July 17-18 Kutai National Park (Orangutans)

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I got up and was greeted with donuts and tea. After my morning shower (aka pouring buckets of cold water) Aurelie and I headed out but just as we were about to get to the main road Aurelie realizes her camera is missing so she runs back and looks to no avail. We head off nonetheless taking the public transport into the city and the to the bus terminal.
It is supposed to be 4hours but takes us 6 in a cramped non-ac bus. The road is windy and full of large potholes. The bus would often hit a bump and I'd go flying. The bus was also pathetic at getting up hills.
We arrive in sengatta rather late and take a public transport to the boat dock. Seeing that we ate Bule the guy in charge insists that we have to charter the vehicle because no vehicle goes out there asking for a high price. He refuses bargaining and I reluctantly pay. We get into the vehicle that we've 'chartered' and lo and behold the man was lying and we pick up alot of people on the way.
By this point we've had such a bad experience with the people in kalimantan. Nowhere else in Indonesia have we been so frustrated aggravated and fed up with Indonesians as we have on kalimantan. Aurelie decides to go back to java instead of spending 3 weeks in kalimantan.
We get to the boat dock and take the canoe to the Kutai park camp. There we meet the guide I arranged with and headed into the jungle right away.
The first thing we saw was a strange-looking large butterfly. We go along trails as Supiani our guide stops occasionally listening for the sound of breaking branches. Eventually he spots a baby with its mother way up in a tree. It was hard to see them and pictures weren't that good but Supiani spotted a male nearby.
He was sleeping initially but seemed to have heard us as he woke up, stretched and scratch before climbing to a lower branch to eat leaves. He eventually clambers down to the ground, looks at us and then crashes through the jungle and up a nearby tree. As if to spite us he decides to urinate in front of us before resting for awhile. He eventually heads back up to the upper canopy and chows down on more leaves. As it started to get dark, he started to make his nest up there but it was too far to really see it.
We headed back for showers and food.
The next morning at 4:30 we took a boat downriver to see the proboscis monkeys. We pass through the park and then through Sengatta. Along the way we hit and got lodged on a rock at full speed. The driver was rather slow to register the guides commands. There was an enormous amount of garbage here and the locals do their excreting into the river so its rather disgusting.
Just as I spotted some macaques across the river, the boat stops and we veer into the bank. Something had happened with the motor. The guides looked around the boat for something but couldn't find it so we paddled driver to a nearby private dock. The driver gets out and heads out to nearby homes. I get off the boat with my stuff and then try to figure out what happened. I first thought that we ran out of gas but then notice the propeller missing from the motor.
The driver comes back and goes into a nearby boat and finds a spare propeller and installs it. While installing the boat almost flipped. The new propeller works and we're back on track. We head upstream spotting some macaques and eagles along the way. Then the guide spots the probiscous monkeys sitting in a clump of trees a bit back from the river. Photos aren't that great but we saw them. When they noticed us they started to jump from tree to tree.
We headed back to Sengatta when it started to rain. I also noticed the boat was leaking at several points and was filling up with water. They dropped us off under a bridge before that became a factor. We headed to the bus terminal and took the next bus to Samarinda.
The bus back was slightly more powerful so it could handle hills. Along the way though the bus hits an oncoming Suv. They talk for a bit and then we head off.
We get to samarinda and its pouring. Aurelie takes off to the bus terminal and i head into town to pick up flight tickets. I then catch a teksi who was a bit dense. I told him to go to a specific bus station and he brings me to an empty bus on the side of the road. I told him no i wanted the terminal he brings me to the wrong one. Meanwhile Aurelie gets on a bus and leaves minutes before i arrive. I catch another bus right after which was a nice luxury bus with room for my legs. I actually arrived before my friend in a different but closer terminal.

I headed by public taxi to a hotel and Aurelie met me there. I got their last budget room and Aurelie got a more expensive one. We headed out to town to dinner and expensive beers.

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