“I am Muslim!” Said proudly the taxi driver who was driving me from Ubud to Canggu. “And you?”

“Hmmm… I try to take what I think is the best from every religion, but I am not from one confession really!”

The taxi driver didn’t talk to me until the rest of the trip. He looked obviously upset! Whatever is your religion in Indonesia, you HAVE to have one. 

Rewind. I am back in a part of Indonesia where Islam is the main confession, in Gili T.

I know locals in South East Asia are getting used to less than more dressed up westerners tourists but I keep my short shorts in my backpack and roll myself in my sarong after each bath in the sea. I like the idea of dressing up with a certain kind of modesty even if most of the people here are pretty relaxed and everybody seems to mind their own business really. Not the type of people who would say or do anything against me if I decided to walk in the street in a micro bikini… Maybe I’m just more aware of how I should react as a female solo backpacker as I’m the only tourist around most of the time.

I bless my decision to come on Gili T during the monsoon. I feel great, straight away on this island. People are welcoming, open minded, smiling and peacefull. I ask them a lot of questions and they sit with me at my table to talk about Gili T and themselves for hours. Ladies call me “sister” and I can feel an aura of protection around me. It feels safe and authentic and so different than every places I visited.

I come from a country were Islam is unfortunately, more than ever (because of the recents dramatic events) associated with terrorism by some ignorant people. I’ve never read the Coran but when I used to talk about religion with some friends in Paris who were practising Islam, I’ve never felt scared or thought that this religion was dangerous. So when I arrived in a Muslim country, I definitely felt the difference with the other Buddhist country I’ve been traveling in, but I felt like at home.

In the same way I felt embarrassed and scared to talk to Monks in Thailand, I didn’t know at first how I would be able to talk or interact with men here. But after few days, I realized that this fear was coming from the unknown. Ah! This sweat old fear huh! It looks like a lot of our anxiety and phobia com from unfamiliar things in general… As soon as I understood where was the “limit”, I was chit chatting with men and women in the same way I was doing in Thailand or Myanmar.

I assumed that because I was on an island, the religion would be more permissive in terms of habits and customs but the minaret in construction calling the prayers five times a day in front of my hostel, reminded me of the omnipresence of the religion in the everyday life of the islanders. You can’t forget, Islam is everywhere. From how people are dressing up to their opinion about life.
By having breakfast and snacks over and over in the same bungalow, I made friend with Philip, a waiter who was originally coming from Lombok. One morning, he expressed his view on marriage. He was single but was in search of a woman to take care of… And maybe two if he had enough money!

I always considered myself feminist. Or maybe more a “can women have the same rights than men please?” feminist kind. I should have say something to Philip, maybe tell him that was unacceptable and unfair for the women, that I was against these kind of practices. Instead, I thought “why not” and shut my mouth. He looked like a cool and respectful dude. We were not born in the same place on Earth and maybe traveling start to make me realise for real that yep, they are not doing things like at home but… “Yep, why not”. What I am going to change anyway? Am I here to colonies his island like my European ancestors probably did everywhere in the world by changing his religion, his language, his way of dressing up? I guess for the last two part, tourism did it already…
One night, I had a drink outside after having dinner at the night market. A band was playing. I took few pictures and after the gig, the leader sat next to me for a chat. He explained that he was participating in the TV game Indonesia Got Talent and the crew were coming to film him in his everyday life. Today was the first shot and he told me with humor that he was a good musician but faking a serious face in front of a camera was too hard for him! I asked him what was the deal with the island and the thousands of stray cats. As an answer he asked me back if I ever saw a dog around here. Stupefaction! Nope. No dogs. My love for cats allowed me to forget the non existence of dogs around. Apparently, people tried to keep dogs in their garden here but they all died. Nobody knew why… Was I in front of an Indonesian urban legend?
I had the explanation later during my trip by a sort of illumination. I remember this great Iranian movies: les Chats Persans. A scene was showing how the police was dealing with Muslim strict rules: a couple in a car is getting arrested. They have a dog on the back seat. Well, not for so long, the policeman take the dog, promising its death as “dogs are impure says the Coran”. Of course! It was not a urban legend. No dogs on Gili T, because of the religion! Now… I don’t know what happened really to all the dogs who died there…
People are always telling me that I don’t have a face to have tattoos. I have never been asked by anybody in the street or at a party, in my entire life, if I wanted to consume drugs. Maybe I have a “innocent” attitude and everybody assume that I can’t be “this kind of rebellious girl”. Not that annoys me! Now, I don’t say that I have or have not smoked weed in my life. If I did, I didn’t inhale for sure (thanks Bill Clinton for the quote).

The point is that, while I was staying on the island, I saw a lot of people consuming weed or mushrooms. Nobody asked me if I wanted some. So I don’t know how the dealers looked like, act like, talk like… Were they Muslim and practicing? How did they accept people coming on their island and getting high all the time? I’ve heard that mushroom were not forbidden by the Coran so it was allowed to sell it, but just on this island. Consuming or selling drugs in Indonesia is forbidden under threat of death.
In the end, I still don’t understand why drugs were pretty much tolerated on the island but dogs were not. Why tourists were allowed to walk around in micro bikini but locals were conservative enough to imagine the family composed with many wives and one husband. Why people were going out and sometimes drinking alcohol but were praying five times per day at the Mosque.

I didn’t understand. But I am sure that every little contradictions that I discovered about this island helped me build an unconditional love for the people here. 

I don’t care if I didn’t get the why and the how. I took from Gili T what I liked and what I liked was to be surprised and learn from another point of view. 
Also, an island with thousand of cats who are following you everywhere in the street, paradisiac beaches surrounding you and fresh coconut every morning… Are you kidding me? Was it paradise?