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Houstonian Allysen Hooks with B.J. Randolph, Evan Teitelbaum and Michael J.Clark in John Heginbotham's Closing BellPhoto by Amber Star Merkens -
Victoria Jaiani and Miguel Angel Blanco of The Joffrey Ballet in Son of ChamberSymphonyPhoto by Christopher Duggan -
Victoria Jaiani and Miguel Angel Blanco of The Joffrey Ballet in Son of ChamberSymphonyPhoto by Christopher Duggan -
Lauren Edson and Travis Walker of Trey McIntyre Project in Bad Winter -
Artists of the Houston MET Dance CompanyPhoto by Christopher Duggan -
Artists of the Houston MET Dance CompanyPhoto by Christopher Duggan -
Performing at The Pillow, Houston MET Dance Company artistsPhoto by Christopher Duggan
Adventurists, conservations or those simply energized by exotic travel will want to learn more about a breath-taking trip to Borneo, the Indonesian island that is home to the earth’s oldest rainforest.
Orangutan Odysseys provides riverboat travel through Indonesia’s Central Kalimantan with the founder of the Orangutan Project, Leif Cocks, the world’s foremost expert on orangutans.
The weeklong riverboat expedition starts off at the Port of Kumai, a burgeoning trade center and home to one of the world’s most valuable animal products — the nests used for bird's nest soup. The journey makes its way south along the wide Kumai River before heading up the narrower and more peaceful Sekonyer River, which leads into the Tanjung Puting National Park, one of the best places in the world to observe semi-wild orangutan.
The experience feels like entering another world. The boat’s movement provides a consistent light breeze and a view of riverbanks sandwiched with nipa and screw palms. Eventually the palms yield to tall trees and messy vines, the marks of Borneo’s tropical rainforest.
The Kumai River in Tanjung Puting National Park.Tanjung Puting National Park
There is the constant buzz of cicadas and sporadic bird calls. In the skies are prehistoric-appearing hornbills, one of the many birds flying overhead.
An elusive dolphin may jump from the water, or a crocodile may emerge stealthily. And in the trees comes the real excitement: troops of long-tailed macaques, bands of proboscis monkeys and the endangered majestic orangutans.
All this while enjoying the comforts of the boat. During the two overnights, you will wake to beautiful sunrises and the sounds of the forest. In the evening, you will witness stunning pinkish orange and yellow sunsets and, once darkness hits, fireflies in the trees. After dinner, you can relax on deck or go down below to your private bedroom with an ensuite bathroom.
Savory vegetarian Indonesian dishes are cooked on board and served on the boat’s deck with dessert fruits including succulent dragonfruit, papaya, and mango.
There are also exciting stops along the way. In the local villages, you can see natives perform martial arts exercises and practice basket weaving and wood carving.
Other excursions include planting saplings to help regenerate the forest and observing ex-captive orangutans at a feeding platform. The last two days include an early morning forest walk and canoe rides around an orangutan pre-release island, home to over 50 orangutans.
Gentle orangutans in Borneo.Orangutan Odysses/Facebook
Throughout the tour, you have the unique opportunity to learn from Lief Cocks about the current threats to orangutans and their habitat, including the impact of extractive industries such as oil palm plantations and mining. You will also become privy to the most effective conservation efforts, making the trip a special coupling of both education and adventure.
Borneo has intrigued the world’s imagination for centuries. As the third largest island in the world, Borneo’s rainforest has survived for over 130 million years. Located in Southeast Asia’s Malay Archipelago, Borneo was once covered by dense tropical and subtropical rainforests, with a mountainous interior and swampy coastal areas enriched with mangrove forests and alluring beaches. The terrain was virtually untraversable and unexplored with only indigenous Penan and Dayak tribes inhabiting the remote parts of the island until about a century ago.
Since the 1960s, devastating deforestation has left Borneo with only 55 percent of its forest remaining, yet enough to still be part of the last remaining habitat for many endangered species — including the critically endangered Bornean orangutan.
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Alison Draper is a noted conservationist.
Attention, savvy Houston shoppers. A longtime auction company is hosting a can’t-miss sale for connoisseurs, collectors, and lovers of a good bargain.
The venerable estate sale firm Lewis & Maese Auction Co., which is moving from its Sawyer Yards locale (1505 Sawyer St.), will hold what’s cleverly dubbed The Sale at Sawyer at 11 am Saturday, October 8. Attendees can look forward to discounts ranging from 30 to 70 percent off on more than 5,000 items including new, gently used, and antique furniture, rugs, lighting, paintings, sculpture, accessories, designer handbags, and jewelry.
Other finds include statuary, linens, fossils, furs, crystals, southwestern silver and turquoise pieces, and even pianos. Rare items feature chandeliers from the former downtown Union National Bank building (now Hotel ICON), several horse-drawn carriages, a seven-foot Darth Vader statue, an oversized painting in the style of Botero , and a bevy of 19th-century grandfather clocks, per press materials.
Find one-of-a-kind furniture pieces, accessories, and more.
As for the move: Lewis & Maese Auction Co. is leaving its longtime site at Sawyer Yards in the First Ward Arts District and moving to a new, 2.5-acre site near Hempstead Road in Spring Branch (7777 Blankenship Dr.).
Ensuring that nothing in the current space is moved to the new, Lewis & Maese brass embarked on the unprecedented sale. To sweeten the deal, auction organizers have created vignettes and experiences, including a speakeasy-style patio, DJs, and live music.
Those who can’t make the Saturday opening event can take heart that the sale is slated to run through early January. However, with brands and names such as Maitland-Smith, Henredon, Marge Carson, Baker, Steinway & Sons, Rolex, Cartier, Audemars Piguet, Hublot, Omega, Cartier, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Prada, David Adickes, Marc Chagall, Herb Mears, and more, early perusers will no doubt win the day.
Score sofas, pianos, art, and other luxe items.
Boasting 36 years in the business, David Lewis and Ernest Maese have overseen the auction of more than 3,000 estates, of notable — or notorious — Houstonians and everyone in between.
“This is the first sale of its kind in Lewis & Maese’s history, and the cliché ‘everything must go’ is truly the case here,” Lewis noted in a statement. “We have accumulated a truly immense inventory over the years, and as we prepare to kickoff auctions at the new location — the first being on October 9, spotlighting collections both from the Josey and Cuthbertson families — it just made sense to clean out our own house and start afresh without moving.”
Bargain hunters looking to stock up can expect a treasure trove of finds, as can flippers. To wit: Lewis points to a Harry Bertoia bronze purchased for $9,000 that was later resold for $90,000, or a $12,000 sideboard that scored $72,000 at Sotheby’s. Perhaps the pièce de résistance: an antique Chinese scroll that sold for $36,000 — and eventually valued at more than $1 million.
With that in mind, discriminating buyers would do well to line up early and perhaps net that once-in-a-lifetime discovery.
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The Sale at Sawyer opens at 11 am Saturday, October 8 at Lewis & Maese Auction Co. in Sawyer Yards,1505 Sawyer St. Hours are Mondays and Tuesdays 10 am-6 pm; Thursdays through Saturdays 11 am-7 pm; and Sundays noon-5 pm. The sale will be closed Wednesdays for restocking. For more information, call 713-869-1335 or visit Lewis & Maese Auction Co. online.