Birthday

We have to report to the park headquarters before entering the forest. We wake up full of hope. I even wear a shirt. I think they should cause no more problems, given that it is my birthday. This does not move them. They simply and serenely say that we cannot go until we see the chief of the park, who will come back, maybe, on Monday. It is now Wednesday!

We try to take it well, though I am extremely upset.

We go to the beach, where we play with the waves, which soothes me a bit. A group of small naked laughing children. Anton and his pictures. And his judo moves, and his knives. But Anton is nice and arranges something to celebrate: we go to the fish market, and buy many fishes (like small tunas) which we gut (in the traditional way, detach the gills and pull out the esophagus from there – leave the liver to give flavor) and grill. They are very good. We also decide to have beer, kindly provided by Opo. The feeling was that they would drink to humor the crazy western drunkards, and that they will just buy, and share, a little. But this is not the case: bottles keep coming, Opo doesn’t hold back, we sing and play the guitar, I learn “House of the rising sun”, then Anton retires to design new knives, Alice joins Heather, and I am left with Opo making plans. A good night, I end up going to sleep at 2, a record.

We decided that the next day we would go to Krui, a place famous for the big waves, along the west coast of Sumatra.