Groundhog’s day in Kumai

Sorry for the delay folks. If I have any excuses about not blogging in the last week I've forgotten what they might be. Actually internet has been scarce.

Upon returning to Kumai from visiting the orangutans Rhiannon and I set off to get her visa extended. “No problem” said Mr. Bayan the owner of the outfitter who we booked the river tour through. So we hopped in his car with him and zipped off to Pangklanbuun 15 minutes down the road. No luck. You have to go to Simpat for that, four hour away. “No problem” says Mr. Bayan, so off we go to Simpat, over some of the bumpiest roads in history since the invention of modern asphalt. Simpat, “So sorry.” The computer system is down. Can’t extend here. Have to go to Pangkalaraya, another four hours away. “Problem”.

I headed back to Kumai with Mr. Bayan, Rhiannon rode on to Pangkalaraya with two girls we met in the Simpat visa office, an American and German who were also extending their visas. We wouldn't see them again…for a couple of days.

Kumai isn't a tourist destination, it is really only a jumping off point for the orangutan tours. The town has about a dozen large, windowless buildings that play recorded bird sounds over massive public announcement speaker cones to attract birds for the manufacture of birds nest soup. The recordings NEVER stop. We found one internet café, a good fresh juice stand and a couple of good places to eat. So that is what we did for three days and it went like this… wake up on the boat at 4:30

am to the sound of the morning prayers blaring from the mosques (this may have been the only time the bird sounds stopped), breakfast on the boat, read until it got too hot to stay on the boat (can’t swim in the river due to crocs), go to town, get juice, internet café, get juice, lunch, internet café, get juice, more internet, more juice, dinner, juice, boat, bed, repeat.. I was Bill Murray and Kumai was my Punxsutawney, mango juice my groundhog.

Thankfully Rhiannon got the visa situation squared away after three days (“No problem”) and rejoined us on the Tropicbird. We set sail for Belitung Island immediately. 

The lone highlight of Kumai. I wanted to buy it but couldn't figure out how I'd get it back to Denver.