I just finished eating and I feel a a lot better than I did an hour ago. Which kind of ruins this post in my opinion. The fire is gone. I think my irritability is closely related to low blood sugar issues, most of the time. I need to remember that. It's happened so many times in the past where my assholiness dissolves once the food, as long as it's good, hits my tongue.
Anyway, I'm in Jepara. And I had a million things to complain about when I first arrived. Let's see if I can remember them. I'll start from the beginning. I left the Paradiso Homestay via becak (pedicab) around 10 this morning. I slept well for the most part and left the city of Solo behind with no regrets. It was best seen sitting in the shade of the pedicab knowing I was on my way to the bus station. Actually, I'm sure I missed something - it's just a shame I'll never know what it was.
I got to the station and the air-conditioned bus was waiting for me. I had time to use the toilet, buy some fried tempeh and within minutes we were on our way to Semarang. Perfect timing, I love it when that happens. The trip was a bit over the stated two hours. Aside from not being able to store my pack under the bus, which was a minor annoyance because I was inconveniencing others, I had nothing to complain about. Oh! Except for the lady who kept talking to me in Bahasa Indonesia and laughing even after I said Saya tidak bisa bicara bahasa Indonesia!
We arrived at the bus terminal in Semarang and again, like clockwork, I was able to use the toilet, buy some more tempeh and be directed almost seamlessly to the waiting bus, which departed within minutes of my arrival. They were waiting for me! This bus, more of the local variety, was the kind you take for the experience, but in this case, I had no other option. Fortunately I had a seat because it got tight in there. The experience lasted close to three hours.
The last hour every sign on every building said Jepara, but the bus kept going. I looked out the windows anxiously hoping there would be something to do, something to see here - unlike the previous place. I didn't see a single hotel or anything resembling accommodation. I saw a lot of convenience stores and often thought, I hope this is it, it'll be so convenient to be near a convenience store. Because if there wasn't anything to do, I could at least look for something new and exciting to eat. But no, we kept going and going all the way to the terminal.
At the terminal, I realized I hadn't done my homework and hadn't a clue where to go. And this becak driver started squawking at me as soon as I got off the bus. I was relentless and nearly evolved into fisticuffs. Not really. I was able to quickly get some names of local hotels from a quick Google search on my mobile and surmised that it wouldn't be prudent to try and walk there in my current state of irritation.
As much as I didn't want to, I hopped onto the annoying, but patient man's becak and soon we were at the Hotel Seguro. All of a sudden, this town looked alright. Maybe my view was distorted looking out of the dirty windows of the bus. I went to reception and asked to look at the cheapest room, which was full. Ok then, the room with A/C. For 120,000 rupiah in this small outpost of a town, it seemed a bit expensive compared to what I have been paying throughout Indonesia.
The room was decent, but had a squat toilet. I moaned about that. I had to moan about something. I wouldn't have minded if it was 60,000. A bunch of mosquitoes took flight when I opened the bathroom door so I let her know about that too. And I made sure they had spray. I agreed to the room, checked in and went to take a shower. And slowly I began to realize the place was alright. It had more than I usually had. A blanket on the bed, soap, two towels, a tv and A/C, not that I needed it. I decided I was going to apologize, blaming it on the long bus rides and just being tired and cranky.
But first I went to take a shower. And then I realized there wasn't a shower! Just one of those holding tanks in the corner and a bucket. What. The. Fuck. A bucket shower would have been fine if the price was half of what it was. So, I put my clothes back on and went to voice my displeasure. Not angrily, just to unnecessarily say you guys don't have a shower?
I was told that none of the rooms had showers, except for the 300,000 VIP room. So I returned to my room and partook in my first bucket shower in a long time and surprisingly didn't mind it a bit. It was strange to have such a quiet shower and be clean just the same. I slowly began to breathe again and anticipated an early dinner in the hotel's restaurant, also the hotspot area. And again, I ate tempeh. Grilled tempeh with rice, vegetables and an iced tea. Food is cheap and delicious here.
And now, it's only 6pm and I am content. Just need some more tempeh later, some mosquito repellent and some sunblock from the inconveniently located convenience store and I'll be on cloud nine. Oh and I have to find out of the ferry is in fact departing tomorrow morning at 9. If not, I'll be disappointed, but not surprised and on the first local bus out of here. I checked with everyone, the internet and tourist offices and the slow ferry only leaves on MWF from this town.
Not looking forward to the 6-hour ride tomorrow as I really don't like being on boats for long periods of time, but it supposedly brings me to paradise. I'll make sure I buy the VIP class ticket so I have less to complain about. In the meantime, I will try to confirm the ferry departure in the morning and try to keep the smile on my face. Sometimes that can be difficult.
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