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Friday, May 16: Seattle-on plane Fantastic day, light breeze and sunshine when I paddled home. Cheryl picked us up at 3, lots of traffic. We checked 222 pounds + my carry-on 24 pounds + Surain's carry-on 31 pounds = 277 pounds. Left punctually, not quite full. 30 minutes taxing in LA. Good service - had dinner again, saw movie (bad) about Kenya. Tried to sleep. Sunday, May 18: on plane-Jakarta-Manado
1 hour in Honolulu. Then 12 hours of flying. Calm, but hard
to sleep. Crossed the international date line and the equator.
Had breakfast (fish crepes) at 5.
Indonesia
Saw Tukang Besi and some of Take Bone Rate - looked fantastic! Very beautiful volcano on Lombok. Probably saw Komodo, but didn't know which island it was. 30 minutes late in Bali, 15 in Jakarta. Beautiful volcanoes on Java. Jakarta Our luggage eventually arrived in Jakarta, managed to check everything without paying for overweight - this took some persuasion. But very friendly people. Tried my Indonesian: "Ayr minum?". Response: "Tidak apa-apa". Our flight was canceled, but we got rebooked to 12:00. Lots of smog. Cleaner in Surabaya. Small airport. No problems checking in. Again they tried to charge us for overweight and departure tax. The flight was 20 minutes late. Manado Lots of clouds, didn't see much. Got a taxi to Hotel Manado Bersehati, far. Very friendly people. Elli's stuff but no Elli. OK room, 16,500 with a fan. Walked to Surabaya restaurant, good salad and OK Java Goreng. Elli showed up. No mosquitoes, lots of rain, a bit hard to sleep. Monday, May 19: Manado-Bitung-on ship Had tea and breakfast at hotel. Walked to market. Exchanged more money, had good breakfast where you paid for what you ate. Showered, ran a few errands, and took a taxi to Bitung. Fast ride. Had to carry our stuff across an empty gravel parking lot, sweated a lot. Could leave with some officials. Walked to little store and bought 46.5 liters of water (Elli 36). Got a porter to take the water back to the dock. Then walked through market, took several photos. So easy to take pictures! Very friendly,. Tried to find hat, but were directed to other market. Bemo there, but hats only in the morning. Friendly man helped us buy bananas. Bemo back, had good meal. After discussion we got porters to take our luggage onto ship for 10,000. Nice, modern ship. Good cabin with private bath (2nd class). Helped the porters with some of the stuff, gave them 12,000, they still wanted more. M/V Ciremai left punctually. We were asked to go to dining room, but of course weren't hungry. Walked around ship, looking at small out-rigger canoes zip by. Showered, nice. At 7 we were asked again to dine, so walked over to restaurant, where nice table was set for 4. Elli ate a little, we didn't. Had 2 coffee each. Later Elli get this idea we should go to the bridge - and we are granted permission. Very modern and computerized. 3 years old, built in Germany. 20 knots. Should pass equator just before 10:30. Went to bed early. Tuesday, May 20: on ship-Bangai Island My 50th birthday! Fell asleep and slept well. Did not wake up by the alarm 11:45, but Surain did. Went out to the deck and met my birthday there. Pretty nice outside. Bangai Island Woke up early. Prayer call around 4. Got up a quarter to 5, dark. Arrived 5:30 at dawn. From everywhere you could see small boats come out to Ciremai. The gangway was lowered and porters milled up. 15,000 they wanted for all of our stuff. Had started to rain. So all of us ended up in small boat with outrigger, that took us to the beach, and then up under rain protection. A man wanted 40,000. We didn't quite understand why. Lots of outriggers at ship. Still raining. Paid the porters, but we were informed by English-speaking student that the 40,000 were for the boat. Was eventually lowered to 30, 20, 15, and 10. Surain and Elli tried to buy tickets at the Pelni office and got some info about CCCs activities. Were told we should pay captain 10, so we did. Surain and Elli went to get breakfast, which we ate on deck. The crowd had thinned out.
