OT: Another Bucket List Trip

CTMike

Some of you may remember the hiking trip my son and I took to Patagonia back in March 2017 to hike Torres Del Paine National Park - amazing trip.

Since then, he is now the manager of internal audit for a cloud computing company and his work is 100% remote. So he and his wife and 2 kids left for Bali this past Tuesday for 6 weeks of remote work and vacation. My amazing wife just gave me the green light to join them for 10 days. 

Highlights of my trip will be a hike up Mt Agung to watch the sunrise, and a 3 day boat trip to visit Tanjung Puting National Park and Camp Leakey - an Orangutan preserve on Kalimantan, along with getting to share in lifetime memories with my son and his family. 

https://youtu.be/r49spz4mPlM

https://youtu.be/Kz-nx8YH82s

I don’t imagine I will ever get another chance to visit this part of the world, and with Borneo Orangutans being endangered, I feel the time is now to make this trek. Plus my son is a 6’ 5 ginger and kind of resembles an orangutan. 😎

Not looking forward to the long plane flights, but it will all be worth it in the end. 

Botch

Sounds like a cool trip.  Orangutans Rawk!  

lousubcap

Better to be lucky than good doesn't even get within an order of magnitude to describe that pending adventure.
Way to jump in and props to your wife for greenlighting the trip.

caliking

I’m more than a bit jealous of both you and your son. Sounds like great times are ahead. 

Don’t know what your experience with long haul flights is,  but compression stockings, and a foot sling, make a huge difference. 

CTMike

caliking said:

I’m more than a bit jealous of both you and your son. Sounds like great times are ahead. 

Don’t know what your experience with long haul flights is,  but compression stockings, and a foot sling, make a huge difference. 

Yup, I already have some Bombas 20% compression socks for the flight, and will have to look in to the foot sling. 

caliking

CTMike said:

caliking said:

I’m more than a bit jealous of both you and your son. Sounds like great times are ahead. 

Don’t know what your experience with long haul flights is,  but compression stockings, and a foot sling, make a huge difference. 

Yup, I already have some Bombas 20% compression socks for the flight, and will have to look in to the foot sling. 

Amazon has "foot hammocks", but they're kinda meh (bulky, single purpose). I use a basic luggage strap - pull down the little table, drape the strap across it, and adjust to a comfortable length. 

https://www.amazon.com/BlueCosto-Luggage-Suitcase-Straps-Accessories/dp/B076RMDGGR/ref=sr_1_omk_6?crid=3ITLQH3QJM5ZJ&keywords=luggage+strap&qid=1659213633&sprefix=luggage+strap,aps,208&sr=8-6

lousubcap

Too technical beyond the socks.  Just meet your departing flight at around 40K feet and enjoy the ride.  

JohnInCarolina

Sounds like a great trip, Mike.  I look forward to seeing some of your pics from it.

CTMike

So I’m sitting here at JFK at the start of my trip, and I am wondering why TSA folks as a whole are just so ****ing unpleasant? 

Also it seems that TSA pre-check does nothing for you at JFK, but if you apply for some Amex Clear card you can go to the head of the line. 

Nice to know that TSA can be bought by big business. 

alaskanassasin

CTMike said:

So I’m sitting here at JFK at the start of my trip, and I am wondering why TSA folks as a whole are just so ****ing unpleasant? 

Also it seems that TSA pre-check does nothing for you at JFK, but if you apply for some Amex Clear card you can go to the head of the line. 

Nice to know that TSA can be bought by big business. 

Flying used to be awesome, now it just sucks.

dmchicago

Can as n only get better from here!

Clear is the bombdiggity. 

caliking

Some TSA folks are just downright salty SOB's. It was particularly noticeable when they had a huge influx of new personnel to fill their ranks. My last couple of trips have been pretty decent though.

Bon voyage, Mike!

buzd504

CTMike said:

So I’m sitting here at JFK at the start of my trip, and I am wondering why TSA folks as a whole are just so ****ing unpleasant? 

Also it seems that TSA pre-check does nothing for you at JFK, but if you apply for some Amex Clear card you can go to the head of the line. 

Nice to know that TSA can be bought by big business. 

Clear is not Amex, but some Amex cards will give you a discount on your first year of Clear.  It's worth it if you fly a lot.

CTMike

This is Roger, a 150 kg approximately 30 year old male Orangutan at Tanjung Puting National Park on Borneo. 

We are at the tail end of a 3 day boat trip up the river to visit the preserve. Pretty amazing to see these animals in their natural habitat:

Trekking through the jungles of Borneo is at hot as you would imagine. Will post more later. 

lousubcap

@CTMike - Great adventure playing out right there.  Appreciate the update and looking forward to more.  

