so its
chug-chug and away
on the Karya Utama
that’s the KM Karya Utama
a narrow double-decker wooden boat
where the cleanest and newest thing is the engine
where its motorbikes and poultry and piles of crates and boxes below
and us above, see photos
on an inside deck of ninety thin mattresses
with baggage storage in neat individual wooden compartments beneath them
and with many windows
for watching the river and banks and smoky distance go by
and where we set off a remarkable ten seconds early
at 6.59.50 a m
from the harbour in Samarinda
after i got woken well before by five
by the call to prayer
from a minaret a few short centimetres outside my window
and was soon a little nonplussed by the empty streets
as i needed transport
yet, after a whole minute
a motorbike guy found me
and he turned out to be a tourist guide
with a stutter
and he took me the 6-7 k along the Mahakam to the boat, for 40000 rupiah
and even sorted me a berth
and so here i am
and here i go
chugging smoggily up the vast coal-filthed river
where i’ve even found an English speaker
Dhiki
or rather, him being helpful to the eternally clueless ingenu
he found me
and Dhiki works for an NGO in forest management for the community
up in Melak
which means he helps the local use the land as they wish
without them offending the government
while Dhiki, he has a degree in English Literature
which is a real stroke of luck
for i’ve had no proper conversations in my six days in this country
and cannot trust that i understand the locals
and am pretty certain they don’t understand me
so i’ve got by chiefly by picking things up or pointing
and now?
here i go
the only foreigner on the boat, of course
for i’ve seen absolutely zero whitefolks in my week in this country
and here i go
up the wide river
with its shoreline of semi-dilapidated shacks on poles
stretching for miles outside Samarinda
and with its unceasing succession of vast hulks
heading downstream
piled with massive amounts of coal
pulled by tugs
where i can often see ten or more of these filthy giants
in one sweep of the eye
and so
here i go
its being pretty uncomplicated
as i head windingly North-West
upriver
into a jungly green unknown
to Kota Bangun
a place on a map, near a lake
for some days
then, after another town
whose name i forget
and which i can’t pronounce
ahh, Muaramuntai...
so, after Muaramuntai i’ll reach Melak, where Dhiki is based
then, after a few days
head as far upstream as the river will allow the boats
it being close to Rainy Season, starting November
so the river is near its unnavigable lowest
and i’ll find what’s possible when i get there
for meanwhile?
its a day on a boat
seven hours? ten maybe
friendly, unflashy, matter of fact, just so, daily
with seventy snoozers and browsers and a few chatterers
and some playing children
all settling in for a long haul
as the shacks and corrugated iron and mosques and gangplanks
give way to mangroves and jungle
though it turns out Dhiki
who can’t remember any English novelists from his degree
[maybe he didn’t study any]
yet fondly remembers Indian writers
post-colonial novelists, who write in English
yet it turns out Dhiki is based 30 k from Melak and the river
which sounds like a great expedition when i get there
proper jungle
middle-of-it off-river jungle
where the big issue is snakes, cobras mainly
and not getting lost
so it’ll be good to have a pal
yet that’s in the future
and might not happen
while the fun is the moment
the new is in the now
this everyday for the locals, yet unusual for me
this bus-like boat
chugging smoothly
steadily
up the wide but thinning, muddy, coal-filthed river
between the bankless green
the giant bamboo and mangroves and banana
the large fronds and leafy branches
and huge grasses [?] and high rushes
and bare trunks and winding lianas and draping vines
and purple flowers and enormous leaves
the now thickening, now thinning, riverside forest
and on
round its bends
between that green
deeper
into...
...
...
...
...
in other news
one of my ten best meals ever
last night
a ten minute walk
taking me to quiet streets of moneyed houses
and an expensive restaurant
with zero customers
where it was fish and rice and a fabulous blend of spices
cooked inside a wrapping of banana leaf
quite the best thing all year
which all told me i should dig deeper cuisine-wise
...
...
...
in other news
this whole region is beset by fires
and the smoke and cloud become one
and sit all day above
so the sun, if its visible, is an unnatural orange-pink
and looks like a glowing Mento
...
...
...
in other news
this boat is going much further
so i’ll catch this service again
another day
...
tugs hauling empty hulks back upstream
...
...
in other news
have arrived into Kota Bangun
into my worst room in years
in a shacky town
with some streets of concrete set in wood on wooden girders
subsiding with alarming skew
with very friendly locals
wholly unused to foreigners
where getting out and away
back on the boat
is not going to be easy
...
so, suddenly
much is difficult...
fascinating, gorgeous, wild. wither after indonesia? bisou de montréal