We had a week off from teaching due to Khmer New Year. We had planned this trip more than a year in advance due to a fabulous deal on plane tickets.
Borneo is a large island just southeast of Cambodia. Three different countries make up the island of Borneo: Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. We visited Kuching and Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia.
Here's a map of our travel route:
Kuching is the capital of Sarawak. The name Kuching is thought to derive from a word in Malay that means cat. There are numerous kitschy cat statues around town.
This is a fun city to walk around. There is a promenade that runs around the waterfront. One of the first things you notice is the large legislative building across the river.
Figuring out how to get around and see things yourself was a lot cheaper than going with a tour. We found a bus station and headed for a nearby orangutan sanctuary.
Okay, that's not the bus we took. Ours was more modern and air conditioned, but there were plenty of these around!
At the Semengoh Orangutan Rehab Center, these guys are slowly being introduced back into the wild.
Here comes a big fella.
They go through orangutan kindergarten and primary until they graduate and are ready to be released.
It's so entertaining to watch them climb and swing.
One of the things I really liked about Kuching is it's old colonial architecture, of which I have become a big fan.
This is the courthouse complex.
This building housed the textile museum.
Many shops had interesting shutters or doors on the upper level.
Other things to see around town include a few Chinese temples,
A pink and gold mosque,
and Jackie Chan strolling around the riverfront mingling with the locals.
Another day we went to Bako National Park. You had to take a boat to get there.
We didn't know it was a such a dangerous place...
Can you see the surprise underneath? We saw this little one on the way in, and on our way out we saw the behind end of a proboscis monkey.
We hiked through steamy jungles. There's a nice path here, but much of the trail was tangled roots.
Pitcher plants were everywhere along the trail.
Here's an enormous one!
And we have come to the end of the trail: a beach and the South China Sea awaits us.
They said no swimming because there were crocs, rays and jellyfish. But after a hot sweaty hike, who could resist? Definitely not us!
The shoreline was stunning from above.
The dip in the ocean made the hike back a little easier to bear under the hot equatorial sun.
On the bus ride home we made friends with some young rambunctious girls at one of the stops.
Of course we visited a local market while in Kuching. I love posting market pictures for the folks back home. This reminds me of synchronized swimming in a grotesque sort of way.
Lots of cookies at the baker's stall.
What a super smile. He's frying up fish fingers. Malaysians are so friendly and kind.
Layer cake is sold everywhere in Sarawak. We made sure we had a supply every morning to enjoy with our coffee. Mmm, I miss it already.
The city was full of cute little nooks and crannies.
One last sunset on the river before we headed up to Kota Kinabalu.
Our next stop was Kota Kinabalu in the Malaysian state of Sabah. I'm sad to say that we flew right over Brunei without stopping in for a visit. I would have loved to have seen the Sultan's palace.
One of the first things we did was go island hopping. There are several islands not very far off the main island.
I guess the boat drivers need some entertainment after doing this day after day. We had a boat race. Notice who's ahead...
The water was incredibly beautiful and teeming with fish.
Manukan was the first island we visited. Small and beautiful. This fish swim all around you and one even nibbled my fingers.
Sapi was my favorite island. To see and swim in water like this does something to your soul.
We walked around the island to find a more private stretch of beach...
..and came upon a monitor lizard (a smaller cousin to the Komodo.) I looked it up later and found out that they are only partially venomous. We didn't stick around to find out. The aquamarine waters were summoning us.
I was a bit toasty pink at the end of the day in spite of several applications of super-strength sunblock. I did the math at the end of the day:
white girl + equator = sunburn
white girl + equator = sunburn
This day we visited Mount Kinabalu, the highest peak in Boreo.
We didn't climb the peak ourselves, but hiked around the base,
and took some guided walks to learn about the local flora. We didn't see it on our trip, but Borneo is also home to the rafflesia flower, an enormous stinky flower. It can grow up to one meter across and smells like rotting flesh. Yummy.
This is the only picture of my travel buddy and I together.
The peak is shrouded in clouds. It was wondrously, gloriously cool up here.
The sunsets in Borneo were spectacular.
I really enjoyed Borneo. It was safe, clean and beautiful and Malaysians were so kind and friendly. Borneo is home to all kinds of unique flora and fauna, so if you're a nature enthusiast, it's a must for you. For me, island hopping was the highlight. That sea green water, aquamarine lagoons clear as crystal... mmm. Need I say more?
Teaching in southeast Asia definitely has it's benefits, and awesome travel destinations a short flight away is definitely one of them.
Next on the bucket list.... Vietnam, maybe Laos and at the very top.... the Maldives.
