Yesterday we were invited by the indonesian government for a day of festivities. We being the participants of the Sail Indonesian Rally. There are over 40 yachts anchored up the river here from the rally. 3 buses took us with a police escort to the town of Pangkalan Bun about 25km from here.( there is a international airport there if anyone would like to visit this interesting part of the world). The buses were quite a sensation as there are no cars on the roads here, only motorbikes galore and mini buses. All the people in this small town waved at us and the school children stood outside their schools to wave and shout.
We attended a local festival with traditional dancing and music (hat mich an eine Karbener DAF Veranstaltung erinnert ). The local women had stands to display their local cooking and the kids played local games. The most exciting being football with a burning coconut. They soak the shaved coconut in kerosene and light it. The boys then kick it with their bare feet. Certainly doesn't encourage any one to hold onto the ball too long. The men in our group had a try as well - there were a few singed hairs on their legs after that. Eric managed to shoot a goal.
we tried the dayaks blowpipes with shooting arrows(without poison) when they competed they hung the birds high in the trees.
We also took part in a reforestation program where we were all invited to plant some trees. We thought we'd be going into the forest to do this but we ended up planting roadside trees around a big traffic roundabout! The PR effect was good I guess.
After all this hard work we were taken to a wonderful dinner at a traditional wooden house where the regent of the area gave a speech and even sung to us later.
We plan to leave Kumai tomorrow morning and will sail through to the island of Belitan. we plan to arrive there on Saturday or Sunday and hope for better winds this time.
We are thoroughly enjoying your website Margaret.
ReplyDeleteWhat an adventure!