I am feeling anxy and would like to get going. What will we find on the way to Samarinda? Will it just be one mad dash from one city to another? I need local intelligence and the invaluable company of my friend Irvan. But first things first, and I should go pay a visit to Carolina in BMKG to see the Meteorology Station here in Balikpapan. As usual I was received with friendly smiles by the BMKG staff, led by Pak Kukuh, who is the Head of the Meteorology Station. He is also knowledgeable about the region, and together with Carolina gave me many good pointers to visit a cave here, an orangutan reserve there, and some cool natural landscapes along the road to Samarinda.
I also learnt that I needed to get an e-money card to pay for road tolls. Pak Kukuh had an extra one I could use (but I had to add money to it at the local Indo Maret). Oh, and of course there is a BMKG office in Samarinda, so the folks there will be glad to give us some more pointers about the best way to visit the Mahakam River and its delta. Perfect!
We then went to visit the Control Center at the airport, which is where the BMKG Meteorology Operations Center is located. It is a very impressive place, with lots of computer screens and young specialists perusing the most recent radar data, wind direction, and wind speed, which are compiled in the special language of pilots and control towers and provided almost real time to incoming flights to keep them safe and secure. We repeated the worn joke about now and then looking out the window, and noticed a deepening overcast. Turning to the radar screen we saw rain was coming but didn't think much about it at the time. As it was the rain was quite heavy and right in the path of the plane where Irvan was traveling from Yogyakarta to Balikpapan, so he was re-routed to Makassar just as I was saying goodbye to my new friends to go to pick him up at the airport. What a downpour! I was happy I was inside the car, watching the motorcycle riders get wet to the bone, but was sorry to get the message from Irvan telling me he was on a different island!
I was getting hungry by that time, so I figured it was time to get lunch. I had seen a crab sign on a restaurant and decided to give it a try. Despite the language barrier I managed to order one crab, but what actually happened is that I order one kilo of crabs! They came as a mountain of claws and legs that had been cooked in a very tasty sweet black sauce. Nothing to it but tuck in and enjoy one of the most legendary meals I have had. I was just rolling off the table when I got a message from Irvan letting me know that the flight had resumed and he had just landed in Balikpapan.
I was very glad to see my old friend, as happy as ever and with all sorts of good ideas about what we could do (and what we should not do because it was crazy far). He was famished after the long trip, so we did a lot of planning at a local restaurant while he ate. The man is a wiz with the cell phone, and quickly checked available flights between the islands, so we now have a better plan that includes a reduced tour of Borneo, a reduced tour of Sulawesi, a flight from Makassar (in Sulawesi) to Lubuan Bajo (in Flores), a possible trek to the Komodo National Park), a flight from Lubuan Bajo to Yogyakarta to visit Gayatri and see new sights, and finally a flight from Yogyakarta to Colombo. I believe that plan looks a lot more doable than what I had originally thought, and of course we have built in enough flexibility to take advantage of unexpected adventures.
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