# Simon Reeves journey along the equator across Asia begins off the coast of Sumatra, in the far west of Indonesia. A collection of perhaps 18,000 islands here are home to more than 220 million people. At night the islanders sing of lost loves and the lure of working on the mainland. # A boat trip along the equator takes Simon to mainland Sumatra, where he hears fears about bird-flu and meets the Minang people, where men live as guests in their wives family homes, and it is the women who propose marriage. # In Kalimantan, the Indonesian region of the island of Borneo, conservationists warn that hundreds of orangutans in Borneo are killed each year as a result of habitat destruction. The main problems are illegal logging and huge palm oil plantations, a product found in thousands of Western consumer products.