Our trip to the Equator. (Part 1 of 6)

Date: 1st October, 2008.
Time: As early as before 7.00 AM.
Venue: Biaramas Bus Terminal
Purpose: A trip to Pontianak, Kalimantan Barat, Indonesia.
Organiser: SDNU and BGA

So begins a trickle of odd hardcore Bidayuh BGA registrants. But don't be fooled!. Not all are graduates. Some are just so, so! Then come some members of SDNU? All said, there are about a bus load of us. Eight something (as of Malaysian time), we begin our trip to Ponti. Ponti, the fond name of Pontianak, is our destination, the Equatorial Provincial City of Kalimantan Barat, Indonesia. The road was OK, until Tebedu.

Entikong, the other side of Tebedu. Many are curious. Many thought it was like home country but it was not. Alim, fondly nicknamed Mila (reversed) by bar_guarding distributed a one piece leaflet, raw description of the journey to each and everyone of us. OK. We believe. We trust him.

But then, someone whispered to me, why no head count? I replied, "Never mind lah, kita dah dewasa!"

After a while, a stop at a ? place to tukar our currency. The exchange rate was RM1.00 to RP267.00. Good! Some said!. Me, being familiar with RP, just smiled. After a while, a few of us became instant millionaires while some others reserved to be one.

The journey was "ular-like", if you wish, for the road was bengkang bengkok. After a few hours, we stop for a 'ngabang' with some difficulty. There we Ngabang for lunch. Nice food, (for hungry stomachs), after which we take pictures of each other and a beautiful building with "Dayakful" design. Wow!

The journey continues. Actually, right from the start, there was (and still is) a non BGA "tumpang sekaki fella" who speaks "just like" a native Indonesian freely shared his "menaikkan semangat" jokes amongst the fellow "stranger passengers". Loath him or love him, right from zero hour, he tried hard to share with all sincerety (not sell) his jokes. As to whether it was a success or failure, that we ask the participants.

A couple of stops later, ( we meringankan barat badan by "buang air kecil) we reached our tempat menginap. Hotel Kapuas. It was around 6.00+/7.00+ PM depending on whether you set your clock to WIB (Waktu Indonesia Barat) or MT (Malaysian Time).

We checked in to our assigned rooms. Alim @ Mila played his part, it seemed from that point.

A while later, we went to a mall to isi perut. A while after, we got back to the hotel. As all were tired, we retire into our own rooms. As each doors we closed, none would have known what others are doing after that. The following morning, at breakfast, everyone seems to smile as broadly as to their ears.

(To be continued)


Note:

• Officially, BGA stands for Bidayuh Graduates Association. However, on that particular trip, BGA to the writer stands for Bidayuh Gained Acceptance and Appreciation.