Buster looks for orangutans

 Packed and ready for our cruise into the jungle of Kalimantan.  We're all pretty excited about this trip and wonder if we'll see any animals.

Our river boat came and collected us from Basanti after picking up Jean and Jerry from Tigress Too.  We met Nina, our guide plus the boat driver, the cook and the deckhand and general assistant.

 It did not take long for us all to settle in, relax and enjoy the scenery.

As I mentioned, there was a cook, and she was busy all the time with meals for us as well as the crew.  Delicious fresh food, all prepared in this basic little kitchen downstairs in the boat.

 Travelling along the river we saw several of these traffic signs...thought it was kind of funny, but apparently it is helpful for people transiting the river at night.  The muddy colour of the water is due to upstream mining.  Later in the journey we turned off onto a tributary and the water was clear and dark, as it should be.

 We visited three feeding stations, a village and a research station.  Seeing an orang-utan was not really a chance event, they turn up for the feeding quite reliably.  They call these animals semi-wild, because of the feeding and sometimes they are being rehabilitated into the wild.  There are occasionally wild orang-utans too, often they are on the other side of the river.

 Orangutans raise their young for 5 to 7 years.  The baby in the photo below is only about two weeks old.

 Hang on tight!!

Sometimes it is difficult to actually keep the required distance away from these animals.  They just walk through the tourists on the way to or from the feeding...obviously they haven't read the signs.

 

We were lucky to see Tom, the dominant male orang-utan here.  The lifespan of the orang-utan is about 50 years and the dominant males are usually in their 30's and hold the position until a stronger (generally younger) male turns up and wins the fight.

 

The orang-utans are the stars here, but these little long tail macaque's are fun to watch.  We were told not to look them in the eye as they see that a sign of aggression and may attack.  Try walking along a boardwalk surrounded by these monkeys and not look at them!

Kind of spooky...

 Check out this wild pig...truly a face only a mother could love.

Some of the orang-utans seem to pose and love the attention.

 We have hundreds of photos!

There is another orang-utan sneaking up behind Phil.

 

 

We visited the village on our way back down the river.  There were canals for transportation and irrigation through the little town, and these two homes were fairly typical.  Pretty isolated, and dengue virus is a problem here.

We were returned to Basanti and happy to see that she was well looked after by the boat boy who stayed with her for security as part of the tour package.  Security in terms of theft ect isn't a problem, but large logs and items come racing down the river and the fellows try to keep things from damaging the boat.  Next morning we picked up our laundry and stopped at the market for a few fresh fruits and veggies before continuing our journey through the Indonesian Islands.  Kumai was a real highlight!

A day at the island of Gilivang

 

We enjoyed our brief visit to Gilivang so much that Buster thought he'd devote an entire post to it.  Chris thinks he just was happy to have some fish.

Fishing boats line the shores of this tiny island.  They come and go all the time.  Above, the fellows unload the catch where it is sorted by the people (mostly ladies?) here (below) and then it is taken over to the mainland for sale.

Jean and Chris negotiating for fish and trying to determine where and when the village market is.
We asked for the fish to be cleaned.  Never thought the Indo dictionary would be so helpful, and paging through it is a slow means of communicating.

Feeling mildly successful with our morning's shopping we returned to our boats.

The colourful fishing boats line the shores.

Here is another vessel returning.  Not sure if this is a fishing boat or one of the boats the would take the fish over to the market...seems like it would just swamp and sink the way it sits in the water.

 

In the afternoon Phil and Chris returned to the village in and attempt to locate the market.  This little adventure is described in the previous blog and here are some photos. 

 Just a small market...some oil, fruits, fried items, bananas, garlic, chilli, cucumbers and loads of fish available.

 Stopped at the school, this is one of three buildings and a few of the kids.

 Then back to the teacher's home where a big bunch of the locals came to see the foreigners.  The foreigners do not in any way dress stylishly!  It is all about trying to be cool and somewhat comfortable in the hot and fairly humid weather also bearing in mind the mainly Muslim population.  Have to admit that so far there seems to be a fairly relaxed attitude to totally covering up arms and legs.  Locally purchased items seem to breathe and be best for comfort.

Phil with our two very helpful friends and motorbike drivers on Gillivang and Basanti at anchor in the background.

 Once back aboard Basanti Chris filleted the fish and prepared dinner.

 Yum, the fish was spectacular...wish we'd bought more, but you just never know.  Had some rice, coleslaw and black bean/corn salad as well.

One last group of fishermen near the island.

 

Bali to Kalimantan (Borneo)

We are ten miles up the Kumai river on the southern edge of Borneo.  What a different world it is here, but luckily, the internet is working albeit slowly.  I'm having a little technical problem with my computer so will have to post photos later...maybe tomorrow I can work it out.

Lovina, Bali was really nice...well worth including in a Balinese itinerary.  We then sailed a few hours over to the north west end of Bali and had a fairly rolly anchorage for the night before leaving Bali and sailing to the main island of Java for another overnight stop.  Strong winds there and it took a few attempts before our anchor set properly.  A third day of sailing brought us to Gilivang, a tiny island just off the eastern coast of Madura (still part of Java).   Decided to stay here a day and try and get a few fresh items at the market in the village and this proved to be more challenging than expected.

