At six o'clock in the morning, my mobile phone rang. "Riiing... riiing... riiing..." I answered and heard a woman's voice say, "Hello, good morning. Is this Kusuma? I'm Lisa."
"Hi, Lisa. How are you?" I replied.
"I've arrived in Malang. Can I come to your place right now? Would that be okay?"
"Yes, please come. I've prepared your room," I said.
"Thank you. I'll arrive at your place in one or two hours," Lisa replied.
"Great, see you soon!"
An hour and thirty minutes later, my phone rang again. "Riiing... riiing...!! Yeah, hello, Lisa."
"Hello, Kusuma. I've arrived at the address you gave me. Where is your house?"
"My dad, Santosa, will pick you up," I said.
Ten minutes later, Santosa arrived with another motorbike driver, followed by Lisa and her friend Ophelie.
"Hi, Kusuma!" said Lisa.
"Hello, Lisa!" I replied.
Santosa then said, "My son, please show them their room."
I led Lisa and Ophelie to their room and said, "Here is your room, number seven. Please enjoy it."
Lisa said, "Wow, a vast bed...!"
"I thought you came alone?" I asked Lisa.
"This is my friend; she joined me to travel to Indonesia for the first month," Lisa replied.
"Hi, what's your name?" I asked Lisa's friend.
"Hi, my name is Ophelie," she replied.
"Nice to meet you, Ophelie," I said.
Suddenly, the driver who had helped my dad deliver Lisa and Ophelie came over to us and said, "Hello, Lisa."
"Minta uang jasa buat tadi nganterin ke sini," the driver said in Indonesian.
"Berapa, pak?" I asked.
"Yaahh... berapa aja," the driver replied.
I translated to Lisa that the driver was asking for money, and he said that it was up to us how much we wanted to give.
"Berapa, pak?" I asked again.
Then I suggested to Lisa, "I think twenty thousand rupiah is good for him."
"Okay, terima kasih," said Lisa in Indonesian. It turned out that Lisa had learned some Indonesian words.
"Thank you," the driver answered.
After Lisa and Ophélie finished organizing their backpack and some stuff, Santosa came to their room and asked, "Have you had breakfast?"
"No, not yet," answered Lisa.
I asked, "Are you a vegetarian?"
"Yes, I am. No milk, no meat, but sometimes I eat fish," replied Lisa.
"Oh, okay. What about eggs?" I asked again.
"I eat eggs," Lisa replied.
Ophélie said, "For me, I'm good with everything, except spicy-! hehehe..."
"Yup... Ophélie isn't a vegetarian," said Lisa.
"Okay, great, I got it. So next time I cook, I know what I have to make," I said.
Santosa spoke, "I'll buy local food that has white rice and corn rice with a lot of vegetables blended with grated coconut on top of the rice. Do you like spicy food?"
"Eehhh...! Not really," replied Lisa.
"And Ophélie?" asked Santosa.
"I'm not good with spicy food," replied Ophélie.
"Okay, I'll go now," said Santosa as he went to buy breakfast.
Meanwhile, I showed Lisa and Ophélie around the house. "I'm going to show you where the bathrooms are. Go downstairs. Sorry, the place is still messy because we're renovating the second floor."
"It's okay, good! Thank you," said Lisa.
"Do you want to look upstairs, where we're renovating the roofs?" I asked.
"Okay, this is so big. And only both of you are keeping this house and doing this renovation!" Lisa commented on our house.
"Yup, only me and my dad. So from this second floor, you can see Mount Semeru, the highest mountain in East Java. And this mountain is an active volcano."
"Wooow.....!" Lisa and Ophélie responded together.
Santosa came back with breakfast (Nasi jagung urap-urap), Javanese food. After we finished eating, Lisa said, "Uuhh... we need to wash our clothes."
"Oh... okay, and we'll plant tomatoes," I answered.
"We'll help you!!!" Ophélie responded.
"It's okay for today. You guys can take a rest and manage your stuff. Tomorrow we can do activities together, can't we?" I suggested.
"Yeah, okay...!" Lisa and Ophélie agreed.
"So feel at home and act like family!" Santosa said.
"Oh, ya... thank you, Santosa," Lisa and Ophélie replied.
