Karimun Jawa

Last weekend I felt like I needed a break, so Khadir and I decided to take a trip to Karimun Jawa, a scattering of small islands off the Northern coast of Central Java.  The trip had its ups and downs; the major down was that due to some miscommunication (and a heavy dose of an Indonesian cultural aversion to things like scheduling and planning and a cultural preference for things like last-minute improvisation and finagleing), a trip that was supposed to take 4.5 hours of comfortable travel each way ended up taking about 12 each way, 6 hours of which were spent on the deck of a ferry in the blazing hot sun and 8 of which were spent in middle-of-the-night travel (which I feel like I am really too old for but Indonesians of all ages seem to enjoy).

In this picture we are feeling really hot, aka, cranky and burned by the sun.

The major ups included the views from our hotel, which was built like a floating raft in the middle of the sea and required a boat to get to.

The water off the Western side of the hotel was so shallow that you could climb down a small ladder and wade all the way out to a small island with a beach rife with mangroves and white firs, one of which Khadir immediately climbed.

We took a day trip traveling around to different islands and beaches and snorkeling.  We shared the boat with some additional Indonesian guests which meant that the other ladies on the boat were wearing modest swimwear, ie, a head to toe unitard complete with socked feet, aquaman hood and/or jilbab head covering and flouncy skirt and life jacket.

The last beach of the day was the best, with aquamarine water approaching it, crystal clear warm shallows and pure white sand.  Khadir and I wandered away from the boat on a shell-hunting mission and met an adorable set of little boys who popped out from between some palm trees.  It turned out they were brothers and lived on the island.  They first helped us find shells to add to our collection and then joined us for a swim.  Khadir taught them how to do backflips, and we left them just as the younger brother had loosened a gigantic beach vine, about 20 feet long, and tied one end of it around his older brother's waist and was grasping the other end, making him pull him along in the water.

On our way home we took a break from endless boat and bus transfers to visit Khadir's friend Erci and her little five month old baby in Semarang.  We were actually rounding a corner on our way to the house when we ran into Erci's mom, who herself had just arrived from an overnight bus journey home from attending a wedding in Bali.  We were showered with friendliness and all kinds of food to eat and bring home with us.

So, I couldn't really call the trip relaxing, but it was worth it.  Indonesia always manages to provide moments of sparkling magic and beauty, as well as experiences of succor and levels of kindness and warmth that you generally only get from your closest friends and family in the States.... but it also sometimes really makes you work for these moments.