Where is Rune?

The last couple of weeks have been quite eventful:

14 June. Ellen and Uno arrives in Jakarta, from Oslo and Trondheim respectively.

15 June. Fitting of clothes for the wedding.

16 June. Wedding rehearsal. Dana and Christian arrives in Jakarta from Oslo.

17 June. Walks in Kebon Raya botanical gardens, Bogor. Mass in the evening at Cibubur to bless the water used in the “Siraman” ceremony.

18 June. “Siraman” ceremony at Cibubur, Jakarta. Siraman is a Javanese pre-wedding tradition.

19 June. Wedding at St. Aloysius Gonzaga church, Cijantung, Jakarta.

20 June. Wedding reception at Balai Kartini, Jakarta.

21 June. Uno and Ellen went to see our new rented apartment in Kuningan. Uno flies back to Trondheim. Dana and Christian fly to Lombok to stay at Windy Beach Cottages, Mangsit.

22 June. Ellen, Caecil and I fly to Lombok. We meet Dana and Christian at Mangsit.

23 June. Stay at the hotel. Not much else is happening this day.

24 June. Car rental (250k). With Caecil as the driver, we drive across Lombok to Kuta beach, via Monkey Forest.

25 June. Boat rental, with boatman (700k). Snorkeling trip to the Gili islands. Ellen stays at the hotel, however.

26 June. Caecil flies back to Jakarta.

27 June. I take Ellen to see the Gilis, using public transport this time. We spend the day at Gili Air. Ellen wants to stay here, so we decide we’ll come back the next day.

28 June. Ellen and I check out from the hotel and charter a boat to Gili Air directly from Mangsit (400k). At Gili Air we stay at Sandy Cottages. I spend the rest of the day snorkeling off the beach.

29 June. I walk around the island. By coincidence I meet Hans, a local hotel owner I met ten years ago (at Made Cafe, Yogyakarta). I remember him very well. He remembers me too. He’s 55 and has four wives and 11 children, a rarity in Indonesia.

30 June. Snorkeling off the beach.

01 July. It’s time to relocate to Bali. We go with horse cart, boat, taxi, ferry, and finally taxi again to Ubud, Bali. We check in at Puri Saraswati Bungalows.

02 July. Bicycle trip around Ubud. In the afternoon I went to Lod Tunduh village to check out a private residence I and Caecil had stayed at seven years ago. It was just a ruin now, only one of the four buildings still standing.

03 July. Walking and bicycling in and around Ubud. “Ogoh-ogoh” festival in Ubud in the afternoon/evening.

04 July. Ellen and I fly to Jakarta. We stay at the apartment.

05 July. Ellen flies back to Oslo.

11 July. I fly to Singapore to apply for another one of my endless visas. I stay at Sleepy Sam’s near Arab street.

14 July. I pick up my new visa in the afternoon and will take the ferry to Batam.

15 July. I plan to fly to Jakarta.