From Singapore, my brother and I hopped across the border to the neighbouring
Malaysian town of Johor Bahru, drawn by the cheap flights to Borneo which cost a
third of what they cost out of Singapore.
From JB, we flew on to Kota Kinabalu in the Malaysian province of Sabah in the
north eastern corner of Borneo. While KK is not a particularly exciting place to
hang around, the Hyatt had a fun bar with a great Philippine band, and we stayed
just long enough to book our accommodation for the trek up Mount Kinabalu which
at 4100m is the highest peak in south-east Asia.
It is not a difficult peak to climb as the 8.5km hike (and 2300m climb) to the
top is all along a very easy and well maintained trail. The trail starts in
thick rainforest which gradually leads to more and more stunted trees and
finally bare rock at the top. While we didn't see a lot of wildlife along the
trail, the plant life didn't disappoint as we saw plenty of rhododendrons and
carnivorous pitcher plants.
As opposed to the sprinters that race up and down the peak every October in
under three hours, we chose the normal route which involved spending the night
at 3500m in a nice heated cabin. Probably the hardest part of the whole trip was
getting up the next morning. In order to see the sunrise from the top, we needed
to have breakfast at 3am and be on the trail by 3:30. To make things worse, we
awoke to cold and rainy weather which made us question whether it was even worth
getting out of bed. However, we couldn't come this far and not reach the summit,
so at 3:30 we started out on our soggy ascent. The rain let up as we were
climbing, but as we approached the summit it became completely shrouded in fog.
The perseverance all paid off when the sun came up as the fog burnt away and we
had gorgeous views of the peaks and fog filled valleys below, the Borneo
coastline, and even a brief view of the Philippines off in the distance.
The long decent was harder on the body than the climb was, but to reward
ourselves for our efforts, we headed straight from Kinabalu park to Poring hot
springs where we our weary bones enjoyed a good soak in the many therapeutic
pools. We also enjoyed a nice "canopy walk" in the adjacent rainforest
where two young orangutans performed for us. After spending a while working on a
nest, they showed off their climbing skills as they raced up and down the trees,
only stopping occasionally to forage for some food. They seemed quite curious
about us as they would stare down with almost human like expressions. They even
paid us a visit on the walkway at one point when one of them accidentally
stirred up a hornet nest. As they were bombarded by the angry insects, they
sweetly huddled together, covering each other's faces to protect themselves from
the stings.
Our initial excitement of seeing orangutans in the wild was dampened slightly
when we learned that the animals were raised in captivity and were two of four
orangutans recently reintroduced into the wild.
From Poring, we moved on to Sandakan for a visit to the Sepilok orangutan
rehabilitation center. While not exactly a wilderness experience, it was
interesting to see the orangutans come out of the forest to their feeding
platform for a snack of bananas and a few slurps of milk. The orangutans were
quite civil about sharing their food, as they would grab a few foot and handfuls
of bananas, and then snack on them while hanging from a nearby rope.
A troupe of macaques also showed up for the feeding, but showed respect for
their larger relatives by keeping their distance until the orangutans had
finished. They were much less civil amongst each other as they scrapped for the
remains, showing vicious behaviour that explained the missing limbs seen on many
of the monkeys.
From seeing orangutans in captivity, we got a chance to see some truly wild
orangutans when we visited Uncle Tan's jungle camp. Uncle Tan is a rotund,
friendly, and talkative 61-year old Chinese man who is very active trying to
protect what is left of Sabah's forests.
The camp he runs is a chunk of old secondary forest along the Kinabatangan
River, and the hour boat trip approach to the camp is one of the highlights of a
visit. From the boat, we were able to get good views of large and colourful
hornbills, long tailed macaques, and numerous troupes of the comical looking
proboscis monkeys. Proboscis monkeys have huge noses, with those of the mature
male dangling down past their chin. Combined with their large pot-bellies full
of fermenting leaves and their low pitched nasal grunts, it was a primate
encounter unlike any I have ever seen before. I was amused when our guide
pointed out the local name of the monkeys is "orang belanda" which
means Dutchman. I guess when the Dutch explorers first arrived on the scene in
Borneo, their large European noses impressed the locals enough that the monkeys
became named after them.
The camp itself is quite primitive, but was an enjoyable way to spend four days.
The friendly staff made sure we didn't go hungry as they would prepare amazing
dishes three times a day. The biggest problem was that no electricity meant no
AC or fans, and the heat of the day prevented any sort of activity between about
10am and 4pm.