Tuesday, June 3: Bangai Island-on ship
Shower! The water feels so light without the salt. Take pictures of all the colorful canoes selling their wares to the ship passengers. Had boring breakfast and watched from outside as we passed all the islands we had seen from our kayaks. Fun to chat with several passengers in Indonesian. I visit the policlinic and get some antiseptic and a new Band-Aid and am told it's fine to walk normal again. So start doing it, but not too much. Most of the day we sit on the top floor under a fiberglass roof. It's nice up there despite the loud music. Write postcards, read a bit, chat with Indonesians. No coffee at lunch - better than breakfast, but not too exciting. In early afternoon see land again. Got coffee and biscuits at 4:30 in our room without sugar. Laundry comes back sparkling clean, including my sarong. Good fish with dinner and also good water melon. Ciremai docks at Bau-Bau almost two hours early. Ship left at 11 pm. Wednesday, June 4: on ship-Ujung Padang Very hard to sleep. Finally got up at 6:45 and had some boring breakfast. Read a while on top deck, then visited the policlinic. This time saw the real doctor, who spoke a bit English. He looked at the wound somewhat concerned, noted it was deep and then cleaned it thoroughly, opening it up a bit and removing stuff with a tweezers. Put on anti-septic and a bandaid, but told us not to use ace bandage. Leave it like that for 4-5 days and don't let it get wet. Gave me penicillin. Saw five other westerners on the ship - the first we had seen for 16 days. Arranged my birkenstock so I could walk in it. We found out the ship would dock at 11:00 rather than 1:00. Got porters and a van taxi after some haggling. Stopped at post office on the way [to the airport]. Ujung Padang Eventually bought ticket on Bouraq to Banjarmasin, left luggage at very expensive place, had lunch and saw Elli off to Bali. Walked to Afiat hotel. My foot was getting a bit tired. OK hotel, but overpriced. Sat outside reading. Saw Elli's plane take off. Short walk in the neighborhood. Tried a banana leaf wrapped rice. Tried to get vegetarian food, but there was none. So ordered two noodle dishes with a little ayam in them and a beer. Food was pretty good, but needed some sambal. We were soon joined by several Indonesians, one of whom spoke fair English. Showed pictures. They were surprised to see the quality of our map and didn't know about Banggai. Had a nice time with them for several hours. Warm in the room, so rinsed off parts of my body. Nice! The bathroom had a tub with a shower hose. Thursday, June 5: Ujung Padang-Banjarmasin Mosquitoes during the night, but couldn't hear them due to very noisy fan. Slept better than last night, but still lay awake quite a bit. The wound itched quite a bit during the night, which seemed to be a good sign. Washed my hair in the morning. My camera is acting up, hard to take pictures. We get tea and boring toast for breakfast, then a free ride to the airport. Quite impressed by Bouraq Airlines - very punctual and very efficient. Man next to us tells us that several banks and hotels were burnt down in Banjarmasin two weeks ago prior to the election (but the tourist office downplays these events). Also says that Suharto is the only reasonable candidate for president. Stop down in Palu and have to change planes in Balikpapan, which has a very modern airport but also is quite expensive. Good coffee. Banjarmasin (Kalimantan) Efficient taxi service in to town. Get a room at business minded Borneo Homestay. OK room at a reasonable rate. Sign up for canal tour and floating market tour. Do some laundry and then take it easy on the roof. At 4:45 we and a German head out with a guide and a driver in a klotok. Can clearly see where some main buildings burned. The guide tells us that they have found 20 bodies. We soon hit some really narrow canals, where there are lots and lots of happy people, waving, washing, swimming, smiling, some squirting. It's depressing to see them wash and brush their teeth right next to the toilets in the filthy water. The guide tells us there are no health problems, but the guy from Berlin says this is not true. Seeing all these happy people eases our depression somewhat. Lots of mosques, they all converted from Hinduism many hundreds of years ago. After the tour we soon head out for dinner. After some looking we find a nice warung (food stall - more like a small restaurant) where we enjoy excellent dinner of gado-gado and sate ayam. Their hot sauce may be the hottest I ever tried. Man chats with me for a while [in