Upriver in Borneo

We stayed one night in Semarang just so we could catch a flight to Pangkalan Ban in Kalimantan – better known as Borneo. The flight took one hour and was uneventful. Our guide, Joe, and tour operator Mr Yatno were at the tiny airport to greet us.

The first thing I noticed about Borneo was how flat it was – in my mind, I had expected lots of hills – sort of gorilla in the mist kind of landscape; but of course, orang-utans are not gorillas – duh! After collecting our bags, we piled into a very hot taxi for a 20 minute ride to our boat. The road was in bad shape and many times we slowed to a crawl, making our way through very deep potholes and puddles.

On route, Joe pointed out tall grey buildings with tiny holes punched into the sides – these, he said, were for swallows to nest so workers could then harvest them for birds’ nest soup. Both Ian and I were amazed as we had always thought birds’ nests were harvested from the wilds, not from man-made means. Joe explained that 1 nest can get as much as 250,000 RP – about 27 dollars; not a bad business venture.

The buildings to harvest the swallows' nests were best visible from the river: 

Ian and I quite honestly did not know what to expect in terms of what our boat would look like – Tim said ‘we’d be roughing it’ so our expectations were pretty low. We were pleasantly surprised when we arrived. One thing we noticed right off the bat, was how clean everything was – and of course, that we had the entire top section to ourselves complete with table and chairs and two comfy chairs to watch for wildlife.

Joe explained that it was lunchtime already – and we figured that meant we had missed it, which we expected. Instead, lunch arrived on china, and we sat down to eat while still docked on the wide river. The food was really good – I had emailed Mr Yatno to tell him no beef or pork but lots of veggies would be super – and that was what we got: chicken, tempe, tempura eggplant, rice, a veggie dish, etc.

We said goodbye to Mr Yatno, and off we went across the river towards the smaller Sekonyer River to Camp Leakey located in Tanjung Peting National Park.

Before getting to the entrance, a couple of dolphins appeared but we could just make out that they were dolphins – they never got close to the boat or jumped right out of the water. In all the trips Ian and I have made – the ferry crossings, snorkelling trips, etc. this was the first time we had ever seen dolphins.

I was delighted by how cool it was and surprised how quiet – I had expected to a cacophony of sounds.  We got some light rain but neither one of us minded. The river was dark and dirty and lined with palms.

Ian and I sat out front, our eyes peeled, hoping to spot something in the trees. After awhile, Joe pointed to two large dark shapes high up in the trees off in the distance – we grabbed the binoculars and could just barely make out two grey Langurs. Our captain stopped the boat but Langurs are very shy and disappeared down the tree pretty quickly. Ian asked if we would see any Proboscis monkeys (also known as the long nosed monkey) and Joe said, yes – around 4:30. True to his word, close to 4:30 we came upon many Proboscis monkeys. Our camera isn’t the greatest – but here’s a shot:

The males have very long noses, going past their mouths, but the females have fairly big noses as well. Stomachs protrude making them all look like they have pot bellies and their colour was mostly ginger or grey with orange faces. Joe explained that the monkeys come to the river banks to sleep – that way if they are in danger, they can jump in the river and swim to the other side as they are very aquatic. I read that they can swim up to 65 feet under water.

The boat stopped under a tree with about 20 Proboscis monkeys settling down for the night and we just sat and watched them. There were monkeys high in the trees on the other side of the river and we were in awe as they jumped from tree to tree, sometimes breaking the branches and falling great distances. The entire river bank was lined with these furry creatures and we made no rush to move on, staying until the sun set.

Finally we turned around to find a place to dock for the night – Joe promising something romantic and again, keeping his word. Along the bank were hundreds of fireflies – like Christmas lights twinkling in the palms. It was stunning – Joe found a spot with ‘the most’ and that’s where we docked for the night.

Being on a boat for a few days roughing it, I couldn’t help but wonder about the bathroom, shower, and sleeping arrangements. I was pleased to see a bathroom (a small room open to the sky at the back of the boat down a ladder) with a toilet, toilet paper and a bucket of river water used to flush the toilet. There was a shower head and hose (although directly over the toilet) but we couldn’t use that till we got to ‘cleaner water’ as it was fed with river water.  Sleeping arrangements turned out to be a tent of mosquito netting with two mattresses, simple linens, and pillows; very pretty, a bit hard, but not bad.

