Day 149, Year 3: Arrival in Kumai
Date: Hari Minggu (Sunday), Bulan Oktober 5, Pada Tahan 2008
Weather: HOT; Mix of Sun and Downpours of Rain
Latitude: 02 degrees 44.611 minutes S
Longitude: 111 degrees 43.920 minutes E
Location: Kumai River, Kalimantan, Indonesia
It was a long way from Karimunjawa to here. It really ended up to be a two night, two day trip and with lots of water (both sea water and fresh rain water) falling on Windbird. We ended up with wet pillows and sheets from Justin’s and Jo’s attempts to sleep in the cockpit. It is usually dry, but on this trip we kept getting rogue waves that splashed the cockpit and it’s contents with saltwater from time to time. Then early this morning the heaven’s opened up and we deluged with tropical rain
storms. That continued once we arrived, so I guess we are in the world of sun and rain and you have to be prepared for the rain constantly. We will spend tomorrow here in Kumai and on the next day we will leave for our three day, two night trip into the Tanjung Putting National Park on river boat called a klotok. We are looking forward to our trip up the river to the three research stations where we will get to observe the orangutans.
Justin and Jo survived the trip here and are feeling renewed for the trip up river. Today we went ashore to explore the town of Kumai. It is not as clean as most we have visited in Indonesia, but the people are very friendly. Justin and Jo actually walked past a neighborhood that was having a celebration and got invited in to share the circumcision celebration of three young boys. Mark and I just walked the streets and conversed with the locals, some of whom can speak English. We met with Harry
who is coordinating our river trip and tomorrow we will travel by bemo (bus) to the close-by city of Pankalan Bun just to check it out. We will spend the rest of the day getting ready for our river trip. As we sailed into the Kumai River early this morning, I felt that we have crossed another boundary. I know we are still in Indonesia, but this part of the country has a very different feel to it. From here we sail to Singapore via a few island stops, so we are definitely starting to leave Indonesia
behind and greeting the world of Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. So much world to see.
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| 081005 Day 149 Kalimantan, Indonesia–Karimunjawa to Kumai |
