Bringing showers to the world!

So I figured it might be a good idea to post some pictures of the place we are staying in Palangka Raya, it is basically the half-way house for researchers coming from Jakarta and headed to the forest camp Tuanan or researchers coming from Tuanan for a rest or to get medical treatment. The house is large with five bedrooms, but for some reason all the girls are housed in one room together and the guys have separate rooms. There is a nice porch where we eat all of our meals so we don’t encourage the swarms of ants to come into the house any more than they already do. 

And we have a shared “bathroom” called the mandi. Using the mandi was a whole new experience for me. There is not a toilet like we are used to in the U.S. there is a picture below so you get the idea. We use the water from the mandi (a tub that we fill with water) and the bucket to scoop the water to ‘flush’ the toilet. 

There is also not a regular shower. The way you are supposed to bathe is by using the same bucket and pouring water over yourself, lathering, and repeat with the water. Now this works but I couldn’t help wondering why there was not a shower in the mandi when all it really needed was a tube hooked to the faucet and then to a shower head so when you turn on the water it comes our the shower head instead of into the mandi. So with oodles of time on my hands while we wait out paperwork one of the other girls and I went about finding all the parts and pieces to do an experiment. And if I have accomplished nothing else with my time here I can say: “Hi, I’m Ricki and I am bringing showers to the World!” Enjoy the picture below of our fantastic creation (that works just like a real shower by the way).   :  )

Life in Palangka Raya

Finally made it to the island of Borneo, on the island the Indonesian part is called Kalimantan and the other part is Malaysia. We flew here from the island of Java (where Jakarta is). Here we are staying at a house that Carel van Schaik keeps for students traveling to and from Tuanan, his field site. This city is much smaller than Jakarta but there still is a lot of traffic and smog, but at least here when you get off of the main street you can see palm trees and banana trees in peoples yards. The other two girls and I are continuing the paperwork that is necessary to be given permission to work in the forest, but this time we have the Indonesian field managers help. Even getting this extra help it will take us at least a week and a half to get everything done. That means it will have taken us somewhere over 20 days to do all of the permit paperwork (and the grad student said we actually did the paperwork pretty fast!)

But while we are waiting for all the paperwork to be finished we are buying some of the last necessary equipment for the field. We have to buy plastic containers to keep our food and clothes in to prevent mice, rats, and cockroaches from getting it. Also we need to buy sleeping mats to put on the floor, silica gel to put in with our electronic equipment, and hammocks to hang up so that we can climb out of the swamp when the orangutans we are following decide to stop and take a nap or eat for an extended time in a fruit tree. So we have been doing a lot of shopping in the past few days.

 Since we finally have a kitchen the other girls and I have been making some “western” comfort foods we are used to. We made spaghetti and also french toast! Here are some pictures of my time around town.

Islam Temple

Little shops like this everywhere.

More yummy coffee while we use the internet.

The Indonesian camp manager joining us for sweet coffee drinks.

Things I take for granted

Not my best self portrait, notice the red face and disheveled hair the heat here doesn't agree with my body.

Since coming to Indonesia I realized there are so many things I take for granted in the US. I now have gained a great appreciation of how spoiled we are. For example when I get up in the morning at my house in the states I can jump on the computer and check my emails, if I had a fancy cell phone I could even use the internet basically anywhere I wanted to. Here access to the internet is a bit harder. If you are outside of the big city of Jakarta you need to find a place that has internet access. So here in Palangka Raya we have to go to the mall, or this one coffee shop (which is brand new) to use the internet. And when using the internet there is no guarantee that it will work, and it most definitely is not fast. Now that we have been here for awhile we found out about internet sticks. Apparently you can get a USB stick for your computer and it can connect to the internet through the cell phone network. But of course the computer store we went to didn't have one that worked with Mac computers.

Lychee fruit, it was really interesting and pretty good!

Taking a taxi (which is actually a open door van).

 Vegetarian meals. It has been incredibly difficult to find meals with just vegetables. And sometimes when you order a regular meal but just ask for no meat, it comes with the meat anyway. I was really excited the other day when I ordered a meal that was supposed to be sauteed cabbage, carrots, and other greens with white rice. And when it came I noticed something in it that at first looked like a mushroom...after very careful scrutiny I found it was not a mushroom but some intestines. I was not thrilled, but I was so hungry so I ate around those parts, I wasn't into having an Anthony Bourdain moment. I am dreaming of veggies, can't wait to make a stir fry when I get home.

