onto this Saturday morning topic.

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A very strange news item on tv on Friday caught my eye as I was providing Ibi Cat with her lunch.

A PARTY BUS!

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The concept is probably not original – I recall Rangers Supporters’ Buses in the West of Scotland which could hardly keep up with the minimum speed limit, so over-loaded with ‘carry-outs’ cans of Tennants Lager were they, vehicles  echoing with merry renderings of popular songs.

But this Jakarta scheme appears to be slightly different – for a start, few if any Rangers bus travellers wore miniskirts, or even kilts. Here, most of the photos of the party bus include various chicks flaunting endless expanses of thigh.

 

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Nothing wrong with that, not at all!

But curiously, a lot of them seem to be foreigners, whereas if you go to the nightspots I go to, there’s hardly a bule bint to be found.

I honestly can’t see me going out tonight and boarding a bus if I suddenly take the notion to party.

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• Well, I can, but it would be a regular bus to Blok M or Pasar Rumput, or maybe Blora, hoping to find like-minded party animals in the fun joints that proliferate in those areas. Actually partying ON BOARD the bus just strikes me as odd.
• The photo above indicates these party buses are impressively appointed, but the ‘dance-floor’ affords little room for gyrating merry-makers.
• And other essential facilities? Toilets? Can’t be as breath-taking as those in D’s Place, on Jalan Falatehan!

But everyone to their own taste. 

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Although that bus above looks finely furnished, from what I heard on the tv show, the cost per person runs to several million rupiah.  

No doubt at least some of our local readers will have splashed out on the magical mystery tour, so maybe they’ll tell us what it’s like.  

Here’s the ad and link.

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http://www.royalevipbus.com/