Day 298: Thursday 23rd April - Learning about the Kelabits My flight to Bario is on a Twin Otter aircraft, a 20 seater, propeller aircraft. This is the smallest plane I’ve ever flown in with the exception of the one I took over the Nazca Lines in Peru. There are no modern security measures between pilots and passengers and I can see straight into the cockpit from my seat. There are baggage limits on the flight so I make sure I travel light only taking hand luggage with me for the flight. As I have no checked luggage, I am approached [View Full Entry]

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Day 297: Wednesday 22nd April - Another Day, another cave I’m feeling incredibly lethargic today. All these early mornings and long walks are catching up with me. I think about returning to bed and having an easy day, but decide against it and stick to my original plan for today, which is to visit Niah caves. The Niah Caves National Park is one of Sarawak’s smaller national parks, and is situated 100km from Miri. The park’s claim to fame is its role as one of the birthplaces of civilisation. The oldest modern human remains discovered in Southeast Asia were found in [View Full Entry]

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Day 293: Saturday 18th April - Trekking to the wasp infested camp 5 I have high expectations about the coming four days. Mulu National Park has been described as the best national park in Borneo. That is high praise in an island full of national parks and abundant natural beauty. It is a half hour flight up to Mulu from Miri. There are four of us from the Highlands hostel on the flight, myself, Amy, an Australian girl who has a Swahili name I cannot hope to remember and an Irish girl. First of all, I am surprised to see the [View Full Entry]

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Day 289: Tuesday 14th April - Arriving in the Sultan’s Kingdom I make a mental calculation on my journey to Brunei. When I arrive, this will be the 16th country I have set foot in during the last 10 months. Crossing the border into Brunei uses probably the best mode of transport I’ve used yet to do a border crossing....it is by boat. First, I catch a ferry from KK to Labuan Island, three hours from KK. In Labuan, we have a two hour stop over before boarding another boat for the hour crossing to Brunei. The two hours is just [View Full Entry]

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Day 287: Sunday 12th April - I can’t make my mind up Since reading a Borneo guidebook yesterday I have thought about going to Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park tomorrow (that’s a mouthful so from now on I will refer to it as the islands off KK) rather than follow my original plan which was to travel on through to Brunei. I need to do some washing urgently after the jungle - half my bag is now full of sweaty, stinky clothes. I could carry them to Brunei and get it done there but I know it will be cheaper to [View Full Entry]

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Day 285: Friday 10th April - Arriving on the Kinabatangan River It is good to be able to have a lazy morning ahead of my trip to the Kinabatangan River. I am not getting picked up until noon so I can laze around in my bed watching a daft, slushy rom-com on TV and get a late breakfast. It takes 3 hours to reach the Kinabatangan River, at 560km long, the longest river in Sabah. It is also estimated to have the largest collection of wildlife in all of Malaysia. 8 species of hornbills have been spotted here along with numerous [View Full Entry]

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Day 283: Wednesday 8th April - The first of many steps up Mount Kinabalu When you’re climbing a mountain tomorrow, a fairly substantial one at that, one recommendation would be to get an early night. I was about to follow my own advice when I ended up talking to a South African, Steve until the early hours in my hostel last night. Sometimes it pays to not take the sensible option. Although I only talked to Steve for a matter of a couple of hours, I felt so comfortable in his company that I told him about my incident in Kuala [View Full Entry]

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Day 278: Friday 3rd April - Leaving Singapore behind for Malaysia As I’m getting ready to leave the hostel in Singapore, Ibrahim gives me a parting gift. He also offers to come with me on the bus to the border as it is custom in his homeland. I accept his gift but as much as I appreciate his offer to come to the border with me I won’t allow him to come - I know where I’m going after yesterday and it will eat considerably into his day. We part with a handshake and a vow to keep in touch and [View Full Entry]

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Day 273: Sunday 29th March - An offer of 10,000 Dollars Whilst I am waiting in Medan airport to fly to Singapore I book a ticket to next weekend’s Grand Prix. The formula one season kicks off later today in Melbourne and next week it will be in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It means altering my plans as I had wanted to go straight from Singapore to Borneo rather than do two cities back to back but I couldn’t miss out on the chance of going to the grand prix next weekend......I’m so excited about that one. It takes about an hour [View Full Entry]

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Day 267: Monday 23rd March - My spirits lifted by the forest people I arrived in Medan last night at around 10pm. After 8 months in the southern hemisphere I’m back in the northern hemisphere. To pass time on my two hour flight from Jakarta I reflected back on my time in the southern hemisphere. I got two months in before we landed - so many happy times and lifelong memories to look back on. Much of the last week I’ve spent on my own and in this time my thoughts have often strayed home. Many travellers I’ve met who have [View Full Entry]

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