Vacation Series Part 1: Into the Jungle

Recently I’ve been trying to think about how exactly to present my travel experiences over the last month and half. I’ve gone from the depths of the Kalimantan ( that’s the Indonesian chunk of Boreno) jungle to the city famed for being the center of Javanese art and youth culture.  The more I’ve struggled with this post, the clearer its become that trying to contextualize my experience in one fell swoop would be a disservice to all. So I’ve decided to start what one may deem a “mini-series” on my December/January travels, especially since I’m stuck in Makassar for the next month and a half.

So let  me provide a little explanation as to why I’ve been traveling so much. No, I didn’t finally give up and quit my job. And no I didn’t finally shank an overly aggressive angkot driver and as a result I’m on the lamb from the Makassar authorities.  Like I explained once, many posts ago, I’m not allowed to give exams. This fact, coupled with the two week “winter” break, led to about four weeks of travel bliss. I use bliss somewhat sarcastically here.

Due to the fact that I am about to return to Ubud in a few weeks, I’ve decided to skip it for now. Expect an uber post on Ubud soon. 

In the meantime let me tell you about my personal “Heart of Darkness” that was my excursion into the jungles of Kalimantan ( Borneo to the uninformed). Things started off surprisingly good. Judith and I miraculously made all of our flights  and arrived in Semerang in  the knick of time to meet our friends Abbey, Corey and Mary and wait 2 hours for our mysteriously delayed flight. TII-This Is Indonesia. We arrived a few hours late to the grand metropolis ( sarcasm again) that is  Pangkalan Bun and our soon to be beloved guide, Jeni. Jeni greeted us at the airport with a huge smile and a down vest on, because it gets soo chilly in Kalimantan ( I hope you can detect the sarcasm on your own now). Then off we raced to the chic riverside town of Kumai ( yup you guessed it, sarcasm again). However a drive that should have taken 25 minutes actually took an hour because we had to stop at about 5 copy shops until we found a copy machine that worked so, par usual, the local authorities could have all of our information on file…TII

Eventually we made it to Kumai, which is oddly reminiscent of a depression era railroad town. By that I mean depressing.  After a night in the charming Losmen Hijau ( it actually was charming even though I had to abrasively wake up the sleeping proprietors from their afternoon naps so we could check in) it was off to the boat and up the river. Despite my ball busting bargaining-down of the cost of the trip the tour company owner still decided to give us his best boat and his best friend/guide (Jeni), although the “imported jams and teas” were nixed. The boat also came with his father ( the silent sage), his brother ( the captain), his sister-in-law ( the cook) and his nephew ( the little old man). So off the ten of us sailed into 3 days 2 nights of monkey infused adventure.  Our boat tour took us deep into the heart of Tanjung Putting national park and orangutan preserve, and it definitely banked on its promise. Me and my merry band of fellow travelers soon got up close and personal with many an orangutan, and let me just say they definitely have boundary issues. You don’t know violated until you’ve had you butt squeezed by the dominant female of feeding station 3.

Although I got attacked by jungle fire ants, sucked on my two consecutive leeches, bathed in tar black water and then of course there was the “ tramping through the jungle in a fierce rain storm/ mosquitoe hell” afternoon, my time in the jungle was amazing. There is little in this world that can beat the experience of waking up on the mosquito-net shrouded deck of a small boat along with the sunrise and the sounds of monkeys everywhere. Or sitting next to an old dominant female as she eats her afternoon snack and then insists on being carried back to her home in the jungle ( Jeni and Corey really had no choice but to oblige). Or seeing your tour guide ( Jeni) scale a giant tree in order to retrieve a camera trickily stolen by one wiley female and her baby. Our Christmas eve was spent in candle light on the boat, as was every night, and our Christmas day was full of jungle type adventures.  By the third day , as we sailed back towards Kumai in the sunset, the boat was beginning to feel a little bit like home.

And then all hell broke loose.