IN THE KAMPUNG WITH DECCY

kampung is an indonesian word for a very small village... my friends in malaysia recommended that i meet their friend deccy on my way back through west kali to pontianak, where i would catch a boat back to java.. deccy, who lives in pontianak, was 180km away in the small village she grew up in looking after her father as her mother had become ill. I met her there and planned on staying the night and leaving in the morning, but my stay turned into a week and i didnt want to leave! i fell in love with life in the remote surroundings.. there were no nearby neighbors and the house was situated amidst many lakes and jungle as well.. the house had electricity for only a few hours in the evening and everyday we would eat vegetables from the forest, catch fish or snails, and bathe in the river...
i was so amazed at the beautiful simplicity and contentment of life in these conditions.. deccy taught me to cook many vegetables that i had never seen before and also taught me one of the most important skills ive ever learned: how to make sambal!! sambal is the basis for indonesian food and, although there are many types, it is basically a very spicy paste made by hand from chile, fermented prawn paste, salt, sugar and juice from a local citrus that resembles a lime, but tastes more like an orange.. the 'sambal' that we used to get in restaurants in the states was a very poor representation of its original version..
after one week of pure contentment i wondered 'is this the type of life ive been looking for? a simple beautiful life were each day was enjoyed and spent sustaining oneself?'

when the time came to leave, this was a tough place to pedal away from... very very tough