More exploring in Borneo

Anytime we spend a long time in one place, things start to get a little like ground hog day.  This past week, we decided to spice it up a bit and rent a car.  For a pretty pricey 70 Ringgit/day (about $23 US) we got ourselves the worst rental car we’ve ever had.  It’s a shoebox with 4 bald tires, a broken speedometer and gas gage.  The passenger window won’t roll down and it takes at least 4 tries to crank it up.  The latest issue with it is that somehow it’s gotten infested with ants.  But that just gives Jake something to do while we drive around.

Our first stop was Matang Nat’l Park and the rehabilitation center.  Andy and Jake had already been there, but I was dying to see the Orangutans and I wasn’t disappointed.  We saw an adult teaching a baby how to climb a tree (part of their “school”) and then we saw two babies playing with a sheet while the mama watched.  They were pulling it up over their heads, rolling around and wrestling with each other.  Occasionally, the mama would grab the sheet and put it over her head.  Very cute to watch.  The funniest part of the day however, was when the “bad monkey,” as Jake liked to call him, threw poo at Andy.  Technically, I guess he threw poo at all of us, but Andy was lucky enough to get hit….twice.  The monkey was quite frisky and didn’t stop with the poo.  He threw banana peels, watermelon rinds, mango skins and papaya….all at Andy.  Jake and I got a big kick out of that.

The next day we decided to head out to Bako National Park and go for a hike to try and see the Proboscis Monkeys.  We underestimated the terrain and found our flip-flops to be a bit of a hindrance, but we managed.  Unfortunately, we didn’t see any monkeys, but we did see a snake and a bearded hog.  The hog was about the funniest looking thing we’ve seen yet.  It has this huge long snout (with a beard), then it’s eyes are about halfway down, then the forehead just keeps going.  Add to that, it has really long legs...not very pig-like.

These naughty little monkeys like to steal
your snacks.  

He still fits on my lap...almost :(

Some other ways we’ve tried to beat the ground hog day feeling…we saw a local ballet depicting one of the Iban legends from the jungle, we’ve taken to having nerf gun wars at the marina when all the workers go home, and we’ve spent a lot of time with our friends Richard and Lee on s/v Before.  Jake has even taken up jogging in the mornings with me and we’ve managed to convince Andy to join us as well.  I can’t lay up in bed when I have a little guy wiggling my toes asking me to go run with him….the best motivator.

This weekend we’re flying to Jakarta to see an old friend of Andy’s and relax a bit (all this fun is tiring).  It’s serving a dual purpose in as much as Jake and Andy need to renew their visa’s for Malaysia as well.   When we come back, the most exciting thing of all…Jake turns 9!

Hiking in Pohnpei

Jake wanted to play on the "playground" at the internet
cafe.

Today was our last day of having our rental car.  The first day we had it, we forgot our camera and the second day was used for running errands, so today we decided to do something fun AND bring the camera.  We had been invited by some friends to do a waterfall hike, but due to having the car and having some things on our agenda undone, we declined.  The plan was to see an eel pond, eat lunch, see some petroglyphs, then a waterfall.  Incidentally, there are waterfalls all over this island, it’s just a matter of how far you want to hike and pay to see one.  The one we had planned was fairly easy.

So off we went.  We searched and searched for the eel pond.  We never actually found it as there are very little signs around here.  I’m pretty sure it was just a creek where we saw some women washing their clothes.  So I looked on the map and saw another waterfall nearby….let’s go there. 

Through turning around over and over and asking directions, we finally found the road that supposedly leads to the trail.  The guy at the end of the road gave me directions….go to the double thatched roof, go down a few minutes, then turn left.  Ok, got it.

As we drove up the road past the pavement (think dirt road with grass growing in between the tire tracks…kind of country like back at home), we saw a truck stuck in the mud.  We parked our car and got out.  He asked us to help him push his truck out.  Through a little back and forth, we realized he was the driver for our friends and he offered to take us to the waterfall…cool.

