Archives for August 2016

Being home is so good. I’ve missed my kitties and just being in my bed or backyard. It has been a bit challenging to overcome the jet lag. I have now acclimated to being an early riser, which I don’t mind, except that I am sleepy before 9 PM each night.

I am so grateful for all of the friends I made on this trip. I have formed friendships with all of the Rutgers students, whom I will howl like an orangutan to with no shame if I see them on campus. I absolutely plan to visit Indonesia again, because I have so many friends there now too. They reach out to me on a regular basis which is great, because I can keep up with them as they practice their English. There are so many islands and beautiful places to explore there, and I’ll have many guides to assist again with the language that after three weeks I could not get the hang of.

     

 

As I have been thinking about my trip and what I gained from the experience, one of the things that stands out to me is the society in general. Walking along the streets in the major cities was difficult due to the holes and jutting sidewalks. It seems as though the infrastructure was set in place and never again maintained or improved. The government does not prioritize aesthetics, functionality or progressiveness, unlike in the U.S. where construction is never ending because something can always be made better. This, to me, relates to a serious problem that I observed- pollution. There was litter in every single location we visited between Borneo and Java, even in the remote forests of Central Kalimantan. It was so sad to me that these people live in such a unique and beautiful place, but they do not strive to keep it that way.

I brought this up to one of my advisors who explained that they do not understand that plastic will not biodegrade over time because it is a relatively new substance to them. This perspective ultimately disgusts me. Western societies wish to modernize the rest of the world, and do so by sharing their technological advancements. What is lacking are the repercussions of those advancements, such as how pollution can negatively affect the environment, something that progressive people should understand from experience but for various reasons chose not to share with their new consumer base.

I think there is a lot of work to be done in Indonesia to encourage their progress but in the right direction. Environmental education should be made a priority in a country where they are still so connected with their environment. The biodiversity of the rainforests of Southeast Asia is one of the most complex in the world, but it could be ruined and wasted if it is not protected.

I feel some comfort in having met so many like-minded people while I was there. I knew that conservation was a global issue before going on this trip. It did startle me, though, how much of the ocean was tainted with garbage already, and how much plastic I found in the middle of the forest, not to mention lining the city streets. I wondered when it started to accumulate, if it was ten years ago, or maybe twenty? I hope to one to see the landscape back in its natural state, and maybe to be a part of the movement to rectify the societal norms that persist there. I did not come away from the trip wanting to be a primatologist, but I do still want to make a difference.

After previously missing the indoors, I now feel like I’ve experienced way too much of it. We have spent the last three days in various malls around Jakarta, not at all what was planned for the remainder of our trip. Our excursions were canceled without much explanation, today’s being that the advisor did not want to guide us through the historic city due to the heat. (Today was definitely the hottest day of the whole trip.) And so we journeyed to two different malls, in place of the outdoor markets that were mentioned weeks ago.

We are all quite tired and ready to be home, so long as everyone has the appropriate souvenirs for their friends and family. Many of us also purchased batiks, which are traditionally men’s shirts with a unique print representative of each city or village in Indonesia. For women they make tops, pants, dresses and skirts, and I spent much time finding the perfect batik for myself and as a gift for my boyfriend. I got magnets for Grandma and some other miscellaneous family members, because how can I say I went somewhere if I didn’t get a magnet for Grandma? And lastly some jewelry for my friends. But I did wish that we spent more time learning about Indonesian culture, and experiencing it firsthand, instead of an abbreviated view where much was lost in translation.

I do have much appreciation for this program though, because I would not have felt as comfortable travelling to such an obscure place such as Indonesia without my advisors. Being guided by them made the experience challenging in some aspects, since I am used to planning and managing my own journeys, but their involvement in regards to Indonesian conservation issues and basic understanding of the language were worth enough to make me feel safe in travelling so far from home. Terima kasih Erin and Wendy!

Today might be my second favorite day of the trip. The planning and production involved in actually maneuvering us to where we need to be is a consistent headache, but I am trying to adapt by learning not to have any expectations 😛 Especially after yesterday, which was a bit of a mess but the end result was amazing.

Yesterday we were scheduled to visit a honey bee farm. But an Indonesian honey bee farm is entirely different from an American one, which we realistically should have known from the beginning. For one, we were not expecting to have to hike any amount of time, and so the activity was delayed by needing someone to go back for a number of people’s rain boots. But also, there was only one hive; one hive at the top of a tree whose branch towered over a waterfall at the top of the canopy just within eyesight. We were not going to interact with the hive at all, that was for sure. But we did get to play and cool off in the pool above the falls, which was beautiful and the perfect destination after such a narrow and muddy trek. We watched from under a mosquito net (to protect from swarming bees) as the ‘bee keeper’ climbed the tree and retracted some of the comb, which he then brought down for us to try. Fresh honey is incredibly sweet yet the after taste is tangy. Some people tried the bee maggots that lived in the hive. The hike back down was still treacherous but knowing what to expect made it more enjoyable.

Today we snorkeled off of Badul Island, a small mound of sand not far off the coast of our village. The first half of the day, we learned how to plant coral on the boat as an Indonesian news crew reported on it. That part was kind of cool, until our professors had to ask them to stop taking footage of us girls in our bathing suits. It was strange to us to be viewed as risque while wearing what would be considered conservative at home. Then we got off the boat, attached the coral to large, cement, table-type structures, and were free to swim around for a few hours. After lunch, the boat took us to the far side of the island, away from the shore. It was much deeper here, and so the water was a darker shade of blue even though it was clearer to see through. The water was rough but the reef was alive on this side, and after mustering the rest of my nerve I explored with Meg until our legs were tired. It was the farthest out in the open water I have ever swam. I almost did not go out the second time, but I am glad I did because it was magnificent.

 

Tomorrow we will hike one last time, to another waterfall where we will actually be prepared with our bathing suits. And then our stay here is getting cut one day short, since Erin decided our remaining budget money can be spent to treat us on a beach front resort. 😀

Our stay in Ujong Kulon is going to be much different from our last homestay. We just arrived to the national park on the western coast of Java, and everyone is very excited about how close we are to the beach 🙂 Unfortunately, our standards were set too high after our visit in Bogor..

Our last two nights were spent in a guest house inside the Bogor Botanic Garden, which was built by the Dutch in 1817 and is now operated by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences. The property is beautiful, with thousands of deer and the biggest bats I’ve ever seen. We have the whole home to ourselves, with beds that have pillows and bathrooms with toilets! (It’s the little things these days…) The garden also houses the Presidential palace, normally a vacation home until this president came to term.

After over 8 hours of travelling, we arrived at our homestays in Ujong Kulon. We were aware that no one knew what the lodging would be like, but there were rumors of at least shower heads. The lack of running water turned out to be one of a few concerns, when we found out that we were intended to share one floor mattress between three girls, in a real life homestay. The elderly woman who lived in this house did not speak a word of English, but had opened her home up to all twelve girls in our new group of Rutgers/UNAS students. The fact that we were totally unprepared to live in such close quarters made many people agitated at yet another instance of miscommunication.

After settling the room situation (more rooms were arranged so that there were two per bed instead of three), we all walked to the beach at the end of the road to see the sunset. It was nice to feel a body of water after so many days of heat and humidity. It wasn’t long though before the Indonesian TA’s, Bagus and Choir, told us we had to get off the beach because it was time for prayer, which we had to respect since we were staying in this town. The language barrier made it difficult to understand the exact situation, but we left with our heads down. Hopefully we will get more beach time tomorrow.