Philippines - Boracay!

I completed almost 2 months of travel, and while I loved every minute of it, traveling can be very exhausting. It's nice to sleep in a bed more than one night, to have your own space, to have clean clothes, to eat familiar foods. So arriving in the Philippines was a nice way to end my adventure, a way to relax and regroup. The Philippines is a really big place with lots of cool stuff to see, but I really wanted to be lazy, so we headed to Boracay, a tourist paradise with the most ridiculous beach and perfectly clear blue water. Boracay is a tiny island, so to get there you have to fly through Caticlan and take a boat over. I flew from Manila in a tiny propeller plane. The Caticlan airport has a tiny tiny runway, so when the plane landed they had to slam on the brakes in order to stop in time. I have never been afraid of flying, but this was pretty scary.
After taking the boat and two tricycles (a motorbike with a side car attached for passengers) we arrived at our hotel. It was a cute little place down a dirt path from the beach, each little bungalow with its own veranda out front.
There were some typhoons that had just passed over, and so it rained a lot. There were two rainy days, but most of the time it was sunny all day and then rained during the night. The path to my hotel flooded and they made this impromptu bridge to help cross.
The first day we relaxed on the beach and feasted. There were people selling all sorts of stuff, and Helen decided that it would be helpful to have 3 pairs of sunglasses.
That night we were a little more ambitious and went for a sunset cruise on a sailboat. We got to sit on the nets on either side of the boat.
There was amazing food on the island, pretty much anything you could dream of. I had Moroccan, Greek, American, all sorts of stuff. There was even a place called the Hobbit House where all of the servers had to be under a certain height. Not very pc, but still entertaining.
Most of the good restaurants were in a strip called d'mall. Classy, huh?
People made these sandcastles everyday, and for a few dollars they would write your name. The guy wrote our names and then proceeded to have a photo shoot with me in every different position around the castle.
There was a Filipino soap opera filming on the island the week I was there, and this had many people very excited as they crowded around to watch their favorite stars on the beach.
Boracay also had a really good night life with lots of chill bars serving good cheap drinks. One of the local beers is called Red Horse, and although it only costs about $1.50 it is 'extra strong' and a good value. Every night there were fire dance shows on the beach. They were really talented and did part of their dance in the water. Most of the dancers were lady boys, and the majority of the music came from the dream girls soundtrack.
Helen left me to head to China after a few days, and so once again I found myself alone. Before my trip started I was really nervous to travel alone, but it turned out to be pretty fun and exciting. It's so easy to meet people on the backpacker trail, and they are usually like minded people with interesting stories. I had met a Canadian couple in Siem Reap, and got to meet up with them again in Boracay. They also left early, but through them I met even more cool people who I hung out with the rest of the time. I really loved being able to get to know so many new people, but it was hard to have to constantly say goodbye to new friends.
There were a ton of vendors on the beach selling both fresh and salt water pearls. It took some bargaining to get good prices, and my friend Miriam had a team of about 6 vendors finding her the perfect pearls and the perfect price.

Malayis - KK again

After BSB we had a few days left in KK before it was time to jet out. KK itself isn't a very happening town, but it is close to a lot of nice stuff. Right off the coast is the Tunku Abdul Rahman park that consists of 5 islands surrounded by coral reefs that are perfect for snorkeling. We took a day trip to Sapi island, rented some snorkel gear and camped out in the sun.
Borneo is famous for mount Kinabalu, a 4,095 meter giant granite peak on the island. Climbing to the peak is a main attraction for a lot of visitors, but it has gotten quite expensive over the past few years, and we decided that we were ok skipping the trek. Instead we did some hiking around the base and still had some nice views of the mountain and surrounding area.
On our last day in Borneo we went to visit the hot springs near mount Kinabalu. They had individual tubs you could fill up with the spring water and then larger cold water pools to cool off in.

Brunei

Brunei is a tiny little country nestled in the northern coast of Borneo Malaysia. It is two little nuggets of land cut down from the coast surrounded on three sides by Malaysia and on one side by the South China Sea. It is one of the few sultanates remaining in the world today, meaning it is run by a Muslim king. Because of this there are very strict laws, for example no alcohol is allowed in the country, and littering is a serious offense with jail time as a possible consequence.
While the Sultan used to rule a large piece of land including all of Malaysia and the Philippines, it is now a tiny country with less than 400,000 people. It is oil rich and so the Sultan has tons of money, but the oil is supposed to run out in the next few decades. The capital of Brunei is Bandar Seri Begawan which is quite a mouthful. It is abbreviate to BSB, which every time I said made me want to break into Backstreet Boys songs.

Here is a shot of the Sultans palace from the river behind it.
Because of the strict Muslim rule, Brunei is a very orderly nation. It was almost strange because at times it felt really empty and way too quiet. The streets at 6pm felt like it was 4am, and there didn't seem to be too much of a social scene. Even the night market was very clean and calm, but there were some amazing foods and drinks. We went to a morning market that was also cleaner than I was used to and had some nice looking fresh food.

This guy was shaving out the insides of the coconut meat.