Up the road we went.  We got to a house and he immediately turned right.  Andy and I both said to each other at the same time “Would’ve missed that one.”  We walked on an overgrown trail, literally through a jungle for about  half an hour only to come out a lovely little babbling brook.

“I went the wrong way,” the guy said.  “I think it’s the other way.  I haven’t been out here since I was a kid.”

Ha.  OK.  So we went back.

We got a little bit further and he said, “We could just follow the river up?”

“uh, no,” was Andy’s reply.

This is when I told him the directions the guy gave to me down at the end of the road.  So we decided to give that a try.  After another half hour back to the road and another half hour up the road, we finally found the double thatched roof.  We went down and then sure enough, there was a trail to the left.  It was kind of a trail…we went a little ways and by this time, Andy was losing his patience.  The guy obviously didn’t know where we were.  But in my mind, this is where we would have ended up if we hadn’t have listened to him in the first place (and I could hear running water).  We made it another 10 minutes down the trail and Andy called it off.  The guy kept going and as we started to go back, Jake got upset.  He really wanted to see the waterfall and I thought, since we’ve gone this far…  So we kept going.  There came a fork in the trail…my very own “Bear Gryll” led us to the path with the fresh machede clippings and in about 10 minutes we had caught up with our friends and were making our way down to a huge swimming hole at the bottom of a waterfall.  Guess who wasn’t there?  Yep, the driver.  He must have taken the other fork.

Anywhoo…to make a long story longer, we swam a while, took pictures, had a nice time and then discovered we were starving and thirsty.  I didn’t plan on a 2 hour hike so I didn’t bring anything with us.  The plan was to eat at a restaurant, remember?  So, we decided to leave a little early.  As we were walking back to our car, the driver was there and tried to act like he had gone looking for us and that’s why he never made it to the waterfall.  Whatever, dude…even the guide that was with our friends was pretty sure he didn’t know where it was and thought it was funny that we followed him.

It just reinforces a theory we have about polynesians/micronesians/melaneisans after being led astray by more than one… they weren’t the master navigators we all think they were.  They set out one day on a nice paddle and got lost.  Two months later, they found land and just stayed there.  That’s why they’re spread all over the pacific!  They couldn’t find their way home.  

It turned out to be a very nice day, even if our lunch did end up being a box of Pringles and onion rings from the local gas station.   Jake was a real trouper and is beginning to be quite the hiker!

The Village Hotel and Restaurant, where we had lunch on one of our outings.

Hiking the Olum Waterfalls

While this wasn't taken on our waterfall hike,
we found it to be neat anyway...it's the
Rainbow Tree...a type of Eucalyptus.

Yesterday we were picked up by a man named Hamilson and he gave us a ride to the restaurant we were going to for lunch. We found out Hamilson is a guide here in Kosrae.  We knew he was legitimate as we had seen his brochures in several of the hotels.  So we decided to take him up on his offer to guide us to the Olum Waterfalls (for a not so small fee).

We met him this morning at the hardware store where he picked us up and drove us to his house in Malem, where the trail starts.  We met his wife, Esther who is originally from the Marshall Islands but has lived here for 35 years.

Before I get too into this, I’ll have to admit that I screwed up with the camera.  I took it…but I forgot the memory card.  I had taken it out and forgotten to put it back in.  (no way the photographer of the family could have brought his camera though, huh?) 

It started out straight up a flight of stairs naturally carved into the hill.  Then it went straight up a flight of stairs made out of roots and mud.  Then it just went straight up.  I found out exactly how out of shape I am in.  It wasn’t my legs that were hurting, it was my heart!  I was so out of breath.  But Jake wasn’t complaining and if his little legs could do it, then I could too.  We learned about many trees and nuts along the way and what their uses are…most of which I promptly forgot.  One was kind of neat though…the nut is cut open and the inside is used to patch up cracks in wooden canoes.  If you work it long enough, it gets kind of sticky and you just stick it in the cracks.  Jake wanted to collect enough of these nuts to ensure we could fix Savannah should we spring a leak.  He’s got a little of the planning gene from his mom, I can tell.