The mosquitoes and bugs were getting really bad but our captain brought out the coils and Ian and I layered on the bug spray. It was dark by 6pm and difficult to do much by candle light, especially with all the bugs, so we packed in early.

The second day we were up at 5am. I had a horrible night’s sleep – someone below was snoring and sound carries so it was LOUD; but I wasn’t dismayed. After all, I was on a river in Borneo – waking up to the sound of Gibbons monkeys and loud splashes in the water as the crocodiles submerged.

After a breakfast of eggs, we headed out, Ian sitting in the front while I stayed in the shade. The sky was clear but the breeze cool and we watched the landscape around us change.

After a short while, I saw something swimming in the water – and jumped up to get a better look. At the same time, Joe came out from below, shouting in excitement that there were Proboscis monkeys swimming across the river.

We slowed to a crawl, getting quite close, and watched them make their way across the water and up into the trees. Further down the river, we saw a crocodile that disappeared quickly into the water and later, while sitting typing, I looked up to see a tiny crocodile swimming alongside the river bank. We had to stop a couple times – once to pay the park fee and another to buy some coffee and tea in a small village of 300. There is a hotel, an eco-lodge, a restaurant, and Flora’s home-stay on this river.

Other boats passed us – small motorized boats with locals and bigger boats with tourists but not often; mostly, we have the river to ourselves. After an hour or so, we turned down a narrow river canal where the water was clearer and again the landscaped changed. Joe, with his eagle eyes, would point out crocs or Kingfisher but we didn’t always spot them. Finally, we came to Camp Leakey:

There were about 4 or 5 large boats already docked here and our captain parked ours across from the dock. While there, Joe pointed out Farsi, an older orang-utan walking along the docks. He called to her and threw bananas onto the dock to lure her closer for us to get a good view. Ian and I were so excited to see our first orang-utan out in the wilds (so to speak).  

Camp Leakey was established in 1971 by Dr. Birute Galdikas (a Canadian) and her former husband Rod Brindamour as an orang-utan rehabilitation and release centre. The centre has released over 200 orang-utans into the wilds and when food is scarce, some return to the camp for daily feedings. The camp is also a research centre and according to their website (orangutan.org) is one of the longest continuous studies of any wild animal population.

The afternoon feeding was at 2pm so we had our lunch before venturing out. We had to use a few boats as bridges to get across to the dock and then made our way down long wooden walkway. Joe led the way and we learned that he had been a ranger for 3 years at this camp so he knew quite a few of the orang-utans by name including the “professor” (Dr. Galdikas).

On the walkway ahead of us were another couple of tourists with their guide and an orang-utan heading towards them, blocking the path. The guide hurriedly turned around moving out of the way. Joe laughed and reached into his pocket pulling out a lighter. As the orang-utan approached us, Joe called it by name and she sat down. Joe flicked the lighter, sang happy birthday and the orang-utan blew out the light:

It was clear that Joe loved these animals and nature in general.

Our next stop was the camp and a path that ran through the forest – Joe pointed out wild pigs rummaging in the dirt and Petra with her baby up in the trees. He called out to her, holding out a banana as he did, and she made her way down, baby in tow.

Tomas, a younger orang-utan was close by but high in the trees. Joe called to him but as long as Petra was there, he wouldn’t come down. He did eventually, even following us down the path, putting his hand into my pocket looking for treats but since there were none, I wasn’t too concerned. If I had anything in my pockets, then I’d worry, they can get aggressive if you don’t give them what’s in your pockets.

We spent a fair bit of time with these friendly primates; then made our way to the information centre. Orangutans are endangered here in Indonesia due to the palm plantations and subsequent destruction of their habitat. Joe explained that the government didn’t seem to care in the least; that anyone could come here to clear land and plant palm trees. He explained the trees only produced fruit for about 38 – 40 years and after that, the soil was useless.

