Adili fitri

It's the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting.  All month, Muslim-owned businesses have been shut down or only packing take-away (How can you work in a restaurant all day if you have to fast??)  The non-Muslim restaurants ask "Are you Muslim?" before you are allowed to eat (eating during the holy month is against the law, you see).  People are tired.  People are lazy.  I would be, too, if I had to fast from all all food and drink until 7pm.  

The floating mosque, from the beach

We live just up the hill from what is known as the "Floating Mosque."  Built just before the 2004 tsunami, it didn't experience any damage from the disaster.  We're somewhat blocked from the building in front of us, but we can still hear the Imam (the Muslim priest) doing the prayer calls, 5x a day.  This year, during Ramadan, they added extra speakers and turned up the volume.  We've REALLY been hearing the prayer calls.  And instead of ending at 9:30ish like they should be, they've been going until 10:30 every night.  That might sound to nothing to a person who stays up till 1am every night, but I am not that person.  I go to bed early.  I'm really hoping that now that Ramadan is over, they'll crank the volume down a notch or two.  And stop when they're supposed to.

Yesterday evening, there was a big party down at our pool.  A live band, playing all the oldies and goodies.   They were competing with the mosque who could be the loudest.  I enjoyed the music from my balcony until the prayer calls started, and then everything was just cacophony.  The imam does not sound well with "Great Balls of Fire."