BP GEOGRAPHIC

In order to attend the wedding of an Indonesian friend I went first to Yogyakarta in the south of central Java. Nearby is Prambanan, a 9th-century Hindu temple.

Then I had to take a bus towards the town Ambarawa in the centre of Java between Yogyakarta and Semarang. During the days before the wedding we had time to visit the surroundings.

First we went up to what seemed like a mountain. The horse doesn’t seem to care that it is standing on the slope of an active volcano. However, animals can sense danger earlier than we humans can, assuming that the reader of this text is not a horse. So if the volcano would be close to an eruption this horse wouldn’t be here. The steam in the background is normal.

During the days before the wedding of my friend we visited a railway museum near her hometown Ambarawa. It consists of retired steam engines which were previously used on the Indonesian island.

The house of my friend’s parents where the wedding would take place is located near this town, and next to the somewhat more modern house is the cottage of her grandmother, basically a hut made from wood. Indonesian villages often consist of a mix of more modern houses and these traditional huts.

Then came the day of the wedding of my friend, the bride. It involved several changing of outfits.

The last photo is showing the newly married couple in the centre and me in the outskirts. At some point they decided my western suit wouldn’t do it anymore so they gave me almost matching clothes.