Drinking Games

We mapped durian gardens today, which was a nice break from time spent on a motorbike. In the evening, after showering and deciding on a plan for the last day of work in Sungai Daka, I joined Tono at a wedding taking place in the village common room. In many ways it reminded me of an American party – a band was playing on the stage, a group was dancing to the music, and there were drinking games in the middle of the room. The only massive difference? Everyone, except the dancers, was sitting down. And the men and women had to enter and exit from different doors. I did my best to play the drinking game – which involved seeing who could last the longest sipping tuak (fermented cassava root) via straw from a huge jug. I then tried dancing – which was far more fun than the drinking.

My overall impression of the night was one of control, however. Every five minutes or so, I and all the other dancers and men in the building was offered arak. I’d been told that turning down arak is impolite, so I took the smallest sips possible, but by the end of the night I wasn’t exactly sober…