Ok… so what have I done??
I wrote earlier Carly picked me and made me whole again, on the Gilli Islands.
I flew back to NZ and Aust to sort stuff – mainly my medical stuff. Wonderful – a great reset.
I flew back to Bali, and stayed 3-4 days in a resort called Swastika. Despite that name it was really nice. A bit of an oasis. I needed to draw breath. Honestly I was a bit scared at being back on the road, In the truck. Being alone.
I drove from Denpasar to the ferry and hopped over to Java. I visited an amazing Hindu temple called Borobudur, in central Java. Amazing, and right up there with Angkor Wat. It had been restored and was really fantastic.
I drove to Sembawang. There’s a ferry service from there to Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo). A 24 hour trip, starting at 4am (had to be there at 10pm) and arriving at midnight. Brutal. I slept for a couple of days and headed off on an orangutan safari – a boat, for three days and 2 nights. Then I headed north.
An orangutan safari… It’s a little like the Komodo dragons, in that it’s bit of a bucket list thing. But this was really special.
My boat had a captain, 2 crew, a cook and a guide, and me – a ratio of 5 to 1 is the sort of care ratio I value . We cruised up a river from the town of Pangkalan Bun. Into a national park. The jungle, in it’s original state, it pretty awe inspiring – puttering up a river and dense jungle on either side. The wildlife is amazing, the birdlife great – the noises of the jungle everywhere.
The orangutan are amazing… We visited 3 parks, To be fair they are fed, to cater for the tourist. I was told afterwards these orangutan have been taken from captivity and placed back into the wild – so feeding them is essential.
We did a night walk. Tree snakes, tarantulas, scorpions, fire ants….
I did see an orangutan in the wild – from the boat.
The other highlight was a team of probiscis monkeys. Again I was lucky – they are rare to see.
On the boat I slept out on deck, under a mosquito net. The jungle noises during the night were incredible.
From there I did a hard drive up to Brunei over 3 days. Richard and Jenny were there – great to see them. We wandered around. It is a fascinating country. Richard and Jenny are heading north to Sabah – I headed south to Kuching. I needed to rest – which was where I am now.