Kalimantan, Ancis and the Oranghutans (Aug 22-25)

Wow! Where do I begin. Three days, two leaches and fifty mosquito bites later (Tracy had 47 of them), we emerge from the jungles of Tanjung Puting National Park in southern Kalimantan (Borneo). We had a fantastic time throughout, but one of the highlights was definitely meeting Ancis, our new friend and guide. Ancis is twenty six year old young man from Kumai who despite a very hard life always finds a way to keep smiling. (Check out the video of him in my hat singing a country song). He met us at the airport and took us to our boat in Kumai. The boat was a small vessel painted blue, green and white with two levels. We stayed on the upper level and the crew of three generally stayed below. Within minutes of meeting the captain and crew, we were off up river to the park. The river is naturally black, red and glassy like tea, but due to mining upstream it is now a murky brown. Both sides are lined with banana leaf trees and various other vegetation. At the end of the first day, we arrived at Rimba lodge. A beautiful little place in the jungle on the bank of the river across from the park. The staff was great, and after dinner each night, we would hang out with them, the other tourists (only a few) and the other guides and play chess and listen to music. On day two, we went to Camp Leaky and were absolutely surrounded by oranghutans. We also saw gibbons and makaks. The oranghutans were definitely the best though. During the feeding, there were fourteen on all sides and above us. It was amazing to see the big males move through the trees with such grace. The next couple of days we visited a couple of other oranghutan stations, a reforesting station where we each planted a tree and a the local village. The village was completely isolated, but very pretty with community rice fields on one side and a little waterway running through the middle.

Jakarta (Aug 18-21)

Well after a crazy week trying to pack up our lives and get out of LA and about 24 hours of travelling, Tracy and I finally made it to Jakarta. Immediately upon leaving the airport, I was struck by the fact that Jakarta is exactly like what I had read, a juxtoposition of rich and poor. There are definitely way more poor though. That said, everyone has been extremely friendly.

Tracy and I spent the first day just relaxing in the hotel, getting over jet lag and sampling some indonesian food. Yesterday however, we took a tour through some more rural areas south of the city. We visited a botanical garden, a tea plantation and a zoo featuring many indonesian animals. Tracy and I even got a couple of pics with some of the animals (check out the slide show).

It was a really fun day despite the fact that both us, particularly me, are dealing with some digestive issues (traveller's tummy). Next up Kalimantan (Borneo).