Not bored in Borneo

It’s too hot. We are currently sitting in a hotel in Kota Kinabalu and it’s too hot. Yesterday it was my birthday; I hung one more year on the line. I’m not depressed and my life’s not a mess and we’re having a good time…in Borneo. I thought it would be a good idea to accomplish something for my birthday, so we climbed a 3000 ft mountain. And by climbed, I mean climbed…up roots and rope ladders and rocks all the way to the top of Mt. Santubong…in tropical heat.  It was a good day and ended good with a sushi dinner in Kuching.

For the last week we were in and around Kuching. We first went to Semenggoh Park, where they rehabilitate orangutans that were held in captivity or orphaned and get them back into the wild. Before they get fully rehab’d you can pay a few ringitts to go watch them eat breakfast in the jungle. They are in between tame and wild as they are free to roam the jungle, but if they are hungry they know that they can get a free meal twice a day. So, the hungry ones show up and the ones that are closer to being on their own might rather find their own food in the jungle. When we went, we saw 7 of the 25 or so that live in the park. Orangutans are my new favorite animal.

The next day we took a boat to Bako National Park in hopes of seeing the big nosed Proboscis monkey and seeing some pretty nature. We were not disappointed at all. We stayed 2 nights and 3 days and saw lots of the shy proboscis as well as some silver leaf monkeys and plenty of sneaky macaques. We also saw: 2 green vipers (very poisonous, but not aggressive), 1 monitor lizard, 1 flying lemur, one mouse deer (or his eye, anyway), one big tarantula, lots of mud skippers (little fish that skip on mud of course), lots of wild boar and some glow-in-the-dark mushrooms.  We also saw some really pretty beaches and swam in a waterfall.  It was a great experience and next time you are in Kuching you should go.

After we came back from Bako, we did some resting and planning for our next destination, Pulau Derawan. Google it.  We also went to see Bourne Legacy. The movie was good and the AC was great. It was a hot day. We also saw some of the Sarawak Regatta. It was a funny scene where people rowed up the river in the hot sun and the announcer announced like it was a horse race that lasted 20 minutes.  The grand prize was about $30,000.  Not bad for paddling a boat.

I already told you that yesterday we climbed a mountain. This morning we woke up at 4am and got our flight to Kota Kinabalu. We get our Indonesia visas here, then take an overnight bus to Tawau. We fly from Tawau to Tarakan at 1210pm. In Tarakan we take a bus or a boat to take us to Tanjung Selor. In Tanjung Selor we get a minibus to take us to Bereau.  We’ll sleep in Bereau and in the morning catch a minibus to Tanjung Batu where we will catch a speed boat to Pulau Derawan. Hopefully we’ll like Pulau Derawan a whole lot. We hope to swim with stingless jellyfish and big manta rays and turtles and watch baby turtles hatch and have a perfect moment or two. As usual, our expectations are way too high and we’ll probably complain that there’s no internet in paradise or that it’s too hot, but what can you do?

Other notes:

We have exactly 2 months until we come home.

October 9th we will go to Asu to visit our great friends Earl and Samantha at Asu Surf Camp.

November 4th we will fly to Tokyo to visit our wonderful friend Kumiko.

November 17th we will be in Seattle with our always awesome friend Rob.

November 18th we will be back home in California.

I flew a balsa-wood airplane from near the top of Mt Santubong 2 times. The first time was a horrible flight, but I was able to clime a small tree with only minor injuries to recover it and fly it again. The second flight was much better.

In KL and Kuching there has been this horrible haze that gets in the way of the blue sky and traps the heat and makes it very hot. The haze comes from farmers burning their fields in preparation for the new rice season.  It’s hot here… Fortunately the haze situation seems much better in Kota Kinabalu and hopefully will be even better in Pulau Derawan.

In Bako National park, one of the sneaky macaques jumped on my back and took a banana out of my backpack before I even knew what was happening.  Then he ate it right in front of us.

Most of the places we have visited in Asia are trashed. People litter here. Even the national park was a mess. We usually pick up some of it, but there’s always plenty more. It sucks.

 

The people we have met in Borneo are very nice. Lots of people also wave and say hello.

One night we came across a Chinese temple on a sacred day (Maybe Ghost Moon Day) and it was mayhem. The tradition as far as we could tell is to donate a bunch of food and drink, place them on a platform, blow a whistle and go crazy. Try to get some food. If you do, you will have a lucky year, if not you will have bad luck. Meanwhile have a huge fire nearby. The ambulance did show up shortly after the big event.

We eat lots of noodles here.

Last night I traded a shirt that was too small for me for two pears. Both parties were very happy with the deal.

This blog has been going for 1 year now.