Blogs from Bako National Park, Sarawak, Malaysia, Asia - page 4

We arrive in Borneo at 8pm - very exciting! and hook up with oddbod Jerry - a fruit obsessed American from deepest bible-belt land, to share a cab into the centre of Kuching. Takes a while to find a cheapish place here, and we settle for hip and friendly Singasana Lodge, before heading out for our first Nasi Lamak, fried banana and sweet potato fritters at one of the waterfront stalls (we return to this place, run by a woman and her 2 teenage sons, time and time again and chat a lot with them!). We see some giant wildlife straight away - snails and moths! L fools M into thinking one of the many kitch cat statues is The Cat of Kuching (Kuching = Cat City) to avoid traipsing around all evening (!) and we ... read more

Returned to Miri from Bario on the 22nd August and went back to stay at the Highlands. Think Joel and I are now Johanne's (the lady who runs the hostel) favorite people. Most people she hardly speaks to but she treated us to takeaway and let us drink her black market alcohol!! Had a really good night drinking illegal alcohol and watching illegaly copied dvds!!! On sat Johanne got on of her friends to take Joel to the airport and me to the bus station. We went seperate ways for the week because he had had enough of the jungle and the trekking!! I had decided that I would take the night bus down the coast to Sibu (8hrs) and then take the ferry from Sibu to Kuching (4hrs). There was a night bus that went ... read more

Beste blogbezoekers, het is alweer ruim een maand geleden dat we elkaar nog eens tegenkwamen op dit kruispunt der virtuele snelwegen. Hoog tijd om jullie op de hoogte te brengen van wat we in die tijd zoal uitvraten. Een relatief korte busrit (5 uurtjes) bracht ons van Vang Vieng (alwaar de laatste blogpost eindigde) naar de hoofdstad van Laos, Vientiane. Wetende dat het onze laatste stop in Laos was deden we ons meermaal daags tegoed aan sticky rice, de landelijke specialiteit, bestaande uit zeer kleverige rijst en lekkere currietjes, meestal gegeten met de handen. Een gehuurd brommertje bracht ons naar het compleet bizarre buddha park, waar de meest vreemde boeddhabeelden en rikwisieten in een eclectisch allegaartje bijeen waren gebracht door een goed bemiddelde fanaticus. Beelden gaande van enkele decimeteres tot meters hoge giganten maakten van het ... read more

Since I last wrote ALOT has happened. I shouldn't be at an internet cafe. I'm back at the place that smells like prawns and cat. But it goes something like this... After a beautiful reflective day spent playing with children at the Iban peoples jungle longhouse I felt peaceful. We stayed up soaking it all in. I was surrounded by inspiring faces. I slept below a mozzie net on the floor listening to cicadas. But after a late eve tasting the local rice wine the relentless chorus of crowing that woke me before day break was unappreciated to say the least :). Don't their bloody throats get sore? I questioned my vegetarian spirituality in regard to roosters. Combined with arresting chilli gut cramps (yes I just can't stop tasting it!) not a brilliant start to the ... read more

Sarawak. It was another one of those exotic sounding places that you almost felt compelled to visit - simply for the name alone. We knew too, that it would give us a perverse sense of satisfaction to be able to say that we had visited Sarawak and see the look of puzzlement cross people’s faces. “Sarawak”, they would say, “Where’s that?” Most people have heard of Borneo of course, and probably have pre-conceived ideas of what it is like; dense jungles, head hunting tribes, weird and wonderful wildlife. Far fewer people however, actually know where it is, or that it is carved up between three separate countries. Lying almost at the heart of South East Asia, Borneo is laterally dissected by the Equator and is stickily hot and humid all year round. Two thirds of this ... read more