TN Sembilang - ds sei sembilang

Sembilang National Park
30 July – 1 August 2010
Rita. Ahau. Mas feri. Yadhi. Mas ian. Mas arya sadhewa

Another ‘survey’ trip with Explore Indonesia. This is my 3rd time this year : )
Really don’t know what to expect at first. I just know that this one is gonna be a very different adventure :P

Flew to palembang from jakarta on a Friday morning. Picked up by mr arya. We drove to simpang PU and got on our small speedboat. On our way to dusun sei sembilang, we stopped by at a ‘jermal ‘(is there any word in english for a jermal?) to have our lunch. Our indomie goreng is served in a very unique way with the plastic cover still intact, hahaa..

After being entertained by birds flying in the clear blue sky, we finally arrived at the village after midday. Stopped by at a local’s house for a while and got very amused by the toilet (or the lack of it). Hihihii..
Spent the afternoon wandering around the village. That night, we slept at the national park’s post. Thank God it was raining that night, otherwise we won’t be able to have our shower : )

On Saturday, we went sight-seeing using our speedboat. Walked in a knee-depth water to catch a glimpse of birds doing their daily routine : )
Oh its sooo hard to photograph them.

After another pit stop at a jermal, we saw 2 dolphins from a distance. Then, we photographed the ugly Boleophthalmus boddarti (blue-spotted mudskipper) or as the local people call it, ‘blodok’, a very odd-looking creature with eyes on top of the head with blue spots on the body and fin. Oh, and its amphibious during low tides.

On Sunday, we went back to palembang and did a little city tour before flying back to jakarta in the evening.

Overall, it was a very different trip for me. Being on the jermals, watching the local people doing their thing. i can’t begin to imagine how it feels like to live for days and months in the jermal. Well, being in a very different environment from the city is always refreshing for me. Reminds u to be thankful for all the facilities u have all around u back home, i.e. clean water... toilet... and malls. Haha..

So here are some pictures of dusun sei sembilang, at sembilang national park, south sumatera.
There’re 3 other albums from this trip:

http://ritaaza.blogspot.com/2010/08/tn-sembilang-jermal.html

http://ritaaza.blogspot.com/2010/09/palembang.html