REDNECK'S IN EVERY COUNTRY

Sometimes I really miss driving my truck. There is nothing better than shifting into 4WD, spinning the tires, and climbing a hill (or spinning out in the mud). There is some freedom in it; especially when you can go where few others have travelled. In Indonesia there aren't too many people who own vehicles locally. Most families are lucky if they can afford to purchase a scooter/motorcycle as the main mode of transportation....and then there is Apoang (pronounced A -pong). He drives a 1972 Holden (El Camino Style) boat, with Harley Davidson stickers on the side, and a picture of a gun on the rear window. His car is well known, you know it's him before he even see him, and he doesn't need a 4x4. This car goes wherever it wants; whenever it wants! He is my kind of friend; especially since he goes fishing at every given opportunity.
Over the last few weeks I have fished with him three times. Two of which have been disorganized and crazy; just like any typical guy who is planning on going fishing. One night he invited me to go lobster fishing. Upon arriving at the boat he then informed me that the water was too murky so we would do some fishing instead. This was fine news to me. So we got into the boat and were prepared to go when Apoang threw out his line and began fishing before the boat left the beach. I asked him what he was doing, and he replied "fishing, What, did you think we were going to leave the beach?" It was really funny to me, especially because his girlfriend got seasick (without leaving shore) and he kept fishing even though she was feeling green. It was hilarious. We didn't catch much.
This weekend I had a feeling that our luck would change. Apoang had arranged for a boat to take all of us to a local island for the day, to fish, read, relax, and maybe go for a swim. We were supposed to leave at 8:30am but his girlfriend took the 1972 Holden to Calang to get bait for the trip. The car broke down and she didn't arrive until 10:00am and from there we went indirectly to the beach. At 10:30 we left the beach to head to the island and we were all excited. It turns out that he didn't really know anything about the island we were going to, and we couldn't land the boat there because there was no beach, just sharp jagged rocks. We ended up taking an hour boat ride to a different beach, which was very nice and beautiful; however, we could have driven to in 10 minutes (it was a part of the main island)!

We had a nice afternoon, but couldn't catch any fish. Then we took another one hour boat ride back home in the hot afternoon sun. It wasn't my idea of a well planned day, but hey I'm not one to talk. I've done similar things back home with guy's camping trips!I think next time Carmen and I are going to plan this weekend ourselves! We had a good time, but not what we expected. I guess there are Rednecks in every country.