While in the centre, I watched through the doorway as another older larger female orang-utan approached the cabin and sat on the steps. Joe explained that she had had a recent operation for cancer but seemed to be doing okay. He sat with her and we watched as she moved to rest under the building.

It was now time for the feeding which was about 20 minutes away in a small clearing down a well laid out path. On route, we met several orang-utans all recognized by Joe who coxed them down from the trees to greet us.

We arrived to the feeding platform just as the rangers did with their bundle of bananas and we listened as the trees crashed around us signifying the arrival of the orang-utans.  There were about 25 tourists there and we sat quiet and breathless watching the orang-utans swing across the vines and scurry down the trees to grab some bananas.

Some would put a bundle into their mouth and carry another in hand up a tree to eat in peace. Others sat on the platform stuffing one after another into their mouths where they would mash them down and spit out the peels. Others would suck on the peels for the left-over banana. Clearly there was some sort of hierarchy as the smaller orang-utans would wait up in the trees and wouldn’t come down until the platform was clear.

We sat for some time just taking it all in, thinking all the bananas were gone and they had had enough when a large male orang-utan made his appearance. I cannot remember this fellow’s name but Joe explained that he was not the dominant male. That would be Tomas, the king, and he was much larger than this fellow. That was hard to imagine.

We started to make our way back, being the last ones to leave.  When we reached the camp I was trailing behind as usual and Joe came running back shouting: Ibu, Ibu come quick, and so I did (ibu is a sign of respect but actually means mother in Indonesian). Around the corner sat the largest orang-utan I’d certainly ever see – this was Tomas, the king. Joe explained that we were very lucky to see Tomas as his territory is anywhere from 5 to 15 km large and he only makes his way to camp about once a week.

He sat facing one of the rangers and at one point, got up and grabbed his arm and wouldn’t let go. He clearly wanted a treat – the ranger finally got his arm free and after awhile, presented him with some banana lassi. Tomas was presented this in a tub which he stuck his face in and drank.

We made our way back to the boat where to my joy, the generator was started and we could shower. We parked under a tree full of Proboscis monkeys where we sat and listened to their chatter. Ian and I placed our chairs up front and leaned back looking up at the brilliant stars overhead. Life was pretty good.

I had a great sleep that night – despite the monkeys peeing on our canvass roof and making a great deal of ruckus. I woke early to the sound of the Gibbon monkeys off in the distance (never to be seen, only heard) and to the crew preparing for the day. I watched Macaque monkeys play along the water’s edge and was delighted to see the end of a snake as it made its way up the bank into the trees.

At 7:30am, we were to go on a trek with Joe and a ranger but I bowed out with an upset stomach. We brought the boat up to the dock helped by Farsi –

Seriously, Farsi stood on the stairs and the captain’s helper threw the orang-utan the rope and he pulled us in. After all, orang-utans are known for their strength. Ian and Joe set off and I settled down to read. I looked up as Ibu Jama, our cook, yelled. There was Farsi pulling on our rope trying to bring us closer to shore (which we did not want). The captain played tug ‘o war with the orang-utan but there was no way he was going to win so Ibu Jama threw some fruit on shore and Farsi dropped the rope and headed for the fruit.

After a couple of hours, Ian returned from the trek soaked with sweat but luckily didn’t pick up any leaches (they are many in these woods). On the trek Ian saw Mahogany trees, red mushrooms, and drank from a woody vine. We relaxed on the boat and then headed out to see another feeding. At the camp, we were excited to finally see a Gibbon!

Joe explained that this one had been orphaned and was somewhat tame. At the feeding site, a 20 minute walk from camp, we were entertained by a mother, her baby and another younger orang-utan playing on the signs.

There were also 3 wild pigs trying to eat up any banana droppings they could find. Some orang-utans were not impressed by these pigs and would rip branches off trees, hang upside down from a branch and hit the pigs with them. It was quite funny. 

We remained at the feeding for about an hour then headed back to camp and once again, saw Tomas, the king, walking along one of the camp’s trails. We headed out with all the other boats and found a spot to park for our final night on river. In the morning, we stopped at a smaller camp where wild orang-utans more wary of tourists would visit. There we saw far fewer orang-utans compared to the 20 or so we saw at Camp Leakey.

