This is going to be long.

Sorry for the length but nobody is really reading these anyway so here goes.


Well it has been a while, sorry about that I just have been so busy traveling and having fun that I have been to lazy to write anything, so I apologize in advance for this being such a long post.

I guess I should jump right in. I last left you in Kuching, I awoke the next morning to catch a boat to Sibu and then from Sibu to Kapit and then onward to Belega hopefully. I had got many conflicting reports about if it was possible to get to Belaga. You see if the river is too low then boats can’t get from Kapit to Belaga. Unfortunately in this part of the world the only way to get the real answer is to just show up and see what happens. In the morning I met Thomas, a 39 year old avid German motorcyclist who had been recently laid off from his job and was traveling for a year before heading back to Germany. Thomas and I had a similar plan so we ended up traveling together for a number of days. We arrived in Sibu without any hitch and asked there if it was possible to get to Belaga from Kapit but nobody there knew anything so we just decided to get on a boat to Kapit and figure it out when we got there. The reason why we wanted to know if it was possible to get to Belaga is Belaga is known as a great place to stay in a longhouse for a day or two and also from Kapit to go further on you have to take a boat back to Sibu, so you have to backtrack. Well we finally arrived in Kapit around 4:00PM and soon found out that no boats were running to Belaga anytime soon because the river was too low. We were not to come all this way for nothing though, so we quickly found a hotel in the town of about 8,000 and I asked the receptionist if he knew of anybody that could set us up to stay in a longhouse. He quickly called his friend who hopped over on his motorbike and said that there were two options for longhouses we could stay in. The first was farther and much better, it would be a more “authentic” experience with the longhouses still constructed out of wood (most of them know are made of concrete) or a second cheaper option at his Uncle’s newer and more modern longhouse. After much negotiation we settled on a one night stay at the more traditional longhouse and were to leave the next morning.

In the morning, the ‘Chief’s’ son-in-law came to pick us up in a minivan and after about an hour and a half of driving over very curvy and rocky roads we arrived at the longhouse. It looked much the way you would picture a longhouse to look like, all made out of wood with many improvements necessary. Some planks were missing and some were clearly on their last legs. There were chickens everywhere as well as dogs. Inside the longhouse there were skulls hanging apparently of enemies killed about 100 years ago, head-hunting is no longer allowed. Some of the older members of the longhouse still had traditional tattoos all over their body but this practice does not really go on any more. Inside the longhouse there is just one big long common area and individual rooms or apartments for each family. There were about 20 rooms in total with about 100 people. We met our host family had the rest of the day basically just to chill and explore the house. There were kids running around everywhere which made it nice, I later learned that all the kids go to a school a few km’s away and live at the school during the week so we were lucky to be there on a weekend. The longhouse was an Iban (one of the local tribes) one and they still live a very simple life. It is quite sad though that much of life at the longhouse revolves around the TV. All the women after cooking and cleaning and any other duties just sit around with the kids and watch TV all day, and I mean ALL DAY. They really like Bollywood movies and know all the hit songs from America. The men in the longhouse go and pick fruit during the day and fish when it’s possible. They were climbing way up in trees picking longan’s (fruit that is a ball with a shell that you peel and inside kind of tastes like grapefruit but not quite as sour). The members of the longhouse then go sell the fruit and vegetables they grow at the market in Kapit. Thomas and I went down to the river to play with some of the children who were swimming and splashing around. The locals also all wash themselves and brush their teeth in the river. They take buckets filled with all of their toiletries to the river and do everything they need to do. The sad thing, though, is that they throw most of their trash in the river. You can see plastic wrappers, bottles, and everything else floating down the river or on the river bed. It is quite sad that people who live off the land do not treat it well. This is the problem with bringing things into the longhouse without proper education. The Malaysian government is doing a pretty good job compared to other countries to protect its little remaining jungle and natural environment but it takes education of the local villagers to really make sure that the environment lasts. Another interesting thing that happened while we were at the longhouse was some guys that worked for a power company in Malaysia were visiting the longhouse to take some measurements or something. They were trying to figure out how to connect the longhouse to the grid or if solar power was a better alternative. The government is actively involved in affairs at the longhouses.