Indonesian]. Chat with a couple from Chicago later. They're heading for the interior. She's got an artist's grant. Friday, June 6: Banjarmasin No mosquitoes during the night despite warnings - but hot. Get up at 6. We are five on the floating market tour. The engine stops at times, but we finally realize that this is only to allow the helmsman to clear the propeller. The market is very interesting, with lots and lots of small boats selling their wares. This is on the Barito river, the longest river in Indonesia. We stop for breakfast at a food canoe. Head over to the Chinese Buddhist temple and the monkeys, which we fee peanuts. They take it right out of our hands. This is only medium interesting. Have lunch at the Sakura, which is much pricier and as good as yesterday. Walk a bit, into a pharmacy, then a becak [rickshaw] Citra where we buy a silk sarong for Elli and a shirt for each us. Bemo back, enjoy coconut without sugar. A bit late to the big mosque, which is Indonesia's second largest. Modern and fairly nice, but far from the ones in the Middle East and India. We go back across the bridge to where we've seen local food stalls. It turns out to be mostly meat. Surain eats egg and chicken and I fish. Good tea. Chat with one guy from Holland later. They are out for six months and just about to go home. Borrow their Lonely Planet guide. Bought plane tickets BalikpapanPalu. English bookstore burnt down. Saturday, June 7: Banjarmasin-in bus Up 4:30 for the 5:00 boat trip, Have to wait 15 minutes for the helmsman. Dark when we head out, but can make out the interesting Bugis ships. Talk for a while to the guide Gunther. He says 123 were killed and 10,000 lost their jobs due to the fire. People were afraid to put it out, and didn't dare to wear their yellow T-shirts signaling Suharto's party. He's a bit hard to understand. Sun eventually comes up. Lots of activity. MartapuraBarito river, noticeable head current. Get to island just after 7 and see lots of "Kera Belanda" with their funny, long noses (Proboscis monkeys). In the beginning we some of them jump through the water quite close. There are supposed to be only 200 of them - we must have seen at least half of them. Gunther and the helmsman navigate with sticks under the mangrove trees. Also see several black monkeys, a parrot, and almost ten eagles. Sadly the forest is dying, this started only 1½ years ago and now at least 2/3 is dead. No one knows whom to blame. Farmers? Polluted rivers? The apes feed off the bases of the mangrove tree.. Have gado-gado at our first restaurant, and I add five pieces of chicken sate. Clean ourselves and pack and sit upstairs, reading and chatting with Connie, the jungle guide. Take a bemo to the bus terminal and get seats on the 5:00 a/c bus. As we wait and stroll around, a woman persuades us to try her "ess-buah" [ice-fruit] mixture, which is excellent. Nice bus, fair amount of leg room, only half full or so. Lots of houses along the road as we pull out, for several hours. Doesn't stop to pick up any additional passengers. Lots of traffic. We stop around 7 for dinner, rice and chicken, which is included. Road gets better, and is very fast for a while. Color of skin much lighter here than in Banggai. Sunday, June 8: in bus-Balikpapan-Palu-in bus The road starts to climb, and gets very bad in places, with the bus slowing way down and wobbling back and forth. Many minor stops and several other buses. Hard to sleep, but doze off a little when it's not too bumpy. Around 4 we stop for a long time. This is the ferry station. We realize that the 4, 5, and 6 buses all arrive here at about the same time! It's 5:40 before the ferry finally takes off. An hour later, and in daylight, we arrive at the other end (I slept a bit better when bus was still). Get a shared taxi to the Balikpapan center and find a small warung. Get veggies and rice. Most things seem closed. See many oil platforms far off shore. Talk to policeman for a while. He says that "klinik" is closed on Sundays, but then helps us take two bemos to get out to the airport. I shave! Read for a while. Find no "klinik". Have the same excellent gado-gado. Bouraq is very punctual as usual. Get a cab to the bus station in Palu. It's not a big station, just an agent which has a 9 pm bus. We buy tickets and leave our packs there. Ask how we can get to the restaurant Milano in the center. After some confusion, we catch a bemo to get there. Not far at all despite warnings. Most things are closed. See the mountains, green and beautiful. Oxen in the river. Hot, so stop in a little warung and have ice-fruit