September 11, 2001 brought forth an event that effected people all around the world. A couple of Muslims that I chatted with had also told me of their disgust for what was done I had registered my email address with the Jakarta US Embassy for their travel warnings. They had closed that office down for a 3 day period during the following week after 9-11.  I got  emails about every 2 weeks saying not to go to Indonesia. John Colvin, Jean and I had our tickets already purchased and planning to leave about 47 days later. Then on the Monday before we were to leave the email communiqués from the American Jakarta Embassy had lifted the "stay out of Indonesia" stance to "travel is okay”, "keep a low profile" before we had left America. 

But they cautioned everyone that had to go to Indonesia  to stay away from congested places of business and other places and always be aware of your surroundings and keep a low profile. Indonesia is a country with the most Islamic followers outside of the Middle East. Indonesia is about 80% Islamic with Java and Eastern Indonesia having clerics that incite their followers to doing things that most Muslims deny. They kill Christian Indonesians and scare any Americans that may be in the neighborhood. Some American Christians were held in police stations and interrogated for hours and then escorted to the airport and sent out of the area.

The three of us go to Padang, half way up the Southern side of the big island of Sumatra. Supposedly it is a more friendly Islamic following group.  Ache on the very west tip of Sumatra has rebels that want to be a separate country from Indonesia and many Indonesians are killed that work for American companies. It is an oxymoron situation as they do not want the American companies to leave but they still kill the workers. I heard that at least 5 Christian Indonesians were killed in Pekanbaru that previous summer in the streets. But we feel safe in Padang.

When our airplane was taxiing up to the pad where it was to park at the Padang International Airport, I noticed a film crew waiting for the plane. On our plane there are 16 people from Singapore and 3 Americans that were going to join Maningabau nurses and doctors in a one-day-16 clinic time together. 

Jean and I were in the back half of the plane but I was told that the film crew even came on the plane and got shots of the ones from Singapore and John. We finally got off and I saw the head-man for Silk Airlines. I knew him personally and he had come on one of our medical adventures. We shook hands and talked a little while the film crew cameras were running the cameras. We have to ride a bus from the plane to the building so we left our friend and got on the bus. Into the terminal and customs we went.

Nothing more was thought of it. Sunday afternoon we are put on a nice bus furnished by the friend with Silk Airlines at no cost. We arrived in Bukki Tinggi at the Nova Tel hotel about 2 pm. 

We had the rest of the day off so Jean and I went shopping for a digital camera card for storing pictures. I had taken out the camera and there was no camera card in it. How dumb can a person be by not putting that into the suitcase before leaving home? We had walked about half way to where we would start looking for a camera store when 6 young teenage girls came up to us. At least we thought they were that age.

They walked up to us and one of the girls, probably the one that was more outgoing said in perfect English, “Would  you like to come and meet our teacher?” We asked, “Where is she at?” They did not respond. Come to find out they had memorized certain English phrases in perfect English but did not know how to understand any English. Then they asked if we would write down our name and address for them. We said “Yes” and each one of them pulled out a notebook for each of us to fill out.

So Jean and I started filling out the information on each one. When we had finished they asked in perfect English, “May we take some pictures of you and us?”  So Jean and I would have two or three of them gather around while others took pictures. Then they would change pictures. A number of pictures were taken and then the one girl asked again, “Would you like to meet our teacher?” So I said yes and one of them took my hand and began to pull me. We went around the center park area where there was a memorial of some kind and down the street. We came to a car with a couple of kids behind it.

As we approached and another 20 or 30 kids came out and now they wanted our name and address. We began to fill them out with Jean with one bunch and I was with another bunch. I do not know how many we filled out and then someone said, “May we take your picture?” We said “Yes,” again, and again the cameras came out. This time I bent over and with my arms around at least two of them they would lean their cheek up next to mine and giggle as the pictures were taken. A few minutes later the two teachers showed up. They did not look much older than the children but they had to be at least 21 years old. I asked them how old the children were and they told us that they were ages 13 to 18 years old. A few minutes later the teachers said they had to start loading up so we went back to our shopping. That was sure a unique enjoyable time with some great kids, even though we did not understand each other, except for the teachers.

