The Scottish Banker of Surabaya - By Ian Hamilton Page 0,56
was covered, like a souk in Marrakech, hung about with bright cloths, batiks, and beads in a hundred brilliant colours. Fay handed Ava a scarf. “Here we need to cover our heads so as not to draw attention.”
Ava followed her example and tucked in behind her as the crowd began to thicken, forcing them to walk in single file. They shuffled along until Fay moved to one side. Ava found herself in an open courtyard, a mosque in front of them.
“This is the Ampel Mosque. It’s the oldest and most sacred mosque in Java.”
To Ava’s eye it didn’t look any different from most of the other mosques she had seen, but she bit her tongue. What was different were the gardens to the side, filled with low frangipani trees and several knots of worshippers prostrate on the ground outside the mosque.
“Those are pilgrims who come to worship Sunan Ampel,” Fay said, noting Ava’s interest. “He was one of the nine founders of Islam in Java, and he built this mosque. When he died in 1481, he was buried here. They’re praying at his grave.”
“Most religion is lost on me,” said Ava.
Fay glanced quickly in her direction. “Don’t say that too loudly here.”
“I don’t mean to be disrespectful.”
“Do you want to go into the mosque?”
“I’d rather not.”
Fay turned. “Then let’s walk back to the car. I have some shopping to do on the way. I hope you don’t mind.”
As they walked away, Ava said, “I hope I didn’t offend you. You’re Muslim, correct?”
“Notionally.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that my family is in business and that one of my many dead relatives decided decades ago that it was easier to do business as a Muslim. None of us actually practise the religion.”
“I’m the same kind of Catholic.”
“In name only?”
“Exactly.”
It was a long, slow journey back to the car. Fay was at the market for fruit and pepper, and every third vendor seemed to be selling one or the other. While Fay haggled, Ava slipped into some clothing and jewellery shops. By the time they got back to the car, Fay had two bags filled with oranges, papayas, and mangos. Ava had twenty-two-karat gold hoop earrings for her mother and Maria, and sarongs in various colours and sizes for Mimi, Marian, and her nieces.
Fay looked at her watch. “We need to get you back to the hotel soon if we’re to have time to shower and get dressed for dinner.”
“I’m ready to go if you are.”
“Just one more stop, I think.”
They drove through more of old Surabaya, Ava sensing the river’s presence the entire way, to what was obviously the city’s Chinatown. “My grandfather used to bring me here when I was a little girl,” Fay said as she parked the car, this time almost completely on the sidewalk.
They walked past noodle shops, herbal stores with their baskets of dried twigs, restaurants with barbecued pigs hanging in the window. Ava could have been in Hong Kong, or in downtown Toronto. Fay turned into a narrow alleyway. Ava followed, right into a cloud of incense.
At the end of the alley stood a traditional Chinese temple, fronted by bronze statues and altars meant for worship. There were as many people there as had been at the mosque. They kneeled and bowed in front of the statues and placed fruit on the altars, the joss sticks held between their palms leaching thin coils of sweet smoke. There was a line of candles on either side of the alleyway, each candle about three metres high. “They light those at night,” Fay said. “It lends even more of an aura to the place.”
“What is this temple called?”
“Kong Co Kong Tik Cun Ong.”
Ava looked at the separate groups of worshippers. “Why are there so many altars?”
“My grandfather used to pray at the one on the left — it’s Confucian. The one in the middle is Buddhist and the one on the right is for Taoists. I guess it’s a multi-denominational temple,” Fay said.
“I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
“Well, here it is.”
“Do you ever pray here?”
“Yes. I can’t help myself; it’s like I’m reconnecting with my grandfather.”
There were stands to the left of the temple selling various fruits and joss sticks. Ava left Fay and walked over to them. She bought an orange and four joss sticks, which she had the vendor light. When she returned, Fay had moved to the Confucian altar, her head bowed in prayer.
Ava went to the Taoist one and placed the orange at the