Ramadan and Cat Calling.

Traditionally, there is something quite romantic and exotic about Muslim prayer, rolling through the night, delivered by a single, deep baritone.

However, the mystique rapidly deteriorates, when, come the last night of Ramadan, that single trained voice is joined by hundreds of others, including the quite horrendous addition of tone-deaf child proteges (a sound not unlike a religious cat in heat).
Add to the mix fireworks and 5 year olds on homespun drums, and the end of Ramadan in West Java, soon takes on a quite dark pallor for the unbeliever.

This non-symphonic rapture continues until dawn. And just as one finally feels sleeps desperate embrace, the dreaded cat-child asks Dad for one final spin on the dreaded Megaphone 1000, and the quiet madness of the middle aged expatriots one meets, makes complete sense.