Yes that’s a picture of Lyns and I in a radio station. It's called a ‘hook’ to get you interested in reading lone reader because it’s at the end of this tale and not the start.
Allow me to begin where I left of in the jungle at 5.00am.
It was an early start that saw us travel back down river on our Klotok to catch a plane back to Semerang and then a train across the north of Java to Surabaya.
There was a reason I didn’t talk about Semerang in my last post, there was nothing to say. As a very long day unfolded in Semerang it became clear that it was not my lack of investigative travel skills, to unearth the hidden gems the city had to offer, basically what looks like a shit hole normally is a shit hole.
(Apologies to the people of Semerang who I could potentially have offended with my comments. In order to set the record straight and provide fair balance to the debate upon reflection I have uploaded a series of images to flickr which can be found here in order to allow people to take a rational fact based assessment based upon the cities esthetics and cultural landmarks.)
Anyway I digress from the story at hand. The journey out of the jungle was as spectacular as the journey into the jungle. Our guide Ferri and the crew must get an honourable mention for looking after us so well on our time with them. Ferri was a real character who has lived in Pankalan Bun all his life and is studying to be a lawyer, having already tried his hand at seeking election in the regional parliament but failing I feel sure that I could have met the future president of Indonesia.
To digress slightly further Ferri and I struck up a bit of kinship during the trip he would tell me his stories and I would tell him mine. This I think was a way of understanding our cultural differences. Let me give you a small example;
Ferri; “Jonny did I tell you about when an Orangutan chased me with with a machete?”
Jonny; “No Ferri please tell me some more.”
Ferri; “A female Organgutan was watching the workmen in Camp Leakey, when they were on a break she picked up the machete and chased
me with it, copying the actions of the workmen by swinging it from side to side.”
Jonny; “Ferri that sound very dangerous you could have been killed!”
Ferri; “Yes I laugh now but at the time it was very scary!”
Jonny; “The Queen of England tried to shoot me once”
Ferri; “No way she seems like a nice old lady!”
Jonny; “I was having a picnic in her garden and she shot her gun at me through the window of the palace.”
Ferri; “I have never heard of this happening!”
Jonny; “No Ferri it is all covered up by the secret police. She has killed many people who have tried to have picnics in the palace gardens.”
Ferri; “That is horrible you could have been killed.”
Jonny; “Yes Ferri I laugh now but at the time it was very scary!”
This is a picture of Lyns, Ferri (In the reversed hat) and the rest of the crew.
Anyway after a plane ride back from Pankalan Bun we arrived in the city of Semerang to collect our main luggage before catching the 2.00pm train to Surabaya.
At the airport we were greeted by our guide Nofri. Why we needed a guide didn’t become clear until we found out that our train wouldn’t be leaving until 3.30pm. It was now a little bit before 9.00am!
Nofri has lived all her life in Semerang and was clearly on a one woman mission to turn Semerang into the cultural icon of central Java.
I have made my feelings about Semerang very clearly earlier in the post so let’s not get back into that one. I would rather highlight the main points to you.
Chinese Temple - Went to see fortune teller. Luckily by number was 13! Nofri kindly translated for me.
Nofri; “Your married life will be good, if your health has been troubling you it will get better”
All going well so far (I feel I have written those words before)
There then followed a period of silence on Nofri’s part. The fortune teller became increasingly animated and talked for around three minutes. I noticed that during this time he gave me little eye contact.
I asked Nofri what he had said; “Ah thats bit is not important to you Mr Jonny”
I feel that vital information about my future has been witheld. Perhaps information that I may some day need..
After the Chinese temple, came an old disused dutch colonial office (a bit like looking around a condemned house). Highlight was a tour of the dungeons used by the Japanese in the second world war. Had to put wellingtons on for that bit and Lyns didn’t join me. In fact neither did Nofri. Just me an a 17 year old girl with a taste for the macabre, “this is where the bodies were put Mr Jonny”.
Then we went to a shopping mall and had some ice cream (Lyns had some tea, Nofri and I had the the ice creams.)
From the shopping mall we went to the ‘historic’ train station (Sh**h*le) to catch the train.
Nofri sat chatting to Lynsey whilst I prepared for the epic train journey across Java. I had visions of Michael Palin waxing lyrical about the’ ‘sights and sound of the real Indonesia’. My heart was filled the the romance and adventure of it all.
Then Nofri piped up that the train was going to be two hours late arriving. Michael Palin never did a piece to camera in the dark. I never watched enthralled as he crossed Africa at night looking out of a window at blackness.
No wonder Nofri hadn’t translated the fortune teller. She already knew that he said, “Mr Jonny you will undertake a great journey with little to light your way. No great wisdom will come your way other than watching some Indonesian soap operas on a BRAVIA TV for five hours in the darkness.”
Gutted I shouldn’t have bought Nofri that ice cream. She wasn’t telling me the whole story.
But Surabaya did beckon and I'll tell you more about the radio interview next time.
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