I, on the other hand, am on my way North, passing through a rather unremarkable town of Pontianac, on the Indonesian side of Borneo. The town isn't terribly attractive, but it does hold the distinction of lying right on the equator, so this afternoon I took a two hour detour (Lonely Planet lies about distances!) to see the equator monument and do the little 'Now I'm in the Northern hemisphere, now I'm back in the Southern' dance... Yes, I probably need to find better ways to entertain myself here, but I was quite amused. Also learned that deep-fried bananas are really, really tasty as the little stand across from the monument was selling them.
The other remarkable thing about this place is just how friendly the people are, which is saying something considering that Indonesians, in general, are quite friendly. Here I was a minor celebrity walking down the street. Most people's vocabulary is limited to 'Hello, mister,' 'How are you,' and 'Where do you come from,' but everybody gets really excited if you just say 'Hello' back or simply wave... A kid on the ferry, who actually did speak a fair bit of English, is a math student at the local university and after about a 5 minute coversation volunteered his family's house if I needed a place to spent the night. Had to decline because instead, at 9PM tonight I get on another overnight bus and head North towards Malaysia (staying in the Northern Hemisphere a bit more permanently this time). Leaving Indonesia after just seven days is going to be too bad, because I actually really enjoyed the place, perhaps because most of is a bit less touristy than a lot of the other places I've been to so far, but looking forward to Malaysian Borneo and diving with turtles too!
Pictures... Yes I have lots of pictures, and I'll post a few soon enough, but this process has been somewhat more difficult here in Indonesia unfortunately, so not yet!
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