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September 1st 2009

Published: September 2nd 2009

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NoMursi

Fire cookin

cooking fish over an open fire

As soon as I walked into our jungle hut (as it were), I noticed a small spider perched on the wire mesh of the window in front of my mattress. This wasn't a particularly big spider, but did have a lot of stripes and paterns on his body. I have learned that it is not necessarily the big bugs that do the most damage, but the wee little ornate looking ones that can pack the punch. I stood for a while in front of him seeing if he would make the first move. I had my knife ready to go, although thinking back on it, I'm not sure a knife would have done better than a rolled up magazine. We watched each other for a minute or two before I decided to let him live. He didn't seem to be moving much, although you could tell he was not dead, and I didn't want that kind of karma getting me on the first day in the jungle. We made an agreement there...you don't bother me, I don't bother you. This was the start of 3 days we spent at Uncle Tans Jungle camp in the middle of the Malaysian rain forest.

vines

To start off let me jump back to right after getting to the base op of Uncle tans. This place was very laid back and seemed welcoming enough with a big buffet spread of the local flavor. I really wasn't sure what the food was going to be like before coming here, but I was prepared to eat some strange concoctions. That didn't happen to be the case, the food was delicious and seemed to make up for the lack of seasoning and spice of Korean food. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Korean food as much as the next guy, but I was looking for some marination (derived from marinade....or I just made it up....pretty sure I just made it up).

After lunch we had a quick briefing about what to expect and what to do if we go out it to the woods alone and get utterly lost and scared. Well with warnings firmly planted in our heads we climbed into the transport vehicles and made the two hour trek to the river. Most of the trip was on a back country road that made mince meat out of the suspension and our bladders. Nothing like

Giant spider

we found this guy in food area

filling up on a big meal then doing a little off roadin. When we got to the put it spot for the boats, we really got a sense of being in the jungle. All around us was think vegetation and sounds of animals off in the distance. We loaded onto the boats, and made our way down the river to the camp. It took about a half hour in total, but we got to see the "Dutch Monkeys", aptly named after some the first foreigners to land on Borneo. The monkeys have big red noses and huge pot bellies that are also red. They don't look like they are in any shape to be running around the tree tops, but these guys were the ultimate dare devils. They would leap huge distances from the tops of the trees and would grab on the tiniest branch, only to swing again to the next. They were the most active, and ugly of all the monkeys we saw.

When we got to the camp, we were greeted by the gang that works there, a really laid back bunch of 20 something Sabahites. They were to be our care takers for the next

on the river

3 days, and would prove to be coolest thing since sliced bread. I was a little afraid before coming to this camp that it would be a tourist trap, and by that I mean a really lame "look but don't touch" guided tour. What it turned out to be was quite the opposite. The food we were served was great and in Borneo fashion, buffet style. The hikes were hands on, and really let you get a sense of whats around you. The guides were very cool and seemed to care a lot about the forest and their island. This was great to see. The fact that a younger generation, my age, was taking active steps into conserving the habit and land around them. They grew up here in forest and had a special kinship with it that we as outsiders can only really appreciate through what we have read or seen on TV. It is entirely different to see your home around you be bulldozed down for farming or palm plantations. Although we can't entirely place blame on the ones that due cut down the forest and scar the land. The world as it is today has driven them

shower time

locals cleaning up in the late afternoon.

to that. They have families that need to eat and children who want to learn and explore. There has to be a means to that, and well you take what you have and you make due. This is what is happening. For some it's the farming and plantations. I think one of the saddest things I have ever seen and heard was standing on the shore of the river looking up at an orangutan and hearing the faint whine of chainsaws in the background. The newtons law of it though is that eco-tourism has started to really take hold in Borneo and by doing so, more land is being preserved for national parks and sanctuaries. I didn't want to end my rant on a downer.