"Okay, see you. We'll start planting, and at 10 am, we'll take a nap for one hour. Have a good time," Santosa said as he left.
Lisa and Ophélie washed their clothes and arranged their stuff. The next day, I asked them how they slept, and Lisa said they had a long trip before and slept really well.
"Okay, I'm glad, Lisa. So this morning, I'll make Soto. Maybe you can help me," I said.
"Yes...!" replied Lisa.
"I'll cook plenty so we can eat Soto for the next three days. It'll save time, and we won't have to cook all the time."
"Yes, that's good, more practical."
"We only need two people to cook. So one of you can help Santosa move the piece of timber downstairs to another place."
"I'll help to cook," said Lisa.
Ophélie chimed in, "Yes, and I'll help Santosa move the timber."
"Let's start!" we exclaimed together.
Two hours later, I said, "Okay, Soto is almost done."
"Wuuuuu... this Soto required a lot of preparation!!!" said Lisa.
"I'll check on Ophélie and tell them that the meal will be ready in ten minutes." I went downstairs to the bathroom area.
"Wooow...!!! you guys have finished moving it, amazing, amazing!!" I exclaimed.
"Ophélie worked so fast to lift the timber, she just kept working," said Santosa.
"Yes, I'm happy...!" said Ophelie.
"Lisa, you have to see this. They already finished moving the timber, really fast," I exclaimed to Lisa.
"Okay, I'll take a look," replied Lisa. "Wow, they finished it."
"Yes, Lisa, it's beyond my expectations. I thought it would take two days to move the timber, but Ophélie and my dad only took two hours, including arranging it, cool!"
"Oh, really?"
"Yes, Ophélie is incredible."
"Son, is the Soto ready?" asked my dad.
"Yes, sir. Lisa did great in cutting the vegetables."
"It's a beautiful meal, with a lot of ingredients," said Lisa.
"Let's go, we're hungry," said Santosa.
"Yeah, let's go," we exclaimed together.
Later that day, I said to Lisa, "I would like to try French cuisine, but just a simple one, because it'll be difficult to find original ingredients here."
"Oh yeah, we like it too. Now, we need to think about what we have to make."
After a long discussion between Lisa and Ophélie, Lisa said, "Okay, we'll make French fries and hamburgers with vegetable steak."
"Great! Tomorrow morning we'll go to the market," I said.
The next morning, Lisa, Ophélie, and I went to the local market to get the ingredients. After wandering around and chatting with some locals, we got everything we needed and went home. After arriving home, we prepared the ingredients and had breakfast with the leftover Soto from yesterday.
Lisa and Ophélie started cooking, and we rested for an hour and a half. At noon, I heard them playing music in front of my room and received a message from Lisa's phone saying, "We're ready to make the bread. We can start now."
Excited to cook, I opened the door and recorded all the processes as they made bread and hamburgers with vegetable steak. Making the bread took a long process, but it was worth it. The bread was really delicious, and this was my first time having homemade fresh bread with my dad. We also had three types of jam. It was so good that we forgot the process took over an hour, and we were starving by the end. It was a perfect day.
"Our stomachs were full, and our energy had been restored, thanks to Lisa's excellent bread. We continued to make hamburgers, enjoying the preparation process, especially me. It was a rare moment to cook together with such sincere friends and create something delicious.
Lisa made the vegetable steak perfectly, while Ophélie finalized the burger toppings. The burgers were beautiful and tasty. We had dinner together, drank some beer, and sang, creating the best moment.
On the fourth day, we continued to move the piece of timber together in the backyard of our house. The weather was cloudy with drizzles, and there were a lot of fleas on the ground. They jumped onto our legs, and some had bitten us, but we ignored them and kept going, listening to Lisa's favorite music.
"Okay, we're finished," I said.
After choosing the timber that could be used and couldn't, we could take a break. "For the next step, my dad and I will sort it out to build the roof," I explained.
"This is a big house, so there's a lot of work to do to repair the roof," Lisa commented.
"Kusuma, since the work is done tomorrow, you can take Lisa and Ophélie sightseeing around the village and visit the temple," Santosa suggested.
"Sounds like a plan. It'll be my first time exploring the village on foot. We'll have a nice walk together tomorrow morning!" I enthusiastically agreed with my dad's suggestion.
"Okay!" Santosa replied.
