Indonesia 2025. Day 3. Preparations Inbox

Today is a day devoted to preparing for the 14-day tour of Borneo. Carolina sent me a message letting me know she had lined up a rental car that she and her colleague Henu will bring around 10 am. That gives me a couple of hours to explore on foot and get breakfast. Oh, oh, it is raining, but then again I am at the equator and rain is likely to be our constant companion (nix plan B, which was renting motorcycles for the grand tour). But a little rain was not going to deter me from visiting the beach, a couple of blocks away from my guest house, and get some landmarks in my immediate neighborhood. The most obvious is the Hotel Le Grandeur, which unfortunately has been abandoned at the peak of its greatness and now sits like a decaying monument to human folly.

This city wakes up late, and at 9:15 am I couldn't find a place to have breakfast. Eventually a small hole-in-the-wall took pity on me and fixed me some fried chicken and tofu, with the customary bowl of rice. Add a couple of spoonfulls of the delicious salsa that is found on every table, and I was ready to take on the world.

A little after 10 am a shiny black SUV drove in, and out came the owner of the vehicle, ready to do business. On a handshake we agreed to the terms: I will keep the car for 14 days and return it in the same condition I received, and at that time will hand over 7,000,000 rupiah for the cost of the rental (about US$ 500). No contract and no security other than my word. Carolina and Henu were there to witness the transaction and, after the owner of the vehicle left to take the bus, we three got in and, with me as the driver, took off in search for adventure (truth is that Carolina doesn't drive, so she had brought Henu along to evaluate my ability as a driver, just like my anxious daughter might do).

We settled for going to the Mangrove Center, which is along one of the arms of the Balikpapan Bay estuary. The center is a private conservation effort by a gentleman whose name I cannot remember, who has dedicated 150 hectares of his coastal land to experiment with new ways to propagate mangroves, to preserve some habitat for a band of proboscis monkeys, and to provide a natural laboratory for science and conservation education. Our visit included a boat ride through the estuary channels of the preserve, which reminded me of the boat rides we took with my parents on our annual visit to the ocean when I was a kid. A very pleasant memory greatly enhanced by the occasional sighting of a troup of monkeys feeding in the high canopy of the mangrove trees.

Lunch was "coto Makassar" (pronounced choto), a tasty goat soup eaten with steamed rice cakes which is typical of the region of Makassar in Sulawesi, after which I drove Carolina and Henu back to their neighborhood; funny that both of them are meteorologists with BMKG and live in the same part of town. After all it is Sunday, and both deserved to go back to their families to enjoy their afternoon. Me, I drove back toward my hotel, relying on instinct to get back home. I would say it was working fairly well, until just a second late I saw Le Grandeur to my left and missed my turn. Fortunately traffic was "light" and after a few hundred meters I was able to do a U-turn and finally get home. Tomorrow I will stop by the regional office of BMKG to say hello (and goodbye) to my new friends, and afterward I will go to the airport to pickup Irvan and put the final touch in our preparations.