Stranded on Madura, travellers taken in by a local woman's hospitality

In 1996, while travelling around Indonesia, a writer and her then-boyfriend took a ferry from Surabaya to the nearby island of Madura and found themselves in a tiny village with little infrastructure and no obvious tourist facilities.

After walking from the pier and running out of houses within 100 metres, they sat in the sun by the roadside. A young woman in a kebaya and sarong, who spoke English, saw them and invited them to her family home when she learned the next ferry back to Surabaya was several hours away. She brought cold drinks but did not partake because she was observing Ramadan; she also introduced them to her two brothers, who were studying engineering, and spent hours talking with the visitors before returning them to the pier for their ferry.

The writer says the woman's welcome became her lasting model of the Muslim faith and left her feeling grateful and more optimistic about people. The account gives no further identifying details about the woman or her family beyond what was described.

Key Topics

Culture, Madura, Surabaya, Ramadan, Kebaya, Rice Paddies