A Ticket Reading Error, or An Entire Day Spent in the Airport, or The Great Jakarta Donut Contest!

Well, we haven't spoken for awhile, have we? No, no... Don't blame yourself! I'm as much at fault as you.

I spent this past weekend in Kalimantan, the Indonesian side of Borneo. I'll get to that later. First, I have to tell you about our time in the airport before leaving for the jungle...

It all started at an unhealthily early hour, like four am. As a biologist, these early mornings are common. Common, but not welcomed, and certainly not on vacation! But if your heading to Borneo, concessions must be made; alarms must be set. I mean, how many flights to Pangkalan Bunn, Kalimantan, could there be each day?! (quite a few, as it turns out). We were headed to Borneo to board a small boat and head upriver to Camp Leakey, the orangutan research site started by Dr. Birute Galdikas, the lesser known counterpart to Jane Goodall and the late Diane Fossey. These women were all recruited by Dr. Louis Leakey to study apes. As we know, they did a pretty good job. We wanted to see.

I should make clear that 'we' consists of me, your narrator, and my betrothed, Michelle. Michelle is a biologist, as well as a woman, so her interest might have been deeper than mine. But it wasn't. We had just finished what proved to be the tedious task of conducting breeding bird surveys in the grasslands of middle america. We were excited for the trip, but, admittedly, more for the respite than anything. Watching proboscis monkeys and orangutans from a floating hotel room all our own was exactly the recharge we wanted. My mother and stepfather, Kelly and Curtis, suggested this side trip when we told then we were coming to their home in Jakarta for a visit. It had been a trip they especially enjoyed when they took it months ago.

So we got up at that god-awful hour and rode to the airport, Soekarno Hatti International or something like that. As we were nearing the airport, the driver, Aan, asked what airline we were flying so he could take us to the correct terminal. I looked. The convoluted email we received from the travel agent had 3 airlines listed. As I read/ translated the email, it became clear that the 7am flight we rose so reluctantly for was changed many weeks ago to a much more palatable 10am flight. Too late to turn back now. We waved as Aan left us behind, 4 hours before our flight was to leave.

We looked around the airport. Red tile makes up a pedestrian avenue that, at this hour, was abandoned. We saw some shops opening that faced the outdoor avenue, and read the familiar names; KrispyCream, Dunkin Donuts, as well as the unfamiliar names; Rotiboy, PapaBunz. The one positive about being obscenely early to the airport is that there is no reason to rush breakfast.

We checked on our flight: delayed 2 hours. Of course. By this time we were resigned to a day of watching people in the airport. With the delay, we knew we'd have to get creative or tired to make the hours go quickly. We chose overeating. What better way to gain a true sense of the culinary fare of a place than by eating what everyone eats when they don't have time to be picky? (OK, so there are many many many better ways to understand a culture's relationship with food, but we only had this one).

So we ate some donuts from all the places we could find. We walked from stand to stand, assessed each experience on a 10 point scale; evaluating quality, uniqueness, service, and calorie delivery efficiency. Well, maybe we just compared them to each other, but that sounds pretty un-imperical.

We expected that the first bite would be the best, since it would be taken by a hungry mouth, and that the experiences should have gone downhill at a constant pace from there.

And they did, to begin with. The first two stops were Indonesian iterations of American chains: KrispyCream and Dunkin Donuts. Each was unbearably sweet, and while they both offered selections not available in the US markets (green tea, tamarind), and they both referred to a custard filled donut as "cheese filled", (which is incredibly misleading), we were left wanting more.

Then we came to Rotiboy. There are no frills about Rotiboy. They offer one thing. It's called a Rotiboy. A Rotiboy is a light, doughy pastry baked to a crisp on the outside, but quite soft just under the crust. It is round and sweet, and has an empty spot in the middle where they bake in...wait for it... BUTTER! Thats right folks. A Rotiboy is a crispy, sweet, doughy pastry that is filled with a generous portion of liquified butter. No, it's not good for you, but I don't want to hear about that. It's amazing. Of course, you can't have an idea that great without some competition popping up.

Enter: PapaBunz. Now I'm actually not sure which came first on the market, but since we tried Rotiboy first (obviously because they came first in line in the direction we were walking), we decided PapaBunz was the new kid on the block in the butter-filled breakfast world. And, after sampling a PapaBun, we felt supported in this assumption. First, PapaBunz come in 2 flavors: coffee and vanilla. This is a clear innovation. Improvement? Yet to be determined. 2nd, when ordering a PapaBun, you have the option of choosing between 2 flavors of frosting! The flavors are: coffee and vanilla. I'm sure you can mix and match, but we decided to sample heads up, and ordered a coffee PapaBun, sans frosting. After KrispyCream, I was already pretty heavily frosted.

Well, for my money, the PapaBun was crispier outside, while still keeping the soft and sweet flavor inside, and there was no lack of butter here. One contributing factor might have been that PapaBunz turned us away 3 times before they would serve us! While this might have deterred a less insightful consumer, I recognized that they did this out of confidence.

They knew that they could only bake so many with the limited oven space they had, and they also knew that they would definitely sell out, so why rush? Every dollar would be made, regardless if when the first one hit the register. This deference made me want a PapaBun that much more, and believe me when I tell you, it was wonderful.

Oh yeah, and then we left for the jungles of Borneo. I'll have to tell you about it sometime.

Location:Jakarta, Indonesia

Wrap up on the River, and...

Hey Folks... it's been awhile since we last spoke, but I haven't forgotten about you. Let me give you a quick update on what I've been doing, and then we can move onto what I really want to talk about...THE FUTURE.....

So, I accepted and reaccepted contract after contract here in the swamp. Did I fall in love with the work? Hardly. I fell in love with a woman. Much more alluring than a pelican, I assure you. It's amazing what a person might be willing to endure for the right reason. I, for example, was willing to endure 10 hour days on open air boats in 40 degree weather. That doesn't sound that bad as I read it back to myself, but I assure you, IT IS! Also, the bureaucratic nightmare I described last time continued and grew more ridiculous as more players came to the table, trying to secure their share of the loot. Just embarrassing.

Yet good prevailed. Data were collected. Birds were observed (whether they liked it or not). Oil was assessed. The dual machines of protocol and agenda were no match for the motivated biologists charged with this task. Rest easy, Gulf Coast, your birds stood. They have been counted.

Anyway, 3000+ surveys later, the ride is over. It's time to move on. Michelle and I are leaving for Oklahoma for awhile. Then, we head to Arizona for a training course required by our new employer, the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory, before we begin our new job. We will be performing point counts along transects in the National Parks and National Monuments of Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Colorado. This is an arduous task, but I feel up to it. It will consist of Michelle and I driving around these areas alone together and taking walks each morning to count birds before retiring to a hammock for the warmest part of the day. Cocktails are served promptly at 4:30, and we always dress for dinner.

I know, I know. Your thinking, "But Max!? Won't the strenuous nature of your chosen lifestyle begin to wear on your positive outlook and generally pleasant disposition?" A valid concern, but rest easy: We are up for this challenge.

There is no terrain too breathtaking, no transect too long or deeply pitted. There is no sunrise too dramatic, nor is there a bird song too melodic. We will prevail. Southern Plains Network, take heed: Michelle and Max are coming, and we mean to count your birds, damn it, whether you notice or not!!! (Raucous Applause)