Water Quality Field Work

Neli and I picked up our newly-purchased motorbike in Ketapang (we had it shipped from Pontianak) and met our Gunung Palung counterpart Roni before almost immediately heading to the field to begin our 2 week field campaign. Our goals were twofold: 1) Install rainbuckets (for measuring rainfall) in all villages, and 2) Choose water quality sample sites, including taking preliminary water quality measurements.

Just so you don't die of nervousness (did they manage?) we suceeded in both tasks, but everyone was exhausted by the demanding travel schedule, rainy weather, and huge amounts of equipment we had to carry. This was Neli's first time driving a motorbike in the backwoods for any length of time, and I did lots of walking behind the bike, especially when we had to climb steep slopes in wet weather.

Highlights of this trip included:
1) A day in which I counted a total of 10 leech bites, one of which didn't stop bleeding for ~12 hours
2) Getting mad biceps due to holding myself on the back of a bucking motorbike for hours each day.
3) Bonding (awww...) with Neli and Roni and Tono (who joined the group after ~1 week travel)
4) Acting like a goofy monkey, climbing houses to install the rainfall catchers
5) Learning to make a mean Indomie (the Indonesian version of Ramen)
6) On my day off, learning to ride a motorbike by driving for 6 hours, but forgetting sunscreen, the result of which was a gorgeous farmers' tan for the next month.
7) Watching part of the national park being cut down and burned for shifting rice garden cultivation (yes, this was depressing).

To put words to my stories, I've posted some photos here. Enjoy!