Brunei is a very expensive country in backpacker terms, so to make it affordable we stayed at what was kind of like a local YMCA. They had very strict boys and girls dorms, but it was cheap so we were happy.
The main sites in BSB include a few extravagant and gorgeous mosques, the palace and nearby park, and a museum dedicated to the life of the Sultan. It is a pretty small place, and you can see the main sites in about a day.
A large percentage of the population also live in a stilt village along the river. Here they have their homes, their schools, their mosques, their stores, really anything they need. We took a boat taxi on a tour of the village to see the houses.

Our driver

Stilt mosque

Stilt house

Apparently the Sultans little brother is not so responsible with his money and ended up spending tons on crazy extravagant things like million dollar houses and cars. He got in lots of trouble with his family and some signs of his impulse buys are still seen around the country.

Prince Jefri
Empire Hotel

Malaysia - Sandakan and Sepilok

From the jungle we took a shared car to Sandakan, a city on the very north east end of Borneo. This is a very small town with not much to do. We wandered around and saw the sites in a few hours, but more exciting than the tourist spots were the surprisingly nice and helpful people we met in this town. After traveling for so long I have a bias when I meet new people that they are going to want something from me, most often in the form of money. It sounds very jaded, but it is a true surprise when people are being genuinely helpful and just want to make sure you are ok. In this one day in Sandakan we were helped by many people. For example, Helen's computer had broken and we were wandering around a shopping area trying to find a place to get it fixed. A man saw us and asked what we needed. We were both tired and not acting overly friendly, but the guy offered to help us find a store. We thought he was just going to show us on a map where to go, but he ended up taking us to the bus stop, getting on the bus with us, buying our bus tickets, going 4 miles out of his way to find the store, walking us to the place, explaining in Malay to the guys at the store what we wanted, and then promptly leaving us once he saw we were ok and knew how to get back. Stuff like this happened a few times, and I was blown away by the hospitality of Borneo.

Very near Sandakan is the Sepilok Orangutan conservatory. This conservatory takes in abandoned and orphaned Orangutan and nurses them back to health. They teach them over time to survive in the wild and take small steps to reintroduce them to the forest. There is a nursery, and then a series of feeding platforms that go deeper and deeper into the jungle. The idea is that over time they will get more comfortable and be able to go off on their own. The first feeding platform is open for tourists to come watch, so at set feeding times you are able to get a close view of the animals. Orangutan literally means 'man of the jungle' in Malay, and these guys are so human like that it's kind of scary. While Orangutans used to be more widespread, they are now only found on Borneo and Sumatra (an Indonesian island), and are endangered.

The Orangutans seemed to know when the feeding was going to start, and one by one climbed closer to the platforms using ropes that were hung from the trees. They are more solitary animals so they kept to themselves, but some seemed to watch us just as much as we watched them.
Here you can see one guy eating on the platform. There were also a bunch of Macaques that tried to steal the leftover food but seemed terrified of the Orangutans.
Really cute Mom with her baby.
A few of the Orangutans came up right in front of the crowd and settled into this position. They then proceeded to poop right in front of us. I'm pretty sure they thought it was funny.
Some of the bigger Macaques can be kind of aggressive, and you aren't supposed to make eye contact with them. On the path back after the viewing one of the larger males got angry and almost attacked one of the people walking past. He showed his teeth (very sharp) and sat like he was going to pounce. As we were waiting for the bus another one was climbing on this guys car while the guy threw him food. Maybe not the smartest idea...

Borneo Homestay

If you are in Borneo I would 100% recommend doing a home stay with Osman. You can just call him to discuss the details and prices and he will help you find your way there. It is located on the Kinabatangan river just next to Sukau on the way to Sandakan.

His number is:

019 841 5259

Malaysia - Borneo Jungle

We hopped on the bus the next morning, and after a 6 hour ride the driver told us it was our stop. This was confusing as we were just pulled over at some random intersection along the road, but we climbed off the bus and grabbed our bags. Right away our new friend Osman found us and ushered us over to a car where an Irish couple was also waiting to come stay at his house. We took the car to the river, and then a boat to his house which was on stilts right up along the water. Osman, his wife, and his 6 kids live in this house making money any way they can. Osman was a very nice, optimistic, and ambitious man who had learned English on his own because he saw it as a way to make a better life for his kids.

Here is a shot of Osman's house. There was a nice porch out front facing the water and a big open room inside surrounded by the bedrooms. There was kind of running water - it ran out of 2 faucets into big buckets. To shower or to go the bathroom you had to use a smaller bucket and pour water over your head or into the toilet. In Malaysia and many other countries they don't use toilet paper, but instead give you a hose or a bucket of water near the toilet to clean off your bum. This is one custom I did not get used to and stuck to toilet paper.

We ate all our meals on the living room floor. They were all home cooked by Osman's wife and were all delicious.

Me and Helen and the whole family.

He had 6 kids running around, including the two youngest who were twins. They were not shy and full of energy. Meeting his children I learned that people are the same all over the world in one way - all 12 year old girls LOVE Justin Bieber

As the house was right on the river, we took a bunch of boat safaris through the jungle to spot wildlife. A few times we climbed off the boat to explore, but we actually could see the most right along the water.