Bright and early (6 am) Phil and I took the dinghy around to Tigress Too and picked Jean up.  Headed to shore and asked a few locals for some directions to the markets.  Very little English was spoken here and after traipsing around the village for a while we eventually were taken back to the beach where some women were sorting through the fish.  I should mention that this is a real fishing community...so many fishing boats were coming and going all the time!  So we got them to clean the fish and got one each, plus a bag of tomatoes.  We understood that the market was at 3:00 in the afternoon.

Phil and I returned to the island at 3 to find the market...we really wanted some onions, garlic, potatos, eggs and bananas.  A local led us from the beach to his friend's house, and this fellow spoke a little English.  We explained that we wished to go to the market and eventually 2 motorbikes appeared.  We each climbed on the back of our respective motorbikes and the fellows drove us over to the markets...a few kilometres.  Not so much there, one of the smaller village markets we've come across, but managed to get the eggs, bananas, cucumbers and garlic.  There were a lot of fish there, but we already had some for dinner from the morning's effort.  After our market visit they took us out to see the wind generators and then to see a school where the English speaking fellow is a teacher.  Back at his home we were invited to stay overnight.  We explained that we like to be on our boat to make sure the anchor holds when the tide changes.  We were just amazed at the friendliness and graciousness of these people.

 

Next morning we commenced our 45 hr sail to Kalimantan.  We had more wind than really expected and rolling seas...a far cry from the gentle breezes and flat water we expect up here.  We also had loads of local fishing vessels to dodge as well as ships. The fishermen are remarkably friendly, often coming close to have a look and everyone waves and shouts greetings.  At one time Chris counted 39 fishing boats in sight (during the night).  The adrenalin flows, but you do get used to it.  Phil made some soup for the trip, and Chris made a peach pie for our morning teas...the crew on Basanti always eat well.

 

Yesterday at 4:00 am we anchored just off the beach around a headland and got some sleep.  Later in the day we motored nearer to the mouth of the Kumai River and this afternoon we, and Tigress Too, motored up the river to our anchorage here.  We've booked an overnight river trip up into the jungle to see Orang-utans and other wildlife...looking forward to that.  This is a really unique and interesting place...hoping I can sort out my latest difficulty with the technology and get some photos loaded tomorrow.

Quick note from Lovina, Bali

We sailed up to Lovina, taking three days to daysail our way here.  Tigress Too arrived earlier and met their friends on Harmony and it was good to arrive and see everyone.  We all hired a car the other day to see the local sights, it is a beautiful area.  First we visited a hot springs, then drove through the mountains where coffee and spices are grown, as well as many fruits and veggies.  It is harvest time for cloves and at times the delicious scent of all the cloves drying along the road filled the car.  We visited a couple of waterfalls and then headed into the city for an hour of shopping in the department store.

This is just a short note...Buster is having some technical difficulties with his computer and the internet connection (two separate issues) so Chris is at an internet cafe and wanted to see if we at least knew how to log in to the blog!  Normally Buster's computer goes straight to this site without any need for logging on and none of us knew what the user id might be.  Luckily Jean suggested something that worked.

We hope to find ourselves in a better internet area from where we can post some photos and more stories.  Tomorrow we're starting our journey up to Kalimantan.

Ubud, Bali

Phil and Chris were able to make a short side trip inland to Ubud.  Ubud is about a two hour drive from where Basanti is moored and I stayed on the boat to keep watch and protect the rum.  From all accounts, they seemed to spend most of their time eating.

An early start saw us in Ubud before lunch.  We hadn’t booked any accommodation ahead of time, so we explored a few bed and breakfast/homestay places and got a great deal.  The town is full of these sorts of places.  Check out our glamour bathroom… Chris was determined to find a place with a nice shower as we are constantly very mindful of the amount of water we use on the boat, yes, even with a water maker.  We even had a kitchenette and tiny Balinese garden…all for $30.00 per night.

Once we had our accommodation sorted it was time for lunch.  We found a place with roast suckling pig (babi guling…there are some Indonesian phrases worth knowing).  Yum.  Note the little piglet sculptures at the hand basin.

 

We visited the markets and wandered the streets for a while in the afternoon.

Ubud is full of artists and creative types, which is part of why it is such a popular tourist destination. 

We went back to our room to fully enjoy the long hot showers and prepare for dinner.  We’d stopped at a cafe to use the internet earlier in the day, and we decided to go there for dinner, it was a great choice.  Both of us had beef rendang, the best we’ve had.

We were up before dawn the next day to walk out to the rice fields in the cooler part of the day.  Nice.  Saw a few farmers out tending the crops and enjoyed the serenity of the morning.  We were back at our guesthouse in time for breakfast, which is included in the room.

There were several schools further up the road from our accommodation and we were surprised that so many kids had motorbikes.  Apparently they can drive motorbikes at the age of ten.

Also saw the whole family out taking the little dog to be clipped.  The little dog is down at the front of the scooter.

Happy hour found us on the main street through Ubud having a beer and delish tapas.

Then we went to another place for dinner.  There are so many places to eat, it is difficult to narrow it down, so we did our best in trying a few out.  The dinner place was really busy and there weren’t many staff…below is a photo of the cook in her kitchen.  Great meal!

It was a quick trip and before we knew it, it was time to head back to Basanti.  One thing we hadn’t tried yet was “Civit Coffee”, which is a really rare coffee from this area.  The bean is eaten by a civit and then collected from the feces and processed into this rare coffee.  Not being big coffee drinkers, the finer aspects were fairly lost on Chris and Phil.

Finally it was time to say good bye to Ubud and our pleasant little guest house with the great shower.