The Wedding

  Pangandaran, Indonesia
Tuesday, July 10, 2007

After arriving in Jakarrta I was relieved to find that my friend Kieren had Emailed me regarding the details of his wedding.  The plan was to meet a couple of his friends and his Mum, Dad and Sister and travel to Pangandaran from Jakarta together. Kieren's friend Russel and I therefore organised a mini bus.  At the time we were told by the guy at the travel office that the journey should take around 3 to 4 hours at the most.  It became clear fairly early in the journey that this was a gross underestimation.  We also realised that our driver was under the impression that we were going somewhere else.  This was not a major problem for any of us except the driver was also under the impression that the journey would take 3 hours and had to drive back to Jakarta after dropping us off.  At around 5pm or around 8 hours into the journey the he realised how late he would get back to Jakarta and started driving like an absolute maniac.  At one point on the winding road one of the rear wheels of the minivan actually came off the road and we all thought for a millisecond that we were going over!

When we arrived in Pangandaran we were greeted by my freind, the groom, who showed us to our accomodation.  Not long after this we went to a local bar on the beach and caught up over some cold Bintang Beers.  This was also the first time that I got to meet the bride to be which was a real pleasure.  

The next day was the day before the wedding.  That evening friends and family went to the venue of the wedding and met the bride's family and had some food and tea.  This was made a lot more difficult given that the only people who could speak both English and Indonesian were the bride and groom.  All in all it was a pleasant experience and the family seemed like lovely people.

The next morning was the big day and started off with us being picked up by Becaks which are a popular local form of transport with a seat on the front, bike wheels on either side and the back half of a bicycle powering it at the back.  The becak took us to the family home where we found the groom lounging, looking quite relaxed wrapped in a sarong.  This is where we waited until the lady arrived to dress the groom and his parents prior to the wedding.  Once the family was looking dapper we headed to where the ceremony was being held.

The morning of the wedding with the man himself

At the start of the ceremony both family's waited at either end of the driveway leading into the venue.  A man then performed a dance on the ground between the two families and Kieren's family were then gradually led towards the bride's family where they greeted one another the headed into the venue for the ceremony. 

My friend Kieren with the family of the bride

As you would expect the ceremony itself was in Indonesean and some Arabic so it was often difficult for me to follow what was going on.  Luckily though I could at times overhear Kieren's former Indonesian Lecturer who was also attending and kindly translated for Kieren's family.  After what was a very nice and touching ceremony the  bride and groom were seated on a large throne on the stage and the photos began.  This is when the rest of us were treated to a sumptuous feast of local food that had been prepared for the occassion by the family.  This is also when the band playing local music kicked off.  Not long after this myself and some others left and returned to town.  

The Bride and Groom

We returned to the wedding later that evening to find what seemed like the majority of the towns poulation streaming in and out of the wedding.  This is also when we discovered that the bride and groom had changed outfits no less than 6 times during the day!  All in all the wedding was very nice and a great success.  Certainly quite a different experience to a Western wedding (most notably the absence of alcohol!).

Other than the wedding we generally did a lot of eating drinking and relaxing in Pangandaran.  I also manged to try my hand at surfing a longboard a couple of times at Pangandaran beach and at the beach at Batukaras which was about an hours ride by motorbike from Pangandaran.  I even managed to stand up a few times which was a new experience for me and something I would definately like to try again.