After 4 exhausting but exciting days, we made our way back to the town of Pangkalan Ban where we said our goodbyes to the crew and flew to Surabya for a break before our next adventure.  

Yogyakarta, Java

We were up early to catch our 8am Executive train to Yogyakarta in Central Java (8hour ride, about 5 dollars each). The train was at the very back of the station and involved actually walking through sitting trains to get there. As we approached a man waved us over, looked at our ticket and told us to follow him. We assumed that he worked with the train station as he confidently took us into our train car and to our seats, making sure they were adjusted and working. He then stood there rubbing his fingers for cash – Ian handed him 2000 RP the standard fee for this kind of help (works out to about 30 cents CAD).  

I don’t mind paying that little amount but I hate the fact when you think someone is doing something nice or is just being helpful, they are really doing it for money.

The train wove along the north, through the hills and alongside rice paddies – great scenery. A server came by both for breakfast and lunch orders and the prices were quite reasonable. We arrived to the city without event and took a taxi to our guesthouse, the De Pendopo.

De Pendopo is located down a very narrow alley off the popular tourist road Prawirotaman. Our hosts, Ira and Budie, met us enthusiastically, offering us a choice of room and coffee and tea. The guesthouse is enclosed in a large courtyard with a central building in the middle and the 4 rooms running on the side. Each room has a queen sized bed, a/c, desk and TV, and bathroom with skylight and open areas so it feels like you are going outside to use the bathroom. Breakfast is included and is taken in the courtyard – all for 22 dollars a night. Here's a photo of the bathroom:

The food along Prawirotaman is excellent with both Indonesian and Western meals. Our best meal was at the vegetarian restaurant Milas, a 15 minute walk south of this area. Tables are all outside under a thatched roof surrounding a garden with fountain – quite lovely. The food was fantastic – we had bruschetta, mushroom satays, soup with crunchy vegetables and a tasty broth, and Ian had a curry. With drinks the meal total was about 10 dollars.

Our first day here, we booked a couple tours to temples outside of the city for later in the week, and then took a taxi to the palace, only to discover it was closed in the afternoons. The guard at the palace suggested we visit a gallery that demonstrates how Batik is made and then motioned over a becak (a cycle rickshaw that I had been determined to avoid taking) and informed us it would cost 5000rp to get there (60 cents). We squished into the narrow seat and off our ‘driver’ went.

It wasn’t a bad experience actually and I ended up feeling safer than I thought I would. When the driver got up some speed, we had a cool breeze on our faces and covered our noses when hit by exhaust fumes. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for our driver uphill and had to fight my urge to get out and push.

Learning about Batik was very interesting. Batik is an art form that uses wax resistant dyeing to create patterns, pictures, and designs on cloth. Batik shirts, sarongs, hats, baby slings, etc. are available but this place specialized in Batik art. We were taken to the back where we received a short lesson on how to make Batik.

First you use a piece of wax to fill in all the areas you do not want dyed (the negative space), once finished, the designs can be traced with a dye. The cloth is then dipped into the dye colour of choice, leaving the waxed areas free of colour. The wax can then be removed by heat, and new wax added to avoid the next colour from dyeing this area. The process is continued with each new colour and can take up to 5 days to complete a large painting or several months for the finest cloth. It’s certainly a time consuming process. 

Many patterns and designs are copied but with a slightly different approach taken by each painter. The cloth can be washed and ironed and the colour will remain firm – this is how you tell real Batik from fake. Fake Batik is called coca-cola Batik because the water turns brown when washed. These pieces of cloth are framed and hung on the walls.

We spent some time looking at the Batik and wanted to buy many pieces but of course, our backpacks would not allow that. Ian did however buy one for about 30 dollars – it folds up into a neat small area that will easily fit into his bag.

Following this, we walked to Malioboro road and mall to get cooled down at J.Co.  We then moseyed along the road, briefly walking through an indoor market and moved toward home. We hopped onto a bemo, the city bus, and made our way back to our guesthouse.

