Steve Freeman Photography
  • Home
  • Travel
    • Landscapes
    • Temples
    • Wildlife
    • My Life in Borneo
  • NGO Work
  • People
  • Portraits
  • About
  • Contact

Tumbang Manggu

1/26/2014

2 Comments

 
A friend of mine invited me to visit their village, Tumbang Manggu, which is about a three hour drive from Palangkaraya.  Taking a road trip Kalimantan is way different than a road trip back home.  For one, there are no rules to driving here, that in itself can be pretty terrifying.  The route we had to take to Tumbang Manggu is constantly winding back and forth, up and down mountains, and I don't think there was one patch of level asphalt.  My back took a pretty bad beating from being bounced around the car the whole time.  At one point we had to leave the road because it had been flooded over and had to take a ferry across the river, drive through another village, and take a ferry back to the main road. 
Picture
Villages are small and don't have paved roads.  After getting off of the first ferry we had to drive through a muddy road to get through the village.
Picture
And then we had to get on another ferry to get back to the main road.  The ferries are small, as you can see.  They can hold about four cars and a bunch of motor bikes.  Just to show you how tight they get, this is our car.  Our back bumper was actually hanging over the edge.
Picture
And these ferries are basically three boats with a platform on top holding them together. This is the front of it.
Picture
We took a total of three ferries in the span of 30 minutes to get to Tumbang Manggu.  It's a little village on the river with no paved roads.  It's a nice little community.  There's not much there except for a logging factory.  I was able to walk around and take pictures.  This is the main road.
Picture
While walking around I stumbled upon a wedding celebration.  I was immediately grabbed and brought in to meet the bride and groom.  They wanted me to take pictures of everyone and everything.  It was pretty hilarious.  I only stayed a few minutes and continued exploring the village.  Not far from the wedding I found some kids playing in the river with a fishing net so I stopped to take some photos.
Picture
Picture
There were quite a few of them just playing in the river.  They were playing right next to a ferry so I hopped on and took a ride.  I noticed when I did this that I had acquired an entourage.  These kids stayed with me for the rest of my walking tour.
Picture
We left the ferry and walked around the village.  The kids found a Rambutan tree and decided to stop for a snack.  Rambutan is also known as "hairy fruit" and is probably one of the most alien looking things I've ever seen in my life.  It's also quite enak - that's delicious in Bahasa Indonesia.
Picture
The kids climbed the tree and ate some hairy fruit for a bit and then we went our separate ways.
Picture
I walked onto the logging factory property and looked around.  I found this old crane.
Picture
The factory was closed while I was there so I wasn't able to see much but I did find these gigantic trees that they log there.  They were as wide as I am tall. 
Picture
My friend showed me their school while we were on our way to the market.
Picture
And this is the market.
Picture
It's nice to get away from everything you know once in a while.  You prove to yourself that you can live without the everyday luxuries that most people take for granted.

I only spent about two days in Tumbang Manggu.  It was a great experience seeing what village life is like in central Kalimantan.   If given the chance to go back, I would definitely go.

Check out the gallery below for more photos I shot in Tumbang Manggu.
2 Comments
antoinette forrest
1/25/2014 11:23:10 pm

Reply
Joyce Hoffman link
1/26/2014 03:41:54 am

You took great shots! The ones that especially got my attention are the shots of people suspended is air, jumping from one place to the other.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Steve Freeman

    Hi,  i'm a professional photographer from Atlantic City, NJ.  I accepted a position teaching English in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan in Indonesia.  Stay tuned here for stories and pics.

    Archives

    June 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • Travel
    • Landscapes
    • Temples
    • Wildlife
    • My Life in Borneo
  • NGO Work
  • People
  • Portraits
  • About
  • Contact