Foghorn

Yep.  Thanks for the pics and update.  

alaskanassasin

Thanks @CTMike I will stay tuned!

CTMike

When I get back home I will be on a mission to try and find an authentic recipe for nasi goreng, an Indonesian fried rice, amazing. Locals add a fried sambal and choice of protein, usually chicken. 

It is amazing. 

CTMike

Upon leaving the park, we each planted a tree to help with reforestation efforts. Palm oil plantations are a huge problem here - many hectares of rain forest are being cut down to grow palms. It is hard to fault the locals for this as the palm oil industry provides jobs and income, the problem lies more with the companies exploiting this land for profit. 

One of the local companies even purposely started a fire in the park in the hopes that the park would sell the land after it burned, so more palm trees could be planted. Thankfully the park did not sell. 

This is my son and his family after planting the trees. 

caliking

I love this thread! Thanks for sharing, Mike.

Nasi goreng is so delicious. We used to have an Indonesian place in Houston that made a great version. 

CTMike

Our guide for the river boat trip, Munchos, was a fount of knowledge of local flora and fauna. He called this an electric caterpillar, if you stepped on it you would see sparks:

Beautiful creature. 

A traditional Indonesian long house that would house up to 16 people of a single family. Once the family gets larger another house would be built. 

The house is built off the ground to protect from wild animals and headhunters (a young Borneo male would have to go to another village, kill a child and bring the head back to his own village. Once he had killed 7, he would be considered a man. This still happens in the remote parts of the island, but much less frequently).

CTMike

Don’t recall the name of this spider, but it is pretty cool looking, and slightly terrifying:

Mark_B_Good

CTMike said:

Don’t recall the name of this spider, but it is pretty cool looking, and slightly terrifying:

Is Stranger Things real??  I think I saw that in Season 3, Episode 5. LOL.

GrateEggspectations

Botch said:

Sounds like a cool trip.  Orangutans Rawk!  

Primates are pretty incredible. 

The musculature can be astounding.

GrateEggspectations

What an incredible trip, Mike. Please keep us posted. 

CTMike

Quite the juxtaposition between the jungles of Borneo yesterday to a 5-star Westin Resort in Ubud (back on Bali, only $150/night - cheap here) today
.

Sadly my trip comes to an end tomorrow. I will post more photos and some drone footage after I get back home. 

alaskanassasin

Safe travels!

CTMike

One of three feeding stations we visited within the park. The orangs in the park have mostly been rescued from circuses and the like, and are dependent on these feeding stations for a good portion of their diet. Also, feeding them helps keep them within the confines of the park to help prevent them being shot by local farmers, poachers, etc. 
The big male on the left is drinking from a bowl of cow's milk. It is meant to supplement the diet of the infants, but the rangers can't control which orang ends up drinking it. 
One several females with infants that we saw. 
Another large male, waiting near the trail where the ranger will soon be coming with the basket of bananas. Each of the three feeding stations have a set time when the food will be put out. The animals have been conditioned to this, and can usually be seen hanging out close to each station as the time nears. 
This is the port of Kumai on Borneo where we embarked/disembarked from our klotok (boat). The buildings in the background are factory birdhouses for swifts, so that their nests can be collected and shipped to China for use in cooking. These are just several of many such buildings that dominate the waterfront. 
Macaques also waiting on the food delivery. They vacate the platform once the orangs show up, but launch frequent raids, when the dominant male isn't looking, to grab a handful of bananas and then scurry back up in to the trees. 
A seemingly endless line of termites marching along one of the ropes we were to stand behind. We were also told to maintain near complete silence, do not eat, show your teeth, or get within 4 meters of the orangs. Our guide Munchas, previously worked as a ranger in the park. After seeing the large teeth on one of the dominant males, we asked him if he had witnessed a fight for dominance. He said that he had - one male bit the other in the abdomen, then grabbed the edges of the wound and ripped it open, and proceeded to disembowel his opponent. We all heeded his instructions about what not to do. 
Munchas made my granddaughter a hat from ferns to help keep her dry during a rain shower. He was born in Kumai, and then lived in a jungle village during his youth so he was an amazing source of knowledge about the life of indigenous people living in the jungles of Borneo. 
I believe this is Albert (each feeding station had a different dominant male) sitting amongst the remains of a feeding. Only the males develop the large cheek pads, it seems they usually start to develop after age 7 or so. This also varies on whether they are raised around other males, or are in zoos. 
One of the few times my grandson would let me carry him - that boy is attached to his dad like flies on monkeys!t.

Speaking of flies on monkeysh!t:
You had to be careful where you stood when there were orangs in the trees above, or you could become an unwitting victim. This hit the ground a couple feet from me, and within seconds these flies were swarming all over it.