Borobudur

Through Annas Tours, we booked a visit to Borobudur and were picked up by our driver at 2pm. We were very lucky in that we were the only two going on this trip so it ended up costing us 18 dollars for the ride to the temple and another 12 to get in for our own private driver.

Borobudur is 40 kms west of Yogya beside limestone cliffs and surrounded by volcanoes. The temple is a multi-tiered Buddhist stupa that began its life in 775 AD but was abandoned 15 years later until construction was again picked up by the Saliendras. The temple has 6 square platforms and three circular ones and is decorated by relief panels and 504 Buddha statues – many with no heads.

Each staircase takes you to a platform where you can then walk around taking in the views of the countryside or admiring the various statues and reliefs. If you are able to read these panels and follow the story, you should walk clockwise.

The English rediscovered the temple in 1815 and in 1973, UNESCO began to take the temple apart block by block for restoration – the project took 11 years and 21 million dollars to complete.

The temple is featured in one of our favourite movies Baraka so it was quite exciting to see it first-hand. The sky was cloudy and mist was forming high over the hills so it made for a pleasant afternoon of viewing (rather than in the hot sun). Unfortunately, our camera batteries died and our new ones proved duds so we were not able to get any photos on the top level. I recommend that you google images of Borobudur to get a better idea of what we saw.

As we often do, Ian and I separated so that we could take things in at our pace. I am frequently amazed at the Javanese. While standing on the top platform, feeling the cool breeze and taking in the magnificent stone bells, a family stood beside me playing with their small child. I watched and smiled at them as the little boy practised his prayers on the ground. The grandfather then gently brought the boy over to me and I held out my hand to shake his but the little boy instead, took my hand and kissed it. So cute.

After this I went down to the ground to take in the enormity of the temple and was approached by three Indonesian boys, one about 12 years old. The one boy held out his hand so I held mine out in return. He took mine, bent, and brought it to his forehead – a traditional greeting of respect. Each boy did the same in return and then practised their English skills for a little bit, asking me where I’m from (Oh, Obama!?) and I explained how Canada was not the U.S.

Ian and I spent a couple hours here and then returned to our driver and home.

Prambanan

Tour 2 was to start at 2pm but our driver was the same one from yesterday and as he knew we wanted to see some more artwork, decided to pick us up early. We were the only ones again.  

We went to a ‘co-operative’ comprised of student Batik work which was much more exciting than the previous works we had seen. We sat and chatted over tea with the manager and then began looking around. It wasn’t long before Ian and I fell in love with several pieces which we narrowed down to three. Since Batik is cloth, it can be folded up into a tiny light-weight square easily fit into Ian’s backpack.

We then made our way to the Prambanan Plain, a 30 minute drive east of Yogya (or as the locals say, Jogja).  On route at one of the stop lights, we had company. Like Toronto, Indonesia also has its beggars hawking wares among the cars stopped at lights – sometimes they sing, or play guitars. This time we were visited by drag queens banging on the car windows telling us they loved us. I have to say, some of them looked really good, others just looked like guys wearing women’s clothing and too much make up.

Over 30 temples and palaces are spread out over a 30 square kilometre area at Prambanan Plain.  We entered the international visitors centre and paid our ‘foreigner’s fee’ and rec’d a coffee, tea or water for free.  Out the door and to our first stop, the Hindu Prambanan temple complex built in 832 AD – three giant, rocket-shaped temples.  

The buildings were magnificent and most open to the public. You could climb a set of stairs to a platform that surrounded the temple. Many relief panels ran along the walls.

Sometimes you could catch a nice breeze. Coming later in the day to avoid the heat was definitely a good idea. From these platforms, you could get some super views of neighbouring temples.

Visitors could continue up the stairs and enter a tiny dark and often dank chamber housing a statue, usually of Buddha.

Ian and I had a blast wandering around the complex, taking in the incredible sights. 

