One Fine Day, Two Lost Brothers

How can you look so serious when you own an actual monkey?

"Everybody is waving at me as I ride the bike.

Some stop to take a photo. A white guy comes along, he seems interested, like he has never seen a monkey before. Yes, I am a monkey in a park."

Indeed there is a monkey in the central park, riding a little bicycle, gathering happy glances and waves. His (or hers, but lets say it was a he) owner is a terribly worn out looking chap, far from what you would imagine a monkeytamer looks like.

"Go play with it! Maybe it's a girl and wants to give you a kiss!"

The mosque next to Malang's alun-alun.

Every city in Indonesia has a central park, alun-alun. It is a square with trees, benches, green grass, birds, beggers and entertainers. It is an important gathering place and often marks the city centre. Every weekend it is packed full of people enjoying coffee and a free evening. Nobody tolerates drinking alcohol.

A calm stare is cast - the monkey is looking at me, until the chain around his throat pulls him to do another lap with the bike. I feel certainly intrigued by this little fellow and decide to go sit near him. On a way save him from all the other people for a while.

He decides to do the same. He jumps close to me and the owner lets him sit there. A tiny brown hairy hand takes hold of my pinky toe. Miniscular deep brown eyes turn at me. "Is this ok?" I can almost hear him say.

Mmhh yes. Lovely to meet you too. Now scram.

I have never seen a monkey before. (save some zoos and the encaged one I saw from the train four weeks ago) So, I was paying attention to what he is up to. He jumped on my lap and ever so gently started inspecting my white leg hair, touching them lightly, until he noticed a scar in my calf with some dead skin around it.

"This stuff doesn't belong here, dude." he thought.

Lightly and gently he picked out the dead skin and threw it away. It's hard to believe I'm dealing with an animal! The calm expressions.. the consideration of movement.. I could just sense the wisdom, intelligence and self-....

..and then he jumped on my shoulder and started eating my hair.

Get you haircut today in Indonesia!

So I take it back, a monkey is a monkey. But it has incredibly human-like charasteristics. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he actually recognized that I am different than other people he sees daily, and that he still remembers that. I am going to miss that monkey! He was the forst one I ever saw.

My friends didn't take it as emotionally as I did.

"So you found your lost brother!" My friend Anggra said when she was going through photos from my camera. I was having a haircut at her boyfriends hair salon. "You look so alike!" Even the non-english-speaking people laughed at the joke. I realized I'm somewhat of an idiot around here, but at least a happy idiot.

This guys becak is a moving vegetable kiosk.

Back to the story line.

Only a few hours after the monkey-incident, everybody is waving again, this time at me, as I ride the bike. Some stop to take a photo. What's happening now?

In Indonesia a common mean of public transportation is a Becak, a three wheeled tricycle, with a seat for two people in front and a driver in the back. The price is up for you to negotiate, but it is usually no more than 10 000 rupias (0,8€), so it doesn't really matter where you want to go.

Here's a quick "pros and cons":

- Riding a becak is enjoyable and you will feel like a colonizer, making the guy happy to take you anywhere for just a nickle.

- It is slow, and usually only old people use it, so you can sense locals going "puhhhlease.... damn tourists!" when you ride through the crowded streets. And who wants to feel like a colonizer anyway? Thats so 1800's.

While youre not driving, you can turn into a cat and have a nap.

So I wanted to ride but not feel like a dork, and had a great idea. I paid the guy 10 000 to let me take him from pasar Besar to the central park. It was the best decision evdr made. Riding the becak yourself is not only supercool, its good for your thighs.

"Hey! Whos paying who!?" People were shouting.

Ami was enjoying the ride too and my customer, the driver pak Waloyo, almost choked laughing when he saw his colleagues drop their jaws and nearly their dentures as we rode like heroes through the centrum.

Bros and cons.

"Matur suwun!" Pak Waloyo said. "Sami sami pak!" I replied. We did the "bros before hoes" handshake and I realised this was already the second missing bro found in one day.

Who would have thought they both live in Malang?