Borneo

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April 11th 2005

Published: January 30th 2009

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Double J

Small Village

Malaysian Borneo

Greetings all.
Well like I've been saying the temperature is really warming up here. 28 degrees today with humidity in the 90's.

I just came back from a trip to Malaysian Borneo.
I got to see the Orang tangs - so cool - I was very lucky there were around 12 of them at the feeding platform - and they even got into a little brawl with some monkeys that were trying to get there food! After that I went to my hotel on a small island - my room was a small little hut on the beach. There was a giant fly and I mean huge - maybe the size of my palm - in my room. Luckily there were mosquito nets covering the bed! Did some snorkeling and took a glass bottom boat ride. Got to see some of the Philippines from one of the islands too.
The next day we were off for a drive to Mount Kinabalu - the highest mountain in SE Asia. Did a walk high up in the forest canopy - i think it was 150 metres high (not sure, but high) and visited some hot springs. It was nice

Kota Kinabalu Sunset

and cool here - good to get away from the heat. Next day we took a few treks around the base and middle parts of the mountain. That night i partied it up with the hotel workers as I was the only guest in the hotel! It was a blast. The next morning me and my private tour guide (cause I was the only one on this part of the trip!) drove to the airport for my flight to Mulu. Mulu is in the middle of the jungle - you can only get there by plane. In the afternoon my tour group (now there were more people - its way better having your own guide i think) and I trekked thru the jungle to see 2 massive caves. And I mean massive. After the caving we sat outside the cave and watched millions of bats leave - very cool. Back at the hotel the bats were out and going nuts. You couldn't walk anywhere without one wizzing by you. Got used to after a while. They also have these bugs called "zacadas" - there like a giant flying grasshopper. They make such a loud and irritating noise. They were everywhere

My Resort In Kota Kinabalu

A little luxury before the trip

- one even flew into my face - fell - and then made a loud sharp crying noise!
The next day we took a "long boat" ride (the boat is long) down a river to explore 2 more caves. Very cool. Following that, I relaxed poolside - watched the lizards scramble about (they were everywhere). At the end of the trip I splurged and stayed in a 5 star resort.

Back in Hong Kong now, and back to work.
Borneo will be my last big trip here, but I still hope to do a few quick ones - perhaps to Macau and maybe Singapore.

In China right now there are massive demonstrations against the Japanese. The protesters are mainly angry that Japan has re-written their WWII history textbooks which China claims is to omit parts of the Japanese war crimes against the Chinese. In China anything and everything Japanese is being targeted - from the embassy to Japanese department stores to signs with Japanese brands like Sony or Toshiba. Even Japanese cars are being vandalized.
Tension is also building between Japan and Korea, as they are both arguing over who owns a group of uninhabited islands. Koreans have

Sepilok Orang-Utan Centre

taken to the streets burning the Japanese flag and calling for a boycott of Japanese products. Lets just say the Japanese are not liked over here, particularly in this moment.

Well that's the update, I hope everything is good at home and let me know what you've been up too.
JIM

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