Banjarmasin, Borneo, Indonesia
Monday, March 14, 2011
We arrived in Bangarmasin in no real hurry because we had spent the last couple days traveling and we figured that we would just find a place to stay and figure out the next step towards the orangutans from there. For the first time in a while we were traveling without the help of a LP, so I figured that a stop at the information booth in the airport would be helpful so that we could get a map and some information on local places to stay. Apparently information in Indonesian means something completely different because I waited for about 3 minutes before anyone would actually talk to me and when they did talk to me, they didn’t really know anything. I could not understand this idea but tried to stay positive which was hard because I had come down with a cold over the last 48 hours. Lori went looking for a map and I was guarding the bags when I saw a fellow young backpacker with a MEC bag. This can only mean that they are Canadian so I asked them for some help. We introduced ourselves to Russ and Yoshi and chatted while they let me take a peak at their LP. When Lori returned without a map, we decided to check out a local home stay called Diamond that has a great local travel guy running it. To take a cab was going to cost 75000 rupiah so we decided to go together to split the cost. When we arrived we found the door to be locked and then tried another place around the corner. This lead us to walk around the town for about 45 mins trying to find some available rooms for a reasonable price. It wasn’t working out that well at all. As a group we decided to split up, the girls watching the bags at a cafe while Russ and I went around town without the weight on our backs to find somewhere good to stay. Everything cheap seemed to be full but after another 30 mins we found a place for 125 000 rupiah(14 $ CDN). It had AC and TV but the bathrooms were outside the room. We said that it was good and we would be back with the girls without really committing to it. When we returned to the cafe an old guy just kinda walked up and started talking to us. It turned out to be the local legend himself who owns Diamond and it was closed because they have no running water at the moment. He informed us all about the tour to the national park and the cost involved. It was pretty damn expensive and it didn’t include travel to and from the park which was an 18 hour drive away still. (1.8 million each) We both thought it was a bit much and I used my negotiating skills to try and get it lower. In the end, he said that there was a single guy our age who was deciding about tours and might want to go along with us. This would lower the cost to 1.5 million each. We agreed to go after a while of debate figuring that it would be pretty cool to do and we would be treated well. We didn’t know about the other guy yet and would find out that night. We agreed that we should take the long bus instead of ponying up another 800 000 each for the one way flight. It cost us 175 000 for the bus ticket that he arranged for us leaving the next morning at 11. With that taken care of, he actually called the hotel we looked at and booked us the rooms and then walked us back there. I gave him the money for the bus tickets and some cash for fair to the terminal so that he could go then and book it for us. We checked in and after chilling for 20 mins went out in search of food. We first stopped at a local cafe because we needed to use the internet for a good purpose. Russ and Yoshi had told us about a spirit festival (a yoga, dance and meditation event) that they were volunteering at in Bali and said that we should apply. We spent a while filling out the forms and they grabbed a snack. The food was apparently crap so I was glad we didn’t get something as well. After going through the market area and not finding anything really to eat. I was starving and settled for KFC because I needed some food and bed. Being sick and exhausted sucks a lot! The food there was bad but at least I was full and Lori ate some french fries and a ridiculous excuse for a salad. After that, we went back to our place and were in our room when the old guy returned with our tickets. After that we ended up chatting in their room for the evening until we were super tired. We thought it was late but because we had switched time zones 3 times in three days, we had no idea that it was only 9 pm but it really didn’t matter because we needed some sleep. It would of been cool to spend more time with them because they were really cool and interesting people. We are hoping to hook up with them again at the spirit festival.
