Kalimantan

By S:

Today we are in Pontianak, Indonesia on the west coast of Borneo. We are currently situated precisely on the equator. Our hotel is literally about 500m south of the actual line. I only just realized today that after all the miles we've done on this trip, this is our first time crossing the equator. It is brutally hot, so we're
switching our schedule to be out from 6am-noon and then stay indoors until dinner. Otherwise we just can't manage it.

We've been totally re-energized by Indonesia. I think we had kind of gotten bored with the rest of SE Asia and were starting to lose some enthusiasm - but Indonesia has changed everything. Almost as soon as we crossed the border we noticed the changes - it's a lot poorer, more crowded and more chaotic. It's almost India-like, but culturally the people aren't nearly as aggressive and in-your-face about everything. People have been very friendly to us so far and we get smiles and hellos from literally everyone we pass. the food is fantastic - it's a shame that this cuisine is so underrepresented in the West, but then again it's heavy on the peanut
sauce and chillies so i might not be an unbiased observer. our plans as of now are to check out some of the longhouses (occupied by headhunters), and the worlds largest flower (diameter over 3 ft and weighs 25 lbs). after that we'll hit the beach for a days before catching a 2 day boat to java. from there, we're not sure.