"Great!" I said.
The next day on day five, at 7 am, I exclaimed, "I'll take a bath, woooooo... arctic!"
"Good morning, Kusuma," greeted Lisa.
"Hi, good morning, Lisa."
"I'll prepare the lunch box. We can have crepes, okay?" Ophélie said, getting ready for sightseeing.
"Yes, that's good, Ophélie," I replied with happiness.
"Son, I have made a route map for you, the road to go, and home. Just follow the map directions," my father said, handing me the map.
"Thanks, Dad."
"Anytime."
Lisa, Ophélie, and I finished doing all the preparations for sightseeing.
"See you, Santosa," said Lisa.
"See you later, Santosa," said Ophélie.
"Bye, Dad, wish us luck, hehe..." I said happily.
"Okay, enjoy the trip, guys," said Santosa with a wide smile.
We walked through small paths, passed village after village, and through the pine forest. We headed straight toward the temple, and finally, we arrived.
"Okay, we're at the temple," I said.
"Kusuma, do you want to drink?" Lisa offered me a drink.
"Yes," I answered.
"Lisa, what do you want to drink?" I asked Lisa to order a drink in a warung or small restaurant in Indonesia.
"I want white coffee," Lisa answered.
"I wanna try this coffee milk with ginger," Ophélie ordered her favorite drink.
"That's good, Ophélie," I responded.
"Did you ever try this, Kusuma?" asked Ophélie.
"Yes, I've tried all the flavors mostly."
"And me. I want this one. Pop ice with mango flavor," I chose my favorite drink.
"Surrpp... aahhhh... this is good!!!" we exhaled and said aaahhhhhh.... together.
"Here we go, time for crepes," Ophélie gave a surprise by bringing out the crepes.
"Okay, bon appétit," I spoke French.
"Eehhmm... delicious, this is simple food but very good," I was impressed with the delicious crepe flavor.
"Yes...!" answered Ophélie.
"Finally, we arrived at this temple after three hours of walking," I said.
"Yes, this is a long trip," Lisa answered.
"Even though this is my first time walking, I'm good. I can do it," I said.
"Yes, sure, Kusuma!" Ophélie and Lisa responded.
We relaxed at the temple, enjoying the atmosphere and taking some pictures. Meanwhile, Ophélie hunted for butterflies while taking photographs.
"Oh! I thought it was time to go home. If you see the clouds, it looks like it'll rain soon," I said.
"Yeah, let's go!" Lisa and Ophélie answered in unison.
"Okay, let's go!" I exclaimed.
We walked out of the temple.
"So, you guys will leave on Sunday?" I asked. "I just found out yesterday from Santosa."
"Oooh, you just found out. Sorry Kusuma, we already talked about it on the first day. We thought you already knew," said Ophélie.
"Aaah, it's okay. So, two days later, will you leave?"
"Yes," Lisa answered.
"This is the longest stay we've ever done in one place. Before this, we only stayed for a couple of days before moving on. But in your place, this is the longest one we're staying," Ophélie explained.
"Yup, and we've done a lot of activities here," Lisa added.
"I'm thankful that you felt comfortable staying in our house," I said.
"Yes, we like it. We enjoy the local atmosphere, away from tourists or places full of Westerners, and blending with local people," said Lisa.
"Yes!" agreed Ophélie.
"Guys, we need to follow this path and keep going straight," I said, cutting the conversation.
"Okay!" Lisa and Ophélie answered.
After walking for about fifteen minutes, we found a three-way intersection, but we kept going straight. On the way, we met a lady who had just finished working on her farm.
"Where are you going, boy?" the lady asked me.
"Eehhh... we're going to Batu Gilang. From there, we can go home to Wonosari, can't we?" I answered.
"Yes, that's right. But if you continue walking on this path and keep going straight, you'll end up in the big jungle! You've passed the right path," the lady explained. "My house is near Batu Gilang."
"Ah, what!!! Wooo... luckily we met you. If not, it would be a different story. We could have gotten lost in the jungle," I was shocked. "So, can we follow you?"
"Yes, you're right. Please follow me. By the way, where do your friends come from?"
"Oh, they're from France."
"Ooo... Very faraway place."
"Yuuhh..." I exhaled.
"Lisaaa... Ophélieee...! We're going back following this lady, let's go," I told them.
