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Although not the beach weekend that I had anticipated (being bikini clad, lounging on white sands, watching the water near on a secluded island off the western coast of Borneo…) the spontaneous trip to Pulau Kabung still made for an amazing weekend.

Although also not quite what one would define eco-tourism, a trip to Kabung is definitely rich in cultural experiences. Special shout-out to Deny of Canopy for putting the whole thing together.

The trip started off with us hopping in our rented car and heading out for Kura Kura beach. In true Indonesian jam karet (rubber time) fashion, we were on the road three hours later than planned. The Lonely Planet really sells this beautiful stretch of white sands, Kura Kura nowadays does not live up to expectations. Our spontaneous trio planned on camping, but the cottage that our other friends had rented wasn’t even equipped with bedsheets! They also had some interesting stories about Charlie, the owner and groundskeeper… but I won’t get into that here.

After a night of beer drinking and singalongs, we had an early morning boat ride to Kabung island. We stayed at Deky’s house, our host for the weekend, and his adorable mother prepared our meals, which consisted mostly of fish (ikan) and indomie! In truth, there isn’t much to do on the island, but it is a great place to hang out and relax. Although an attempt was made at snorkeling, the sole participant was badly scratched by coral, which didn’t motivate me to join. The group of eight of us mainly hung out on the front porch, taking turns at the fresh water mandi to cool off. Closer to the evening, after registering discussing life with the village secretary, we all venture out for a short work. The unbearable heat sent us back home sweating, and we were treated to fresh coconut water by Deky.

After dinner we all climbed into an old speed boat (I’m sure the water was coming in…) and went to Deky’s office, a stilted wood hut in the middle of the water. This is where Deky spends every evening, trying to catch fish, for his family to eat and to sell to the local market. It’s quite a process…

First you have to literally climb up from the boat to an unsteady platform made of thin wood logs. This part made me the most uneasy as I knew I could fall into the water with a wrong step. The net that lines the bottom of this platform is then lowered into the water, followed by an oil lamp. The light is used to attract schools of fish and squid (do squid swim in schools as well?) and after a decent amount of within each, the net is raised to the platform and the catch evaluated. We were able to do this successfully only twice.  Our first catch was, in my opinion, pretty awesome. Our hosts set up a small fire (I know, seemingly not a good idea on an all wood platform in the middle of the sea) and we grilled the squid we caught and ate it on the spot. DELICIOUS.

The reason why we only did this twice was because we were they suddenly hit by a torrential storm with high winds. We sought shelter in the little hut on the platform and waited for the rain to calm a little so that we could get back to shore. I was kinda terrified. The stilted house was not the most secure place to brave a storm, and had a history of blowing away in such conditions. I was equally terrified of getting into the rickety speed boat and trying to race back to the shore. So I decided to try to play it as cool as possible and wait it out. Thank God the rains and winds calmed a little and we were able to make it back to our little green house safely. TIme for more Indomie before bedtime.

On a personal note, I was actually able to ignore the rats and get some sleep! I must be growing as a person.

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