Well, I managed to survive my holiday. I obviously didn’t die, no serious injuries to speak of, I didn’t get mugged and I managed to not blow all of my money even though I did go a bit over budget. All in all, I’d chalk it up as a success. Making it to the top of Mt. Kerinci was undoubtedly the crown jewel but Krakatau (well, Anak Krakatau to be exact) wasn’t close behind. Seeing it blow its top again and again and then being able to stand on its shores was a humbling and monumental experience. To say it was worth every bit of money we paid to get there is a vast understatement.
Honestly, we didn’t expect it to be active at all since every bit of news we received was that it wasn’t active—at all. Now, we of course went there expecting to see nothing but when we went around one of the islands about an hour into the journey and I saw the black smoke, I knew what was happening and it was fucking spectacular. I’ve never seen a volcano actively erupt with my own eyes and it was mesmerizing. I couldn’t stop thinking that we were in the same place where an eruption literally changed the world in 1883 with an unimaginable eruption.
All the historical information aside, it was still an amazing experience. To visibly see the Earth spew its guts is something that just has to be seen. Knowing that at any moment that fucker could spew ash and rocks on us at any moment was, well, a bit exciting. Creepy and a tad bit scary yes, but most of the time I just had goosebumps from being there. There is a very mystical air that lingers about and it starts before you even arrive. Honestly, I’d go back again tomorrow if I had the opportunity.
Conquering Mt. Kerinci was definitely more challenging but I can’t say it was any more rewarding. Sure, the views were splendid, the physical exertion was welcomed and the cold weather on the top a welcome change, but it didn’t move me like Krakatau did. When we set up camp, I honestly thought—and subsequently said out loud—“This is going to be my quietest night in Indonesia.” Well, I should have known that would never come to fruition. Not two hours into our attempt to sleep, I saw a massive flash of light and then felt floor-shaking thunder. You can guess what happened after that: yep, it started to rain. When you’re in a third-rate, barely music festival worthy tent, this isn’t comfortable. Add to that the fact that we were literally sleeping under a dilapidated shelter of nothing but steel (read: FUCKING STEEL!) bars with lightning raining down, it wasn’t exactly comforting either.
Now, this little storm did pass but I swear not two hours or so later, I start to hear voices. Now, I’m wondering just who the fuck is up here in the middle of the night and what the hell are they doing. It is Indonesia you know. It turns out that it was another group who, for whatever reason, decided to ascend in the middle of the night. To say that they were loud, obnoxious, ignorant fucks would be putting it mildly. They acted as most Indonesians do with complete indifference to the fact that it was nearly 1.00am, we were obviously in the tent (and probably trying to sleep) and acted like a bunch of wild animals—which I suppose would be appropriate since we were in the forest on a volcano and all. Nevertheless, I quickly realized that even at 3000 meters, you might be able to escape the mosques, but you can’t escape Indo(noise)ia—fuck me.
The transportation problems on this trip were unparalleled by anything I could ever have dreamt up. Sure, transport in this country is generally total shit, but to not be able to cover short distances due to everything being full, landslides, bad roads and idiotic, stupid, uninformed people just about pushed me over the edge. I tried to hold my patience but it was tough. After nearly two days without sleep or even lying down properly to even attempt to sleep, I was a physical and emotional wreck just waiting to blow. Somehow, we finally managed to rent a private car from one of the travel agency owners and got him to drive us to town at the terminus of the rail line. From there, it was relatively smooth sailing to Pagar Alam but my god were we shattered. Then, just to make it 100% Indonesia, our driver (who I must say was a funny, clever son of a bitch) dropped the news on me that a bomb exploded in Lubuk Linggau not one week before. Well, fucking great eh!
Not to be deterred, we procured a very nice, but still rather cheap, hotel that sold over-priced beer with a broken shower rendering it impossible to clean up. After two days of travelling in the tropics, I smelt of everything nasty and hadn’t shaved in well over a week. We just said, “fuck it” and went in search of cold beer to get positively drunk, forget about it all and pass out. After reaching a well-deserved state of intoxication, we managed to waddle to the store to buy more beer, as I wasn’t quite ready to throw in the towel, and make it back to the room. I managed to get two of the four down before I couldn’t stay awake any longer and was asleep at something like 3.00pm. I awoke again around 7.30pm, continued the assault on my liver, made a few phone calls, watched it rain and then went back to sleep uninterrupted until the next morning. Yes, it was a great night.
{Interlude of shit that isn’t important or newsworthy.}
Yes, I do realize I’m skipping around a bit but we did make it back to Palembang where things just got, well, interesting in the best of ways. A hot romance ensued, a massive party went down and things went from great to awful and back to great again—wow! I must say that this place always keeps me on my toes. Just when I think it can’t get worse, it gets great and when I think it can’t get any better, it gets worse. I don’t know if that’s the best way to exist, but well, it’s reality for the time being anyway and in some ways, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
So, this is where things get interesting. It’s about to come down to decision-making time and I can honestly say that I don’t know what the hell to do. If I put my faith in one thing, it’s rather easy. If I follow my heart and do what I want to do, it’s rather easy. However, if I factor in reality and outside opinions, it becomes rather difficult and that’s my problem. I’m beginning to feel exactly like I did last time and that is torn. I’m torn between making an easy decision and a hard decision. I’m torn between staying on the same path or making a change. I’m torn between exploring the unknown or taking the path that’s already known. With everything that’s been said and happened, it’s just not clear right now and I don’t know if it will ever be completely clear either.
I guess it comes down to trust and putting your faith in the unknown. But can I do that? Am I ready to do that? What am I willing to do? What is the other person willing to do? Is it possible to achieve what we want to achieve? These are all things that are unanswerable at this point. I wish there were a clear, well-lit path but there just isn’t. I never thought that at twenty-eight I’d even be thinking like this but I am.
I’ve done some great things here and I know that leaving would be hard. Overall, I quite like Indonesia. Even though it’s not always easy to live here, I’d say that most of the time it’s great. It’s unbelievably hard—and even harder to describe—the difficulties in adjusting to a new country, language and especially culture. The way that things are done here and the way people act are so radically different from anything I’ve ever experienced. From the fist day until now, I still make mistakes. I say the wrong thing, I do the wrong things, I’m misunderstood and misinterpreted and it can be frustrating as all hell. However, I’m trying, I’ve been trying and I’ll keep trying until I get it right. Every learning process has its share of mistakes and this one is no different. I can only hope that my efforts are appreciated and not taken for granted because I’m trying harder than anyone probably knows.
Eh, it seems that I’m beginning to get off topic and get into things that I’d rather not right now. All in good time I suppose. All in good time. I’m off until I have another good story to tell.
