About 17 yeas ago, I was taken by our friend Roo Ted to the second Franciscan Orphanage at Palasari in West Bali, where the older kids 12yo upwards are catered for. We were both invited to eat, saying Grace with the Nuns, when the Sister noticed that Ted might not be Catholic (didn't say Grace or Bless himself) and, in the Indonesian way asked him what Faith he followed; Ted answered ‘Kalathunpian' to which the Sister answered, again in typically Indonesian fashion, ‘oh yes they have a Church in Sanur n ear Bali Hyatt'! At a later date, when the Sisters came to pick up further donations and have lunch with us in legian, I explained the joke about ‘Kalathumpian' and the Sister nearly choked on her ice-cream with hilarity at being caught out in her gentle Porkie! The purpose of our trip , apart from delivering a large amount of clothing, was to see what they needed and it turned out that they were in need of P.C.s for educating the orphans, thus readying them for more work opportunities when they went out. This project went well as we were able to return a few months later accompanied by Ms. Deanne Cameron who kindly set them up on-line, with two P.C's; the Sister in charge, spent two nights teaching herself to touch-type from the course we brought and all seemed well, although the on-line bit did not proceed far as the orphan girls might have seen inappropriate scenes.
On this second trip, we delivered the P.C's being driven by our regular driver for many years, Wayan Ruda, who is still driving but gone on to more lucrative clientele. When we headed back towards legian we were faced by some rain, which quickly turned into the full-on Monsoon, the roads, such as they were quickly turning into a quagmire, punctuated by floods, mud-slides (whee!) and scant visibility. Our driver Wayan, struggled with the conditions manfully, seeming to us to be at risk as he ignored the over-loaded trucks from Java over-taking us at speed, drowning us in muddy water. We plodded on through the Monsoon and had the satisfaction (naughty-naughty !) of seeing one of these trucks turned on its side spilling its contents, to the delight of locals chain-ganging the contents back to their Kampungs, thanking Dewa-Dewi Bali for their good Karma in acquiring goods forwarded kindly by friends in Java, which came as Jetsam and supposedly legal to gather. It might be that ‘Jetsam' applies to ship-wrecks, but the Monsoon floods may have confused the locals, always hungry and happy to apply Laws of the Sea, if necessary, who could blame them?
Our gallant Wayan struggled on through many lakes and mud-slides to our great admiration and bowel--loosening fear, the journey back to Legian achieved after dark, taking 5 hours instead of 3. With great joy, we paid him double++ and christened him Wayan Hero for his titanic efforts in battling us through the Monsoon, safely. Hero (Hay-Roh) has another usage in Indonesia, applied to scattered remnants of the old Heroes of the Revolution 1945-49, who form a bedraggled, blue uniformed group nowadays, some limping some being wheeled in wheel-chairs at Funerals of dead comrades.
Having gone almost to Java, visible over the sea from Jembrana, we felt we would like to take a 4-day trip over to possibly view Surabaya and a few other places. When we asked Wayan for a price on this lucrative trip, a good earner, he just replied ‘Cerurit' and said he was afraid of having his throat cut by the Madurese Mafia who control drivers in Java. The Cerurit, sometimes spelled Clurit or Cerurut is a sickle-shaped, razor-sharp small knife carried by these gentlemen, concealed behind their backs, who are reputed to sneak up behind victims and slice off their heads, not an event that reaches the media, reflecting badly, as it would upon the local safety and progress of Tourism in Bali-Java. At least that is what we were told; the reputation of the Madurese lads certainly precedes them in matters of hot temper and violence, so there the matter remained, a local Bugis-Man tale maybe but I'm not about to risk it! Except for three trips, 2 to Malng and one to Yogya all by air we haven't visited Java very much, over our 27 years going to Bali, 127 trips in all.