A Whiter Shade of Pale

 

And so it was that later
As the Miller told his tale
That her face, at first just ghostly
Turned a whiter shade of pale
Procol Harum [1]

Recently I have written a German text on Borobodur [2] and I thought: how strange that you've never have written on this trip to Java before.

I had arranged this trip myself. Most of the tour evolved while doing it. I had a flight from Frankfurt, which meant staying a few hours in Dubai and then flew on to Jakarta. I stayed a day in this busy megalopolis and bought a railway ticket from Gambir Station to Yogyakarta; which I had to do beforehand and it had been very cheap like 25 €.

Then jet-lag hit me. First I didn't sleep well and then I slept like a stone not waking when the alarm went off. When I woke up later, I realized that there were only 26 minutes left before my train would leave. I decided to try my luck.

I went to the bathroom, brushed my teeth, used the toilet, packed my toiletries bag, and checked that I didn't forget anything. I had taken hardly anything out of my suitcase, so I could repack it quickly. I rushed down the stairs from the 3rd floor to the 1st floor, paid and checked out.

In less than a minute I could grab a taxi; no not a tuk tuk taxi – I only added this picture for illustration purposes. Gambir Station was only 2-3 km away and though the rush hour was slowing the traffic, I could get there in time. I rushed up a flight of nearly unending stairs and should have been on time, but on the platform there had been no train. Had I missed the train? No, the train was late. And I was exhausted, panting that my „face, at first just ghostly turned a whiter shade of pale“. Usually I am tanned though I'm not working on my tan, but I must have looked so awfully pale that a policeman asked me if I needed help. No, I thanked him. But I only recovered on the train after my second coffee. The journey to Yogyakarta, about 7 to 8 hours, had been very agreeable, nice views. From Yogyakarta I took busses to travel around, which was very efficient, only once I had to wait for longer than half an hour.

Links and Annotations:
[1] https://www.songtexte.com/songtext/procol-harum/a-whiter-shade-of-pale-33d720a5.html
[2] https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2022/06/the-grand-tour-borobudur.html

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