Paradise and more

Borneo has been on my ‘to-visit’ list for a long time and also Gerald was really looking forward to actually go to the jungle. We had great expectations of the island Borneo that contains parts of three countries; Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia. We did not plan much, we only knew where we wanted to go and that works for us. Some people plan this trip at least 6 months ahead since some attractions like climbing mount Kinabalu has a long waiting list. But climbing a mountain with a 2 year old I guess is a bit much. We were in Kuala Lumpur to catch our breath for a couple days and then took a flight to Kuching.
Kuching or cat city is the largest city in this province of Malaysia. The flight is not that long and we are looking forward to so much green. When we fly over the island it is really green, lots of trees and jungle but when you land it is just like any other city. They even have starbucks!
We have read online that there are several national parks here that are worth a visit but if you would like to do some hiking on your own, without a guide then Bako national park is the place to go. After relaxing for a couple days we decide to stay overnight in the park to get a real experience of the jungle with all the sounds of the wildlife especially in the morning and the pitch black nights filled with weird noises from animals I didn’t even knew existed.
To get to Bako you have to take a hour bus ride followed by a 20 minute boat ride. When you get on the boat you have signs for crocodiles.. not my favorite animal so no hands in the water for T. (he likes to feel the water when we drive) The boat takes us thru a fishing village and a stretch of suprisingly dirty and polluted water, plastic bags, bottles, Styrofoam but once we get closer to the park the evidence of humans is getting smaller and smaller. We arrive at a deserted beach which has lots of little crabs, Taylor now knows (thanks to a woman in Thailand) how to dig them out and let them walk on your hand which is pretty cute. Our hut is right on the edge of the jungle and overlooks the sea, it has a bed, fan and a cold shower. We go out on a hike (after writing our names in the official hiking log so they don`t lose you) which is not that long in length but when you start walking it, up and down, humidity 99% it takes a lot out of you. Gerald has Taylor in the backpack and always has a good pace. The trail walks you thru the jungle with different trees that have every color range of green and different insects. The hike ends at a deserted beach.. Amazing, that feeling of being alone (while Taylor yells WILSON!, I love the movie cast away with Tom Hanks) it is just what we wanted.
Next morning we get up after a not so good night sleep (less than posh accommodation in these jungles), and have breakfast. The signs at the breakfast lounge say; Beware of Macaques. I don’t see them anywhere though.. I just got a muffin, eggs and a banana and forgot that I missed tea; guess what was missing after I came back… Right, the banana and the muffin! The monkey came to our table while Gerald and Taylor are having breakfast and stole my food…right in front of them! Damn those monkeys! It looked pretty happy with the food though :)
Today we do two more hikes but even after one we realize that it takes a lot of energy, going up is easy but going down our legs get wobbly. In Bako national park there are also lots of proboscis monkeys (the ones with the big nose) and they are really close too. Just sitting there while everyone is taking pictures of them it made me think; are we watching monkeys, or are they?
We rest a bit and put Taylor down for a nap. Our boat leaves early because of the tide but the time we had here in the park was really awesome!
We go back to Kuching for 2 days and take a flight to Miri where we found a waterpark/resort in the jungle. That must be a lot of fun for Taylor, and us! :) The flight was in a very small plane with only 20 passengers, I guess not that many people come here. The resort was 30 minutes outside the ‘city’ and yes it was in the middle of the jungle. We had to drive thru palm oil plantations (which Malaysia has a lot!) to reach the resort which is really big. They had 100 rooms and had so much land surrounding it, it had a farm, orchards, a river, a waterfall, jungle and a waterpark. The silly thing was; we were the only guests. It was really weird, we had the whole place to ourselves, the served us dinner where ever we wanted and whatever we wanted (local food only) with so many different dishes it was like thanksgiving dinner. We did a tour in the resort and after that spend the rest of our time in the waterpark on the slides! Fun!
