Choose Through Quiet Village or Graveyard

I am not a brave person. I am a typical person who is timid about mystical things. Since I was a child, I lived in a village where some people have believed that ghosts existed at night. Friday night in the myth of Javanese is the most sacred night.There is one film that greatly influences the myth about Friday night. In the film, how scary the events that occurred on friday night were presented. Various kinds of Indonesian ghosts such as genderuwo, pocong, kuntilanak, glundung plecek, memedi bandhoso, jerangkong, etc. sometimes still occurred in my mind even though I was in this old. The memory of the stories of ghosts and friends can suddenly reappear when I drive alone. Especially on a lonely road at night there are strange feelings, creeps and fears that make me panic and suddenly break out in cold sweat.

As I have told in another part of this book. When I have driven at night in one of the quiet villages in Bangli, I was really scared and get the flood of cold sweat all over my body at that time. In a quiet village most of the people are farmers. They have slept in the early night. At 9 pm the village people are mostly already sleeping so that at night the village atmosphere will look quiet and deserted. This will be a problem for me if at night I have to drop the customer to isolated villages.

In addition in Bangli, I once again took my passenger a foreigner from America who lived on a small village in Labuansait area of Pecatu. The hotel  was actually nice but the location is very isolated. At that time even after midnight at 12 o'clock I got an order from one of the beautiful villas located on a cliff in Uluwatu. Once I knew the destination, I also checked Google Maps. I was hesitated between continuing or canceling the trip. I know the location is remote because I once tried to pass that road during the day. I am a typical person who always wants to know about everything. 

In the afternoon when I faced with two road choices I would definitely choose a road that I had never passed before. I always wanted to know what was actually something along that road. This is actually quite good if one day we pass again we can choose the best and fastest way.

Back to my passenger destination. During the day the view is beautiful with a small road winding up and down and many sharp turns. In one spots we can see a spectacular of Indian Ocean. But the area is still very sparsely populated. The houses are far apart and only shrubs are there. Sometimes there are temples under a big tree or near a bridge on the road. But at night it must be very quiet and very rarely anyone passes by. There were only bushes, beautiful temples during the day, large trees with ups and downs and sharp turns.

When the hesitation was finally I received a call from my passenger Miss Lauren. She asked I could pick her up or not. Finally I ventured to pick up my customer. The happy smile of her was clearly visible when I arrived at the villa where she was waiting for my arrival.

"Hello .. how are you," she greeted her kindly

"I am fine, thank you," I said

Finally my passenger got in the car. She told me that it had been more than two hours to order a taxi online but she could not find any driver online. I also say that in this Pecatu area there aren't many drivers online. Not because there are no passengers, but the area is already controlled by local transport. I told her that if we pick them up and they will be found out we might be attacked and they will get into trouble from them. She also justified what I said to her because she had experienced the driver almost beaten by local transport there. I suggested Miss Lauren to learn to ride a motorcycle so that it could be easy to go anywhere. She just smiled and replied that she did not dare to ride a motorcycle.

Then the trip entered the small road exactly as I imagined a few minutes before I picked up my passenger earlier. The road turns up and down turning and occasionally passing a small bridge. After passing a few sharp turns we finally arrived at her hotel. The hotel is pretty nice with dim lighting because it's really late at night.

After saying goodbye to Miss Lauren I drove myself and was only accompanied by songs that I set on the radio. I deliberately heard loud music so I could keep my spirits up. The most important thing is that I remain brave and have the courage to go back to Denpasar. When alone at night through the lonely streets like this I never once dared to look into the back cabin or just look at the rear view mirror above my head. This happened because I was told by my friend that had experienced severe shock while driving alone. Suddenly he saw someone sitting in the back seat a few moments and then disappeared. I didnt know that true or not, but what he told me usually can suddenly appear when I experience the road conditions as quiet and alone like this.

I felt the shadows of the trees were coming after me as I drove myself into the silence night. None of the vehicles passed me. During the day actually people rarely pass this small street, especially at night. I felt something sitting in a dark black on the right front of my road. But I did not have the courage to look at the black shadow. I pressed the gas pedal strongly so that I could quickly get to the Labuansait Road. After crossing a small bridge, finally I arrived at the main road. I took a short break to take a tissue to wipe my sweaty neck and forehead.

Another time I received an order for Mumbul Area. It was night time around half past eleven at night. Without suspicion, I took my passenger to his house. In the middle of the road it turned out we had to go through a funeral complex and a crematorium. Suddenly I was afraid and somewhat hesitant to enter the gate of the housing entrance. My passengers also know my fear. They tried to encourage me that there was nothing on the road. They often pass there when they come home from work at night but have never met ghosts or anything scary. Hearing their explanation I tried to stay calm. After delivering them, I  had to go back along the road flanked by the cemetery and the crematorium. The atmosphere was very quiet there. My body is upright with both hands holding the steering wheel stiffly and my view is only straight ahead. There is no courage to turn to the tomb building on my left or right. There is also no courage to look in the car's rearview mirror. My eyes are only straight and the speed of the car continues to increase. Fortunately, the main road By Pass Ngurah Rai is not too far away. Finally I was able to pass the funeral safely.