Java: kamar mandi or how to use an Indonesian bathroom

A 'Bemo' or Indonesian public transport!

On the road: Lombok

From Bali to Java. Finally I stepped away from the tourist route. From the moment I put my lazy ass into the bus to Surabaya (Java), I entered (sur)real Indonesian life. I paid for a ‘comfortable’ bus ride, but it turned out to be just another extremely shabby vehicle. Airconditioned, yes, but far too cold. And you would never want to use the ‘onboard’ toilet. A television at front, but ow-ow-how, NOT for movies. Read this and be horrified: the screen was used for karaoke songs! No need to tell you that the bus driver played it LOUD?!

Whatever. Charming part is the fact that since this bus ride, I haven’t seen a single white skinned soul (and this is already 3 days ago). And I must admit: it’s easy to get used to.

To you, reader, a little trip from Bali to Java sounds easy in the ear, and indeed I fully agree: on Google maps these islands seem so tiny and ‘easy to do’, but in reality it took me about 20 hours of lonely travelling. Lonely, because no one on the fu**** bus had any notion of the language we call ‘English’ (so far for the international status of this language, it is NOT TRUE that EVERYBODY knows English!). I only got confused looks and faces turning into question marks.

Because of heavy rains and bad road conditions we had a 5 hours delay… so I arrived at the doorstep of my first host family in the early morning hours. No worries, Indonesians are used to these kind of situations, so I was immediately given a bed, on which I crashed till late afternoon. When I woke up, I could hardly remember where I was. And when my host Santi introduced me to her house, her sisters and her mother, the feeling of walking around in some strange Asian movie only got stronger. Everything is soooooooooooo different. 

Santi in front of her house, Java

Mama in her 'homefactory'

Santi cutting vegetables

middle: 1000year eggs

Sue preparing my morning coffee

My latest and newest discovery: ‘mandi’ or the Indonesian way of showering. You need a bucket and a scoop or 'gayung'. Showering, or rather pooring water over your body manually, is called ‘mandi’. That’s it. So having a shower in Indonesia = scooping (splashing) water over your body and the floor. Fun!

Not new as a discovery, but very Indonesian: squatting on toilets. And the non-existance of toilet paper (I refuse to get used to this! I find and buy my own:-)

Indonesian 'kamar mandi' or bathroom

Sue demonstrating 'mandi', or 'how to take a shower'

Other details: the sound of the domestic gecko, the two dwarfy dogs (of which one is really old and without teeth, just imagine this!) and five (or more?) cats. Even the architecture of the house is something I never saw before: a long covered ‘street’ with many doors that give way to tiny rooms at either side of the ‘street’.

But lovely people! And thanks to Santi I got ‘connected’ to Indonesia, despite the daily heavy rains, the grey sky and the crowded city life. For a few days, she took me on her motorbike. We visited old (Dutch) churches, catholic (Dutch) schools, wonderful Chinese temples (pure poetry for the eye and the nose… magic spell and smells), hyper modern shopping malls, the French embassy and cultural centre, the Dutch culture&language centre, we paused for street food, we gathered for tea with friends at night...

Kitchen and work space

Me and Santi on the motorbike

Street food: Gado gado! Yummie!

Heavy rains

And of course, I was constantly spotting Dutch (or should I say Indonesian?) words. Amazing how many Indonesian words have their origin in the Dutch language. For those who speak Dutch: can you read the following words?

Indonesian: kamar, kamar mandi, polisi, gordyn, achterut, parkir gratis, apotek, apoteker, knalpot, spoor, brompit, pit, anfal, wastafel, waslap, handuk, spanduk, rok, onderrok, rok span, coklat, termos, kulkas, lekker, nakas, helm, sempak, telepon, stempel, ekspedisi, kosmetik, kantor, notaris, pos, parfum, advokat, kopling, hanrem, open, twedehan, rokok, stir, telat, openkap, karcis, oom, tante, oma, tegel, plafon, strom, stopkontak, sakelaar, kelas, viaduk, wortel, asbak.

Nederlands/Dutch: 

kamer, ‘badkamer’, politie, gordijn, achteruit, gratis parkeren, apotheek, apotheker, knalpot, trein, bromfiets, fiets, aanval, wastafel, washandje, handdoek, spandoek, rok, onderrok, spannend rokje, chocolade, thermos, koelkast, lekker, nachtkast, helm, ondergoed (!), telefoon, stempel, expeditie, cosmetica, kantoor, notaris, post, parfum, advocaat, koppeling, handrem, oven (!), tweedehands, sigaret, stuur (van bromfiets of auto), te laat, open dak/kap (van auto), kaartje (ticket), nonkel, tante, moemoe, tegel, plafond, stroom, stopcontact, schakelaar, klas, viaduct, wortel, asbak.

Indonesian

my ghost

Chinese altar

Chinese temple - Surabaya has a large 'Chinatown'

Me in sigaret museum: House of Sampoerna

Farmer showing tobacco plants

Painting of a smoker

Dutch church