March 7, 2016 ALP TSE Palangkaraya Report - Day 2
by James Kevin Ty
Images by James Kevin Ty and Allan Renan Acosta

In the early morning of March 7th, ALP TSE2016 Palangkaraya team wake up early and had breakfast first before they went to roof deck to do their first dry  of the trip and get acquainted with the hotel's roof deck situation. Aside from familiarization of their setups, they also get the coordinates of the location as well as Sun's sunrise position as well as weather conditions in the morning. ALPer Fung Yu Hsieh also arrive in the morning and join them for breakfast and get some rest as well. The weather in the morning was cloudy and very hot and humid!  ALPer Christopher Louie Lu, who is tasked also to monitor the temperature and humidity during the eclipse day got to register a very hot 44 deg C and 78% humidity around 9:00am IST. They also got to check out the entire roof deck area to determine where is the good area for the group to setup.  After about 2 hours of dry run, they dismantle their setup and went back to their hotel room to shower up and get some rest before they went out to the city proper to buy some groceries and batteries and had lunch at Kentucky Fried Chicken inside the mall.

They then proceeded to tour Palangkaraya city scenic places such as Balayan Museum where the local Dakak tribeman statues and some artifacts can be seen. Afterwards, they proceeded to visit  the famous Kahayan Bridge which is the landmark of Palangkaraya City, Central Kalimantan Province. Palangkaraya is the largest city in Indonesia. It is 640 meters long and 9 meters wide and in the centre, directly above the fairway of Kahayan River, is a 150 meters long and 36 meters high red arch.  They then visit the Palangkarya City Park where both Kahayan Bridge  and Soekarno Monument can be seen. They also visit the Orangutan Wildlife Foundation but unfortunately, there is a meeting and was closed :(  So they just view the Orangutans at a distance only.

They then head back to the city and had dinner at Hotel Neo Palma restaurant before heading home. ALP TSE2016 Palangkaraya team member and ALP VP Jett Aguilar also inform them via Viber that he was able to extend his passport and is already in Kuala Lumpur en route to Jakarta and will arrive to be with the group tomorrow morning.  That's great news indeed!

In the late evening, ALPer Edwin Gatia finally arrived in the late evening to join up with the group.  With Jett's final notification that he is bound for Palangkaraya tomorrow morning, the ALP TSE2016 Palangkaraya Team is finally complete ! Yehey!

ALPers having breakfast before start of morning eclipse dry run.	ALPer Fung Yu Hsieh (center) joins the ALP TSE2016 Palangkaraya Team over breakfast after he arrives from the airport.
ALP TSE2016 Palangkaraya Team doing their first eclipse dry run for the trip.	Some eclipse glasses were given to some Luwansa Hotel Palangkaraya's staffs to give them eye protection to view the eclipse.
ALP TSE2016 Palangkaraya Group Selfie inside the van en route to visiting Palangkaraya City Proper.	Balanga Museum
Dakak Monument in Balanga Museum	Male Dakak Statue
Female Dakak Statue	ALPers Christopher Louie Lu and Renan Acosta pose beside numerous Dakak staues around Balayan Museum.
Palangkaraya City Park beside Soekarno Monument	Soekarno Monument
Kahayan Bridge	ALP TSE2016 Palangkaraya Group Shot with Kahayan Bridge as backdrop.
ALPer Christopher Louie Lu beside an Orangutan statue at the Orangutan Wildlife Foundation.	ALPers taking some images of small  monkeys at the Orangutan Wildlife Foundation.
ALPers posed a groupie after visiting Orangutan Wildlife Foundation.	ALP TSE2016 Palangkaraya Team posed with owners of the rented van they used during their Palangkaraya City Tour.