A quick call to Siti confirmed it was OK to head to her place now, so we caught the B3 bus and bumped and jolted our way through the traffic to the prescribed stop where we got off after around an hour journey.
Another call to Siti and we waited for the pickup she'd offered. After a bit of a wait Siti turned up on her motorbike with two friends so Eunmi and the girls jumped on the back and they were off, leaving me there to wait for someone to come and pick me up. Just as rain threatened, one of Siti's friends returned on his bike so with backpack on my back, the other large bag on one knee and the girls' smaller ones on the other knee. we were off down the myriad small side streets that intersect the blocks of houses in between the larger roads.
We were there in about 5 mins and stopped outside a very large house where Eunmi and the kids sat talking with Siti and friends.
Siti turned out to be a very likable person, very social and distractingly beautiful with large eyes, full lips and an extremely wide and attractive smile that seemed to be on her face most of the time. We were shown to two rooms, one for the girls and another for Eunmi and I. Nice big double mattress on the floor looked inviting after the morning excursions. After a while Siti's husband, a quiet Belgian guy called Marteen, arrived, having been busy trying to get the house ready where they were due to move to in a few days. He was still working for a Belgian company, and would draw up plans for new storm water and sewage utility pipes based on the number of houses and planned houses on the streets. They have a very cute daughter called Aurora who is blessed with the good looks of European and Asian mixed children usually have.
Later after meeting more of Siti's friends and other American couchsurfer, we went out on the motorbikes to a large open park with a couple of large trees in the middle. This was a local hangout, especially young people and families with children. Around the park, which was now dark was a continuous processing of peddle cars festooned with flashing neon light and in various themes of animal and other shapes, with each blaring their own musical themes, quite a sight!
They were interspersed with the usual frentic mix of bikes and cars. After we had some coffee and snacks at a table on the grass, the girls bought some 'flashspinners' that are launched by rubber band power about 40 ft into the air and come down spinning and flashing lights. Eventually we succumbed to the kids pestering and hired one of the pedal contraptiens to do some circuits of the park. The kids all climbed up to seats on the top while we sat downstairs and did the pedal work. It was quite good fun bantering with other people on their peddlers and having little mind races with them.
After that we left on the bikes and headed to a nearby bar for a few beers, and headed home for a well earned rest after our early morning start.
The next morning I woke up quite early, chased out by a need for the toilet, which in Siti's house is a squat style and water scoop for cleaning up. Even at 6 am it's warm so a splash of cold water around the arse is actually pleasantly refreshing and if it was warmer in the UK we'd probably follow the same practice at home. I stood outside and watched the hens and cockerals scratching about for grubs and grit amongst the leaves in the opposite neightbour's yard, aling with some ducks and a number of cats. The cockerals were already in full song exchanging their raucous calls, while the hens gentled fussed about with quiet calls to the numerous chicks they had in toe.
After everyone else was up, Marteen took me for a ride around to have a look at their new house. It was much newer, and another impressive place, single level but covering a large area. Each bedroom had an ensuite as well, and there was nice private rear garden with around 10 ft wall to stop prying eyes, Apparently this place is situated in an area where there are a lot of expats and guest houses, so them having foreign couch surfers wouldn't attract the attention it did in the old house, and the neighbours making false accusation that drove the landlord to ask them to leave.
The new house would cost $2400 per year to rent! The old one had only been $1500. Incredible! It makes it very tempting to sell up and move there as we'd be able to live there for a good long time at that rate.
When we got back to join Siti's family in a bar after a full day's sightseeing, it ended up being a bit of a boozy evening as some of Marteen's expat friends were there and we ended up playing pool over quite a few beers. I was talking to a Norwegian guy about climbing and caving, and he was saying there was some quite good climbing nor far from Jogja.
Eventually we left, waking up the kids who all gone to sleep draped across chairs, and spread ourselves amongst the two bikes for the ride home. It reminded me of when I was about 15, riding home drunk after nights at the pub with Marcus and Steve in Nelson.
The next day was a lazy one, doing nothing in particular, apart from picking up the laundry and lazing around talking with Siti and Marteen. We found out they'd met in a restaurant where she was working at the time, normally in the kitchen, but on this particular occasion she'd come out the front and they'd had the chance to meet. They felt in love and eventually got married and started their family. It was nice see they're a happy couple and Marteen treats Siti and the children very kindly.
Talking to them later, we decided on their recommendation and from the guide books that we could go to the city of Solo for a couple of nights the next day.
We made a fairly leisurely start, and caught a bus to closeby the Maliboro area as the station is at the top of that main road. One the way we were feeling hungry and diverted into the Matahari shopping centre, and weakened enough to go and buy some KFC. It cost 106 k (£5.35) for 6 bits of chicken and a large sprite.We made a point to the girls not to waste anything, because guiltily we realised that 106k was around 1/4 of the monthly salary of one of Siti's friends we met there.
She worked for some wealthy Chinese man to act as servant to his daughter, essentially having to be on call at short notice at all hours, including when she was at school during the exams, and had no time off to speak of - what her future will be is hard to imagine, but hopefully she'll find a way to escape the situation.
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