Today was a really easy day. I woke up at an ungodly hour of the morning because I wanted to go to the river to see the Floating Market set up. Someone had told me that they started at 5:30 am, but when I got there I found the riverfront completely empty. It was a sad disappointment, but later I learnt that the Floating Market sets up on Sunday and today is Monday. Lástima.
At a much more decent time in the morning our friends from BMKG came to spend a second day with us. Turns out the holiday extended from Friday to Monday, so they have now given us two of their holiday days, which I feel is very sweet of them.
Together we went to visit Monkey Island, right in the middle of the mighty Bari River. To get there we went over the big bridge that crosses the river and then took a launch that got us across the river. This island is a sanctuary for long nose monkeys, also called proboscis monkeys, or Old Dutch monkeys (their bulbous noses give them the exact image of an old man as in the old photographs we saw yesterday at the Dutch houses!). As far as river islands go it was a very pretty one, with luxurious vegetation that would make a botanist hyperventilate with joy (or panic), but not a monkey in sight. I saw some squirrels that were so well camouflaged that when they stopped moving they looked like just another old branch, and heard a good number of birds, but no paunchy old Dutchmen for us.
To assuage our disappointment the boatman offered us to putter around the island, since apparently the monkeys like hanging by the water. Just as we were sliding along the shore of the island three enormous barges moved down river, pulled by tugboats. The coal is piled in them so high (four piles to each barge) that the barge barely clears the span of the very tall bridge that spans the river. Wait ... what was that? Ah yes, there are a couple of monkeys, fat and yellow, but they were to far away to see their noses. Grand total we probably saw a dozen, but I was not able to recognize any of them from the old photographs.
We then went for lunch at a typical restaurant, where we got big bowls of sato (the national dish which consists of a chicken soup with rice, noodles, shredded chicken, and little meatballs, to which you add a squeeze of lemon and a good dollop of samba (salsa). As side dish you get a half dozen sate or skewers with grilled chicken basted in a tasty sauce. Very yummy.
After lunch we went to a traditional riverside village, famous for the fabric they tie-die. The process is not unlike our own way of doing tie die, but instead of wrapping rubber bands on the parts you don't want died, in the Indonesian process after drawing the design on the fabric (and there are dozens of motifs with very specific meanings) the line along the drawings is sewed tightly to keep the die out of the motif. Very pretty type of fabric, but neither Irvan nor I have sweethearts to buy fabric for, so we were happy to just look around the different shops.
I was working at the computer in the lobby of the hotel, when the very friendly hotel manager, Pak Dimas, stopped by for a long and interesting conversation. After reviewing our trip I asked him what he knew of the coastal route to Balikpapan, but it turns out that he has only been here for a few weeks, so he called a member of his staff who definitely recommended the coastal route, and I think we can make a stop at Batulicin to break the long drive to Balikpapan in two stages. Folks here are so very helpful.
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