Thread: Brownies

"Brownies?" Harry asked. "No" his girlfriend said, Bronis. Its coming from brondong. "Short for brondong manis". Harry heard about brondong. "Brondong are young boys, bronis are young girls, SMA, SMU, the high school type" his girlfriend repeated.

Ah, young girls. Harry became interested. He was learning more and more about sex in Indonesia, and after 8 years on and off in Bali he was becoming part of the incrowd, which made his position sometimes awkward. He knew about "tourists" getting set-up in the "love game" but didn't want to betray his local friends, and the "tourists" asked him about life in Bali.

"You are surely up for an adventure" he said once, and shut up. His girlfriend, warned him not to make problems, "Tidak buat masalah". A term he heard before in relation to "This is the way we do it, and here discussions stops", even it was against the law, against "good morals" and if certain behaviour actually required to become angry. It's like adat, or better, the traffic. It all moves harmoniously, and you give way to those with more courage or simply take the part of the road because they can. Don't complain about unapplied laws or ethics afterwards. Its making problems. "Tidak buat masalah".

Still, he couldn't help feeling almost physically sick when he saw a guy getting conned. Because he knew he himself would feel sick when he found out. Sick, for a long time.

The guy Harry saw this time broke up with his girlfriend after meeting this cute Balinese girl. Let's call her "Nila". Nila had no problem at all in sleeping with, let call him "Gus", even when Gus was with his girlfriend on Holiday in Bali. Nila met him (uhh, them) on the plane to Bali. She just came from a 3 month visit to another European visitor who fell in love with Nila. Nila already complained about planning problems when the Europeans would be in Bali at the same time. One of Nila's girlfriends laughed and said she had six foreign future husbands to plan.

Gus went back to Europe with his European girlfriend, broke up with her, and came to Bali to "his" Nila. He brought a handphone, and supplied Nila with some money. Already within the first few nights they spend together Nila disappeared mysteriously with an all too easy excuse, to spend some of the money on drugs and her Balinese boyfriend. Gus was just concerned had been searching all night for her, and cried when he saw Nila again. They went to the quiet east of Bali. The driver of the hired car was Nila's boyfriend.

When Harry met Gus, Gus said to Harry (who already was in quiet mode) that people in Europe would look strange at him being 46 and his Asian girlfriend just 20. "Here, in Bali, I don't have that problem". Harry just smiled and agreed, feeling a bit strange in his stomach. Harry picked up some of the Balinese chatter around him, and he shut up. He remembered his first encounter with love in Bali: "Why did you steal money from me?", "Because you beeped me that much!", worth a few months of depression. More strangeness in the stomach. "Yes, here in Bali you don't have THAT problem" Harry said. Gus didn't hear the accent on that.

The chatter around him asked why Gus the European behaved like an Australian. Walking around with no shirt, and pissing in the ricefields. Harry said something like "Gus thinks he is in Spain", but realised nobody understood. He wondered why anyone even cared about the behaviour of Gus while he is being lied at and treated like a cow to be milked. But thats how it is with stupid foreigners, while they are taken for a ride, they must behave nicely, and don't make problems. "Tidak buat masalah".

Harry, still a bit strange in the stomach, realised that the love Gus said he felt for Nila, was nothing more than being horney in disguise. Gus wanted young pussy, like all those other middle aged men going to Asia "to find love". Middle aged men who don't have a chance anymore "at home", because they are old, bold, social misfits or otherwise handicapped in finding sexual partners according to the Darwinian principles. The Gusses in the world are pretenders, fooling themselves, talk about love but mean something else. They want to BEEP. Well, be prepared to be beeped as well, or not be prepared and suffer even more. But not in the way you think. Harry realised where his "strange in the stomach" came from.

Some Gusses have become wise. Take Uncle John. Uncle John lives already for years in a village somewhere in Bali. Everyone knows Uncle John (in his fifties), and knows what Unlce John wants. And he is getting it. Its costing him, but he is smart, and moving from young girl to young girl. Uncle John has the right attitude, and has been around.

Uncle John is white, but there are plenty of local Uncle Johns. In various forms. Don't be surprised if the guy you sponsor, or is your driver actually is known as a do gooder for the poor girl community. Girls just have to call him if they are in need of money. At any time. He is satisfied and she gets her money. He is known as a guy you can trust, a social do gooder. Just as the private loans you can get at outrageous interest rates, its good, and social. "Tidak buat masalah".

Pejabat (officials) travel around, and stay in hotels. There are plenty of Pejabat Uncles and they have a secret circuit. They have their own way of getting it. There are plenty of Bronis who want a new handphone, and are guided via secret channels to hotel rooms.

Some of the young girls are complaining about all the tantes buying up the brondong. Being a successful brondong results in motorbikes, handphones. And there are plenty of tantes, (divorced) middle aged women, with a good job or rich and forgiving (ex)husbands. Plenty of tantes with an itch. Harry wonders if those middle aged Ozzie women, the female Gus variants know about local customs, about the brondong trade. You don't have to marry them, promise them the world or buy land or start a business together to relieve your guilt or feelings of shame, the locals do it all the time, all the time. Its a tradition.

Harry, still with a strange feeling in his stomach felt sorry for poor Gus. Gus will one day "know" that his noble intentions and love have been his weak point in the itching crotch trade, and if he is lucky he will realise this and make him a better and wiser person. But maybe Gus will go home frustrated and poorer, and die watching porn and dreaming of the tropics, complaining about the rotten Asians.

Yes, Harry knew it pays off to learn the local culture. "Tidak buat masalah", not even if you have a strange feeling in your stomach. Bronis. Hmmmm.

Good luck Gus.


ref:

Brondong: http://flickr.com/photos/tehkici/2433654516/

Youtube: Bronis http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv7Kbn6QV6s


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