Sleeping in Indonesia

Last week I was given the task to buy bed linen as a wedding gift for my friend at the office. Since I have no idea about buying bed linen (ashamed (but content) to say, my mother still takes care of those things for me), I thought I would browse the internet to find some info.

Who would have thought that I actually was more confused after that? I went to Target's & Debenhams' website and a list of words came up : bed skirt, fitted sheet, flat sheet, comforter, duvet, quilt, pillow sham, throw, etc.

It took me quite a while, but after going to wikipedia & a couple of online dictionary sites, I think I understand what they mean now.

Luckily, here in Indonesia, sleeping is not such a complicated thing. A bed linen set typically consists of : pillow cases, bed sheets (usually flat sheets ;) ), and a guling cover.

What is a guling? It is a long tube-like pillow (a bolster) that is used by hugging it. It is a common & essential bed accessory for Indonesians, although if you stay at a hotel here, you won't find them on your bed.

Because of the tropical weather, blankets are not necessary. However, many mid to upper class people sleep with the air conditioner on, therefore duvets (in Indonesia the common term is bedcovers) are quite common. I myself don't have air conditioning in my room, but I use a batik cloth as a blanket (I'm going to write further about this in my next post).

Btw, it's almost 2 in the morning now. Time for me to go to bed!