Still in Kuta Lombok, I am basically waiting for the certificates on my land to be completed and then I can pay the final fifty percent and go try and earn some extra cash.The exchange rate at the moment is going to hit me for about 6g GBP if I pay the balance at this rate AGHHHH!. England’s economy looks dreadfully unproductive at the moment and the pounds strength against every currency is bottoming out.
Ok a few feelings I would like to try and articulate just for my own sanity really, I absolutely love Indonesia, it is an amazing place, looks like paradise and can sometimes feel like paradise if you have your earplugs in. Eg the original cultures and traditions are so simple and extremely refreshing to be around. Holistic living and everything from the chickens, buffaloes and children are all free range just roaming around the place. The water is warm, the skies are blue, the women are beautiful and the waves unrivaled.
However I want to explain to you one word, and the word is GOBLOK!!! Goblok is Indonesian for “absolute complete fuxxing idiot” and in Lombok there is so much GOBLOK around! I will explain as I do not want to appear bigoted or prejudiced. Basically along the coastlines of the remote Island edges where all the best waves are the Indonesian rural way of life has not changed in thousands of years until maybe the last 5 or 10. For approx 20 (Old Aussies surfers will say 40) years western surf travelers have been transporting their culture and influence to these places and the effect on the males between 15 and 35 is so apparent. Most Indonesian males are not educated and have no idea how to integrate information from the western world into their lives in way that appears sane or intelligent by western standards.
Here are some examples, nowhere in the world have I seen and heard mobile phones being so irritating used in public. Having one here is a status symbol, having your conversation on loudspeaker in a public place is standard especially if it was a quiet place before they start their display of phonemanship, include the most annoying ringtones you have ever heard. Eg. Local men sit in restaurants, internet cafes, bars and warungs etc, some are surf guides most local hustlers looking for an opportunity to make some cash. I often witness them put their mobile phone on the table playing their music on loudspeaker for every one in the restaurant, internet cafe to have to listen too coming from the naff tin like sounding handheld device, This usually happens when the restaurant already has music or a wonderful tranquil ambience. This is unbelievable to witness at first and somewhat intriguing in an anthropological study kind of way, however after the fiftieth time you start losing respect for this goonlike behaviour..
Internet is a new phenomenen here, all the 5 internet cafes are used by the staff/ men to watch porn after closing, As porn is illegal in Indonesia so most of the men have no idea how the rest of the world chooses to fXXk. This is so evident as they do not know how to clear the computer browsing history and now every public machine has viruses oozing from every press of every button so performance is slower than snail pace, the use of the internet here is almost impossible as it is frustrating..and the price 2.5 times that of Bali which is lightning fast by comparison.
Another example of Goblok here, Nearly every one takes the baffles out of their mopeds to make them twice as loud and half as fast. This place looks like paradise and sounds like a race track final.
The same men also pray in the mosques as though itb is their chance to become famous like a pop idol contest, they all compete with each other and turn the volume of the loudspeakers on absolute maximum so their prayers can be heard further away accross the palm tree tops than the other mosques. They love noise here, and fill every quiet moment with the most irritating noise frequencies all competing at once with the volume on full and maximum distortion. (think 4am every morning!!!)
Eating, the men could not make any more noise when eating their food even if they were competing for a prize, masticating with their mouths open shouting into their phone on loudspeaker as they suck their teeth and clear the back of their throats whilst spitting inbetween. There is little or no individual thinking and no thinking about other people around, they all copy each other in every way in every behavior, every restaurant for example has the same menu cooked the same way. Every bad piece of plumbing and bad building practice is the industry standard..
After a while some of this stuff grates on you and I have to count my blessings and have a good surf, I am here for the waves and the warm air. There is a reason Indonesia has 200million people combined with some of the most abundant natural resources on earth and is still poverty stricken. I am beginning to be so thankful for my education in the uk and all the media and information we are subject to really does develop and sharpen our minds. You do not find that here.
The language has no past tense or future tense, everything is present tense. The locals think the same, do not care about or have any interest in the past, no photos, no memories, and do not plan for the future apart from planting their rice fields. Their main concerns are am I hungry? tired, do I need a cigarette, have to answer my phone, or put petrol in my motorbike. This is the extent of most of the local peoples lives and concerns, a really simple charming existence.
However they have been watching cable TV now at work in the restaurants, many want to race a motorbike GP like Valentino Rossi, they have been setting up facebook accounts and watching porn online, they know who ripcurl, billabong and quicksilver are but it was only 5 years ago and even maybe this morning they were climbing coconut trees and riding around in horses and carts,
Unfortunately they interprete the negative aspects of western culture by impersonating the elements to the extreme so that they will appear more westernised, this is where you see GOBLOK in full effect, they are also thinking that every white person is a personal bank on two legs and if they behave the same they may become rich one day..
This is GOBLOK and Kuta Lombok is full of Goblok!
My local worker Ruka who really is a wonderful guy was who helped me understand what Goblok was and is, he most definitely is not..So I have been surfing everyday getting some work done on my land with him and passing time whilst I wait for the legal stuff on my land. Nothing happens fast here, so it is relax, eat and surf in the sun which Indonesia is so wonderfully suited for, the culture and some of the local men on the other hand are another part of the experience often an aspect to be endured some days whilst in search of perfect waves to surf.
But the Goblok culture here is most definitely not the reason you would visit the place…
