Moving forward with my wedding plans in Seminyak Bali

Todays date here in Bali is January 16th which means 10 more days of freedom for me.

When I say freedom I mean being single. To be honest that is the least of the things on my mind and as I am going to be a dad it is no big deal at all.

Saturday night I rode over to my mate Palus house on Jl. Majapahit in Kuta and chatted with him and his wife Wiwin about legal issues. They were married last year in Bali in a Christian ceremony. I will be doing the ceremony muslim style with another in Javanese style in the afternoon of the 26th.

I recently found out that I will have to do a quick muslim conversion on the 24th, no big deal just say 2 things in Arabic and I am good to go. The muslim wedding is over super fast too, each party being asked if they take the other and after that you are done.

Palu was telling me me that in Java on many occasions right after the wedding ceremony the couple are supposed to go off into a room and have sex, the bloody sheet being presented to the girls mother. In Bali about 90% of the weddings happen after the girl is pregnant, whereas in Java it is usually the other way around. The Hindu religion is all about fertility and procreation and some Balinese men will not marry a girl until she has proved she can have kids. Ika has already proved she can so I am happy.

Palu told me if Ika and I get the civil marriage licence our child will be considered British. Indonesia does not allow dual citizenship so basically the kid will be a foreigner here in Bali. That also means if Ika and I split at some future date I will have custody. The other alternative would be to have the muslim wedding and the Javanese wedding but not file the civil papers, meaning I have no legal relationship with the child, therefore it is Indonesian and can therefore get a British / Irish passport down the track too, under the counter so to speak. Ikas parents really want the Buku Nikah (wedding licence) and are not thinking about anything else so I will have a hard time pushing for the second option. Things will work out anyway. Palu also said when the kid is 20 it can make a choice between Indonesian and British. It is going to suck having to pay visa fees though.

I have to get a suit for the muslim ceremony, a couple of rings, 2 plane tickets and come up with cash for the mother in-law to arrange the whole thing. I will be glad when the whole song and dance is over and I can get on with my work.

Palu and Wiwin are off to Australia today but said they might make it to Semarang if they get back in time. That would be cool and I am sure none of the locals has ever met a 6ft 4inch blond Aussie before.

Ika was telling me I will also need a letter from a local muslim group saying I live in Bali, to hand to the other group in Java. She thinks this is going to be another money trap and was hoping to avoid it. Ika told me that to get paperwork organized in Java is very cheap, but here in Bali it can be exorbitant. For her to get a passport here in Bali cost 1.5m rp, one in Java costs 250,000rp I think. Many Javanese prefer Bali documents as some countries in SE Asia have a negative impression of Javanese people and can often block them from entering. Ika said when she got her passport she was told that the passport office worked in an atmosphere of co operation and 6 people had worked on her passport to get it to her. Basically give us some money. That is how Indonesia works, gate keepers and middlemen, even in government employment.

The weather right now is pleasant. It did rain this afternoon but the morning was sunny and we have not had the usual heavy downpours that one associates with the wet season.