again, very good. Have a nice time chatting with the people there [in Indonesian], especially a girl in Muslim clothes. Walk through the market, take pictures, say "selamat siang" to just about everyone. Rest in the shade, and after more walking find the "Dome Tarama", which is locked but a little later a woman unlocks for us. First visitors since May 26. This is a small museum of a home. We make our way back to central area across the bridge. Slip in to restaurant and share a beer. We both have swollen feet - Surain's from puss spreading despite her cleaning efforts. And the klinik is not open on Sundays. Later we walk over to Milano and have a mie goreng dinner with orange drink. When we try to catch a taxi back to the bus agent, people point us around the corner. Not believing them, we finally follow the directions, and look-and-behold, there it is half a block away from restaurant Milano. We read for a while, but are both really too tired. Nine comes and goes, but no bus. It finally arrives 9:15 and leaves 10:00, which seems to be the normal time. It's a small and modern bus. Space is more cramped than yesterday, but seat is better. But it's harder to make myself comfortable. Bus drops off all the employees at their homes before heading out (or so it seem anyway). We only get an hour of good road, then very curvy and suddenly we come to a complete stop. Ahead are road machines working. Monday, June 9: in bus-Tentena After more than an hour's wait, we finally get moving again a little after 1 am. Very curvy and bad road, and we have another 20 minutes wait later. I do doze off several times in the morning when the road finally improves. |
Tentena (Sulawesi) We arrive in Tentena 8:15, having climbed about 650 meters and made a long detour delivering many passengers and a motorcycle to a village. Get a good room with a nice view (at 15,000 with breakfast, the cheapest AND best so far). Shower, have brunch, and go to the hospital a very nice English-speaking doctor caters to our wounds. I eat a floxin tablet, and an hour later we head into town. Have gado-gado for lunch at a small but covered warung. Walk across the covered bridge. The coffee at the small restaurant at the other end is weak, but the view is good. Buy a sarong in the small market. Read in the afternoon, and chat with one Austrian and a Swiss couple (who recognized us from Manado). Dinner at the nice restaurant is quite good. I eat eel, mild and well prepared. Again the coffee is weak. We miss it from Banjarmasin! Read a bit, but I crash at 9. Wake up at 11 and take a second floxin. Not nearly as hot here. 650 meters high. Tuesday, June 10: Tentena-Pendolo Wonderful to sleep in double clean sheets, and the temperature is good. Both our swellings much better in the morning. Get sweet doughnuts and good fruit (papaya, ?) for breakfast. Surain joins Swiss Marcus and Susan and Austrian Thomas to the waterfall, while I stay behind and read quite a bit. My body seems out of balance. The wind is uncomfortable, and so is direct sun, so I move around. Take a third floxin at 10. Starving., so buy 24 small bananas for 500 and start eating them at 11. Surain eventually gets back and we have nasi campur again. Start getting a minor headache. We take the boat at 4. It is slow, but it is beautiful to be out on the lake. We tow an outrigger with a dead motor for about an hour. Darkness falls. We have soup and tea in the canteen. I have a steady headache. Ate the 4th floxin at 5. Eventually arrive at 8. A car from one of the hotels meets and gives us a free ride to Losmen Victory, which is the best so far. Really nice for 15,000. We have tea out on the deck. Wednesday, June 11: Pendolo Wake up many times with bad headache. Decide not to take more floxin, blaming my fever on allergy. Feel a bit better in the morning, so get up and have tea and pancake for breakfast. The pancake seems tasteless. Only eat half, my stomach seems about to reject it. Don' feel very good, so go back to bed. Surain gives me bananas and biscuits for lunch. Bananas OK, but biscuits bad taste. The fever seems to drop later in the afternoon, so I take a headache tablet and up about 5:30. The biscuits taste much better now. Mary, a young woman next door and speaking fair English, has cooked dinner for us in her home. Good fish and veggies. Interesting sambal (tomato, peanuts, onion). I take a second tablet and feel almost OK the rest of the evening. Talk with Susan, Marcus, and Thomas and to a Dutch couple. Thursday, June 12: Pendolo-Tana Toraga Headache all night when I am awake. Take two tablets at 