That evening Thomas and I finally found a man who spoke English who told us a little bit more about the longhouse and the Iban people. We also found out that the longhouse has to accept tourists who want to visit but only get a little bit of the money. The government helps provide food and repairs to the longhouse and in return the longhouse has to accept tourists. However, travel agents who book tours get most of the money and only pay a little bit to the locals. Also we found out that it works on a rotating basis in the house meaning that each time a tourist comes to stay the next family or room is in charge of hosting them. Most of the longhouse people seemed happy to host tourists but it still seemed unfair that they were required to. The government is also trying to take the smart kids out of the longhouse and give them proper education and then put them back in as Chief of the house. The problem, though, is that when these kids see the real world many of them don’t want to go back to the longhouse as they can get jobs and live in modern life. The not so smart ones are left at the longhouse with the women and old ones. The modern longhouse is certainly not what it was like 50 or 100 years ago but life is still very simple and consists of old women weaving bags in the common area and the men gathering around at night to discuss the days activities.

The next morning we bid adieu to our hosts and went back to Kapit where we caught a boat back to Sibu. From Sibu Thomas and I took a night bus to Miri ,which was probably one of the worst experiences of my travels so far. For some reason I still can’t comprehend on any bus in Malaysia they turn the AC on full blast to the point it is absolutely freezing and it’s not just the tourists who are freezing all of the locals are as well. If you don’t remember to wear a sweatshirt you are in for an absolutely miserable time and even with one it is still very cold. So I tried to sleep while holding myself but needless to say I got very little sleep and was very happy when we finally made it to Miri.

We got to Miri about 6:30AM and waited about an hour for the local bus to come. The bus driver told us where to get off and we headed towards Highlands, a guesthouse recommended in Lonely Planet. Little did we know what we were in for. I had only one day in Miri as I was flying to Mulu National Park the next day so I wanted to make the most of it. I wanted to get to Niah Caves, which are supposed to be one of the highlights of Borneo. In these caves, a lot of archaeological discoveries were made including the remains of the first homosapiens in southeseat asia. The guesthouse had a trip going there and I asked the receptionist/owner about it. She told me the details and I said I would probably want to go. She asked me a short while later if I was still planning on going and I said I was thinking about it at which point she said there was no longer a trip leaving that day and I should take a local bus. She also yelled at me for eating toast for breakfast as my free breakfast was the next morning and not that one. She was the most unhelpful guesthouse worker/owner I have ever met. She would tell you wrong information and treated you like a child. Everyone I met at the guesthouse had the same experience with her as well. She was like the soup nazi of guesthouses, the guesthouse nazi if you will. Anyways since she was going to be no help, Thomas and I went to the tourist information center to get more information about Miri and how to get to the caves. We figured that it would actually be cheaper if we rented a car so that is what we did. I called a local car company and after a little negotiating we managed to get a car for 24 hours for 120 Ringgit which would have been the same cost as taking a bus and taxi to the caves but a lot more convenient. Better yet we found an Austrian girl, Lisa, who wanted to go with us so the cost was split three ways. The car was manual so Thomas had to drive because sadly I still don’t really know how to drive manual. It was so nice to have a car. We didn’t have to worry about which bus to catch, how much a taxi was overcharging us or what time we had to be back. We were on our own and could take as much time as we wanted. The drive to Niah Caves took about an hour and a half. The caves itself were pretty cool. We saw locals with a huge pole trying to get birds nest out of the cave which is considered a Chinese delicacy and goes for hefty prices. The caves were pretty impressive but I was unable to grasp how historic they were. One thing that I’ve found out on this trip is that I am actually really interested in history but only recent history, like the last few hundred years maybe a little more but ancient history dating back to BC I find very boring because I just have no grasp of it. I can’t put that kind of time into perspective. The caves were huge and one was called painted cave which had a few symbols painted on them. Somehow I was not very moved or enthralled though. We drove back to Miri after the caves and a stop for some dinner at a Malay food court kind of thing which are just different stalls of food. Malay food usually consists of either rice or noodles (mee) with chicken or seafood or fish of some sort and vegetables. It is pretty simple but good but I have found myself more often eating Indian or Chinese food in Malaysia. The diversity of food is really great. Because there are so many Chinese and Indians in Malaysia you an find the food pretty much anywhere. We arrived back to Miri and after a few drinks went to bed. I was unable to explore Miri much but it seemed like a pretty cool town with a surprising number of bars and karaoke spots.