That evening, Huise and John took the American passports and went to the main police station and let them know that there were 3 Americans in their fair city. Bukki Tinggi has a population between 500,000 and 1,000,000.  The police chief emphatically told them not to worry, that nothing would happen to us and that he did not want a "burning Bush."  The next morning when we went to breakfast, the mayor and his wife, the police chief and his wife, the man in charge of security for that area, and the man in charge of the army came to be with the 19 of us for breakfast. It was a surprise for all of us but was a very enjoyable time to meet these dignitaries. They gave comfort for those that did have a concern.

About nine o'clock am we were in different autos taking each of us to different locations for a one-day, 16-medical clinic extravaganza. Each American was assigned one plain-clothed policeman, just in case, at least that is what we were told.  I was taken to a police station and had the medical clinic on the second floor (no elevator.)  I had 4 nurses at my clinic and not one of them spoke English. They looked over the medicine and we were able to identify commonly about 6 or so of the main medicines that the diagnosis nurse would use. I also got across to them that when anyone came in and nothing wrong, they would receive 6 vitamin pills so that they would not be embarrassed in front of the others for not having anything wrong.

The most serious patient we had was a 1 year old baby with a cleft lip. About an hour into the clinic I got an interpreter. About another 15 minutes and the mayor came by with Huise and had his press time with me. The clinic lasted about 3.5 hours. Huise came and got me and I showed him the baby with the cleft lip. It was determined that he would have to go to Jakarta hospital for cosmetic surgery and would do that later. Then he took me by Jean’s clinic. They were in someone’s house and had more people than I had. They had over 150 come to their clinic. Her nurse’s name was Rosalie and their pictures are on the internet and also on the one picture page of the hard bound book.

The mayor invited us to go to a competition selat that evening. After dinner, we took the bus we had and went to the selat. Somehow I got next to the mayor as we entered the large basketball arena. We lined up on one of the lines on the floor just inside the door and still next to the mayor. When we had entered the room, the drums had started to beat. There were four drummers to the extreme left of us in front of the stands. They began beating them with their hands. Each drum had its own tone.

On the left side of the gym there were two lines of 8 young men and the two lines were about 20 feet apart. At the far end were three ladies standing at attention dressed in special gowns. After we all got our toes on the line, the drums went to a different beat. The 16 young men began a choreographed sequence of moves similar to jujitsu or something like that individually.

That lasted for about 10 minutes I think. Then the drummers began a new beat and the men stood at attention as the three ladies started walking towards us down the middle of the two lines of men. Then they march to their left upon getting past the last two men, continued until they were in front of the mayor, turned right and stopped a couple of steps in front of the mayor. The first thing they did was to put a gold cloth crown with stars on it, on each of the guests. I was the first one they came to. Oh, lucky me.

The lady stands right in front of me dressed in her beautiful gown, I bow my head a little to help her reach over my head and it did not go on the first try. She is about 5 foot tall and so she went to her tippy toes and stretched the elastic to go around my head. Now my head was back to its normal position. She got in on just far enough to hold it long enough to go back down to the floor with her heels. Then the crown popped off into the air and right into her waiting hands. The crowd just roared with laughter. Being first is not always the best place to be. (see the picture on the web site).

That was a good catch. Without hesitating, she then goes  up on her toes again and this time I helped stretch the elastic and got it down farther on my head. Success!! Success is sweet and causes less crowd noise. After they put all the crowns on everyone, another lady, the one in the middle, a little bit taller had some green leaves in her hands. She offered it to the mayor and he motioned to give us ……… well something ……. whatever it was. “Why did the mayor not take some so I could have seen the protocol for doing it?” I thought. So I took one full leave and held it in my hands. What an honor to have been given the right to be first. Yeah really, do not be fooled ….. first is not always good a second time around, even if it looks easy. Then she goes back to the mayor. He just tears off a little piece. “What? Boy this is fun being first and not knowing what to do!” Then down the line she went each person NOW only taking a piece of a leaf. When done she returns to be in front of the mayor. At the beating of the drums, the mayor puts the part of that leaf into his mouth and chews it. I hurriedly tear a piece off of my full piece and follow suit. It was bitter to the taste but I guess it was not poisonous as we are all still alive.

