He resolved to become an expert in the language himself, and asked us the best way to go about it. The fastest way, we recommended, was to buy a dictionary, study it, and spend more time in actual conversation with the Indonesians. Purker agreed to that.
After dragging us to a bookshop, he spent a couple of hours in the actual selection of a dictionary.
"This one has 8,000 words in it ! But wait, that one has 20,000 ! It should be much better, no ? But it's expensive, hang on a bit. Hmm, this one has 14,000 words. But do I really need so many words ? Wouldn't just 8,000 do ? But if I have more words at my command ..."
After about half an hour of these decisions and monologues, Abby and I gave up hope of any speedy resolution, and settled ourselves down for what was obviously going to be a long wait.
Finally, Purker settled for one, paid the seller and walked out with his new prize in triumph.
The next few days were a mild torment, as Purker enthusiastically devoured the dictionary and began testing out his newfound knowledge on anyone he managed to collar. He spent a good deal of his time correcting the Bahasa spoken by the Indonesians.
Purker: "Ah, try this one ! What is the word for <...> in Bahasa ?!"
Despairing Indonesian: "That would be <,,,>."
Chortling Purker: "Ah, ha, ha, haaaa ! No, you are wrong ! The correct word is <--->. You see, I am getting better in Bahasa than you !"
The Indonesians swiftly learned to avoid him at this point. It was apparent that either the dictionary (or Mr. Purker himself) had completely forgotten the concept of synonyms. The sight of the dictionary became a danger-sign, to be avoided at any cost.
Purker could not understand why the Indonesians avoided speaking to him in Bahasa, but chalked it up to their jealousy at his new-found expertise.
The lake had a small sandy beach on one side, and rolled on into the horizon as far as human eye could see. The far side of the lake was dimly visible in the distance.
"So, do you know what the name of this place means ?" asked Hendryk.
"Well, Danau means lake" I replied, "but I don't know what Buatan means."
"Man-made" smiled Hendryk, "This is not a natural lake !"
"What, this entire thing ? It was dug out ?!" I paused, surprised.
"Yes, yes !" laughed Hendryk "and who do you think dug it ?!"
I had no idea and told him so.
"UT !" he proudly pronounced ! "We sell earth-moving equipment, no ? Well, we moved this earth too !"
I was taken aback ! This would have been a huge endeavour to pull off, and definitely would be a UT show-piece, if so. I took another, longer look. The horizon was barely discernible; just how long _had_ it taken UT to pull off this feat ?!
Pak Hendryk decided on a boating excursion across Danau Buatan, and rented a paddle-boat (a contraption where one person would pedal and so propel the boat, while the other four passengers would merely relax). Abby seized the role of pedaller; the rest of the company was composed of Purker, Alex, Pak Hendryk and myself.
We pushed off from the shore, and Abby began a vigorous pedalling. He also took control of the rudder, and for the first few minutes, we moved in circles, as he experimented with the controls. But soon enough, he gained proficiency, and we started making decent progress across the lake.
A few motorboats zoomed up and down the lake, and Purker asked Pak Hendryk why we hadn't taken one of them instead.
"No, no, those are for the lake attendants, supervisors, only. They use them to keep control of the lake."
Several other groups were scudding about the lake, and we passed a number of boats. A small yet gleeful smile lit up Hendryk's face, as he caught sight of one of the boats. He told Abby to steer as per his commands, and soon we were drifting closer to that boat. The close-up view told us what Hendryk's sharper (and more attuned) eyes had already known; that boat's contingent consisted only of girls !
Purker asked Hendryk, "Is it safe to go so near another boat ?" Hendryk replied with a wink, "Oh, it's safe for the men" Purker nodded, accepting the statement.
Alex grinned. He was a trifle on the young and shy side, but he wasn't so shy as to not understand Hendryk's plan. The girls were bubbling over with laughter at Hendryk's plan, evident now. Abby calmly continued to paddle, shifting the rudder to align the two boats side by side. Hendryk swiftly stood up, and moving so as to not rock our boat, tossed a rope across to the other boat. The girls quickly grabbed it, and amid a howl of laughter, tied it to their own boat. And Purker quickly flipped through the directory, searching for the Indonesian word for "boat".
A quick chat began, amid howls of laughter from the girls. Abby and I joined in the chat, as did Alex, while Pak Hendryk led the chase, miles ahead of any of us. Purker remained seated, thoughtfully contemplating the dictionary. The quick, spirited conversation continued for about ten minutes more, before a motorboat drew up next to our boats, barking orders to separate the boats.
The supervisor had the authority to command that, for reasons of lake safety, so we reluctantly pulled away from each other. Not so the scheming Pak Hendryk, who remained undefeated; he waited for ten minutes for the motorboat to depart, seeking other victims, and then hastily gestures at Abby to move towards the girls' boat again. The giggling girls cheerfully cooperated, and the boats were lashed together again. Both parties broke out in a helter-skelter conversation. A transfer of people from one boat to another nearly took place, but was cancelled at the end, due to the boats rolling too grievously to permit this.
Purker chipped in, "Do you know the Indonesian word for "fish" ?" Unfortunately, Alex had his mind on other matters, and continued to ignore him. Hendryk made a crack to the girls on the disastrous effect of Purker's vegetarian diet on his mind, a line that had them in splits.
Eventually, alas, the Lake attendant drove up to the boats again, this time staying around long enough to ensure that both boats sailed far enough away from each other. Grimacing, the task was carried out.
Hendryk thoughtfully called out to the girls with Abby and my hotel room numbers and phones. They giggled, and scribbled something down. Abby blinked at this; I was long used to Hendryk by then, and though he did manage to surprise me every so often, this was par for the course.
It was nearly an hour; quite some time had passed while the boats were drifting, and it was time for us to return. Abby pounded the pedals once again, and we returned to the shore.
That's enough travel ... now let's head back home