8/1 9:00PM

Driving in, I felt like I belonged here. Besides the obvious difference in skin color, language, religion, hair, etc., it felt amazing riding in the back of a pick-up truck through Pangkalanbun. It just felt right.
We arrive at Camp Rendall and were greeted by the young orangutans who quickly climbed the front bars of their cages. Ruth, the coordinator (who speaks Indonesian! She's from Canada) showed us the main building first. It's large, open, green and white-green on the outside and white tiles and white walls inside. There's a western toilet and a squat toilet. Ruth then took us to the river, which you get to by a 500m bridge built by previous volunteers. I only dipped my hands in at that point and it felt heavenly--cool, crisp. The water itself was a deep yet clear red, which quickly made me think of leeches and blood.
We then had noodles made by Ibu Reis...they were good today, but I expect by the end of the trip I will hate them. We then were introduced to the orangs from a distance (we're on quarantine for a week). There are 26 in total. The youngest is Roxanne, who is with her mother Roxy, and she is only 6 months old. Then there was Momo, a male, sickly thin, completely hairless orang. Poor guy. Ruth said he eats perfectly fine, besides being a bit picky.
We bathed in the river--girls first. We saw red leaf-eating monkeys in the canopy on the way to the river. They're very red, with long tails.
Dinner was rice (Nasi), egg and vegetables. Very yummy. I love eggs. We also got a treat--banana and sweet potato-esque soup. Very sweet, not my favorite.
It was dark by 5:45, like, nearly black dark. It made me really sleepy.
After dinner, we introduced ourselves, as did the Dayak men/boys who run the camp. They speak no English, which is fair enough because unfortunately, I speak no Indonesian yet. This was followed by 3 rounds of Baybek, a card game.
The moon was incredibly bright tonight and the stars were beaming. I can't see them now in my hammock--I can pretty much just see my mosquito net. I can hear all sorts of nighttime critters chirping, whizzing and buzzing! No cobras today! Oh! No leeches either! Ruth said she rarely sees them here. Also, it's dry season, so barely any mosquitoes/mosi's/bamooks.
Throughout dinner and cards, and even now, I could hear the prayers for Ramadan at the distant mosques.
Super tired, but I have so much to write! Luckily, I'll be here for a while!