Bandung, Banjarmasin, Tanjung Puting National Park, Indonesia (Nov. 2010)
We wanted our Southeast Asia trip to be an adventure, but we never expected the adventure in Indonesia to begin with Mount Merapi’s eruption. For a few days, our entire itinerary in Indonesia fell into chaos. The first city we were supposed to visit was Yogyakarta, on Java, just 40 km from the volcano. During this time, many international airlines canceled flights for safety reasons. We had no idea whether we would even be able to get to Indonesia. After a few tense days watching the news and talking to my contacts in Jakarta, we decided to skip Yogyakarta but keep the rest of the Indonesian itinerary intact. My two friends from Beijing, Shiqiu and Xiaoqiu, flew to Jakarta early on the morning of 11/10 and waited for us at the airport. Since they don’t speak English, they felt anxious until we finally arrived. Jakarta has a reputation as a crowded, congested, and polluted city that is hard to get around, so my friend Chad from Singapore suggested we spend our extra days in Bandung, a “resort” town about 2 2-hour drive southeast of Jakarta. Our guide, Hillman, and a driver met us at the airport. The highway was initially crowded, but once we left Jakarta, traffic eased, and the air grew cleaner. Shiqiu observed that the 6 people in the van spoke three different languages. Two spoke only Chinese, the driver spoke only Indonesian, and Ray spoke only
Bandung is Indonesia’s 3rd-largest city and is supposedly an escape for people living in Jakarta. Unfortunately, the city looks a little run-down and in need of a facelift. We visited a volcanic crater and a nearby hot springs park. Both were quite commercialized and unimpressive, but we met a Taiwanese who was selling organic salted duck eggs there. We tried several new fruits that we had never tasted before. The snake fruit, with skin just like a snake, is our favorite. At the hot spring park, a local young man gave me a “free” foot massage. He used a sulfur stone to whiten my skin. Although the foot massage was free, I still had to buy him a rather expensive ice cream. What a smart business strategy and marketing plot he devised. We visited a school dedicated to training children in traditional Indonesian bamboo music and dance. The children are lovely and very enthusiastic about their performance. The bamboo instrument has different keys, and we performed songs with the children. Those were the highlights of our stay in Bandung.
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We returned to Jakarta airport and continued to the next segment of our trip: the Orangutan tour. We first flew to Banjarmasin. We stayed at a Lonely Planet-recommended budget hotel, Peranda. At 150,000 rupiahs (about $18) a night, it is one of the cheapest hotels I have ever stayed at. It was clean, but we lost power several times during the night, and a few small critters roamed around. Shiqui, however, was happy because she could watch 4 Chinese TV channels. I guess next time I will have 2nd thoughts about staying at one of Lonely Planet’s recommended “budget” hotels.
Edwin took us to visit one of the villages along the river where he lived for 3 years to help with the reforestation effort. The villagers used to live inside the National Park, and the government built a new village for them when the park was established. Each family was given a house and a cow as compensation. The village used to have over 600 residents, but now has only about 300 – mostly women, old folks, and young children. Most young adults left for jobs in bigger cities. The village has no electricity, and the only satellite is for emergency phone service. They have one elementary school with about 50 students. Villagers tend their rice fields, fish, and feed their cows. Women wash clothes in the stream, and children play hopscotch on the dirt floor.
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I woke early to the jungle calls of two huge birds with black bodies and white faces. Brilliantly blue-and-gold kingfishers also chatter around. Before we reach the first feeding station, we begin to see wild orangutans hanging from the trees. These locally known “red forest people” were driven to the brink of extinction due to habitat loss and poaching. About 30 years ago, Canadian researcher Dr. Biruté Mary Galdikas came to study these giant apes and established the International Orangutan Foundation in 1986. With her dedication and international pressure, the Indonesian government set aside a large area to preserve orangutans. The feeding stations around the research camps mostly serve animals previously rescued from injury or captivity. The keepers know them all by name, but warn us that they are still wild animals and can be dangerous. The male orangutan Durak, whom we met at the first feeding station, weighs about 125 kg and is 7 times as strong as a man. When he finally came down to the station to dine on bananas, cassava, and “sweetened” milk, the other orangutans kept their distance. Once Durak had his fill and left, a young male cautiously came down from the trees and snatched up most of the remaining food as quickly as he could. He grabbed bunches of bananas and several cassavas in both hands and both feet, and still managed to stuff more into his mouth while leisurely climbing back into the trees. He showed the dexterity and cleverness of an orangutan well-suited to jungle life.
The Orangutan tour is excellent; the service and guide are great. I only wish we could stay on the river longer. The original 3D/2N itinerary was adequate, if it hadn’t been cut short by unpredictable flight changes in Indonesia. Since I first booked the flights online, they have changed several times, mostly without advance notice. Our guide told us we were lucky because the airline sometimes cancels flights without advance notice. They have experience bringing tourists back by land, which takes about 14 hours. So I learned a few tips for travelers who are interested in coming to this area
1. Be sure that you leave a local contact phone number e.g., your tour guide or travel agent) with the airline so the airline can text message you the changes to the flights (which happens all the time)
2. Watch out for travel days that are Muslim holidays because Garuda (Indonesia National Airline) canceled our flights to Bali in the morning because of just such a holiday. We ended up staying at the Banjarmasin airport for 7 hours waiting to be rebooked on the subsequent flights to Jakarta, then to Bali
3. In smaller cities like Banjarmasin, most people do not speak English, and communication with local people can be difficult. It is helpful to learn at least some basic Indonesian words, like basic greetings, the names of different foods, and the currency units
4. Electricity is unpredictable, and a flashlight is handy. Most of the plugs have two round holes. You’ll need an adapter for your cell phone, iPod, and computer
5. Indonesian rupiahs started in the 1000s. With so many zeros in their bills, it is easy to get confused about the numbers. 100,000 rupiahs are basically worth only about $12. It didn’t help that the 100,000 bills were similar in color to the 10,000 bills. Although the exchange rate is about 8,900 to $1, I usually take out 4 zeros from the bill and estimate it to the nearest US$.
I hope you enjoy this segment of our “million miles of SE Asia tour!