We were back on the right track going back home.
"Thank you, ma'am," I said.
"Yes, from here, just follow the cement road, and you will arrive," said the madam.
"Terima kasih (Thank you)," replied Lisa in Indonesian.
"Oh, Kusuma, I need to use the restroom," said Lisa again.
"Sure, there's one in Batu Gilang," I replied.
We rested at Batu Gilang temple, and to our surprise, the man who guards the temple offered to show us his pet snake.
"Okay," we agreed.
"What species of snake is that, sir?" I asked. "Is that a python?"
"Wooo..." exclaimed Lisa and Ophelie.
"Why does he keep the snake?" Lisa was curious.
At first, the snake was very aggressive and tried to escape many times, coiling around the man's arm. But the man remained calm, and after twenty minutes, the snake relaxed and calmed down, allowing the man to play with it like a pet. He even offered us to hold the snake, but we politely refused, although he cleverly convinced Ophelie to touch it.
"Okay, just touch the head, alright? Come on!" The man persuaded us.
Ophelie agreed to touch it, but Lisa and I remained cautious.
"Okay, just the head, right?" said Ophelie.
Despite our concerns, Lisa and I exclaimed, "No...no...no...no...no...no...no...no!!!! Sir, don't do that!"
"Wooo...! Okay, I'll stay calm and not make sudden movements!!!" replied Ophelie, surprised.
"Be careful, Ophelie!" warned Lisa and me.
"Sir, please take it back!" Lisa and I said to the man.
"That's not a good idea, considering you said the snake is still wild and aggressive," Lisa added.
Finally, he took the snake back from Ophélie. We decided it was time to take a break, said our goodbyes, and continued walking home.
"Thank you, sir," we said.
"That was a strange experience. He just offered to show us his snake," said Lisa.
"Yeah, it was a strange day, but also pretty cool!" I said.
We laughed together.
After walking for three hours, we finally arrived home safely.
On day six:
We spent the day relaxing, talking, and enjoying coffee and Milo on a rainy day with the sound of thunder in the background. It was a quiet atmosphere, with not much activity around us except for the sounds of nature. We boiled hot water to take a warm bath in the cold weather, which helped us relax and release all the tension.
In the evening, I found a big-horn beetle, which was amazing. It was rare to find this type of beetle, so we took the opportunity to take a picture of it. Lisa painted it in her journal, which was already filled with many beautiful paintings.
After spending time with the beetle, we let it rest. Then, Ophélie showed me something new, which was very cool.
"Wow, that's cool!" I said.
"Lisa loves to play it, and she's an expert," Ophélie explained.
"What's it called?" I asked Lisa.
"I call it 'Balls' or 'Poi Balls'," Lisa replied. "I'll show you my favorite movement."
Lisa's movements were beautiful. She directed the balls with balance and accuracy, creating a beautiful dance with Poi Balls.
That night was a beautiful moment that will stay with us, especially for me and Santosa.
The following Sunday morning was our last day with our friends, Lisa and Ophélie. I made breakfast called nasi pecel.
"Breakfast is ready," I said.
"Thank you, Kusuma," Ophelie and Lisa replied. "That looks delicious."
"After breakfast, I'll tell a story with origami," said Ophélie.
"Wow, I can't wait. It'll be a wonderful story after breakfast," I responded.
After we finished breakfast, Ophélie prepared to tell a story with origami.
"Okay, are you ready? I'll start the story. This is about The King who Lost His Key," Ophelie began the story.
In the video below, Ophélie presents the story of "The King with a Key." Please enjoy and have fun!
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Even though we only have an origami picture of the Lucky Key, we still appreciate the meaning behind it as a symbol of luck, charm, and a memento left behind by Ophélie and Lisa. They shared their lucky strength with us.
Finally, the time had come to say goodbye. Although it was difficult, we knew that our friendship and camaraderie would not end here. We waved happily as the vehicle slowly drove away, taking Lisa and Ophélie to their next destination to continue their travels.
Thank you, Lisa and Ophélie, for giving us such splendid memories that we can now share in this story. Thank you for sharing your happiness and luck with us.
Stay happy always.
Kusuma and Santosa
Written by: Kusuma AS. Writer
Edited by: Santosa Laksana
