Day 6: SEMARANG - PANGKALANBUN - TANJUNG PUTING
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Today we have decided to sleep a little more despite the desire we have to start our next adventure in the trip to Indonesia, the flight from Semarang to Borneo, to Pangkalanbun on the island of Borneo it leaves at 11.35 am, so we have set the alarm clock at 7.30 am.
Before taking the transfer to the airport, we had planned to take a walk around the hotel, but despite this being the “best” area of the city, we found a couple of shopping centers and not too many interesting things to see. So without much encouragement to tour the city, we go straight to breakfast at the hotel and there we are almost an hour, delighting in the giant buffet with which we meet.
We have the transfer to the airport for free (we booked it last night), so at 10 in the morning we are at the reception of the Hotel Novotel Semarang like nails.
We flew with the Trigana Air company (on this trip we will have the “great opportunity” to try 5 of the blacklisted airlines). This is going to be a show! 🙂
The check-in and boarding procedure is quite fast, so despite being a fairly rudimentary airport, so to speak, in the end it turns out that it works better than any European airport !!
And the most incredible thing is that we find a free wifi! At the box office where we pay the amount they charge for departures of domestic flights, we find a cartel with the user code and password to access.
Something slow, but free. Amazing!! In none of our trips have we found this !!
Long live Semarang airport !!!
We embark with 15 minutes of delay and we find a quite “peculiar” plane… of those that at the moment you feel you are already putting on your belt and praying, even if you are an atheist…
And between prayer and prayer ... the hour of flight from Semarang to Borneo!!! Luck that is more the excitement of meeting with Borneo that fear, because if this had not been a flight to remember.
The landing is quite abrupt, but at the moment the only thing that matters to us is that we are about to start one of the adventures we have dreamed of more ... we are a few hours away from meeting the orangutans of Borneo... or so we hope!
Just as we left the plane and entered the airport (tiny, tiny), we met a boy with a folio with our names. It's Rudi, it will be our guide the next 3 days in which we will enter through the Sungai Seconyer, in the Tanjung Puting National Park.
To say that we have hired this tour from Spain, through the agency Come2Indonesia, of Norberto, a canary based in Indonesia.
If you do not have seats, another recommended option is to book this 3, 4 or 5 day cruise in advance.
We are going to collect the bags and we are surprised that they ask us for the flight ticket to verify that the numbers in the suitcase match those of the ticket. This ensures that each person takes their luggage.
It is the first time we see it and without knowing how, the idea assails us as extraordinary for the rest of the airports ... how is it possible that they do not do it in any other airport?
After the presentations and talking a little about what we have done so far in ourtrip to Indonesia, we leave and take a taxi, which will take us to Kumai, the town from where the Klotok leave.
In this boat it is with which we will navigate the Kumai River, for a brief period of time, and then begin to enter the Seconyer River, where we will find the Tanjung Puting Park of Borneo.
Before arriving in the village, we stopped at a small store, to make copies of passports and visas, for the police.
It took us about 30 minutes to arrive and from good to first, almost without thinking, we were facing our klotok!
We embark and introduce us to the staff. 4 people will come with us, who will accompany us throughout the trip: guide, cook, assistant and captain. Awesome!! We have not yet recovered from the excitement we have right now!
The first impression is very good ...
The first thing we do is take off your shoes and settle on one of the mattresses on the deck, with a soda that you have given us.
They explain a little what we will do today and within a few minutes we find ourselves sailing towards our dream!
First impressions aboard the klotok in Borneo
After about 20 minutes sailing along the Kumai River, we turn off and enter the first section of the Seconyer River, where the banks are full of palms.
Entering the Seconyer River
We have just started and we already think everything is fantastic so just thinking that we will be here for 3 days, we get the creeps.
Today we don't have the food included, so we don't expect anything to eat, until dinner time.
After 30 minutes of navigation, they start to take out food dishes: rice, noodles, salad ...
Enjoying our first meal aboard the klotok
A surprise and, above all, incredible the sensation of sailing, sitting in mini chairs, eating and admiring the great landscape that opens up in our path.
Between food and explanations, we hardly even realize that the landscape becomes more lush, more jungle and the first primates begin to appear.
And with them the first proboscises !!
The first proboscis
They stop every time they see them nearby, so we can see them and take pictures.
At first we believe that we will see many, but as we move forward, we realize that it is not as we thought ... there are many less. And we have an incredible luck with the staff that accompanies us, since every moment they see any animal, they let us know and stop slowly.
They explain to us that when the klotok pass, it is one of the moments when the monkeys launch themselves jumping from the riverbank to the riverbank. They do this because the engines scare the crocodiles and they are safer crossing the river without them.
More practical information to prepare your trip to Indonesia
- 10 essential places to visit in Indonesia
- 10 essential tips for traveling to Indonesia
In the middle of the afternoon they give us coffee with pastries and potato chips ... we spend the afternoon jokingly saying that they surely want to make us fat ... for later ... kill us like piglets!
After snack on board the klotok
We would never have imagined such a deal on this tour in Borneo. We have just started, but seeing this, we can imagine how the rest will be: amazing !! And that we haven't seen the orangutans yet 🙂
After the snack, little by little we see that the landscape is changing and the banks are no longer seen with so much palm, little by little we realize that we are getting closer and closer to our goal. Although seeing what we are seeing, the road to them is being incredible ... so after a few hours since we are here, our "goal" has become to enjoy to the fullest what Tanjung Puting offers us every day.
Also in Borneo, as in Java, it gets dark at 5:30, more or less. So almost without realizing it, we find ourselves standing in a "hole" on one of the riverbanks.
This is where they tie the klotkot and explain to us that it is where we will sleep.
It is not yet a closed night and they offer us a 5-course dinner !!!
When I say that they want to “put on weight”… it's for something!
After dinner, about 8 in the afternoon, we put the bedroom: a luxury suite: mattresses, sheets, pillows and mosquito net. And all this on the cover of the klotok. What more can we ask for !!
Our suite in the Klotok
When they turn off the engine, we are left alone with the sound of the jungle. Is awesome. We can not say otherwise.
We are talking for a while with the guide and about 9 at night we say goodbye and wish each other good night. We decided that it is best to take advantage of this "gift" and get into the mosquito net, in bed, to relax listening to the sound of nature.
Dreaming of orangutans ... we fell asleep ...
Day 7TANJUNG PUTING NATIONAL PARK OF BORNEO
