Hello again!

We got a flight over to Kalimantan, which is the Indonesian part of Borneo, ready to begin our trip to see the Oragnutans!! We were both well excited!

We arrived in Pangkalan bun and were greeted by Mr Sabrie, who would be our lovely guide for the next three days, we grabbed our bags and hopped in to a taxi to take us to the river!

Here, we boarded our klotok, a wooden boat, that we shared with our cook, captain, captains mate and Mr Sabrie! The klotok was fantastic, it even had a normal loo!! yay!!

Day one began, and we were on our way towards Tanjung Puting national park. We stopped off at a small village, where ony 100 people lived. We met a few locals and were invited to watch a local woman weaving a carpet. The children of the village swam and played in the water and watched us curiously as we had a look about!

Back on to the klotok and headed further down stream, here we spotted our first Orangutan!!! A baby one, happily hanging from a tree. He watched us intently as we drove closer, changing his position to get a better view of us! He was brilliant, his little face was so full of character, you could almost tell what he was thinking! As we drifted along we also saw proboscis monkeys, loads of them, swinging from tree to tree and getting cross with us when we got too close!!

The sun was setting and it was time to get our bed ready for the night, 'hotel California' as Mr Sabrie would call it! We slept on the top deck, under a princess pink mosquito net! It was fantastic, we fell asleep listening to the sounds of the rainforest, then i would wake up scratching my legs raw because of the horrible mosquito bites i had managed to gain, despite covering myself in repellant, taking vitamins to make my blood less appealing, and burning coils which apparantly stop the little buggas from coming anywhere near us!! But Never mind.

The next morning and it was time to visit Camp Leaky. The camp was set up to help rehabilitate the Orangutans after the locals had captured them, also to ensure the Orangutans would survive despite the illegeal logging industry that was taking away their homes.

We parked the klotok, well we didn't but the captain and crew did, much safer that way! And we walked towards the camp. I was feeling a bit nervous, as Mr Sabrie had earlier explained that Orangutans can bite, and sometimes they grab people, and their belongings! Anyway i got a grip and just kept on walking! We arrived at the camp and not one orangutan in sight, so we went off for a hike through the forest in search of them. Nothing in the forest, after about an hours marching in the baking heat, we arrived back at camp and there she was! A big mummy with her baby clinging to her. We stood feet away from her and got some snaps. She watched us, completely unfazed, then stood upright, turned and began walking away. Absolutely brilliant, we were so excited!!

We returned to the boat for lunch, at this point i have to write about the amazing food. It was delicious. The best Indonesian food we have had, fried prawns, pineapple and rice, vegatables in garlic, chicken and potatoes in a curry type sauce, fried sweet bananas and fresh fish! I think we both put on weight they fed us so much and so well.

After our lunch time feast, we rolled of the boat, and went back into camp to visit the orangutans feeding station. The Orangutans that have been rehabilitated are called and are left bananas out in the forest for them to eat, to ensure they are doing ok, and get enough food. Probably also so us tourists get to see them! We followed the guides into the forest, as they made monkey noises to let their ginger mates know grub was available! As we walked through the forest we could see the orangutans swinging through the trees above us to reach the feeding station, here they munched their way through a good heap of bananas and wandered amongst us all, climbing up next to us and relaxing with the guides! Seeing them up close was brilliant.

We had another night at hotel California, and woke ready for a fresh water shower! The fresh water from the river was used for our shower, it was very cold and you could see the surrounding forest as it had no roof, perfect!

We had another opportunity to see the Orangutans again at a different feeding station before we headed off on our five hour journey back to dry land. However the big fellas must have already had breakie as they didn't come down from the trees, although we didn't get to see them up close again, i was pleased, that way we know they aren't dependant on humans, and they arent peforming monkeys!! ha!

We had such an amazing trip, at the end we got to meet Mr Sabries gorgeous family in his home and we were sad to say goodbye. Back in Pangkalan Bun, we stayed in a grotty hotel, ran by the grumpiest people in the world, and sorted our flights up to Pontianak!

So that is where we are currently. Another crazy city. Here we visited the museum and found out some info about the Dayak (indigenous) people and the Malay people. We also walked for about 4 hours, got on a ferry to visit the Equator monument! As Pontianak is positioned right on the line! The people here are so lovely, shouting and waving hello to us lots. The men tend to ignore me and only address Jon, "Helloooo Mrrrrrr"! The city is almost seperated by the river, on one side it seems much more wealthy and the other seems alot poorer (and very smelly!), but the people are just as smiley! Boarding a bus tonight, to cross over into the Malaysian side of Borneo, a place called Kuching, will keep you up to date!

Missing you all.

Kate and Jon xx