Dennis 69th birthday on August 27! Bima is a large commercial port town with a
population of about 270,000 – it even warranted a page write up in Lonely
Planet primarily because it has ferry and air service and is a good transfer
point for those travelers heading to the Komodo’s or Bali. It’s a very conservative muslim community
with many mullahs and conservatively dressed women in long skirts, long sleeves
and of course the head covering.
We anchored near the port in about 10 meters of mud – the first day
Dennis dropped us off at shore as their wasn’t a convenient location to leave
the dinghy but the second day we tied up our dinghy at the port and paid a
fisherman to watch it. Bima was a good
place to provision and to buy a large battery.
It had a good farmer’s market, grocery store with dry provisioning items,
hardware and even a bakery with beautiful cakes! The only thing I still can’t quite hack are
the dead fish and chickens lingering all day in the heat at these markets – the
smell is quite pungent!
Just as I was telling our friend Jim that I would never
ride on the back of a motor cycle in Indonesia where they drive like maniacs with no regard for
safety, a young college student (Fery) pulled up on his motor cycle offering us
a ride to town for our shopping expedition.
As there were no taxi’s and the walk was about 30 to 60 minutes in the
afternoon heat – what alternative did we have, other than to accept. So Fery called his uncle to help out – I rode
with Fery and Jim with Fery’s uncle; neither of us wearing a helmet. I know that they drive on the left side of
the road but at times I really didn’t know if the drivers paid any attention to
that convention. In our little shopping
spree, we only got lost once. So here I
am, a woman pushing sixty in 2014, holding onto Fery with one hand and grocery
bags in the other. Fery was eager to
practice his English, so he often turned his head to talk to me, instead of
keeping his eyes on the road. We whisked
through the farmers market stands, dodged horse drawn carriages, drove through
private garages and passed vehicles and pedestrians on both sides of the
road. I must have caused quite a sight
as the Muslim women (fully draped with conservative clothing) waved and cheered
as this very white middle age western woman.
The ride was so much fun, that I eagerly volunteered to go back the
following day with Dennis to find a battery and to zip through this town once
again Indonesian style!
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