6:30. The pancake tastes quite good today, but I am still not hungry. The seven of us leave in Paul's van around 9. Swelling much better. Tana Toraga It's a nice ride, so much nicer than the buses - and we can enjoy the scenery since it is daytime. I have a slight headache all day, but don't take another tablet until 6. Not hungry for lunch but eat anyway. Beautiful road up to Rantepao, which lies in a beautiful valley about 800 meters high. Lots of rice paddies. Find a hotel, Visma Suryat, which is OK but not as nice as yesterday. This place sells postcards! Our dinner, gado-gado, is somewhat uninspiring. But great fruit juices. Friday, June 13: Tana Toraga-Ke'te'kesu-Tana Toraga The mosque starts kind of early. We get up a bit after 6 and shower. Then get breakfast, banana and fried egg and bread. It's cloudy outside, but they lift before 9. Get a bemo to Ke'te'kesu. Impressive village with the typical Toraja houses. Most of these are small grain rooms. Also several shops with nice trays, but we don't buy any. There are 14 effigies in one cave, and lots of human skulls and bones. Take another bemo to Buntao. There they have long bananas, which look hard and wooden, but taste excellent. Start walking to Sangalla 10:20. The road is mostly made of sand with stones, which makes walking hard. Very little traffic, but see many people. They don't seem to speak much English. Beautiful rice fields after a while, and see many Toraja houses., some of them very nice. Buy water and two more bananas. At the outskirts of Sangalla we catch a bemo to town and then one to Rantepao. Eat lunch, my nasi goreng biasa is very good. Excellent juices. Change money and buy stamps. All the doctors' offices closed until later, so head back to our hotel. I crash on the bed for a while. There is not much English spoken at the doctor's office, but the doctor does speak fair English (not good enough). It is very dark in his room, and his flashlight batteries are quite weak, so it is hard to see much. He cleans it with the red cleaning agent, but only barely enough for the Band-Aid he puts on. I'm not impressed. Gives me two tablets to take. He asks about insurance, and I wonder if he hikes the price when I say yes. We wander around stores. Have one more fruit juice. More store and then dinner, which is uninspiring cap cae (which suits me just fine) and tomato salad - and fruit juice. Look at other hotels on the way home and decide to switch. Saturday, June 14: Tana Toraga-Londa-Tana Toraga Both sleep pretty well. Pack, have breakfast and walk over to Indra City. Very friendly people. A knock on our door and a marella fruit juice for welcome! Sprinkle of rain, cloudy. Catch a bemo. The driver seems intent on breaking the speed record. We are glad to get off at Londa. Nice one km walk above some rice fields. The graves as Londa are down a path. Very impressive sight, with some casks hanging from the rock ceiling with ropes. Beautiful effigies. No traditional houses here, though. Walked back and took bemo to Lemo. About ½ km walk. To our surprise, we read "Läs och Res" above our names - and today! Seven people came and left. This is the place where all the photos are taken from. Quite impressive, but sadly there are very few original effigies left. The modern ones aren't nearly as nice. I was more impressed by Londa. Some traditional houses, but Ke'te'kesu better. Lots and lots of stores. We buy three nice trays and two ladles from the artist. After much looking, Surain buys a sarong and gets it sown into a tunnel. Have a large lunch, nasi goreng, which includes oily fried egg and chicken liver (which we sort out). But taste is good. Wash some clothes and I lay down for a while to rest my tired eyes. The sun finally appears around 2, when we look for a bookstore (zip) and rice field views. Dinner is around 8 o'clock at Rima's. Have nice mixed salad (good size) and juice. Swedish family of four at the next table, but I'm too tired to converse. There has been a band playing real close to our hotel. Fairly loud but pleasant music. I crash at 9 despite the music. Never had to readjust my sarong a single time today - despite four bemos, bed rest, etc. Sunday, June 15: Tana Toraga Cloudy morning. Head out early and get some bread from a street vendor + tea at Florida. Bemo to Bolu and another (very crowded) to Sadai'le'Baronga. Man next to us speaks quite good English. Walk up short distance to nice area with rice barns and sleeping shelters (?) surrounding it. Then woman says hallo and invites us in to a cup of tea and cake. It is also a losmen. Walk with her a