Then the ladies turned around and the mayor motioned for me to be by his side as we followed the three ladies. They went back the way they came and back between the selat contestants. Then we ended up on the stage where we sat down on what was probably wrestling mats. At least it wasn’t the hard wood floor underneath them. He sat down crossing his legs and so we all did the same. This competition was the finals for the season and took about two hours altogether including some young ladies doing it. I liked the ladies better. Their motions were faster and more precise, I thought.

They all used knives that were real. They were about 12 inches long each one of them having a long handle and a wide blade coming to a sharp point. The one with the knife would pounce or jump at the defender and shove the knife towards the defender going between his arm and his side. I still do not understand how they did it so fast and did not draw one once of blood. They tumbled and swirled each other around, sometimes very fast. Some of them the defender would take away the knife. Some of the teams would have both having a knife. One team had a machete.

(From the future) I found out in March 2004 that the nurse that went with John to his medical clinics in March 2004, was in that competition but had not won. He told me upon finding out that I was there that he would like to get me selat clothing. The clothing are custom made for each individual. I wonder if he will find a knife like he used. This world is small at times the way people bump into each other in different places under different circumstances.

During the selat the mayor would change his sitting position from time to time in every which way that you can sit. I sat there crossed legs waiting for it to end. I cannot believe after it ended that I had sat so long in one position. Hey, I am now 59 years old now, almost 60 and my legs just do not bend and stay in the same positions as they used to. They finally started giving out the trophy awards and certificates. John Colvin was asked by the mayor to do the honors and he did. At the end of the awards I finally unfolded my legs and they even worked like they were supposed to, surprise, surprise. One of the men from Singapore said that they should have given me a trophy for sitting in the one position the whole time. Oh well, I had my moment of fame when my crown went flying into the air at the beginning. That got more crowd involvement than the awarding of the trophy anyway.

That all took place on Monday and on Tuesday we get on the bus and we go on a 4 hour scenic tour. We go over roads that kept getting narrower. We end up on a one lane road, paved and then it turns to dirt. Then we come to an entrance gate and turn into the paved driveway. The security guard says that it cost 1,000 rupiah for each person going in. Huise gets it down to 500 rupiah. I still do not understand when something has a decent price that a person just does not pay it. The 500 rupiah is only 6 cents.  Anyway, the bus proceeds up to a parking lot that would hold over 100 cars and we were the only ones there.

The grounds from the gate in are mowed lawns with trimmed bushes and trees. Flowers on the bushes were just beautiful. A couple of the pictures are on the web. There are 3 open cabanas with different roof that have some antique machines for making cloth patterns, churning butter, and the like. There is a huge building that is about 100 or more fee long. In front of it are two small 15 foot square buildings that had a pointed roof on top and was built up off of the ground about 5 feet or so. The main building had a 20 foot wide stairway to the front porch. The roof had multiple points to it (see pictures on the web) and there were multiple closed window areas along the front.

The marriage bed.

We entered after taking our shoes off, like in all Indonesian homes. We entered at the center of a huge room big enough for a basketball game, if there were hoops at each end. It was all hardwood floors. To the far right end was a stage. On the stage is a small ornate table with to ornate chairs to each side at an angle to the front of the stage. The walls and ceiling were embroidered with ornate designs. Just beautiful and so awe striking to the eyes. This stage was told to be where the groom talks with dignitaries that come to their wedding.

A little over half way down the wall opposite the door is a bed. This is the honeymoon bed after the wedding. It was a four-posted canopy bed with frilly shrill lace material. It had a beautiful bedspread with 4 large pillows in shams at the head of the bead. The chest of drawers was ornately carved along with the dresser.

