Today’s 5:30am alarm came way too early and was still accompanied by the cheery “Good Morning Sunshine!!!” from my roomie the moment I dared open my eyes. The room was gloriously cold which made it so much easier to pull on pants for prime leech avoidance. Even walking downhill at 6am I was already feeling toasty when I got to the al fresco dining area for a couple pieces of toast and some terrible burnt tasting tea. At least I had been able to make my earl grey that I travel with in my room. My collapsible tea kettle may add weight and bulk but its so worth it.
At 6:30 our guides, Kurt and Lee, led the way for our walk down the dirt road. Within a couple hundred feet of the lobby we spotted gibbons and both long and pig tailed macaques playing in the trees, a snake eating hawk keeping watch, and two Oriental pide hornbills knocking on a cabin door in hopes of trying to chase off the intruder they saw in their reflections.
We turned onto the main dirt road and a macaque started following us, walking directly at the group before getting distracted by other people approaching and losing interest. The river crossing was abuzz with many more macaques who moved up the road as they saw us coming. Another male eyed us from a tree and then turned to show us his “good side.” We spent enough time standing around watching the same scene that I got pretty bored before we finally turned back towards the hotel for breakfast.
I was a bit aghast at the amount of butter the egg chef added to my scrambled eggs (with chicken ham, tomatoes, peppers, and cheese) but they were so delicious! Though we were supposed to leave for the waterfall “hike” at 8:30, the guides made the mistake of telling some people that 8:45 would probably be the actual time, which meant we didn’t leave until 9am so there was a lot of sitting around and waiting; there was no need for a 90 minute breakfast. We were told to wear pants again because of the leeches and that the trail should be less muddy than yesterday, but to bring sandals because we may have to cross a shallow river, maybe ankle deep, to get to the waterfall.
After a short ride in the backs of trucks we unloaded for the short hike to the Lipad Waterfall. Really short, only 400 meters per the sign. It was definitely muddy though he was right, not as bad as yesterday. I am so glad I have my phone lanyard with me and that I am able to put my phone around my neck in these situations; it is so much better than worrying about it falling out of a pocket when navigating muddy terrain. We passed an abandoned and destroyed bathroom along the trail, a sure sign that this waterfall must be a hot spot for visitors or maybe even locals.
When we got to the river crossing, with the waterfall just a hundred or so yards around the corner, it was not ankle deep, it was more like mid thigh deep. There were no way my tight leggings were going to roll up that high and the idea of wading though the river and being stuck in wet leggings sounded terrible. I was the first following the guides to see and was able to make it to mid-river on rocks, at which point I turned around instead of dealing with the water. I am already pretty water adverse and murky river water where I could not see the bottom or what I could be stepping, or slipping on, felt like a pretty hard no for me. I stood alongside the river edge and offered my hand to help each of my fellow travelers take the last big muddy step down without slipping. Everyone filed across the river until it was just myself and two other women left.
Lee tried to urge me to just roll up my pants and go but there is not much I hate more than peer pressure and that made me feel even more resolute to stand my ground. I sat on the farthest rock I could reach in the middle of the river and the three of us ladies that chose to stay behind chatted about how much we liked, and were missing, our quiet time, how frustrating it is when we’re trying to enjoy nature and there’s so much constant talking and distraction, and the challenges of group travel. We could hear the loud yelling and exaggerated laughing from down by the waterfall and I was so grateful to be having quiet time. The three of us chatted for a while and then we dispersed and shared space in silence, trying to recharge.
An hour passed before the chatting and noise of the crowd returned and we hiked back up to the trucks. Once again, it wasn’t even an interesting jungle hike, just basic trees. But I am proud to report that I made it through leech-free! I think this is the last of the leech threats of the trip!
Thankful to be done with the leech threat hikes which required wearing pants I was so happy to change back into shorts as soon as I got back to the lodge. Kurt remembered our conversation a few days ago about how much I like rambutan and had the lodge staff pick some up from a local for us. I was very excited when he presented me with the bag but sad that I had to share it instead of hoarding it all for myself. I was also excited that they had boiled cabbage and green beans on the lunch buffet, the first time since I got to Borneo that a lunch/dinner has not had bok choy. I am quite a bok choy fun but after this trip it may be a while before I can eat bok choy again.