On our first morning walk along the jungle trails, we saw a large mother
orangutan with a young bald baby feeding in the canopy above us. I guess she
felt quite secure up in the trees, as she completely ignored us while she was
busy foraging for fruits. The baby was a little more curious about us as it
stared down at us with wide eyes and expressions that made it obvious that he
was checking out the strange creatures on the forest floor.
Eventually, the mother retreated high up into the trees and the rising heat
convinced us it was time to return to the camp. The rest of our hikes through
the jungle uncovered more monkeys, hornbills, herons, otters, large monitor
lizards (the biggest almost two meters), bizarre looking bearded pigs, and a few
snakes. In the evenings, we were visited by a civet cat which looked more like a
raccoon than a cat.
After the jungle camp, our tour through Sabah was complete and we headed to the
tiny sultanate of Brunei. Brunei is a small country between the Malaysian states
of Sabah and Sarawak, and it is incredibly wealthy due to some large oil
deposits. The benevolent ruler (with a net worth of over $37 billion US) shares
the oil revenues with his people resulting in a country with no income tax, free
education and healthcare, near zero unemployment, and a completely free
multi-million dollar amusement park.
We arrived in Brunei during the coronation of the crown prince, and this meant
that the person running the only cheap accommodation in town was nowhere to be
found. Perseverance paid off six hours later when we eventually tracked him down
and secured a couple of beds in the dorms.
There is not much to keep a tourist busy in Brunei, but I was hoping to take
advantage of the high tech Brunei photo labs to develop the special 1600 speed
film I had been shooting with. This turned out to be a grave mistake as they
severely underdeveloped my slides, leaving me with daytime shots that look like
they were taken in the middle of the night. (You'll just have to trust me that I
really saw a wild orangutan :-)
It was surprisingly difficult to get out of Brunei as we needed to get on three
different buses to head from the Brunei capital of Bandar to the nearby town of
Miri in Sarawak.
Niah national park was an interesting diversion with its massive cave filled
with bats and swiftlets and even some ancient cave paintings. It also gave us a
glimpse at the first primary rainforest we saw in Borneo, and we kept ourselves
entertained spotting birds, lizards, glowing mushrooms, numerous fire flies, and
walking stick insects as we hiked the 3km plank walk from the park headquarters
to the cave entrance.
We decided to take an indirect route through Sarawak as we headed by boat and
four wheel drive vehicle into the interior for a change of pace and to see some
of the Dayak longhouses built along the rivers. We paid a short visit to a
longhouse an hour walk from the town of Belaga, although its proximity to the
village meant that it was quite modernized. While we had bought some Canadian
whisky and Marlboro cigarettes as gifts in case we were invited to a longhouse,
it turned out that it was not to be and we had to be satisfied with some nice
boat rides through alternating jungles and clear cut logged out areas.
From the interior town of Belaga, we were able to travel by boat all the way to
the Sarawak capital city of Kuching. Unlike Kota Kinabalu, Kuching is a really
pleasant city with a nice waterfront along the Sarawak River, great restaurants,
old colonial architecture, and a lot of interesting pubs.
For one last visit to the Bornean rainforests, we spent a couple of days in the
nearby Bako National Park. The park is a section of primary rainforest along the
coast, and has a wide range of vegetation zones ranging from mangrove swamps to
thick jungles to a dry and surprisingly open plain. We saw some more proboscis
monkeys, a flying lemur gliding between trees, and a small but highly venomous
green pit viper that I almost stepped on.
Around the camp itself, we were constantly entertained by the large number of
nasty macaques. At one point, I was sitting in the canteen having a conversation
with some of the other guests when a large male literally leaped right over my
shoulder and thumped down on the table in front of me for a split second before
grabbing a bag of peanuts and heading off into the trees.
Right now, my brother and I are back in Kuching where we are taking care of some
admin and enjoying a nice clean aircon room. As much as I have enjoyed seeing
the Borneo rainforests, the humid and rainy weather is beginning to get a little
old. Not only do things not dry around here, but even dry clothing seems to
become instantly wet when exposed to air.
So, tomorrow we will be taking the bus across to the Indonesian city of
Pontianak where we will arrange transportation by boat or plane to other
Indonesian islands. Gerry is trying to head for Bali, Java and Sumatra, while I
am trying to work my way down to Timor before spending my last two months island
hopping through Nusa Tenggara as I work my way up towards Bali myself.
I don't expect to have much email access for the next two months, and I will
only have limited access to my Compuserve account. The easiest way to get a hold
of me will be through my Yahoo account: rmiller67@yahoo.com
While I am really looking forward to being back in Indonesia, I am also looking
forward to getting back to California where I will probably experience the
biggest culture shock of my entire trip.
