Day 38 - On the bus - Border Crossing and near death (twice)

We nearly died twice today, possibly more. We all set off from Matang and headed to the bus station where we had breakfast, loaded bags onto the coach and headed off about 10.30. Everything was fine for a few hours, I slept on and off. 

After a few random stops for the driver to have a smoke we arrived at the border, where Malaysian Borneo meets the Indonesian part. We were stamped out of Malaysia, then walked through no mans  land and were checked into Indonesia. It was quite an odd and slightly stressful experience, people bustling about trying to help you and infact just getting in the way. We were herded like sheep back onto the coach and then we hit dirt roads. It couldnt have been more of a contrast to where we had come from. 

I am not talking dirt on Tarmac, I am talking bloody great boulders and holes. We think our roads are bad in the UK, welcome to Indonesia. A 4x4 would struggle on this terrain. Instead we were in a massive coach that was rocking like a ship on choppy waters. Luckily I had taken some travel pills so the sickness was subdued. I even managed to read a whole book on the journey something I haven't been able to do in a moving vehicle for a few years. 

The scenery was completely different, less jungle, dryer and hotter. It was if we had teleported at the border to a different planet. The houses/shacks were basic but colourful, the odd fancy one dotted in amongst them. They didn't have the high fences that Malaysian ones had. Yet most if not all of them had satellite dishes. A real mix of east meets west. There were farms of peppercorns and palm oil on the hills where a presume jungle once was and I saw my first cow! 

Everything up to this point was going well, then drivers were flagging us down. We had a flat tyre. We stopped on the road next to this small village, while we waited for them to pump it up. Locals and people on the coach were photographing the weird white people they thought it was so funny :) 

They worked with expert efficiently considering the circumstances,  a generator appeared from nowhere and before long we were on our way. We briefly stopped at a conveniently placed tyre shop where they changed it over and we were off. Due to our small setback we were now running around an hour behind.

Therefore the driver took it upon himself to drive very fast, overtake everything and take last minute decisions to avoid dogs and bikes and turn corners like a racing driver. It was hair raising stuff. There were oh's and ah's from most of the passengers and nervous giggles from me. We nearly toppled over into a lake avoiding a motorcycle and nearly rear ended car slowing for pot holes. 

When we arrived it was nightfall and I was glad to step onto solid ground. A couple of cars picked us up and drove us to our hotel. This place is full of scooters, they come from everywhere and there are even dedicated bike parks for them all. Bangkok has just been beaten by the sheer quantity. 

The hotel was beautiful, luxury stuck in a maze of shanty buildings and scooters. Really odd. Pizza Hut was our location for dinner and it was delicious.