exquisite indonesia

imagine a tourist from indonesia arriving in san francisco. in the airport, she turns to the couple behind her, asking them for a hotel recommendation. after chatting for a while, they offer to drive her to the hotel themselves. on second thought, once in the car, they invite her to come home with them. they make her food and take her out to see san francisco.

the tourist heads on to berkeley. on the bart ride there, she's asking about hotels. a mom and son invite her to hop in their cab, and take her to a hidden jem themselves. it's delightful, with old-fashioned architecture and artifacts from the gold rush in california scattered everywhere. it's got a lovely pool. the hotel staff bring hot tea and leave it on the table outside her room every morning. in the evenings there are symphony practices and people gather to listen, drinking tea and chatting in the courtyard.

in the daytime, her new friends take her by motorbike to museums, hidden hang-out spots, and markets with dozens and dozens of stalls of bizarre foods and lovely fabrics. people at the hotel invite her on their lunch hour to go to the local square for modern dance performances.

indonesia's been sorta like this. hard to imagine the reverse happening, for an indonesian tourist to america. but i've had to push myself to keep up with all of the invitations. my third night here, i walked into an old hotel with a gamelan performance - traditional balinese music - with everyone drinking tea in a lantern-lit hall, antiques everywhere. it was honestly magical, an experience that felt as if it could happen nowhere else in the world, only in java. so much of southeast asia looks so similar in respects to places elsewhere in the world that it is delightful and unexpected to come upon places that feel singular, unique, untarnished.