On the third day, I went to an outdoor swimming pool with my uncle early in the morning, around 6 AM. The water was a little cool and it was quite a crowd, mostly elderly. During the day my other uncle took me to visit many relatives, again. He went back to Jakarta in the afternoon and I have been free to go my own but still obligated to visit other relatives. I have been getting phone calls and SMS for reminders.
In the past 2 days I have been hanging out a lot with former school classmates and occasionally with relatives. On the third night one of my cousins (I have more 60 cousins that I know well, I stop counting for some aunts' and uncles' children that I barely seen in the past) took me an outdoor restaurant. It was very delicious, they specialized in freshly smoked seafood. I sat there and could see and smell the smoke. It came with smoked rice too, wrapped in banana leaf. For drink I got avocado ice cream. Yummy.
On the fourth day one of my cousins took me to an interesting social group called "Hash". There are two groups, one spun out from the original one. They are sponsored by their core members who are middle-age businessmen. Perhaps it has to do with mid-life crisis. There are also some young people, they participate for free. On weekly basis they get together on Sunday afternoon around 1:30 PM and car pool to a rain-forest. There are several rain forest locations and they rotate them weekly. Locals were paid to provide three different routes around each rain-forest using papers. There is a short route that takes about 1/2 hour, intermediate for 1 hour, and long one may be for 2 hours. It rained hard for 1/2 hour when we got there and they decided to take the intermediate route. Just because they were middle-age men didn't mean it was an easy thing to do, as a matter of fact it was pretty risky and energy consuming. Perhaps mid-life crisis drives them to taste the thrill. That day was made more difficult with an earlier rain, it was slippery and muddy. At the end of the route my legs and arms were filled with scratches from branches and leaves. There were lots of climbing involved, as steep as about 45 degree angle, going down hill, and walked around hill sides. Any misstep could lead to serious injury. We also crossed some rivers using a bamboo pole as a bridge, it took a team work to ensure no one fell into those rivers. We had to make many stops, it was pretty exhausted and I was sweating like crazy. Surrounding by thick trees and plants was like doing exercise with an oxygen tube (plant releases oxygen). It took us 1 1/2 hours due to slippery ground. The event was concluded with food and chit-chat. I had a blast and it was very refreshing.
Immediately after I arrived in my hometown my friends took me out of town to a village called Karang Sari. It's in a remote area with great food, known for BBQ and smoked seafood. We went to a restaurant, sat on a floor (traditional way of eating, no table and eat with hands) and had a great time chatting and eating.
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