If you ever find yourself in Indonesia, odds are you're in need of some good luck. If this should happen to you, get thee to Gunung Kemukus, aka Sex Mountain, a place where you can go have sex with strangers as part of a "religious ritual."
According to the Daily Mail (link below) Dateline journalist Patrick Abboud recently made the pilgrimage to Sex Mountain, and all he got was a lousy t-shirt that said, "I Went to Sex Mountain and All I Got Was This Lousy T-shirt." Just kidding, he found a place overrun with strangers having sex, and sex workers with tons of VD.
‘More shock of the sheer size of the place and thousands of people, up to 8,000 on a busy night,’ said Mr Abboud.
The ancient ritual dates back to the 16th century and is a regular meeting of ritual believers participating in sexual acts, with the view that it brings good luck and fortune.
From married men, housewives, government officials and prostitutes, there’s a variety of people who participate.
'I think there's a growing contradiction with Sex Mountain, there's the prostitution, so how it is possible this is all being condoned by the government and religious leaders,' he said.
'The one thing is the problem of sexually transmitted diseases, there's health clinics set up at mountain.'
'I talked to a doctor and he said most sex workers have sexual diseases and men don’t use condoms, so HIV is on the up.'
So how did this all start, and why?
‘Back in the 16th century, a young Indonesian prince had an affair with his step mother,’ he said.
‘They ran away to the mountain and had sex and mid coitus they were caught, killed and buried.
‘There is a shrine there now and because they didn’t get to finish the act, others believe that if you do, fortune will come to you, most people like poor farmers who want to get ahead in life.’
He says he saw no Westerners there but people come from all over Indonesia to see if their luck would change.
‘It’s a Javanese ritual which is very different to the Muslim world, very different to everywhere else in Indonesia, the beliefs are a blend of Islamic, Hindi and Buddhism,’ he said.
Those of you lucky enough to live in Australia can catch the segment when it airs on Monday night.
Via Daily Mail