During lunch we were given instructions on when and where to report for herbal foot soaks. Mine was not until 2:30 which meant time just sitting around with nothing to do. I did some chatting, walked across the suspended bridge to find that I wasn’t allowed any further without a guide, grabbed my iPad and did some writing, discovered their local “sodas” of honey ginger and hibiscus ginger, and watched gibbons swing through the trees. Gibbons limbs are so long! Overall, so much time just wasted doing nothing. There is so much down time on this trip; why the heck aren’t we doing more?! We can’t even go and explore on our own, except for an open road, because all the trails require a ranger. Around 2pm Kurt excitedly ran into the open air restaurant, where everyone was hanging out, to announce that cell service had just returned. Immediately everyone was head down into their phones. It was nice simply because having internet gave us something to do. I felt sad and homesick though; connectivity was back but its late at home so its not even like I could easily check in.
The other ladies with the 2:30 foot soak time and I walked the short distance down the road to the “Eagle’s Nest,” a little house whose walls are lined with seats. We were each brought a basin of hot water for our feet; containing river rocks and a variety of cut herbs such as keffir lime, aloe, lemongrass, pandan, and more. A laminated sheet of paper was passed around so we could read about it for ourselves. Delicious pandan tea was served; I’m sure they probably loaded it with sweetener to make it so good. My feet actually felt really good soaking in the herbal bath but 20 minutes was long enough to sit in the regular chairs with my legs in foot soaking position. The attendant brought each of us a towel and a leaf with a little bit of lotion on top to rub onto our legs. It would have been way more exciting if they actually massaged it onto the legs for us.
After the foot soak it was another hour with nothing to do before heading out at 4:30 for a dusk drive that would then turn into a night drive before getting back for dinner at 7:30. That’s right, this was to be three hours in the back of the truck. We loaded up and off we went; at least I was lucky to get a front row outer edge spot. Near the same spot on the lodge grounds where we saw the black and white oriental pide hornbills this morning, a rhinoceros hornbill, much larger with a red and orange beak and horn, hopped around the top of the tree. I’m glad I have my binoculars so I can actually see these animals well. It was pretty but caning my neck straight up to look was painful.
Back on the same road as last night’s drive, the only road, we encountered a family of pig tail macaques hanging out in a roadside tree. Driving along, with the juxtaposition of the jungle on one side of the road and a palm plantation on the other side of the road I realized how depressing it is that this deforestation right before my eyes, this is the need for conservation. Borneo used to be about 75% jungle and now is down to 50%. This is why the rhinos that used to roam this land went extinct and the orangutan numbers are dwindling. Forests are cleared and replaced with agriculture like palm plantations. Palm plantations are big money makers here for the production of palm oil which is the primary cooking oil used in this part of the world. Our human bodies can’t even digest palm oil.
Another thing that the human body can’t handle is these safari trucks. They are killer on the back. With just a narrow padded plank to sit on and smaller padded roll bars between the rows to kind of lean back on, they are painful. The bouncing dirt road does not help. I was not alone in twisting, stretching, and even standing as we drove to alleviate the daggers in my back. Over an hour in and all we’d seen was the hornbill and macaques; I was so bored and so uncomfortable. And I was not the only one. We reached the turnaround point, the entrance to this part of the reserve whose “Thank you come again” sign made me laugh and think to myself, never again. After turning the truck around, the driver parked for a few minutes to give himself and our guides a chance to stretch. I was in the front row and when I turned around all I could see was boredom and annoyance on everyone’s faces. I’m sure Kurt and Lee saw it too; it’s not their fault that the animals aren’t coming out.
The jungle was decorated with the same ivy “topiary” as it had been along the river. With no animals to look at I watched the ivy, like looking for pictures in clouds, to see if I could pick out any shapes. One looked like King Kong but I didn’t get my phone up in time to snap a picture. A serpent eagle perched alongside the raod, the feathering on the back of his head looked like eyes. A small water monitor lizard scurried through some foliage. A cockroach flew into the lady on the other side of my row and startled her, because yuck. She yelped and the lady next to her let out a quick scream as it fell to the ground and scurried across the bed of the truck. It was like dominoes going down as row by row women yelped, picked up their feet, and even jumped on top of the benches. The guides looked at everyone like the whole group had lot their minds. But that was it for the animals. Everyone was excited when we finally arrived back at the lodge to eat the same thing for dinner that we’ve had every night. Except tonight there was tofu on the buffet and it was delightful; I think it is my favorite thing I’ve eaten so far in Borneo.
I’m already expecting tomorrow to feel like a waste of a day. Not to be pessimistic but realistically so. Tomorrow includes another 6am meeting time for an early morning nature walk on the road, breakfast at 7:30am and then nothing but time to pack and “leisure” time until lunch at noon followed by a 1:30 departure for the five plus hour drive back to town. The problem with leisure time is that there is no leisure to do here. The lack of activity, variety, and interest on this trip has been a major disappointment; the only thing that excites me about it right now is that its wrapping up and I’m getting closer to heading home.
Taking On the World 
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