The next morning Lisa, the Austrian girl, and I happened to be on the same flight to Mulu. I had booked accommodation at the dorm inside the park but she had heard from someone else you could do a kind of homestay for half the price outside the park so I figured I’d just do that with her. We arrived after just a 30 minute flight (you can only get there by boat, but it is a long and grueling journey and actually more expensive then flying). We found the homestay and had our own room which was nice. We also met a nice Dutch couple and helped them find a room next to us. After getting settled we went to the park headquarters and they pretty much set our itinerary for the next 2 days. Unfortunately in Mulu every cave has to be visited as part of a guided tour and there an influx of tourists, mostly package ones. Because of the amount of package tourists and the fact everything has to be part of a guided tour it seemed as though backpackers were avoiding Mulu. Although I also don’t like it when you have to go as part of a guided tour I think many people were making a mistake by missing Mulu. That afternoon we went on our first tour to Great Cave and Deer Cave. There really was no reason for a guide. The walk is a simple one over a plankwalk, one in which anybody can do. The caves were very impressive though, in my opinion much more than Niah. There were cool formations everywhere and one that looked exactly like Abraham Lincoln. The park was incredibly well maintained. Throughout the cave, there were little posts with information about the cave and species living within it. After visiting the two caves we sat in a waiting area waiting for bats to migrate out of the cave which usually happens around 5:00 or 6:00pm. Sure enough at around 5:30PM bats started coming out from the mouth of the cave in droves. They were flying together in a snakelike formation and for the next half hour to hour there was just a nonstop flow of bats. It was really a site to see.
There was absolutely no night life in Mulu so we had some dinner and went back to our room to watch a movie (don’t worry no hanky panky) and for some good conversation. Lisa had just finished med school in Austria and was traveling around for a while before starting work. It made it very helpful traveling with a doctor, one of my eyes had become all red and she gave me some cream to fix it up. The next day we went on another tour to two more caves, which were even more impressive then the first two. There were stalactite and stalagmites everywhere and water was running through the bottom of the cave. The cave formation process is really crazy, thousands of years ago a rushing river had formed the cave but once again it happened so long ago that I can’t really visualize the concept. After the caves we went on a Canopy Skywalk through the jungle much like the one with Teman Negara, this time with no camera crew though. It was cool to walk through the jungle and get a perspective about 20 meters high. Although we couldn’t really see much wildlife our guide explained a lot about the trees and plants that were in the jungle and how the compete for space to get sunlight and survive. After the skywalk Lisa and I went to check out a waterfall, this we didn’t need a guide for. It started pouring when we got there and we jumped into the river. It felt like a scene out of a movie, it felt pretty amazing. The waterfall wasn’t much but just swimming around the river felt great.

