We continue walking to the end of the village and reach the last houses. It seems less crowded here and somehow the longhouses look a bit more typical than the first ones we saw. Shady inquires one family if it is ok for us to spend the night. This time we find the people smiling and ushering us inside. Everyone has already taken their mandi (bath) and had dinner. We feel a bit out of place arriving so late and hurry up to make our bed, unpack our things and set up our moskito net.
The interior of the longhouse is one big open room without separations. It is dark except for 2 candles placed in the center of the house on an altar where religious ceremonies take place. The floor is made of bamboo poles cut in half and tied together. It feels nice under my feet when I walk across the room and feel the whole floor moving with me. We are told that we can stay in the corner opposite the stereo system that is wrapped in plastic for protecting. In a side room there is the kitchen area where Shady disappears to soon after we arrive. Some of the families are sitting around inside watching us unpack. We have not spoken much yet and we both eye each other curiously. Shady tells us that they speak Banjarese, so they might not even understand us in Bahasa…
My mind is focused on trying to find a place to take a shower. It was an exhausting 3-hour hike through the forest. I adjust my head lamp, grab my towel and soap and follow an interesting construction of bamboo poles cut in half and set on sticks about 50 cm above the ground. This has been made to bring fresh water close to the house. Nearby I find the mandi area where a large bamboo pole is gushing out water. Perfect!
Feeling a lot fresher I go back inside and unpack out my phrase book. It takes a while until one of the younger members of the family (who speaks Indonesian) sits next to me and we begin exchanging a few sentences. He looks very interested in my phrase book and tries to find some English words he knows. Soon others feeling brave come closer and see what is going on. Two young girls in their teens sit shyly to the side watching us, giggling. I imagine that they also learned English at school, but they don’t come closer. The grandmother of the house looks at us points to our moskito net. She tells Shady that our house is really too small to fit the 3 of us. We laugh and answer that it is surely big enough for husband and wife. We are lucky tonight, there is not enough fuel left to run the genrator and play the stereo system next to our bed. At least it will be a quiet evening.
At 9 p.m. one after the other begins to roll out their woven spleeping mats on the bamboo floor. We are happy to have brought along our camping mats. The next morning at 5h30 everyone is awake. By the time we get up everyone has rolled up their mats and is busy organizing the day. Shady is again in the kitchen again spending what seems like ages making our breakfast. When I go to see what he is up to, I and understand what is taking him so long. He is cooking our toasts over the fire one by one adding beaten eggs and pineapple jam. He is taking extra care to please us and seems to following Gunturs instructions to the word. When he is done we munch on our toasts with a smile telling him that we would not have minded another portion of mie goreng for breakfast.
We say good-bye and head on to an impressive 15 m high waterfall. The fall and pool look very welcoming, there is just one problem; the water is ice cold! We muster up our courage and follow Shady into the first pool climbing over big branches and stems that block the way. Once we are in the water it is not so bad. The power of the water from the fall is incredible and keeps pushing us away when we try to swim too close. It is time to hike back to Loksado where a bamboo raft is waiting for us.
The interior of the longhouse is one big open room without separations. It is dark except for 2 candles placed in the center of the house on an altar where religious ceremonies take place. The floor is made of bamboo poles cut in half and tied together. It feels nice under my feet when I walk across the room and feel the whole floor moving with me. We are told that we can stay in the corner opposite the stereo system that is wrapped in plastic for protecting. In a side room there is the kitchen area where Shady disappears to soon after we arrive. Some of the families are sitting around inside watching us unpack. We have not spoken much yet and we both eye each other curiously. Shady tells us that they speak Banjarese, so they might not even understand us in Bahasa…
My mind is focused on trying to find a place to take a shower. It was an exhausting 3-hour hike through the forest. I adjust my head lamp, grab my towel and soap and follow an interesting construction of bamboo poles cut in half and set on sticks about 50 cm above the ground. This has been made to bring fresh water close to the house. Nearby I find the mandi area where a large bamboo pole is gushing out water. Perfect!
Feeling a lot fresher I go back inside and unpack out my phrase book. It takes a while until one of the younger members of the family (who speaks Indonesian) sits next to me and we begin exchanging a few sentences. He looks very interested in my phrase book and tries to find some English words he knows. Soon others feeling brave come closer and see what is going on. Two young girls in their teens sit shyly to the side watching us, giggling. I imagine that they also learned English at school, but they don’t come closer. The grandmother of the house looks at us points to our moskito net. She tells Shady that our house is really too small to fit the 3 of us. We laugh and answer that it is surely big enough for husband and wife. We are lucky tonight, there is not enough fuel left to run the genrator and play the stereo system next to our bed. At least it will be a quiet evening.
At 9 p.m. one after the other begins to roll out their woven spleeping mats on the bamboo floor. We are happy to have brought along our camping mats. The next morning at 5h30 everyone is awake. By the time we get up everyone has rolled up their mats and is busy organizing the day. Shady is again in the kitchen again spending what seems like ages making our breakfast. When I go to see what he is up to, I and understand what is taking him so long. He is cooking our toasts over the fire one by one adding beaten eggs and pineapple jam. He is taking extra care to please us and seems to following Gunturs instructions to the word. When he is done we munch on our toasts with a smile telling him that we would not have minded another portion of mie goreng for breakfast.
We say good-bye and head on to an impressive 15 m high waterfall. The fall and pool look very welcoming, there is just one problem; the water is ice cold! We muster up our courage and follow Shady into the first pool climbing over big branches and stems that block the way. Once we are in the water it is not so bad. The power of the water from the fall is incredible and keeps pushing us away when we try to swim too close. It is time to hike back to Loksado where a bamboo raft is waiting for us.
