Kalimantan Borneo ~ Sangatta

I have been thinking about my whole trip myself after Simone and I separated. I try my best of luck down by the memory lane and write about the trip before arriving in Kuching. To make the story more interesting to my dear readers, I will write it topless.

Since Simone left I was just trying to calm down, relax and get better. Before she went on her way, we did another trip to another hospital and to yet another doctor. THE hospital was one of the most expensive in town, with a nice lake inside the building, swan boats, fountains etc. The female doctor made the dame examination as the previous one, gave me a prescription, and this time the medication was mixed by hand and then put into small capsules, to be enjoyed 3 times a day. Unfortunately it was not that easy.

The next day I was still weak an my head was only slightly better. During my stay, I had been to Pondok Bambu- restaurant down the road next to our hotel, and got to know Helena who run the restaurant. After Helena, I met his brother Tommy, later another bro Hanz and their mother... They all suggested me to see a lady who is good in curing illnesses using traditional methods. There I went.

The modest Muslim lady was concerned about my situation and really wanted to cure me. She gave ma a good traditional massage with herb oils and some chanting. Later she took me into their living room saying she wants to give some more treatments. Tommy translated to me that she was asking what have I had wrong with my stomach lately... The lady took some more oils, herbs, vegetables like onion and carrots and made a mixture of these. With the mixture she then treated my joints and ears and finally pulled the bad spirits out of me. She told me that I had been crossing some bad energies on my way in Borneo and those had started to follow me, that was the reason of the headache. The next morning I should feel better and if not, she would treat me again. She also said that if I did not come to see her now, my travel would have stopped there.

The next morning the headache was gone, and still is.

The rest of the time in Sangatta continued with good conversations, drinking good coffee with friendly laughters. I was totally adopted by this wonderful Chinese family and the sisters from Warung Bone3. I was almost spoiled, getting free coffee, breakfast, food, took me to fishing, gave me rides on scooter...you name it. I wish I am able to give as much of myself when I have some visitors the next time!

On my last night I wanted to help on my own to promote Pondok Bambu. I told Helena to ask her youngest brother to make some flyers that I could give to people while walking to the hotspot with my laptop. People were REALLY amazed to see a WHITE person handing out something and they were curious...I haven´t heard yet if someone came after the promotion but I hope to find out soon. I mean, what the heck- those people were shouting after me anyway, why not get some fun out of it.

~ ~ ~

The day when I left came too soon. I was crying on my way in the bus, because it was again a stress to be moving after such a nice time in a small town, even if I did not see the orangutans - I got something 10 times better; FRIENDS.

Bus from Berau to Samarinda

09062010 Sangatta blog entry

Life takes surprising turns.
Our morning duties included a stroll to post office. We were not lucky. The prices to send a parcel to Europe were outrageous; a letter 100g was “only” 13€...and not to mention my snorkeling equipment that would have been 91,05€. Insanity. Not even in Finland mailing stuff is that expensive.

Later, in a good faith, we took the bus from Berau to Samarinda, but ended up having a ride from HELL. Sitting our way on the front seat, we were able to keep our eye on the road too clearly. Pavement ended every 20m, the mud holes were huge and there was one retard-(un)helping hand-mechanic-type of thing sitting next to the driver and laughing all the time when we hit the ditches and he also surely needed a hearing aid based by the loudness he used his voice. Our driver maybe had won his drivers license from the lottery of the mentally AND physically challenged people, where he probably got his car helper as a bonus gift. Anyway, he had some talent indeed. He mastered skillfully to aim the bus to every single hole on the road. He also started racing with another bus driver, almost hit the other bus and in the end hit a massive ditch that made the passengers to be thrown all over. Finally he hit another big ditch and broke the bus. It was of course nice to see the milky way again for the 45 minutes they fixed the engine.

Simone took tranquilizers for the rest of the trip and we decided to take the next stop at Sangatta to sleep over. The total travel time by this far had been 14 hours. My headache had gone worse (had had it for 5 days already) and I wanted to get some medicine prescribed by a doctor. We stopped at a small restaurant. At that moment I could not even think anymore. We asked everyone for help, and the only answer we got from men, was that there is no hospital in the town (...where there was a big company for the coal mining industry?!?). The restaurant girls were a lot more helpful; they gave us the address and phone number for a hospital and after a minute told to give me a ride to there! Leni drove me with her scooter to the hospital and waited for the whole examination before drove back to the restaurant. I got the medicine and was offered a bed to sleep while waiting for Simone.

Meanwhile Simone had been eating, having a coffee, talking with the girls and arranging a hotel room with the help of these nice ladies. She was awake more than 24 hours. We slept quite ok from that afternoon until next morning.

Today I have been talking with the sisters who helped us, with the help a dictionary and drawing. I also went to eat to a nearby restaurant and met there a wonderful Chinese Indonesian lady who spoke good English. She told that the word had been spread over that there are 2 Western women in the town. I was also talking the local police officer and we even discussed beyond the normal small talk- more than countries, climate, my age, my health, my marital status...we talked about money, traveling, planting trees for a safe income in the future, racism against the Chinese community in here etc.

And when I got back to the hotel, Simone called me that she saw a mother orangutang with a baby!