bit and see palm wine being tapped a white buffalo. It is almost pink with grayish spots and looks strange where it is tied under a shelter. The woman says it is worth 15 millions rupiah ($6,000). Several of these were slaughtered at her mother's funeral last October (a total of 120 buffaloes). We look at several ikats back at the house and buy one. Take bemo to Palawa, which is quite touristy (though no other tourists at the moment). One tongkonan doubles as a store, so we get the chance to see what they are like inside. Soon leave and catch two bemos back to Rantepao. Have lunch at Florida. Very good salad but also very small (with asparagus). Juices a bit watery. Later in the afternoon order a Toraja meal at Rima's, buy bus tickets to Senkang and then walk to Singie hill. Follow the path up and come to a place where they cook Toraja style - in bamboo. Continue up almost to the top for nice views. Dinner at Rima's is good though a bit too salty for my taste. And way too much - I can only eat half. Monday, June 16: Tana Toraga-Sengkang Almost foggy outside, but the sun comes out before 8. Pay the nice hotel people and have breakfast at Pia Poppies, pancakes with bananas and one boiled egg. Our bus leaves 9:20 (instead of 9). It's a beaten up minibus, but it offers more space for us than the modern one from Palu. After one hour or so we do smell burnt rubber. They stop for a while and do something to the right front tire. At lunch they take the wheel off. Then as we are leaving the mountains, we stop for an hour at a tire shop. The nice couple in front of us buys us three ice creams (held between pieces of bread). Sengkang We stop for gas (seems like all buses do) and finally arrive 4:20. Man meets at the bus and walks us to his hotel, where we take a room for 20,000. After some rest we walk up to a viewpoint. Can see Lake Tempe in the distance. Many blue roofs. Have some difficulty finding our way back. Dinner is good - most dishes are offered "tanpa daging". Felt much better today. Tuesday, June 17: Sengkang-Ujung Padang Slept OK. No headache in the morning. Breakfast is boring toast. Head out with our guide around 7:45. Long bemo ride (fairly empty) to Weinam (?). Walk across wobbly suspension bridge. We enter area below a house. This is where they rear the silkworms. They buy eggs in batches of 22,000 (which cost 17,000 rupiah) and them on big beds of mulberry leaves. The white larvae eat for five weeks (?). Then they are put on dry bamboo stalks, where they will spin their cocoon with the silk thread (which comes out of the mouth). The 22,000 eggs should produce about 5 kg of silk, but actual yield is more like 4 kg. We walk back to the road and visit a school with about 120 students in six classes. One of the teachers speaks good English. They start first grade at age 5, and study Bahasa Indonesia all 6 grades and English grades 4-6. But at some places there are no English classes due to lack of teachers. After some wait get on a bemo back towards town. Get off where they die the yarn. Women use pieces of wood strung with yarn. They dip these into the dye and run it along one strand at a time. Some of them work quite fast. This is the ikat method. It is then dried in the sun, tied around by strings to prevent further dying, and shipped to the "fabric". Two bemos tack us to the weaving station. We also walk to a place where the woven fabric is sold. The woman there speaks good English. Tack a bemo back. Have lunch at same place as yesterday ( but today they charge us tax). I have diarrhea the rest of the day (first time - it doesn't bother me too much). The bus picks us up about 1:45 and drives around town to pick up a few more passengers. A man next to us speaks some English. Later, somebody want to be taken to the hospital. Much later we stop briefly at a rumah sakit to let off a woman a few more people. Ujung Padang We get off at the airport and walk the few steps to Hotel Afiat. Have dinner. People there recognize us. Buy a wooden box from Toraja. Remove the Band-Aid and it looks very good. Shower. Wednesday, June 18: Ujung Padang-on plane Wash my hair and shower. There is a little bit of puss, but I leave the wound uncovered. Have boring toast for breakfast and get a free ride again. Change $50. Pay 50,000 to get our luggage and some minor repacking. The porter takes a back way to the check-in counter, so we never pass the X-ray! Our 11:20 flight is canceled (maybe that's why we were waitlisted in Palu) but there is a 12:30 flight. Despite much discussion we can't avoid the 8,800 p.p. charge domestic airport tax. |