New Year's Eve

What a night!

So even though this is a Muslim country they obviously follow the Gregorian calendar and celebrate our Western New Year. Most people celebrate by going shopping in the massive mall complexes. People have been selling New Year's memorabilia on the streets; dragon horns, noise makers, etc since the afternoon. We started the evening with a few beers down the road, then free dinner buffet at our hotel (well, we actually paid for it, as NYE lodging cost extra.) After that, I told my small group about a supposed pub down the way, and we stumbled into Dyna Pub, which was actually not the one I was looking for.

We entered the most surreal and awesome little bar ever. The place was decked out to the core with Christmas decorations, and many other random objects like felt-covered dynamos on the ceiling and wooden puppets along the wall. When we arrived, the only people in sight were three small children who hurried off the alert someone of our arrival.

Here are the brave kids setting off fireworks outside the pub.

So we had some beers. Before we knew it, almost everyone from the programme was packed into this tiny, out-of-the-way pub. And midnight was quickly approaching.

(Photos courtesy of Laura Macintosh and Kate Ross) We drank the whole pub out of Bintang!

About 30 minutes to midnight, we ventured with the throngs of people a few blocks north towards the National Monument, built during Sukarno's regime after independence. It is a giant flame, something similar to the Washington Monument. Masses of people and motorbikes led the way, and we scurried across busy intersections, saying "Ma-af" and "Hello" to the smiling throngs.

I lost my small group on the way and joined another, watching the fireworks in the distance. Midnight came and went with no great fanfare, though we attempted our own countdown and hugs, etc. Alas, it was over, and we headed back down, picking our way through the traffic, at times using the litter-strewn grass median as a sidewalk. No harassment, no theft, no negativity. Just smiles and exclamations of "Happy New Year!" and "How are you miss?" I have never felt so safe in a developing country.

Back to the expat bar, the air was thick with heat and smoke, and a rock band played cover songs . We got a text from a fellow ACICIS guy who was sitting outside of our hotel listening to some employees jam on an acoustic guitar and homemade snare drum. We listened for a while and contemplated giving them money.

Here they are.

Soon, however, we began to dance little moves very slowly to the beat, and before we knew it we were encouraging other onlookers to join us. We danced and danced, thinking the song was just about to end, while some children spied on us through the hotel lobby window, giggling hysterically. Exhausted, we finally retired, chasing the kids up the stairwell. Finally to bed. What a night!