At the far end from the grooms stage is another stage. This is called the brides area. It and small square bamboo seats, no back with an ornate tapestry covering. It also had a chest like a cedar chest, ornately covered fully with tapestry. Along the back were large folding screens with hand sewn tapestries. Again, all the wall and ceiling were hand sewn tapestries. Jean and I have a picture on the web site with all of this in the back ground. We spent about an hour enjoying such beauty.

We left there and continued on to a large cliff area. There was a ledge that was about 150’ above where we were with water coming over the edge. At the bottom is a small area of water that some were swimming in. It is a very picturesque area for a nice afternoon picnic.

After about a half hour we were back on the bus on our way back to the hotel in Bukki Tinggi.  Late Wednesday morning we head back to Padang.

When back in Padang I did the unthinkable and called Khairini. Remember trip 2, just 4 months prior, her father was so mad that he threatened to have me put in jail when I returned to Padang. She told me that her parents saw Jean and I on the 6 o'clock news on Saturday evening. We did not talk about the problem, I just wanted to see if she was all right with me. Khairini had been working that day and had gone out to eat after 6 pm, as they were going through Rhamadan. They fast during daylight hours during that time. So did not know about the 6 o’clock news and when she got home later.

She told me on the phone what had happened on the news that Saturday evening we had arrived. During the Saturday night newscast they had shown the pictures of the ones from Singapore and the 3 Americans when arriving in Padang, along with our itinerary all the way to getting back to Padang. During the latter part of that news item they told those watching that only 3 days earlier (Wednesday) that a bunch of young men swept the university in Padang and some hotels.

Sweeping is when they go room to room and house to house looking for Americans and telling them to leave the country because of 9-11 and their hate for America (Satan to a lot of Muslims). Their news casts coming to them in Padang, shows the international news with a Islamic slant. Then they closed that segment of the news with "These Americans must be very brave." When God is your pilot, there is no reason to have fear, and especially when you do not know about it until 5 days later. I have never been afraid or scared even when walking the streets after dark. But a thought ran through my mind about what was said, “being a very brave American” or being “a stupid American”. I like the first description better.

Then Khairini called the next day asking if we, Jean and I, would go out with her for dinner. She would pick us up at the hotel. We were told by a number of people that this could be a trap for her father to have the authorities have me arrested and put in jail for whatever I had supposedly done to Khairini.  Jean began to cry and I did not feel too good. The thought of being in their jail did not thrill me at all.

I do not think her father knew that I saved his daughter’s life twice. I doubt that Khairini even thought of telling him that. Jean continued to be scared the rest of the afternoon into the evening and I was very concerned. When Khairini showed up she had 2 friends with her. Both were English teachers at the same school she taught. One of them was Rico who also had been on Mentawai trips three times. We asked to speak to Khairini alone. Rico and the young lady went to the front of the hotel. We asked her about 3 or 4 specific direct questions, including how her father now felt about me and then Jean gave me the nod and off to dinner we went.

Nothing happened except that I could not eat a whole lot as I was recuperating from some kind of a stomach bug from the previous 3 days. After dinner, back to the hotel we went and we said our good-byes.

The restaurant was quite unique. Parking like usual at any Padang business did not have any parking area. It had a main house type structure that housed the kitchen. Then there were covered cabanas and we chose a two-story cabana and went up stairs. All the cabanas hat palm leave roofs. We sat on the floor around the table. A typical Indonesian meal consisted of separate dishes of the different foods that you order. I was able to eat some chicken and rice and a soft drink. Padang and Sumatra are knows for their hot-spicy food. So there was 2 or 3 choices of that. We had a nice talk, Khairini looked well and so did Rico. We were there about an hour or so and then they took us back to the hotel. When they went to say good bye, Rico hugged Jean and Khairini hugged me goodbye. That surprised me in that young Indonesian single women were not supposed to hug anyone outside of their family, especially a foreigner. So this is the second thing that she has done that is not allowed in being a Muslim.

The next day is Saturday and we are then back on an airplane headed back to America, and I did not get put in jail.