Were back to Benjamarsin and we made it in one piece surprisingly! We had the most miserable travel experience to Pankalam Bun (Spelling?) which is on the south western side of Borneo. We started our day at 8:30 am and went to the bus station to catch our 9am bus. We got to the station and as usual people acted as if we were famous, wanting to take pictures with us, shake our hands as well as the good old fashion open mouth stares. We thought that maybe its been a while since they last saw a westerner here. Anyway by 8:30 am were already dripping wet with sweat and were about to board a non air conditioned bus. Ok we get on and its completely packed and denise and I are sitting on these leather seats that are half the size of our western asses. Needless to say our arms were touching which was really uncomfortable. But on we went with a 25 cent fan that we both shared. With in the first hour of our trip Denise had already said how horrible this was maybe 15 times and I literally thought that this trip was going to be the end of her sanity. We were already thinking about the massages we would get once we got back to Benjamarsin. Both of us reading our books that we brought...thankfully we had some sort of entertainment. Our first stop was after 4 grueling hours of bumpy roads. Then we waited 2 hours for another bigger bus to arrive and take us to our final destination, which we had no idea was going to be a whopping 16 hour long bus ride...making our entire trip 20 hours!!!! Can you believe that???? When we arrived neither one of us believed that we had actually made it through.
Let me tell you about the ride...the roads were horrible...I cant believe that the bus actually made it there, due to all the holes in the road and constant swerving on and off the road...crazy! Oh and instead of worrying that the driver (which looked like he just got his drivers license) was going to fall asleep we had to fall asleep ourselves, which was at times a bit difficult due to the extremely loud techno music that these drivers love to listen to. Except its not like the techno Im used to. It sounds more like the chipmunks on crack!
But we made it there...it was 3am and our guide picked us up with his wife and child...his wife was 19 and his kid was 3...and that is common here! We got picked up at the bus station and went to a hotel which we would normally snub our noses at, but due to the fact that we had just spent 20 hours sitting upright we were more then happy to break out our sarongs and lay down on the bed (oh and it was only 6 bucks for the night).
Our day started at 10am when the guide picked us back up at the hotel and dropped us off at at dock where we boarded our boat that we would call home for the next 2 nights and 3 days. It was a plain two level boat with the bottom being for the crew (which was our guide/ driver and the cook/ assisstant), and the top level was for Denise and I. On the back of the boat was our bathroom, which surprisingly had a western toilet emptying out into the river below and a shower head which I sadly found out the next morning, was not connected to anything. We actually felt like Queens, being on our private boat, getting catered to with amazing food etc.
It was a great start! We started off down the river which was very similar to the Amazon in Peru...very lush and green with small waterways. Then after about an hour or two down the river, only seeing 3 or 4 tourist boats like ours, we arrived at the first camp to see a feeding for wild Orangutans. Since the feedings at all these camps are once a day at a specific time of day we had to wait another hour or so before we would venture into the camp and check it out. So we ate a delicious lunch and layed on our deck of the boat chatting with our guide to pass the time. When we went into the camp it consisted of about 2 small houses and a visitors center with loads of info about the forests here, the orangs and the other animals we would see during our time in the jungle.
Then it was just Denise, our guide, myself and the ranger going to feed the Orangs...so exciting...it was like our own private feeding session! Sooo cool! We took about a ten minute walk into the jungle from where the camp was and along the way we saw one of the bigger adult males (boss man) of the camp. Supposedly there is a hierarchy among these animals. Especially the males! There is one boss man, and he has his own territory with almost like a herem of female orangs and their babies. Anyway this Orang was enormous...and had the most amazing face...with great fatty cheeks. He was actually following us to the feeding platform...he had obviously done this before. So off we went with this gigantic Orang following us. When we arrived at the feeding station the ranger put bananas on the platform and milk with sugar added in a container for them to drink. He made a whooping call and here they came. First you would hear noises of leaves, branches braking and trees shaking then you would see the trees move and there they were. There were about 5 or 6 that were brave enough to come although that at this particular camp there were supposed to be about 200 Orangs living there. But this was the most wild camp, where the animals were not as social with people as the other camps that we went to. But we saw them...they are just gorgeous and amazing creatures! Swinging through the trees as easily as we walk down the sidewalk. Their arms and legs so flexible...it was incredible!
We sat and watched these amazing animals and got to be so close to them. This is what we came all this way for! We had one more day full of feeding times at two other camps and this is how we passed the time on the river in Borneo. Sooo cool! At the last camp we visited we actually got to sit and hang with about 4 orangs that wanted to get really close to you...they were not afraid. Actually at the last camp we were at the population of the orangs are booming. This we heard was both a good thing and a bad thing. There is now a lot more competition among the Orangs for territory and food now with the growing numbers of them. But it is also a good thing to have more orangs in the area b/c as we have told you, Borneo and Summatra are the only two places in the world where you'll see wild Orangutans. Amazingly, I got to see both this trip!
After two great nights on the boat, we knew that on the third day we would have to once again board the non airconditioned bus at take our marathon ride back to Benjamarsin. Which we did...but, happily we made it in one piece and were both "sane", I think! Were off to have lunch and then were off to Singapore tomorrow to spend our last few days of our vacation. Then sadly back home on the 22nd. Ok Lots of love to everyone...well post some pictures of our trip tonight.
