Ask Lemmy

One night in 2014 I was vacationing on Bali, walking on the streets of Ubud late at night after going to get cigarettes from the Indomaret around the corner. On my way back I noticed a large group of young men sitting at a round table in front of a closed cafe joking and drinking beer. I waved and said selamat malam and was going to continue on my way when one of them called me over. He asked if I had any kretek or beer, and I actually did have a kretek, so I gave him one. He asked if I wanted to sit with them and I agreed, so I sat down, and they started drinking a large 40 of Bintang (local beer), but it was fully shared, everyone would take one sip and pass it along. We ran out of that beer and I volunteered to go get some more. They were fun guys. A couple of them worked at the cafe we were sitting in front, while a few of the others were in a band together. The reason they were there is that they were essentially conducting a wake for the guy who had asked me to sit down's mother. I hung out with the guys for a couple of hours. They busted out their instruments and started playing some cuban music (very well) and we all got slowly drunk together. We laughed and cried together and it was just a really nice experience.

I'm going back to Bali once again next week, too. Good thing to remember right before I spend a full 24 hours traveling!