We have spent a fabulous, ridiculous, beautiful week in Borneo getting to know locals and orangutans. Literally nobody spoke English, they know one word which is "Yes" and they say it to everything you ask/tell them. Once you establish that, it's fine and you just learn to communicate using other methods (i.e., sign language...) but until that point, when you think they're actually agreeing with you, it's very confusing. All the flight announcements, too, are in "bahasa Indonesiana" [Indonesian] so basically, if you want information at an airport, you may as well not bother... or be satisfied with a "Yes" to anything you ask.
We caught our flight to Palangkaraya with no problems whatsoever apart from minor delays and the worst duty free options I have ever seen. The luggage carousel was so small that it didn't even go round, it's just one straight long line that everyone grabs at until it all spills off/piles up at the end. An intelligently designed system with no major flaws, obviously. We made it to Hotel Annisa Dina, where we were essentially celebrities, complete with a photoshoot. The next day we got a taxi to what we thought was going to be the bus station, so we could get a bus to Palangkalanbun, but what actually turned out to be an 11-hour drive to Palangkalanbun itself (via the hair salon to drop their friend off for her appointment)... see what I mean about communication problems?! But actually the taxi was only a pound more expensive than the bus would have been, and technically more comfortable though I think my tailbone is bruised from the bumpy roads.
We arrived late, and the next day headed to Kumai a short distance away, and from Kumai into the jungle (Tanjung Putting National Park). Our "speed" boat (5k/hr... absolute top speed) was guided by, essentially, a total mental, with a self-professed addiction to crystal meth, who listened in on any private conversation we had without any shame whatsoever, it was brilliant. We kept up our Danish identities and gave ourselves assumed names for the weekend, for no other reason except that we could, and telling our guide about our imagined visions of Denmark (none of us have ever been, but in our heads, everyone cycles everywhere and the Dutch are their natural enemies) provided a few hours of amusement. We slept on the boat, watching the stars, trying out the (really quite painful) traditional massages (supposed to have healing properties but gave Gabi the shakes and Charlotte a headache and didn't make any difference to me whatsoever) and drinking rice wine. At one point our boat got stuck in a floating island, and it took the guide ages to cut us out of it.
The next day was devoted to seeing wild orangutans, and tamer ones on the reservation, too. They really are fabulous and very amusing - hairy orange people is quite a good description, I think. Both times, they met us off the boat jetty, like they were expecting us. Their faces are so leathery and expressive, it's so entertaining just watching them, I could have watched them for absolutely hours. I have always been fascinated by monkeys and seeing them wild like that was such good fun and a real highlight.
The magic of the jungle itself is something that I really should mention. The tranquility and the beauty that we found there was something that had a calming influence on all of us; personally I have never been anywhere that remote, wild and unspoilt but somehow completely unthreatening. I'm sure I'd feel differently if I was stranded on the mainland at night with a snake wrapped around my foot/neck, but on our boat, moving almost silently through the water, flanked either side by colonies of fireflies glittering and winking at us, we felt very much at peace. I have never seen stars like we saw on that boat (we were also treated to a lightning storm, which was lovely); it was when we wished we'd googled the constellations, the only one we could find was the Plough. Charlotte and I have been meaning to google star constellations since Dharamsala so we did slightly feel silly for not having done it yet, but we just made some up which sounded very professional and was almost as good. Pointing at any bright star and saying "That's the North Star" in a tone of sufficient authority pretty much makes you an astronomer, I think. So yes, the jungle was incredible and what we had all been hoping for and more.
Oh my God did I get bitten by mosquitos, though. Literally eaten alive. The bastards. (Sorry, I don't normally swear that much on this blog because I know people who don't like swearing are reading it [sorry] but I really, really, REALLY hate mosquitos. My love of nature and all the world's creatures has increased exponentially during my travels but unfortunately mosquitos do not fall into this category, they fall into my category of literal hatred alongside cockroaches and Indian policemen.)
From the jungle, we made the long journey back to Palangkaraya and flew to Bali, where we are now - in Ubud. Ubud is lovely, very touristy, lots of white people and food that isn't cold, oily noodles (breakfast, lunch and dinner - mmm...). Which is a massive relief, much as we loved the remoteness of the jungle, we didn't always love the cuisine and mostly lived on biscuits and tinned fish. We have been doing bits and pieces here, lots of sunbathing and eating vegetables; our hotel has a pool which we have been thoroughly enjoying. Gabi and I were planning a walk up to the rice paddies so I think I will cut this blog entry short in a little bit and go and have some fun (er, not that writing this isn't fun, it is, it's just... a computer screen. And I've seen computer screens in my life more than I have seen rice paddies).
Tomorrow we get the boat to Gili Air, one of the Gili Islands, and Gabi and I are going to do our PADI Openwater dive course for four days. So by the next time you see me I will be able to dive anywhere in the world (supposedly) down to 18m. Which is quite exciting. Apparently the islands are really beautiful and we have booked with a good, PADI-accredited dive school so we should have a very happy few days. We then fly to Java on the 16th, but I'm sure I will update again before then.
Half of me is counting down the days until I am home - I really am ready to be back. But half of me is wanting this trip to never end. It depends on my mood, or, to be blunt, if it is a day where we are sitting on a various mode of transport being bored or a day we are doing something amazing. I am bored of buses, trains and ferries, and planes too, but not of doing amazing things. But you have to do one to get the other, so will just have to grin and bear our 11-hour ferry journey tomorrow.
Lots of love to all, miss you very much xxxxxxxxxxx
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