Talk about a digression. I have said this before in another blog, that I am writing off the cuff, so if there are digressions and meandering of thoughts, bare with me, I will come back to the original point, sooner or later. When we arrived at the camp, it was also dusk and I quickly went about getting my camera and shooting the sunset as it went down on the Kinabatangan river. I took

locals

a minute there at the top of the dock and just stared out to the winding calm river and the dense forest line at its edge. I have looked out at some amazing places in my life (seeing the pyramids for the first time from the balcony of our hotel, or staring at the wadi rum desert from the rug of a local nomad/tour guide at sunset, coming out of the train station in Venice and seeing the canals for the first time, looking down at Roman encampments from the top of Mesada in Israel), and this had to be up there with those. It wasn't so much of seeing grand structures or huge expansive landscapes, but the calm and untouched world of a rain forest at sunset. The full moon was an added bonus.

After dinner we went out on a night river cruise. This is when we were supposed to spot birds and flying foxes, but with the full moon, we were told that the pickings would be meager, and they were. Our guide did spot a bullfrog from about a 50 feet away with a flash light while moving in a boat. Highly impressed as I

sunset on the river

was by that skill, he then loaded his hands with mud and grabbed it off the bank while leaning from the boat. It ended up being a poisonous frog, but since he had covered his hand in mud, the residue that the frog excretes does not touch the skin. Useful skill if any of you are planning on grabbing poisonous bullfrogs in the future. With not much on the cruise we headed back for a cold beer at the lodge and then some shut eye. It had already been a long day and tomorrow was going to be even longer, with wake up at 6 am for the 6:30 morning boat ride.

That night I slept....ok....not great and not like a log. It might have been the little but mighty spider outside of my mesh wall, or the fact that the hut we were sleeping didn't have a door, or the fact that amount of night sounds in a jungle is much more real than on TV. It was also one of the sweater nights I have had. At one point I woke up in what seemed like a pool of my own sweat, and my sleeping bag that

main lodge

i was using as a pillow was soaked through. I was looking forward to a shower...it would just take three days.

The next day was great. I woke ready to start and went and downed some coffee and a few slices of bread before hoping on the boat. The morning time is when the monkeys and most wildlife are active, and it was no exception that morning. We saw large groups of Macaques and more Dutch monkeys. Birds were flying around and it was nice and cool with a breeze coming from whipping down the river in the boat. When we got back we had breakfast and prepared for our next adventure, which was a jungle trek on foot this time into another area about 30 minutes down stream. We were told it was going to be muddy and that we should not where our hiking boots, but rather these rain boots that they had at camp, or "wellys" to our friends across the pond. I was blessed with rather large feet and finding a size 13 shoe in a land of 9.5's was a bit tricky. I did happen to find one boot that was an 11 with

King Fisher

found this guy on our night hike.

a large crack in the back that exposed the heel, and a small slip on rubber shoe that was a 12. I had forgoten to put on my pants at the time and found my self in shorts and mismatched shoes for my first big jungle trek. Quite the site. I did take particular care in noting the hazardous plants from the non hazardous when walking through. Our Jungle guide Remy was about my age, seemed to know quite a bit about the jungle and surrounding areas. He was very concerned about the state of Borneo and was doing his part in preserving its beauty. I have had one other guide in my recent memory that had as much passion about what he was showing us, and that was in the roman forum by an Australian graduate student.

The hike it self lasted for a few hours and by the time it was done, I had been bitten a few times on the leg, and was completely drenched in sweat. Mind you I wasn't the only one, and you can see from one of these pictures that Justin and I still have not mastered the art of living in

humid climates. We made it back to camp for lunch, which we ate with little regard to to the flavor, and then prepared for our fishing trip that we signed up to do. With about 1 hour of down time to relax, I picked up a book and headed for the nearest hammock, which I didn't leave until everything was ready. When it was, we grabbed our gear and our guide Pipi drove the boat while we deposited our fishing setup. The locals here fish a bit different than back home. They take 10 or so water bottles and attach about a foot of fishing line to it and a hook with a piece of fruit at the end. Then they toss them in the water and watch them float down stream. If and when the fish take the bait, they drag the bottle down with them, but the buoyancy brings the bottle back to the top and the fish fights back until it is too tired to continue. The locals look for the bottles that are bobbing up and down in the water and motor over there and reel the fish in. We did this as well as cast