Almost a real cappuccino, but hey I'll take it!

The fancy coffee drinks at the new coffee shop here (so glad we found this place).

Also I realized how wonderful it is that in the US, we can turn on the facet and drink our water. Here that is unthinkable. You must drink bottled water, cook with bottled water, use it to brush your teeth. It isn't worth the risk to drink the water here and maybe wind up sick. It seems so silly to me that I have keep in mind that I can't order drinks with ice, can't get iced tea at restaurants, and shouldn't eat soup that we didn't make at our house here. I feel like we re so lucky to have fresh, clean, cold water that comes out of the faucet at home.

In the US it is now the norm that restaurants don't allow smoking, not the case here. A lot of people smoke, and with the smog and burning of trash it can be overwhelming for the lungs. I am so spoiled by the pristine air of the upper peninsula of Michigan. When I blow my nose here (since I am now constantly congested) it is all black ick, I feel I should apologize to my lungs since I am sure they are the same way. Can't wait to breathe the air of the forest, I am hoping with more trees around it will be more clear. Cross your fingers for me and count your blessings there in the US, I will never think I have it bad there again! 

Sepa Island

The water was so amazingly clear and a very beautiful teal blue. When one of the girls asked me if I wanted to snorkel and I said no she was shocked. After she kept asking me why not I finally admitted my fear of the "things that live in the water". I told her that even though I go swimming I never go out super far and I hate that I can’t see what is in the water when I am swimming. She wouldn’t take no for an answer though and she said that I should just sit on the steps of the dock and put on the mask and look into the water.

 After she got me to the steps and I looked in, it was quite amazing, but my fear of touching anything poisonous, or having a shark come still kept me from leaving the small area next to the stairs. After the others went out to the reef I sulked back to my beach chair, even though I wanted to go I was still very anxious. So I decided to just go by myself very close to shore. Even though there was not reef that close to shore there was still so much life underwater. I saw these crayfish digging holes that were being guarded by fish and I saw a few different species of these small white fish that you can’t see from above the water. I realized that once you can see what’s in the water with you it’s not so scary.

Driving to the island!

The island with the amazing reef we snorkeled

Snorkel buddies

The next day before we left the island the girls and I paid a man with a boat to take us to another island to snorkel. There is no one on the island and they told us the reef is in much better condition. I had no idea that it would be so beautiful! I went with the two girls who are licensed scuba divers and they made sure that the current wouldn’t take me away. I can’t believe that there are such colorful fish, amazing alien creatures, sponges, coral, starfish, and sea urchins that I would have missed seeing because I was actually afraid of them. I am so glad that I was kind of forced into trying it out from the dock, I think that the one girl knew I wanted to go deep down, and I am so glad she helped me find the amazing world under the sea.

Getting out of the city

It says "live" vest! Watch out there is a vest that is alive under your seat!

 

So even though it has only been a week in Jakarta it feels like a month. There is so much traffic, noise, bad smells, and smog it could last me a lifetime. So the other students who are also going through the never-ending paperwork process of getting all the documents to do research here suggested that we get out of Jakarta for the weekend. One of the students knew a travel agent here and got us booked for one night on Sepa island, one of the thousand islands of Indonesia. I didn’t realize what an amazing treat it was going to be to go to the island. Since I live in Michigan we have water everywhere and lots of beaches so I didn’t think it would be that different, but I was proved wrong. I have never been somewhere with water that color, such an amazing teal blue! Here are some of the pictures from our one day holiday from Jakarta.

Gecko on the wall

 

A gecko running along the wall today startled me. It ran along the wall and up and over the door, then reversed its path. I know it got in the open window in the hallway that doesn’t have a screen. I wonder what other sorts of creatures come in the windows? Yikes!

But I guess I should get used to it since I will be headed out to the field and there will be way more to worry about there than a gecko sneaking into my room. Well I should be headed to the field. But the paperwork at all of the different government offices is super overwhelming. We have to get permits and paperwork from RISTEK, Immigrasi, the police, the Forestry, and home affairs. And sometimes you need one document from somewhere before you can do the next part of the process and usually that document is held up (since someone estimates it will take a few days to process). This means there are sometimes multiple trips to each of the offices because you need to get things signed at both. Can’t wait to get out of these Jakarta offices!