Jakarta to Pangkalan Bun, Kalimantan, Borneo

I was pleased David's fathering instincts were working in my absence (Sera and I were sharing a room and Dave and the boys in another twin with Will sleeping on the couch) as Dave woke in the middle of the night when Will left the room and was wandering the corridor sleep walking and asking where the bathroom stuff had gone. After redirecting him back to bed he was then awoken 20mins later by Will again trying to get out of the room. It was then that he took him to 'the pod' toilet and put the chain across the door to prevent any further escapes! 

Hamish, reminiscent of admissions at RCH perched on the bed watching TV whilst plugged into other electronics whilst David looks on from the pod toilet!

The 'Pop' hotel also included complimentary buffet breakfast which proved to be an interesting experience. The boys were very excited imagining an extensive crown conservetory style buffet. We talked it down as best we could but their expectations were still high. We arrived in the dining area and were confronted by a dining room full of 50+ Chinese businessmen who were presumably attending a conference and no food whatsoever! After a short wait a staff member entered the room with about 20 slices of bread on a plate and chaos erupted. Like a flock of hungry seagulls they ambushed the poor staff member, luckily she made it to the side counter and put the plate down before she was physically knocked off her feet! Talk about survival of the fittest - with our polite western manners we didn't stand a chance! We emerged from the fracas with two slices if bread with some jam between the four of us! 

David again provided a source of amusement to the Indonesian women on our transit bus who erupted into hilarity and repeated "handsome" when he donned his sunglasses! He was almost so embarrassed he would have removed them but for the glare and his shotgun seating position. Sera and I were a little perturbed at his attempts to converse with the driver as he negotiated peak hour traffic madness. Fortunately Dave came to the same conclusion and an awareness that he would be the first to sail through the windscreen less than a metre away from his face should we crash and he quit his social chit chat. 

There was a moment of panic as we approached the check in counter at Trigan Air and I presented the tickets from our previous flights to/from Flores/Denpasar/Jakarta thinking the flights  to/from Pangkalan Bun were on the same ticket. It became apparent that they weren't when Sera produced etickets the likes of which I had never seen and therefore not printed. All was ok fortunately and we made it on the flight regardless of my omission. 

Had a long wait at the airport as our flight was delayed by over 4 hours which is fairly typical for flights to Borneo, smoke haze from illegal burning often the cause. Hamish had his first experience of a squat loo - apparently he had to stand up for a leg stretch part way through! In desperation for some caffeine we got a take away latte as the coffee shop was thick with smoke from other cafe guests puffing away! On the flight from Flores some of the locals obviously couldn't stand the 1:30 flight without a smoke despite the no-smoking signs as the waft of cigarette smoke filtered through the cabin, presumably from the toilet. 

The boys, amusing themselves and trying to fit in with the locals.