I left Mulu the next day and flew back to Miri while Lisa had a later flight to Kota Kinabalu. One very important thing I forgot to mention is that a few days earlier in Kapit, Thomas had told me about this mountain climbing competition on Mt. Kinabalu. Mt. Kinabalu is the tallest climbable peak in SE Asia, a little over 4,000 meters above sea level and is usually tackled in two days. The first day you climb about 6 km to base camp and the next morning you get up early to make it to the top before sunrise. It is a grueling and tiring climb. However, because the mountain is owned by a private company, it is extremely expensive to climb. After all fees for permits, guides, lodging, etc… it costs about $200 to climb. I really wanted to climb the mountain but didn’t want to pay $200 to do so. Thomas presented a perfect alternative. There was a race on the mountain on the 25th of October and only cost $35 to enter. The race was called the Kinabalu Climbathon and was part of a series of mountain races. All you had to do was go online and register so Thomas and I decided to do so and then we also told Lisa about it and got her to sign up (the women’s race was a day earlier). So we all agreed to meet again at Mt. Kinabalu for the race. I arrived in Miri about 1:30PM and had to figure out a way to make it to Brunei that night. I was tight for time because I had to make it to Mt. Kinabalu by the night of the 24th for the race. There was a local bus at 3:30pm to Kuala Belait in Brunei but then no further bus to BSB (the capital) where I needed to get to. There was also a bus at 4:30 to a different and new bus station straight to BSB but nobody seemed to know about this bus or station. I decided to risk it and try to see if this bus existed. The problem was there wasn’t a local bus running there until about 3:45 which would really be pushing it close. Taxis were charging hefty prices though so I decided that I would have to risk it. I got a local bus and explained where I wanted to go. The whole trip I kept starting at my watch hoping we would reach the bus station in time and hoping that there would be a bus. I finally arrived at the bus station at 4:20 but there was no bus in sight. I went over and talked to someone there who told me in limited English that the bus had left at 4:15, SHIT! I thought. What was I to do? I asked if there was any chance the bus could turn around but she said no, I finally was able to get someone to drive me to where the bus was for 20 R (6$). When we caught up with the bus, I got on and realized there was nobody else there. I was the only passenger. This bus was going to go all the way to BSB (4 hours) with nobody on it and they couldn’t turn around to get me! I was frustrated because I had to pay an extra 20 R but was able to get to BSB so that night which was the most important thing. I arrived in BSB around 6:00pm and found a place to stay for a quite expensive $22. There is not much to do in Brunei at night, alcohol is not allowed to be served anywhere so I took the opportunity to relax and buy some movies for a couple dollars each. The next morning I visited the royal regalia museum which was pretty interesting because it basically has a whole biography of the Sultan’s life as well as all of the gifts he has received from other countries. It also shows videos of his silver jubilee (25th anniversary as Sultan) which was quite extravagant. The Sultan of Brunei is one of the richest men in the world and for such a small country Brunei is very well off due to its oil reserves. I left Brunei later that afternoon on a boat for Paulau Labuan which is an island en route to Kota Kinabalu. I missed the last boat from Libuan to KK so I had to take a speed boat to another town and from there a bus to Kota Kinabalu. The bus to KK was an interesting one. The front of the bus had a huge TV and I had just bought a bunch of movies so the driver let me put one in. I chose Soul Men. At first it was just me and this other half Indonesian/American guy but then a flood of locals came on the bus and I felt bad because the movie had a lot of bad language and the driver was frantically trying to fast forward past the sex scenes. It was actually quite a funny experience. None of the local seemed to mind the movie to much and some even came up front to watch it.

I arrived in KK around 7:00pm and found a guesthouse. The next day I was going to the mountain so I wanted to get my rest. I chatted with some travelers in the guesthouse and told them about the race, they had all just hiked Mt. Kinabalu in two days and told me I was crazy for entering the race. They said it would take at least 7 hours to climb to the top. I was beginning to wonder what I was getting myself into. The next day happened to be the Governor of Sabah’ (Malaysian Borneo consists of two states, Sarawak and Sabah) birthday and there was a massive celebration on this huge field which was cool to see but I didn’t have much time to sit around and watch, I was on a mission. I caught a share taxi to the mountain and got there around noon. The receptionist at the guesthouse said that Thomas and Lisa were already there and had saved a bed for me. The day arrived was the day of the women’s race so I went to the park and just as I arrived Lisa was finishing the race. I found Thomas there as well. Amazingly Lisa had reached the top of the mountain in about 3 hours 40 minutes and finished 41st overall amongst the women, an amazing accomplishment. I soon realized what I got myself into. The majority of the competitors there were triathletes, ultra marathon runners, or compete in mountain climbing competitions. I was just an ordinary tourist wanting to climb the mountain because it was the cheapest way of doing it. Another dagger was that I found out that for the men if you don’t make it to the top in 2 and a half hours then you would have to turn back. The women got 3 and a half hours to the top which is how Lisa was able to manage up. They do give you a little wiggle room so they let Lisa continue because she was almost there. Thomas has arrived to the mountain a few days earlier and as a competitor was able to ‘train’ on the mountain for free so he had already climbed up the mountain once and it took him about 4 and a half hours to the top. I was beginning to realize there was no way I was going to make it up in the time limit, even professional competitors were worried they may not. I had nothing to lose though so I was going to give it my best shot.