At one point, I sat on a low wall to wait while Ian visited a smaller temple. While waiting an entire family came up and asked to take their photo with me – of course I said yes, and they immediately propped their little girl beside me and gathered around. I often wonder what they tell their family when they show them these photos….The little girl wasn’t too happy sitting beside a complete stranger so I tried to be friendly by reaching out to touch her hand – the mother said something to her and the little girl grabbed my hand and drew it to her forehead in the traditional Indonesian greeting that the boys at Borobudur showed me. I was quite touched.

Ian and I discovered that there were more temples to see so we moved on. On route, 4 small boys ran up to me reading a script written in English. They were doing a project for school where they had to interview tourists and they wondered if I could help them with their project. So of course I said yes. They asked me several questions such as my name, what country I came from, what did I think of Yogya, what did I like about it, etc. They were all very sweet and each one shook my hand when they were finished.

Ian and I continued on across a large field and I could see in the distance that the next temple was merely a pile of rocks. In 2006 a large earthquake destroyed many of the temples here and they had yet to be restored. I told Ian I wasn’t interested in seeing piles of rocks so I found a place to sit and pulled out my Kobo and he went on without me. About 20 minutes later I received a text from Ian (yes we both bought phones and yes, I now know how to text!!!) saying that he wanted to see another temple further on which I was quite fine with so off he went. Ten minutes later Ian text me again saying I had to come and off I went.

I came across a huge temple complex, far larger than the first one we went to but unfortunately much destroyed by the earthquake. There was a central building surrounded by smaller stupas and of course, piles of rocks. You could go inside the temple but there wasn’t anything in it, however, unlike the other ones, this one had many entrances and exits.

The place was deserted, and it was getting quite dark, so it was really neat seeing the sun setting behind the temple and watching the rocks change colour without anyone else around.

We stayed until it was very dark thinking that our path back to the car park would be lit – never assume anything here. The path was wide and flat without potholes (a rarity) and ran through a large park lined with trees – we walked easily along it, even though it was pitch black out. It was tricky finding our driver but we eventually did and off we went to our next destination, the ballet.

Ramayana is a famous story in Indonesia and is played in an outdoor theatre next to the temple complex. In fact, the three larger temples of Prambanan were lit in soft yellow and served as an incredible backdrop to the story of Ramayana. Unfortunately, our camera takes terrible night pictures so I didn’t get any – the ballet was two hours long and very interesting. The dance style is quite unique using a lot of small subtle foot and hand movements. The costumes were incredibly elaborate.

I can’t tell you the entire story as it would take pages but it involves a woman, Shinta, who is kidnapped by Ramayana. Her husband Rama attempts to retrieve her. Rama is a quite proficient with the bow and arrow and many times, the dancer would shoot his bow across the very large stage where the waiting actor would grab it mid-air and hold it to his chest as if shot. Unbelievable skill but so dangerous – that would certainly never be allowed in Canada.

At one point in the story, Rama is helped by monkeys, one being the white monkey, Hanuman, who ends up being captured by the enemy and condemned to burn to death. The guards carry several flaming torches out onto the stage. Hanuman turns the tables and ends up burning the city – he grabs the torches and throws them onto the thatched huts peeking above the backstage area and they of course, catch fire. The stage is very deep, and we were sitting about 10 rows back, but could certainly feel the heat from the very LARGE fire. Needless to say, they had intermission here so they could put out the fire. Big differences between what would be allowed back in Canada!

I really enjoyed seeing the different dance style and even though I held the summary of the story close at hand so I could follow what was going on, it was a pretty neat experience.

Yogya isn’t the greatest city to be honest – but the temples, the ballet, the food, and the Batik were well worth the trip.

Wrapping up in Bandung

Our second day with a driver started late as he was sick and a new one had to be called in. This proved lucky for us because ‘Nana” knew more English than our first driver.

We were off to a safari and the botanical gardens in Bogor, west of Bandung. Somewhere in my research I had read about Puncak Pass, a road that wound its way through hills and tea plantations, promising spectacular views, so of course I wanted to take it. On the weekends, it would be impossible due to traffic congestion as many flock to the cooler hills for a break from the city.