Magnus and Justin

fishing. I must gloat a little here and say that I did catch the biggest fish of the day. A cat fish about a foot and half long. Another girl on our boat caught one much bigger on one of her bottles, but as we went over to get it, a crocodile snatched it out of the water. Good thing no ones hand was down there picking it up at the time. All you saw was a flash of teeth and the fish was gone.

With fishing finished, we headed back to the camp for some down time before dinner. Our river guide Pipi, took my fish and said that he would prepare it for me as a special treat . I wasn't sure what that meant until he brought it out later when we were eating our regular dinner. I was expecting to find the head and the tail sitting on the plate with the eyes poped out and placed neatly on a leaf of lettuce. Instead I found a BBQ fish that was sliced open and covered in herbs. I was very taken back by this. It smelled so good and tasted amazing. I am not a

fish trap

traditional fish trap that is used during the rainy season.

huge fish eater and find most of the creatures of the sea to well for lack of a better word fishy. This was not, he had used local herbs out of the jungle and BBQ over an open fire pit. it was decorated most excellently on the plate it was almost a crime to eat it. I got up and thanked him a few hundred times and the response I got was a very humble..."your welcome, I hope you enjoy it". We all did, I passed it around the table to our new friends and we ate until our bellies were full and could do no more damage on the table of left over scraps. But wait, there's more to come yet, another hike, this time at night, in the jungle, on foot.

"What we will most likely see on this trip?" I asked very nonchalantly. "This hike is mostly for spiders, insects and snakes." Remy said even more nonchalantly. Oh good, I thought it was going to be something creepy. Well this time wearing pants and not shorts when we set out with our flash lights looking for tarantulas, scorpions, and pythons. I am not sure if we

Dutch Monkey

on one of there many leaps from the trees

were lucky not to find them, but we didn't come across any of the big 3. We did see some spiny lizards and a few frogs, oh and about a thousand jumping spiders. Our guide told us to shine our lights on the ground and ask if we saw the sparkly diamonds. How could we miss them I thought, they were all around us. Well those happened to be the jumping spiders, and with a mismatched boots and an exposed heel, I quickly made my way out of the land of diamonds. We emerged from the woods two hours later and went for a cold beer.

There is no refrigeration in the camp, and the only thing they have to keep food and drinks cold are huge slabs of ice that they bring in the boats when they pick up new groups every other day. So at this point the beer was not as cold as we were hoping, but refreshing none the less. We were told that we could get one more boat ride in morning if we so desired, and I thought why the hell not. That night I did sleep like a baby. Jungle sounds and

Remy

our guide through our trek in the jungle.

all, it had been a long day and nothing was going to keep me up that night.

The next day we got up a six again and I took a bucket shower, which meant throwing rain water that had collected in big tubs over my head and they to apply soap. Rinse and repeat. The morning boat ride was nice, and we saw more orangutans and a few monitor lizards. These are the smaller cousins to the commodo dragons of Bali. They still measure to be a few feet long, and are by no means small. We also spotted rhino hornbill, which is a very cool looking bird. This was to be our last trek out, and it was good one. We had become used to seeing the Dutch Monkeys and the Macaques, that after a while it was like seeing another squirrel back home.

Leaving Uncle Tan's left us a little more appreciative of fragility of nature and it's extreme resilience. I would recommend anyone to go to this place, but to do it responsibly. Take time to realize why you are there in the first place. To see this beautiful untouched parcel of land, not a

insects

these little guys looked a lot like cotten balls.

another resort in an otherwise beautiful setting.

By the way, that spider that was outside my mosquito net. He didn't move from where I left him, only to wrap up a mosquito that had gotten caught. Good thing too, that bugger probably had malaria.

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