Race Day

We woke up about 4:00AM, ate some breakfast and caught a shuttle bus to park headquarters and from there to the starting line. The race started at 7:00am. Most guys there were decked out in spandex shorts/pants, all looking very professional. They had special shoes, water holders, knees taped, the whole nine yards. I had on a T-shirt, some basketball shorts, and hiking shoes. There were about 170 men in the race and maybe ten of those were tourists like Thomas and I that were doing it just because it was the cheapest way to climb the mountain. The climb was 8.7 km to the top of the mountain, the total race was around 21 km because on the way back you have to come down a paved road an extra 4 km or so to the finish line. I was given a number to pin on, number 121, and just laughed inside. I felt like I was about to run a marathon with no training whatsoever which was pretty close to what was about to happen except this would be uphill the whole way for 8.7 km. The race started and I took a deep breath and started walking, I kept up with the pack for a little while and then people started to separate. The first 2 km were the toughest. I think I ate too much chocolate before the race and it hadn’t settled in my stomach. I was trying to keep a steady pace and not stop, my heart was beating faster than I have ever heard and it seemed like it was going to jump out of my chest at any moment. There was a marker every half km and you would reach the next one and think to yourself that was only a half a km, fuck! The climb was pretty much straight up the whole way with just a few places of leveling off allowing you to somewhat catch your breath. After about 2km I started feeling a little better and kept a constant pace, I passed some people who had passed me earlier but I was racing against time. There was no way I was going to make it to the top in 2 and a half hours. When I was about 5.5km up, I saw the first competitor come flying down the mountain. I mean he was literally flying running down the mountain as fast as he could, one wrong step would be serious injury. I reached 6.5 km at about 2 and a half hours and they made me turn back, I was able to get up to almost 7 km but there was a gate and they would not let anybody else pass it. I was extremely disappointed and pleaded with them to let me keep going but it was to no avail. To be honest I don’t know if my legs could have taken me any further. I started walking down the mountain just as it started drizzling, it stopped after a little bit but not before it had made all the rocks pretty slick. I was somberly walking down the mountain disappointed that I had come all this way but was unable to reach the top. But who was I kidding, did I actually expect to make it to the top in 2 and a half hours. I had no experience, no training, and was grossly out of shape, I should have been happy with how far I got but wasn’t. After sulking for a few km’s down I decided that I had to finish the race strong so I started running bits of it down. I saw people running past me with blue wrist bands (what they give you when they reach the top) and got a sense of motivation. I tried to run down as much as a I could and when I got to the paved road I ran the last 4 km’s to the finish line. I thought my legs would fail me at any moment but I made it in one piece. I found out later that the winner made it up and down the mountain in 2 hours and 40 minutes and only about 50 of the 170 entrants actually reached the top so that made me feel a little better. There was an awards ceremony after the race with a free buffet so that was cool too. Speaking to some of the competitors who do this sort of thing regularly most of them said that it was the toughest race they had ever been in and many of them said they were not going to do it again. These guys were incredible shape, some had calves the size of tree trunks. It was a community of people that all see each other at competitions like this or marathons. Just being around these people really motivated me to get into shape and start exercising more often. I also start an exercising routine but am never able to keep it up but I am determined to one day come back to Mt. Kinabalu and compete in the Climbathon again, this time reaching the top. Exercising is quite difficult to do when traveling but I will try to do as much as possible. I do walk a lot and go on hikes and treks through the jungle but will make a more deliberate effort to do so. Something about the race just started a fire in me. Looking back on it now I am proud on how far I was able to go. I really pushed myself to my limits, there was no way I could have made it to the top, I was in no physical condition for that but hopefully someday I will be. (By the way Thomas did not make it to the top either but there were a couple tourists who did, obviously they were in much better shape than I was).