After 45 min or so, Hamilson showed us some old Japanese tunnels that were built back in WWII.  The Japanese used them for hiding out as well as storage.  He took us through a few of them and it was one of the highlights for both Jake and Andy.  I have to say I was a little creeped out.  Following the caves, we went straight to the waterfalls.  Jake swam around a good bit at the pools and eventually, I got in with him.  It was COLD…but perfect since we literally had sweat dripping off of us.  I use the term waterfall loosely here…it’s not Marquesas waterfalls, or Victoria falls…it’s more like a really nice hotel swimming pool waterfall…but beautiful just the same.

The rest of the hike was beautiful, but uneventful except for the lack of my son’s ability to stay on his feet.  I think he did a quarter of the hike on his bum.

At the bottom we were met by Esther with oranges, bananas, papaya, tangerines and drinking coconuts.  Not a bad ending to a beautiful morning. 

Hamilson and his wife have a pretty good set up going.  He does the tours while she does the hospitality.  He seems to have fun and make money at the same time.  That’s what we all wish for, right?  Anyone in Kosrae should definitely take him up on his tours.  We thought it was worth the money.

Hiking in Am Samoa

I spent a day catching up with Andy and Jake and then what do you know, I left them again.  Several ladies were planning a hike in the National Forest, up to the highest point here in American Samoa and I really wanted to go.  It's one of those hikes where we wouldn't get to do it together because it would be way too much for Jake.  It's 3 miles one way and then depending on which way you go when you get to the top, it can be even longer down (as we soon found out).

Seven of us met on the dock early in the morning and caught a bus to the head of the trail.  We had a nice time walking up the fairly well kept trail, chatting each other up like women do.  There were some steep hills and muddy patches but nothing we couldn't all do fairly easily.  When we got to the top, it was truly breathtaking.  A few of the women had brought the handheld radios and called down to the hubbies to tell  them we were waving.  By this time, we had been gone about 2 hours so we told them not to worry, we would be another couple of hours as we weren't going back the way we came, we were going to keep walking down the other side.

Karen on s/v "Gigi"

The trail down was considerably harder.  There were ladders with ropes and contrary to what we figured, it was not all downhill!  There were ladders to go up as well.  Some of them were sturdy, some were a bit wobbly, but none were really dangerous.  Of the 7 of us, I'm pretty sure I was the youngest and about half way through was quite a bit embarrassed as I realized how out of shape I actually am.  These women were kicking my butt!  One of the ladies I was with towards the back kept apologizing to me for lagging behind and I finally told her that I really didn't think this was easy for anyone!  After 4 hours, we were all tired!  About hour 5 we started seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.  Or rather the ocean at the end of the trail.  We finished the hike on the other side of the island a full 5 1/2 hours after we started.  We had turned our two hour hike into a full day.

This was one of the longer ladders, and
the most shaky.

My friend Mary Lee, told us to wake her up when the bus came.

"Rehydrating"

After relaxing (and rehydrating) for a few minutes we caught a bus and headed back to the dock.  I kept telling Andy how much fun I had and I think it was because we rarely all get together like that as women. We're usually as couples or family or one or two of us get together to go grocery shopping or do laundry.  But this group was a lot of fun as everyone was laid back, no one was overbearing or a know it all (something I have a really hard time with), and through the whole day, no one complained....not one bit.  As a matter of fact, we were all pretty upbeat...happy to be off the boat after all the wind and rain and enjoying the day with each other.

We've got another week or so here waiting on packages to come in, so there's a bit more exploring we get to do.  Andy has been diving and getting some more pictures of Nemo so I'll post those soon.