Jungle Trekking

Sit back and relax, this is going to be a long one! It started with four-wheel driving through the hills, up and down, winding round and round - with 9 people in the car and luggage too. What was supposed to be a 3 hour drive stretched out into 6 hours - due to 3 police check points. There is a lot of logging in Borneo and they are very suspicious of anyone coming into these parts (Central Kalimantan), especially foreigners, but we made it eventually!

At the first village we had some lunch and then tried the local fruit which is very popular over here - it's called durian - and it stinks like rotten cheese. It's reputation is that it smells like hell but tastes like heaven - but we think it tastes as bad as it smells! Later that night we went to a special service at the church, held in honour of our visit. We also visited a man who was very sick with TB and our doctor was able to help him. Then we strung up our mosquito nets and hit the hard wood floor for our first sleepless night.

The next day we visited the local school before heading off down the river on canoes to another village - it was so much fun!!

At each village we visited, the first stop was the chief's house, where we had to sit on the floor, drink tea, explain what we were doing there and then record our names in a little exercise book. Everything seems to take 5 times as long here, and it feels like a lot of nothing is going on, but it's just the way it's done here - so it's a good lesson in patience (especially when you can't understand the language).

After lunch, we headed back down to the canoes and traveled to our third village. While Wilika (the doctor) ran a clinic, we mixed with the people and took photos - they love to see what they look like on the back of the camera, although it takes a bit to warm them up.

Then it was back to the first village, where we hald a christian meeting in one of the homes and another medical clinic - late into the night.



We bathed in the river each night, which is also where the toilet is (see the little hut thing on the river? Yes, it's the toilet - try going at night when it's dark and you're trying to hold a torch and not fall in!). It's also where they do their teeth, wash their clothes and their dishes as well. I did quite a bit of praying over our health!

This is the people from the second village farewelling us the next morning as we made our way back to the first village we visited (which is where we had left the car).

Back in the village, we discovered a flat tyre - maybe they didn't want us to leave?! After changing it, we packed the car and were ready to head off...only to discover they had decided to rebuild the only bridge leading out of the village. Needless to say, we weren't happy!

Three hours later, we finally headed home. And thank the Lord, it only took 2.5hours on the way back!!