A few more photos from the wedding in Java

Here are a few more shots of the wedding reception that happened last Saturday in Semarang Java.

The ways things happened was that Ika left our hotel in downtown Semarang for her parents house in the kampung of Klipang on the eastern edge of the city. Its government housing out here and a tight little community exists with tiny shops, a few mosques, badminton courts painted on the street and everyone knowing what each other is doing.

I took a taxi with Sean and Chris at around 9.30 and wore a shirt and tie although I knew we would be changing. The rutted road on the way to the kampung passed a country club where Ika used to work although I could tell Klipang was not the main priority of the local council.

Arriving we saw a few kids lingering around the tent structure that had been erected and the ladies across the street were getting people ready in their outfits.

I initially wanted the muslim wedding, the Javanese wedding and the reception to be all on the same day, Wednesday and on the plane back to Bali on Thursday. Ikas dad however wanted his colleagues and kampung friends to be invited meaning it would have to be on Saturday.

For me having Sean and Chris there was the highlight as well as Ikas sister Ningrum who was super helpful and a decent English speaker.

The event consisted largely of myself and Ika sitting on a decorated stage with 2 fan girls, Sean and Chris outside of them and Ika parents on the other side. Every time new people arrived we would stand and shake their hands. They would say Selamat and I would say Terima Kasih.

The immediate family made sure they featured in plenty of shots.

Many of the men were dressed in Indonesian smart wear, pant pants and a long-sleeve batik shirt, the women in muslim attire with hair covered. Everyone was smiling and good vibes and I think many people in Europe and the US would be surprised at the response. Remember we were in a very muslim part of the worlds most populous muslim country. Sean asked if he should be Canadian for the day and I said no way. People would probably be happy to meet an actual American after seeing so many on TV.

The is cake another western icon that has been adopted. We cut it together then did a chessey photo shoot feeding it to each other.

Great to have my buddies there to help me stay on track.