Mt. Kinabalu & the Traveling Bunny

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Greetings from Borneo....

Since our last blog entry, we've explored the diversity of Sabah, Borneo - from the granite spires of Mt. Kinabalu, the incredible animal life on the Kinabatangan River to the beautiful islands off the coast of Sabah.

After a few days in the capital city of Sabah (Kota Kinabalu), we were happy to escape the intense heat and head to the base of Mt. Kinabalu. Jeff and Gemma stayed at a lodge at the base of the mountain, while Kevi climbed the highest peak in SE Asia. It was a tough climb (Pam, harder than our Mt. Fisher climb this summer), but such a rewarding experience. The first day consisted of 5 hours of climbing the steep terrain to the huts where you stay at 11,000 feet. The second day, we were up at 2:00 am for a 3 hour trek in the dark to the peak to watch the sunrise. Thank goodness for the ropes to hold onto to keep you from falling. The morning was clear, so I was able to watch the most spectacular sunset from the top (4.95.2 meters)......it felt like I was on top of the world - I could see as far as the ocean. What a rewarding experience! It was cold on the top (0 degrees), but I enjoyed the cold after a month of such intense heat and humidity. Climbing down was challenging on my knees, but I made it - despite the 4 hours of heavy rain at one point during the day.

Before we left Kota Kinabalu, Gemma fell in love with a bunny that she saw for sale in a sidewalk stall. We decided to let her have the bunny - "crazy" you say.....we agree, but why not? The bunny traveled with us for 9 days before Gemma found a home for it. He came on buses, to our homestay, in hotels, restaurants, boats and taxis....no one seemed to mind - they all seemed to love the traveling bunny! There isn't the same fear of "germs" here as we have in Canada.....no health department to say that pets aren't allowed in restaurants or hotels.

After my mountain climb, we bused to another area of Sabah (with very sore legs) and stayed with a Muslim family in a homestay for 3 days on the Kinabatagan River. It was great to stay with a family and see how they live and to learn about their culture and religion. The accommodations were very basic with roosters crowing beside our window at 3:00 am. The oldest daughter was our very knowledgable guide. Her and her brother took us on 2-3 river cruises per day to view wildlife plus a jungle walk (with leeches)........we saw a baby crocodile, owls, orangutans, probiscus monkeys, macaque monkeys, 8 species of hornbills, many other tropical birds, snakes, river otters and more. Gemma loved seeing the wild animals, but had a hard time getting up at 6:00 am and dealing with the leeches and humidity. The night cruise was exciting for all of us.

After our adventure on the river, we took a long bus ride to the coast of Sabah and went over to Mabul Island for some diving and snorkeling. It's one of the top dive sites in the world - but we found it very expensive and there are lots of social issues on the island. Right beside the luxury resorts is a village of refugees from various places (i.e. the Philippines). Their living conditions are very poor with no bathroom facilities, no health care, no infrastructure for their garbage (other than throwing it in the sea). You could see that some of the children were malnourished and were begging for money. 20 meters away, foreigners were paying $200/night for a luxury chalet to dive at nearby islands. Gemma was able to see the inequities of the world first hand. She really loved the children and looks forward to doing some volunteer work sometime this year.

Gemma found a home for her bunny at a backpackers lodge on Mabul Island called "Uncle Chang's." One of the dive masters (Chanti) fell in love with the bunny and made him the mascot of the dive resort. They named him "Gemma Chang!" We couldn't stay on Mabul island for very long because it's too expensive, so we flew back to Kota Kinabalu to rest and plan the next leg of our journey.

We will fly to Kuala Lumpar in a few days to meet Lucas and travel around pennisular Malaysia before we fly to Vietnam. We're really looking forward to settling in Vietnam for one month -visiting loved ones, eating in homes instead of restaurants and doing some homeschooling. This month has been exciting, exhausting, challenging and a learning experience for us all. Gemma is missing a normal routine and friends.

I'll post pictures separately as they might not upload due to slow internet.

Sending love to all of you, Kevi, Jeff and Gemma

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