Scaring in the new year

We thought about going to a New Year's Eve party at a bar downtown where the Foreign Correspondents Club had a discount, but at more than $50 a ticket, it was still way more than we wanted to spend. So we were happy when our friend Rully called and offered to bring over some Indonesian horror movies instead.


I like Indonesian horror flicks because they're usually not gory, or even particularly scary; they often have dubious plots and a made-for-TV look. Bangsal 13 (Ward 13), about a dilapidated hospital ward with blood-red floors, puke-green walls and a terrible secret, was a cut above. It was nicely filmed and genuinely creepy, but not too creepy.


Afterwards we went up on the roof to watch the fireworks and take fuzzy pictures of the night sky. You can sort of see a rocket going off on the far left here.

Our neighborhood was surprisingly quiet. I figured all the little kids would be running around honking toy horns, like they were earlier in the day, but they must have been put to bed. When we went out after midnight to find Rully a cab, we only saw a little knot of people dancing to dangdut from a radio, and a few lucky goats that hadn't been sold for Idul Adha. I bet we could get a good price on one today. Maybe he could live on the roof.