Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Pulau Batam and The Ferry: Hygiene Optional

Despite everyone’s advice to fly from Singapore to Java, we decided to take the Ferry for the “experience”. The Ferry did not disappoint. It was definitely an experience. For starters, the Ferry terminal was a swelteringly hot old warehouse packed with close to a thousand people and their luggage (including giant boxes containing refrigerators, wares of all sorts and probably illegal immigrants). Of those thousand people there were four Caucasians and one Indonesian looking Peruvian. We quickly made our acquaintances with Alex and Lauren (two Romanian bankers who decided to quit their jobs and travel for a year, and Neil, an English biker who is biking around the world in four years (here is his facebook in case you don’t believe that this is a real person).





Waiting for the boat was nothing compared to boarding. We inched forward, one giant huddled mass, with suitcases on peoples heads and personal space a far-off western myth.
When Chris and I took the Trans-Siberian last summer, he referred to “platskart” (third class sleeper), as a refugee camp. The sleeping conditions on this boat brought that reference to a whole new level. The filthy, stinking boat was filled to the brim with passengers and trash, food and bugs littered the remaining corners and crevices. We quickly found out that we had bought our tickets too late to receive a bed, and were forced to scramble for floor or deck space, along with the other three hundred third class passengers who were overflow. We found a fantastic spot. And by fantastic I mean a cockroach-infested stairwell with a dirty hard floor to sleep on. And yet we felt like kings because we weren’t being rained on like the people on the deck, we had a tiny space in the wall that leaked air conditioning from the first class restaurant and were inhaling a bearable 6th deck stench rather than the nauseating cloud of awfulness that emanated from the 4th and 5th deck bathrooms into the stairwells.





"Camp"

The Romanians joined us, which created quite the spectacle for the other passengers on the boat. They were both confused as to why we weren’t in first class and curious about where we came from and where we were traveling. Three adorable kids followed Marco all the way back to our “camp” and enthusiastically practiced their English and kept us entertained for hours with silliness and card games. They called us “Miss” and “Mister” and patiently helped us translated our questions into Indonesian using Marco’s translator app.




Exploring the huge boat was lots of fun as soon as I got used to the stares and smiles from everyone on board. I think I was the first Caucasian many of these people had seen. The boat came furnished with a cheesy Karaoke “bar”, a Mosque on the top deck, and a kitchen that served terrible food (rice, cabbage and a fish head for three meals in a row makes ramen seem amazing). Even though barely anyone spoke a word of English, people made a huge effort to help me get back to the “camp” when I got lost in the huge maize of stairwells and hallways and asked around for the best way to get back to the city.


Tastes even worse than it looks
Coffee in a can

The boat ride as a whole was probably one of the most disgusting experiences in my life. You know it’s bad when people go to the bathroom to pee and throw up instead because of the smell (TMI?). I’m not sure we would have made it without the China Oel (thanks Mom!). You also know it’s bad when you can have a cockroach smashing competition in your sleeping quarters. But so far, this was also the most inspiring and humbling experience of our trip. The people we shared 3rd class with were the kindest, most genuine people I’ve ever met in my life. We sat around drinking coffee out of tin cans, communicating with smiles and laughter even though we had not common language and passing the unbearable thirty hours as best we could.  I’m not sure I’d do it again because of certain…ahem…hygiene issues, but long after the stench has faded we are left with a lot of wonderful memories with our new Indonesian friends. I’m even considering teaching English after Fulbright now. For the first time in my life, I truly understand why it’s important and how much education can change people’s lives.

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