After being in Miri we decided to go to the country of Brunei overland. It is a really small, very rich oil state with 75% jungle. We had booked 3 nights in the capital Bandar Seri Begawan. We heard that there is not much to do in Brunei but we just wanted to see for ourselves, well there was really nothing to do. The top 3 visiting places there are, the mosque, the mall and Jerudong park which used to be very nice but now is falling apart. We spend our time again at the pool and in the mall where they had a nice play area for Taylor. Sometimes it feels like we are only traveling from play area to play area, not true of course, but still. Brunei might be ready for tourists but not for us :) so we were happy to fly out of there with our new passport stamps and go to Kota Kinabalu. This is the 2nd big city in Borneo and is named after mount Kinabalu the highest mountain in south east Asia. We had found a place online that had reasonable prices for 2 bedroom apartments and booked this for 3 nights.
We ended up staying 4 weeks! It was really nice to have a ‘home’ and to look outside and see the green hills in the distance and if the wind was in the right direction you could hear the call for prayer. The trick was, it was part of a mall! Yes a mall! 2 high towers with each 25 floors and a super large mall. We made it possible for Gerald to write while Taylor and I were hanging out at the pool, going for a walk, food shopping or going to the indoor play area that also this mall has :) We found ourselves very comfortable and even forgot that we actually had to see stuff! After 3 week we made a plan for the last week to make 3 day trips. The first one was to the Lan kawi wild life park which had endangered species like the Orangutans and proboscis monkeys. Taylor loves them all and thought it was really cool to see the elephants play with water and the birds that actually talk to you. Funny we came to Borneo to see animals in a zoo? Well it was not what we wanted but the world is changing at such a rapid rate and the rain forest is getting smaller and smaller that it is just not that easy to see these animals in the wild. The real wild life in this part of Borneo is a very long trek into the jungle that would last a couple days, I don’t think Taylor would think that fits under the category of fun….so, for now, the zoo will have to do:)
The second daytrip was really cool. We booked a journey back in time. When the British ruled they build a railway in the late 1800’s. Since then the local train station has been refurbished and also the entire steam train and restore it’s original route up the coast into the small towns and villages. We got to see the engine close up, here the porter yell ‘All Aboard!’ and have tea and muffins as the journey back in time steamed off into the jungle. All the little children in makeshift homes along the route stood by the tracks and waved to us. We got a chance to stop in small villages and look at local arts and crafts. Then back on board for a nice lunch and cruise back to the station. Taylor absolutely loved the train and train ride and smiled and waved at all the little kids along the way.
Our third daytrip was to go see the canopy walkway which was 400 meters long and almost 21 meters high. It was in the jungle and you had a great view from being up in the trees. The walkway was a bit shaky but Gerald and Taylor were not scared at all. And then there was me.. I was never afraid of heights so why am I now? I was fine the first 100 meter but then I just wanted to go to the end, scary :) ow well I did it, we did it! After the walkway we saw the hot springs and went to mount Kinabalu for a tour thru the botanical garden but within minutes of getting there it started to pour down rain. Yes it is still the rain forest but we did not have any raincoats. I guess it was time to go home!
One of the reasons we came to Borneo was to see orangutans and we flew out of Kuching without seeing them in a close by rehabilitation center. You would think, or maybe you would hope you would see them just hanging out in the jungle when you go hiking but especially here in Borneo you see big changes and the impact of humans. Jungle has become a stand in the way for new structures that are high and modern. The wild life is now in rehabilitation centers because of captivity or lack of space. The population is growing and so is the need for more.
But..
We did really wanted to see the orangutans so we decide to fly back to Kuching to see them up close or at least close enough.
We went to Semengoh national park which is part of a jungle where a couple of these awesome monkeys live. They are fed twice a day so they are a little dependent on humans but they can roam around freely and have enough space. It was great to see them in their ‘natural’ habitat. Taylor hopefully learned from the experience that monkeys live in a forest or jungle and not in a zoo.
We did learn from our trip and especially from being in Borneo that we have to cherish all the nature we have and we should reduce our waste and stop being ignorant. So all I can ask you to do is don`t use plastic bags and if you do, reuse and recycle them. And this is exactly what I will ask of you.