After the competition I went with Lisa to some hot springs that were about an hour away. On the way we picked up some alcohol to enjoy that night. The baths at the hot springs took painfully long to fill but we were able to get some decent soaking time in which felt great on our sore muscles. We missed our ride back to Ranau (middle point between the mountain and hot springs) so had to pay a little more on the way back and then caught a bus a few minutes later back to the mountain. The bus ride was pretty scary. The road from Ranau to Mt. Kinabalu is quite dangerous especially at night. There are no streetlights and there is a one lane road going each way. Our bus driver would speed up to the car in front of it and then pass it on a blind turn. We passed by a pretty bad accident on the way but it did no deter our driver in the least bit, he kept passing trucks and cars 5 at a time. We finally got back to our guesthouse after what felt like a 3 hour ride (it only took half an hour). We enjoyed some drinks and celebrated the competition being over. The next morning I said goodbye to Thomas as we were going in different directions and along with Lisa and a Polish guy we met, Tomek boarded a bus for Sandakan. Tomek had arranged to stay with a guy from couchsurfing that night who said it was all right if Lisa and I stayed with him as well. Gordon, our host, picked us up from the bus station and took us out to lunch on him. After hanging out at an internet café for a few hours Gordon picked us up and drove him back to his place. We each had our own bed and it was so nice to not stay in a guesthouse for a night. Gordon was the best host you could possibly ask for, he left us alone in the house, let us do our laundry, which was much overdue for me and then took us out to a great dinner on the waterfront. I spoiled myself with some delicious chicken and lamb, which was a quite pricey $5, and we had a great dinner. This time we all chipped in to pay for Gordon’s dinner. The next morning Gordon bought us breakfast and drove us all the way to the Sepilok Orangutan rehabilitation center one of four in the world. Orangutans are a native species only to Borneo but are endangered because much of their natural forest has been cut down and logged for palm tree oil plantations. Also many of the local villagers take baby orangutans as pets and lock them up in cages, again going back to the lack of education. The orangutans come to Sepilok and they rehabilitate them so that one day they can go back into the wild. This process can take up to ten years or more. We got a chance to watch the orangutans at feeding time and saw three of them. They are so cute you just want to go up to one and hug them but they are quite strong. An adult male orangutan is four times stronger than an adult human male. I got to talking with one of the volunteers there who said that for a 2 month volunteer program he paid 3,000 pounds (about $5,500) and there was a 2 and a half year waiting list. Pretty crazy. It was really cool seeing the orangutan but there were so many tourists there with their cameras taking pictures it felt like a bit of a zoo. One very interesting thing I learned is that the word Orangutan is actually a Malaysian word that means “man of the forest”, “orang” means man and “tan” means forest. It never occurred to me that it was a Malaysian word but it makes sense because that is where they are found. There are less than 20,000 orangutans left in Borneo. I wanted to do some kind of jungle trip to see wildlife and Uncle Tan’s was supposed to be the best budget option. They have a 3 day 2 night wildlife camp with different river safaris and treks and is supposed to be good to see wildlife so I decided to do that. Lisa and Tomek had less time so they went to another town to try and do a 1 night jungle trek/safari. Gordon dropped Lisa and Tomek off at the bus station then took me back to Uncle Tan’s which was close to Sepilok. I can’t say enough about how wonderful Gordon was as a host. He is everything that is right about couchsurfing. He said that everytime he couchsurfed he had such a great experience so he felt it was necessary to treat his guests well and to show them around too. It really is a great pay it forward concept. He drove us around Sandakan showing us all the sites, took us to Sepilok even though he just waited outside and paid for our breakfast and lunch. He also let Lisa and Tomek keep their bags at his house for a few days. He was really the perfect host and I was very grateful to him. I left Gordon and joined the tour group at Uncle Tan’s there were about 17 of us.

