Houseboat, Monkeys, Ceremonies and City!

Well, so much has happened since my last post! On Saturday we traveled North three hours to a port where we hopped on a houseboat. The ship is equipped for 30 but we had the whole place to ourselves; tour guide, cook and three other individuals to help us out! Lunch was ready for us on arrival and was, again, amazing. Spicy veggies, rice (of course), noodles, tofu and fresh fruit have become staples.

We traveled up the Mehekam river all afternoon and through the night, about 16 hours of sailing. Nadine and I couldn't sleep, which seems to be an all too regular occurrence now so we moved outside at 5 and slept for an hour under the stars which was lovely.

Sunday morning we went to a floating market in one of the many villages that have sprouted up literally in the middle of nowhere. With populations of just a couple hundred or less, the houses are built on stilts and there is no land in sight. Anyways, we went to the market and walked around and I hung out with a group of the cutest young girls. They even let me ride around the boardwalks on their pink bike :) I would upload a photo but the internet here is beyond slow and it just wouldn't work.

After the market we hopped in dug outs canoes; three people per boat. They were luxurious! I was in front and stretched out under the cover and slept a lot of the ride! On the way up the river we saw proboscis monkeys, a poisonous snake, a tiny little monkey and stunning forests and mangroves.

In the village The Dayak peoples held a welcome ceremony for us. It was kind of touristy and hocky because holding these ceremonies for tourists is the main income for the village but it was still really interesting to see it.

We houseboated back down the river and are now in Samarinda, the capital city of Kalimantan, for one more night. Tomorrow we head further North on an eight hour 4x4 ride on horrid roads! We will be internet-less for about 10 days and this is when the "roughing it" part of the journey begins... can't wait! Except for the leeches. I can wait for those. I would rather not have my blood sucked out by gooooey slugs with giant jaws. Eeck!

I will update when we have internet again!

xo