Christmas Eve

It’s nearly 8pm on Christmas Eve and if it wasn’t for the recent arrival of some other foreigners with their Christmas greetings, I’d never know it. Well, of course I would cause I know it’s the 24^th of December, but it feels nothing like it. Not in a predominantly Muslim country. I’ve decided to dine out tonight to celebrate both Christmas and my departure from this island. It’s been good actually, but three nights was enough. ‘Paradise’ has its advantages and disadvantages, some of them being limited access to fresh fruit, mosquitoes and running into the same faces over and over again. I need the mainland!

So here I am waiting for the 11pm ferry. Not an ideal way to spend Christmas Eve, but better than staying here any longer.  As much as I dislike boats and feeling nauseous in choppy water, I especially dislike the idea of traveling at night in a boat as I intend to sleep and don’t like the idea of going down while asleep. Maybe I’ll have a red bull and stay alert or sleep on the top deck. I doubt it. Probably pass out in my reclining chair listening to my iPod with no idea we’re going down until it’s too late.

We supposedly arrive in the small port of Jepara at 5am Christmas morning. And then I’ll catch the 6am local bus to Surabaya, a 6 or 7 hour ride away, my decided Christmas destination. And whether I arrive at 1pm or not remains to be seen, but seeing how everything always turns out when traveling by bus or train, I really doubt it. I actually doubt there’s a bus at 6am, but I remain hopeful for that. I’m all for minimizing time lingering at the bus terminal. I just wish it was a nice bus, but you can’t have it all.

Gado Gado for dinner on Christmas Eve. Boiled vegetables, fried egg and peanut sauce.

And now I’m semi-patiently waiting for my Gado Gado, which has come and gone since I typed the beginning of this sentence. The best version of it I’ve had since I’ve been in Indonesia, I must say. Warm peanut sauce drizzled over some boiled vegetables on a bed of rice. Also nice to have warm food for a change as I’ve been eating at some extremely cheap local spots where the food is precooked and waiting for you to put on your plate. Also delicious, but different.

Nirvana beach resort at Karimunjawa. Of course I didn't stay there, just lounged at the beach.

Excited about this ferry ride. Definitely not about the ferry ride itself, but moving on in this journey. I managed to make the most of this day even if that seemed difficult earlier on. The beach was nice even if I was by myself, the water wasn’t that swimmable and there was too much trash in the water. I must have pulled out 20 bottles from the water and countless instant noodle packages that had since taken on sand and the color of the ocean floor. That entertained me for a while. And the dead coral made me hesitant to swim, but also made me more aware of where I walked and I could see various tropical fish, which would have undoubtedly made me say whoa! if I had been wearing a snorkeling mask. And being alone, it was perhaps the most silent it’s been in my life in four years. Strange, but quite nice.

The trash, mostly bottles and instant noodle packages, that I pulled from the water. Almost couldn't see the trash as it had been neatly camouflaged in algae and sand. Gave me something to do for an hour.

Anyway, moving on! Still have a couple more hours to enjoy so I have to make the most of them.