After a 2 hour ride through the jungle and past palm-oil plantations we arrived at the Kinbatangan river (spelling?) and went on an intro river safari where we saw hornbills and kingfisher birds, long tail proboscis monkeys, macaques, and some other smaller animals. The accommodation was very basic huts but I didn’t mind. Some people could not sleep but I passed right out each of the 2 nights we were there. Over the course of 3 days we did 4 river safaris and 2 jungle ‘treks’. I wouldn’t really call them treks as we just walked a few hundred meters in the jungle but over the course of those three days we say an orangutan in the wild, a crocodile, a lot of insects and spiders, an owl that looked really cool, and a lot of monkeys and birds. It was pretty cool but also with such a large group felt like such a package. At no point was the experience really exhilarating. I would have liked to go deeper into the jungle and done a true trek but that just wasn’t possible. I’ve heard in Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo) there are much less tourists and you can do multiple day treks into the jungle with a guide on your own or with a few people. It was pretty amazing though to see that much wildlife, so amazing in fact that after a while you get tired of seeing monkeys. It is really cool to watch the monkeys jump from branch to branch and to watch sleeping birds perched on a branch at night not moving no matter how many pictures with flash are taken. I have seen things that most people would be so excited about but it is kind of like a catch-22. I have seen so many amazing things in my life and have been so lucky that only the most amazing things seem to really impress me and get me excited. I need to learn how to appreciate and be grateful for all the amazing things I am doing. I mean I saw an orangutan in the wild, how many people get a chance to see that? Not too many, it would just be more cool if it wasn’t part of a guided tour but what am I going to do, go trekking in the jungle by myself? The fact of the matter is that much of the natural habitat of many large animals is being destroyed by logging. The reason it was so easy to see an orangutan is because there is not much jungle for it to roam around in. The jungle is now in between palm-oil plantations which are visible all along the drive from Sandakan to Semporna. The only true primary forest left in Malaysian Borneo is in the Danum Valley which is very expensive to get to. However I think that would be more interesting to see. One thing Uncle Tan’s did have going for it though was the food. The food was amazing and was buffet style so naturally I ate way too much of it. French Toast in the morning, crab the first night for dinner, and food available pretty much all day long. All this eating finally caught up to me on the last day as we were leaving the jungle. I was in a truck with three others on the ride through the dirt roads back to the main road from which I could catch a bus to Semporna which was my next destination when my stomach started hurting real bad. I knew I had to shit because I hadn’t for the last two days (you wouldn’t either if you saw the bathrooms at Uncle Tan’s). I didn’t know how much longer I could hold it and my stomach was really starting to hurt so I asked the driver to pull over and proceeded to run into the jungle, squat down and take a huge shit. Luckily I had brought some toilet paper with me so I finished my business and put it in a plastic bag. I was gone for quite a while so naturally the rest of the car knew what I was up to which was quite embarrassing but I was never going to see these people again so I didn’t really care. We reached the junction and I caught a bus to Semporna when my stomach started acting up again. Once again I asked the bus driver to stop and went out to shit all over the jungle. I stayed there till everything came out and when I got back to the bus (minivan) everyone had moved away from me. I couldn’t help but laugh. I felt bad but I didn’t care because my stomach felt so much better and I passed out the rest of the ride.

People go to Semporna to dive on Sipadan which is an island about an hour from Semporna and is supposed to be one of the best places in the world for diving. Sipadan is a protected area with nobody allowed to sleep on the island and only 120 permits a day issued for scuba diving. They say you have to book weeks in advance to be able to dive on Sipadan but I arrived without any reservation. When I arrived in Semporna I walked in the wrong direction looking for a guesthouse and hordes of local kids came up to me and started asking my name and practicing their English it was really cool. They really like talking with tourists. When I finally found a guesthouse I walked around to all the SCUBA companies seeing if any had any open spots to dive Sipadan. Luckily I had found one who had an open spot the next day because someone had cancelled. The only catch was I had to take their name and sign in using their name because it was the one the permit was registered to, not a big deal. So I went to bed early and got up the next morning for 3 dives in Sipadan. I just completed my open water certification a few weeks ago and hadn’t done any diving since then so I was a little bit worried because I was going with more experienced divers but it worked out fine. Sipadan was truly amazing. Everywhere you looked underwater you would see a giant turtle or white tip reef shark. The first dive I probably saw at least ten different turtles and eight different sharks along with schools of barracuda and many other fish. You could see turtles just perched in a whole in the coral and could swim right up next to them, it was truly amazing. I haven’t dived at many places but I would imagine you would be hard pressed to find a place where you see more than Sipadan. Literally everywhere you look there is something amazing. By the third dive you were actually tired of seeing turtles and sharks, somebody would point to something and then you would be like oh its just another shark. By the end of the third dive though I was exhausted. I went out for dinner and ran into Lisa and Tomek who were diving Sipadan the next day. Here I am today the day after diving Sipadan. Today I am just relaxing and catching up on my blog which is long overdue. Tonight I am catching a nightbus to KK and then from there flying to Singapore on the third.


My time in Malaysia is almost at an end. I am truly going to miss this place but am ready to move on at the same time The people here are incredible friendly and accommodating. Nobody really tries to rip you off which is nice. Before I arrived in Borneo I pictured local indigenous people living in longhouses with tattoos and immense jungle with wildlife. Borneo is not quite what I had imagined as it is an incredibly modern place with cities and a lot of money from palm and fish oil but still has a lot of charm. I think Kalimantan is more of the Borneo that most people think of. Malaysian Borneo is now full of package tours and tourists and is well on the backpacking trail.