To be honest, the road proved disappointing. We went through several small villages but many views were blocked by buildings, vendors, and food stalls. We stopped at a tourist spot for a photo, but that proved a let-down because of the garbage, smell of cigarette smoke, and vendors trying to push their wares. I regretted my decision immensely, especially when we took the highway home and it proved to be much faster.

Our plan was to head to Bogor first to see the Botanical Gardens and then hit the safari zoo – however, our driver informed us that the zoo closed early so we should hit it first. On the road up to the entrance, we passed vendor after vendor selling carrots and bananas, and Nana asked if we wanted to buy some to feed the animals. Of course we did, so we pulled over and our driver haggled with a young boy over the price. Typically drivers say nothing – I think there is a code of some sort – so we were thrilled that he helped us out.

Digression – one thing we have learned here in Indonesia is that few do anything for free and everything costs money. Every single store, mall, coffee shop, bank, grocery store, etc. charges for parking; if someone stops traffic to help you cross the road, it will cost you; if someone lifts one of your bags, it will cost you; if someone waves to you and gives you directions, it will cost you – after awhile, you can’t help but become suspicious of anyone offering help.  Remember my story of the retired soldier who gave us directions to Gedung Sate? The entire time he spoke to us, I kept waiting for him to ask for money – but he never did. This was a first for us. So the fact that our driver actually said something to that boy selling carrots was remarkable.

We bought our carrots and continued on our way. You might be surprised that we were going to a safari but Tim had encouraged us to visit, saying it was well worth the drive; and it was. The car follows a well laid out path winding its way through many animals clearly used to being fed by drivers. Our first turn around the bend brought us face to face with zebras.

It was astonishing how many animals begged for food. Here is an elephant in the water with its trunk stretched as far as it could go – hoping for a carrot or banana. 

The animals were in great health, at least from what we could tell. None of them looked emaciated and seemed to have adequate areas – although not as large as the Toronto Zoo – but not tiny either.  In this picture, Nana is holding out a carrot from his window and the hippo opened its mouth wide waiting for it to be dropped in.

Imagine feeding a carrot to this beast:

The park itself was really neat – it reminded us a little of Jurassic Park. Every once in awhile we had to drive through ‘flooded’ areas of water or large doors and high gates. One set of doors brought us to the lion exhibit where this lion planted itself beside our car.

We saw otter, bears, bison, panthers, cheetahs, rhinos, giraffe, etc. Some animals were in areas enclosed by moats, deep pits, or electric fence, while others were free to roam the park.  One corner we turned revealed an emu hanging out a hippo:

Next stop was Bogor and the gardens. Bogor is located south of Jakarta and is home of one of the 6 Presidential palaces in Indonesia. On route, we passed the Presidential palace and the grounds where hundreds of deer roam the 28 acres.  

Running beside the palace are Kebun Raya, the Botanical Gardens, but when we arrived, a guard was locking up the gates. Our driver pleaded with him saying he had driven all the way from Bandung and we had come all the way from Canada to see the gardens. Finally, he agreed to let us in but for a price. He locked up the gates and climbed into the car taking us through a separate entrance where we paid him (about 6 dollars) instead of an admission fee. We only had an hour so instead of walking around the 80 acre park; we drove - past stands of bamboo, water gardens, various trees, large lawns, etc., making quick stops as we went.

The above photo is a tree over 100 years old – you can just make out Ian to the left.  We missed many things at the garden because they were closed but still, it was nice driving through such a lovely area.

The next few days were our last at Tim’s house so we played it low key. Tim took us to a really neat restaurant just on the edge of the city for lunch. The restaurant consisted of private huts spread out over a large area with streams and man-made waterfalls; it was a spectacular setting to eat a meal in.

That night we took Banyu to his first movie – Kung Fu Panda II. The cinema was small with large plush seats for about 2.50 each. Tim sat on the aisle in case Banyu fussed but once the movie started, he was riveted, eyes wide. Tim swore he never blinked once. It was amazing to see his fascination with that film. The next day we went to a going-away party for one of Tim’s colleagues – and that night, ate at restaurant on a hilltop with an incredible view of the city. It was a super week with Tim and both Ian and I had to admit, we were going to miss him.