Train to Kutoarjo - 4th September
[From: Michael Usher <miku@sedal.su.oz.au>]
Yesterday afternoon, we received a missive from our long lost Danny.
It came in a stylish brown paper envelope, with a 1000 unit stamp with
a whale skeleton drawn within the flesh outline on a background of blue
"wave" shaped layers (graded in darkness). The stamp's inscription
reads "100 TAHUN MUSEUM ZOOLOGICUM BOGORIENSE 1994", which I assume
means the Zoological Museum of 100 tonne bogosity. It is also marked
"REPUBLIK INDONESIA", of course.
The envelope address is:
Tangerine
26 Old Canterbury Rd
Lewisham 2049
AUSTRALIA
annotated "Pas Udara" and "AIRMAIL".
The envelope contains a piece of plain white card, dimensions 238mm by
169mm, folded once in half. The facing outer page of the card has an
inner address:
Michael Usher
Carole Cusack
Tangerine
26 Old Canterbury Rd.
Lewisham 2049
with an oblique marking at an angle of about 80 degrees slanting from
mid centre to top right:
I hope you had a fun time
at AUUG.
Lots of love,
Danny
The reverse outer page of the card has a hand-painted picture of
dimensions 142mm by 96-98mm (not squarely cut). The artist's name is
unclear, it is a capital D followed by a short stroke (like an
un-dotted i), two more short strokes next to each other, finally a long
descending stroke (a straightened un-dotted j?).
The picture depicts five people in a field of some form of yellow crop
at the foothills of a jungle region, which leads up to a grey distant
mountain, and pale blue sky.
The card's contents are harder to describe. Danny wrote in two inks,
and left many emendations. I have endeavoured to retain as much detail
as possible. The lines are quite long, though. Apologies to those on
80 column screens. I've marked the parts Danny crossed out with '[['
and ']]'. Danny used the '[' symbol to mark a change of writing time.
The first emedation ("between Bantung") and the section from the fifth
to twelfth lines (starting "[ It's 1am, and ..." and ending "get to
Borobodur tomorrow...") were written in red ink (though the emendations
in the latter section were marked in blue!) and the rest of the card
was written with blue ink. I've tried to decipher the emendations, but
some were just too hard. I will endeavour to scan in the card, and
make it available at http://www.sedal.su.oz.au/~miku. Try late next week.
Postcard #7 Train [[between Bantung]] and Kotoarjo 3/9/94 - 4/9/94 | [[???????????]]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Carole, Michael, Andrea and Tangerine! I've just got onto the train, and it's filling up
around me slowly. It costs just 7000Rp for the [[10]]9 hour, 250km+ trip, and that's first class!
Due to my lack of reading material, I'm going to write a lot instead -- I hope you don't mind
transcribing all of this [[?]] [ It's now 1am, and I've been sleeping intermittently. I hate to think what
it must be like in economy -- it's not terribly comfortable here. We have stopped somewhere and
the usual collection of pedlars is wandering up and down the train selling drinks and snacks.
have had
[ I ^ found a hotel without any problems -- I [[have]] to pay for two nights, because I arrived at
and they provide tea and drinking water free
5am, and it's 12500Rp a night, but I have my own bathroom and a fan ^ [ It's now
8.30 and I've just done my washing. I haven't got any plans for today except to try
and change some money and find a post office, and to work out how I an going to
get to Borobodur tomorrow... Hmmm... I forgot it's [[an]]a Sunday, and nothing is open --
banks or post offices, that is, there's a lively market and everything else is open. I found
an air-conditioned bookshop and spent some time there, but all they sold was textbooks --
their
Indonesians don't seem to read much except `serious' books for ^ studies and popular magazines.
It's going to be a stinker of a day -- it's only 9.30am and it's already unpleasant. I think I'll
stay in the hotel until it cools down this evening. [ There doesn't seem to be much to do in
Kotoarjo, and in retrospect I should have gone straight to Borobodur this morning (there is a
a
direct bus, which confirms a suspicion I formed on the train that Kotoarjo is [[the]] jumping-
But
off point for Indonesian tourists wanting to go there). [[Actually]] it may be for the best --
<break onto second page>
I imagine Borobodur is really packed on Sundays, and this way I'll turn up fresh on a
Monday morning. [[???]] Talking to the hotel staff, who know no English, is a good for my Indonesian,
but linguistic
[[though]] not as [[?]] good as the more critical [[???]] environment [[?? ??? ??? ?????]] in the Bandung losmen.
I think I just got propositioned by the woman across the hallway -- at least she suggested I
go to her room tonight and do _something_, [[and she was]] speaking so as not to be overheard,
while
[[and]] making dubious gestures with her hands. I just apologised for not understanding
Indonesian very well :-). Despite my expostulations, they are still putting sugar in my tea,
[[??]] undissolved
though not the usual [[?? ?????]] saturation with half a centimetre ^ on the bottom of the glass.
One of the hotel staff just came out of the room opposite and tole me (unprovoked!) that
the inhabitant was Chinese and by herself, like me... -- but maybe I'm just confused, as she
has two children with her[[!]]?? [ I've just had a bowl of chicken noodle soup for Rp 500 from a warung, and
am chatting with a group of people [[???]]sitting around the TV. (Indonesian TV is pretty awful, I'd
take an Australian commercial channel anyday). I haven't spoken English all day, and there are
no other Western tourists around at all (though apparently they get lots of French cycle
many programs
tourists)[[.]], but ^ the TV [[????]] are in English with Indonesian subtitles.[[ [ I've just had a ??? ????
????? ( ??????????????????)????????????????????????????????????? I should ????? well.]] (where's
my "undo" function? :-) [[????????? I]]
Just before bed last night I had a full body massage [[&]] along with
some chiropractice, and I've woken up feeling really good! Time to go change some
money, send some postcards, and head off to Borobodur. __________________________________
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Love to everyone, Danny | Dhog