Monday 20/06/11 – Tuesday 21/06/11

Excited, nervous and heart wrenching were my feelings at Heathrow. Leaving Simon was awful, though once I found my departure gate and calmed down I felt a lot better, this was a real adventure. Qatar airways were great, the first flight I had the 3 middle seats to myself, the second flight I was sat next to an angry Saudi Arabian man, I wasn’t sure why he was so angry until we landed in Jakarta and it turned out all his mates were in business class, don’t blame him really. I changed planes in Doha and while waiting for the second flight I found Charlotte who looked like she was with Opwall (walking boots and long walking trousers – not typical wear for a long haul flight but that’s what we were all wearing). She seemed really nice and we chatted until we boarded and then split to sit in our separate seats.

Landed in Jakarta and was hit by the heat, feeling tired and dehydrated (severe lack of drinks being offered on the second plane) did not help. Lining up to get my Visa on Arrival thought I was going to faint, luckily I had a stash of extra strong mints to keep me alive. VoA people where scary but survived. Made my way to baggage collection and met a load of Opwall volunteers looking all as scared and hot as me. Our next step was to meet with the Losari tours rep and catch our internal flight to Makassar. Went out to arrivals and the rep deposited us outside a restaurant until all the Opwall vols had arrived. It was horrible waiting in the heat, we didn’t have any water and I didn’t have any cash yet. Luckily a nice girl (called Aime) gave me one of her bottles of water otherwise I would have fainted for sure. We started the introductions which normally involved name, where you come from, which uni you go to, what degree, how long are you staying and are you going to Hoga or Labundo? Finally we were split into the forest and marine groups which got different flights. My group seemed nice and we were all put in an air-conditioned (yay!) mini bus and taken to our terminal. Another wait and then the flight to Makassar (on a tiny plane), on the other side it was another bus to our hotel. By now it was 1am ish and everyone was sleep deprived and hungry (I hadn’t eaten since the last meal on the plane). We got checked into the hotel and headed for our rooms. Mine was massive! Huge great room with an entrance part, then the bedroom section with king-size bed and seating area, the bathroom had a smaller dressing room attached to it; it was great! Had to eat my stash of chocolate so I could take my malaria pill (doxycycline) and then sleep.

Wednesday 22/06/11

Didn’t sleep too well – was too excited. Had breakfast which was interesting – rice and other savoury thing for breakfast? Strange. Met up with Charlotte and a guy called Aidan and went out to have a look around. Walking on the streets out here is a bit hazardous; open drains, holes in the pavement and nowhere to cross the road – just walk out in front of the traffic, the locals seem to be able to stop the traffic doing that but we chickened out. Got some cash out – now an Indonesian millionaire! Also got some water supplies don’t want a repeat of yesterday. Left the hotel after 12 for Makassar airport to catch our final plane to Bau Bau. Had lunch and waited around. Charlotte joked that our plane would be so small it would have propellers – it did! Not a keen flyer and after accidentally reading that Indonesia has the worst air safety rating of the world I was not pleased about the teeny-tiny plane. It was only an hour’s flight and managed to sleep the whole time, the take off and landing were a bit hairy, but we survived. Bau Bau airport consists of a strip of tarmac and a few buildings; luggage collection was grabbing your bag off the trolley – it was ace! We found our rep and were piled into taxi/van things which had seats along their sides and massive speakers. That trip from the airport to our hotel was the best trip I’ve ever had! Driving along with Akon blasting (don’t get me wrong I’m not keen on his music but it was hilarious in this situation), side door wide open with a dude hanging out. All sense of health and safety goes out the window here. Thing is I kind of like it. Our hotel was nice, basic but clean, and excellent air-con, which was needed with 30oC at 6.30pm. Settled in to our rooms and went down for a talk from Chris the land manager for Opwall. After we were sent off in taxis to get photocopies and dinner. I had fried noodles and ice tea (25,000Rp). Got back about 9pm and Charlotte came to chat, got the impression she didn’t like her room so invited her to stay in mine (I had two single beds).

Thursday 23/06/11 

 Had rice for breakfast – strange. Went for a swim in the hotel’s swimming pool, it was so refreshing, could have stayed there all day. After lunch we all got in the buses heading for Labundo Bundo. The journey was amazing loads of houses and then rice paddies, we climbed up and the forest started to get dense and the roads got worse. It only took 2 ½ hours in the end, but my bum was still pretty numb. We got to the village around 4pm, it is very pretty; little huts on stilts and brick buildings. Everyone seems really friendly and say ‘hello’. We were shown our house; I was grouped with 2 other girls Becky and Danielle. Our house is a separate building from the families, with 3 rooms; a main room/corridor and a porch area. We were introduced to the mandi (which is bathroom in Indonesian) not like our regular loo, similar to the French squatting toilets, with a large tank of water which is used for flushing and washing. It was very scary at first but wasn’t too bad. The lady of the house came and introduced herself as Mama Nia, she was really friendly. We went down to the main meeting and eating place (the restaurant) for our introduction to the site, dos and don’ts and health and safety. We had dinner and played cards until 10.30pm ish, when we came back to our house Mama Nia was waiting up for us. We felt really guilty because they go to bed quite early here and it was probably really late for her. She showed us how to lock ourselves in which was nice.