On the first day, we were in the boat when Osman pulled to the side of the river. He climbed to the front of the boat and said 'OK girls, I'm going to bring a python down, don't freak out'. I barely had time to process this statement when he shook a tree and a snake fell right at my feet. Luckily it was only a baby and not TOO big.

Osman had no fear and scooped it right up. He was a really smart guy and had the right balance of knowledge and respect for the animals to show us things but not hurt us or them.

We took a walk through the forest and saw some really cool stuff. Like in the Taman Negara it was full of leeches and giant insects, but here we saw a lot more of the big mammals.

This is a large millipede (i think) that curled up in a ball when it saw us and was scared.

Another giant guy Osman said was safe to hold. It tickled a lot when he crawled across my hand.

Ant hill that looks like...?

Some Japanese researchers had found a monkey on the river bank that was half eaten by a crocodile so they built a bunch of bridges to allow the monkeys to safely cross the river.

These are prawn traps that fishermen leave through out the river. We stole a few for dinner shhhh!
Here is a monitor lizard hiding in the tree. He has a big notch out of his tail, probably from a fight with another lizard.

There were horn bills flying around everywhere. They were hard to see without the binoculars because they were so far away, but had stunning beaks.

Borneo is famous for the proboscis monkey, one that is found no where else in the world. The males have a giant pot belly and a giant red nose sticking out. Apparently the bigger the nose the more handsome they are to the woman, which is important as these guys live in harem groups with about 10 females each. In the mid afternoons they can be found lounging in the trees along the water.

The men are also known for a second large red appendage and like to sit showing it off to the world.

There were also a lot of macaques in the trees. This one has a little baby clinging to its belly.

Osman found an umbrella floating in the water and put it to use.

There were giant crocs sun bathing on the shore. I would guess the ones we saw were around 15 feet but Osman said he had seen some up to 25. While we were sitting on a the boat looking at them he decided it would be a perfect time to tell us a story about a boat that once got attacked by crocs on this very river. But usually they don't bother people. Thanks for that Osman.

While the jungle was beautiful and an amazing experience, I could also easily see the damage that humans have done, and the impact of our actions on this amazing place. Borneo is full of palm oil plantations and although this is good because it provides a lot of jobs, the palm trees have just taken over the land. You can see the line where the forest stops and the plantations begin and it's a very sad sight.

The jungle is also home to the pygmy elephant - a name that is misleading because they are still giants compared to us, but simply smaller than the African elephant. There is a herd of about 70 elephants that live near Osman's home, so one day we went out to find them. Unfortunately, the day before one of the elephants wandered onto a palm oil plantation and ate a plant that had been treated with pesticides. This killed the elephant, which is even more tragic considering how few are already left in the wild. When we came across the elephants they were in mourning for the death of their friend. They were stomping through the jungle knocking down trees and trumpeting their horns and crying. Osman said normally they are very quiet and peaceful animals but they were so upset.

Although it was really sad to think about the loss of this elephant, it was still really exciting to be so close to these animals. When we could hear the elephants we climbed out of the boat onto shore and up the river bank. The whole herd of elephants was walking past us only about 5-10 feet away. They were angry but for the most part ignored us and continued on our way. Osman advised us to stay close to the bank in case they got angry and ran towards us so we could run quickly down the steep hill to the boat. He warned that we should check for crocodiles before jumping down though, because they could be waiting in the water. We crouched in the bushes watching the elephants in awe for a while, ignoring the leeches climbing up our legs and the mosquitoes swarming our heads. All of a sudden one of the elephants noticed us and seemed a little agitated. Acting protective over his friends he started towards us while staring with a menacing look. We bolted down to the water, which was clear of crocodiles, and made a jump for the boat. As I was stepping through some mud to get in my boot sunk in almost all the way to my knee. I couldn't move my leg and freaked out while picturing both the angry elephant above and the crocs that were probably close under the water. With some help I was able to pull my leg out and returned to the safety of the boat.

My boots after being stuck in the mud.

After stalking the elephants Osman spotted an Orangutan in the trees and we climbed on shore to run after him. They are very shy animals so we only saw him from far away, but watched as he jumped from tree to tree. You can kind of see him in this picture, he is the orange-ish blob in the middle.

On the way back from the jungle we made one last stop at a giant bat cave. This cave is famous because it's the home of the birds who make the nest used in Chinese birds nest soup. The birds make a nest using their saliva and the Chinese believe it to have tons of health benefits. The nests are located very high in the caves, and it is a dangerous task to retrieve them. The workers string ropes from the ceiling to climb up and get the nests, and every year several people fall and die. This makes the birds nest one of the most expensive animal products that we eat, and so it is in high demand. Once they find nests in the caves, many workers will actually build houses to live in so that no one else can sneak past and steal their treasure. The cave is enormous, and when the birds are out during the day it is occupied by a ton of bats. This means the bottom of the cave is covered in bat poop which provides food for the millions of cockroaches that live on the bottom. When the poo falls from the roof they scurry up to eat it, and so if you spit on the ground they think it is food and will attack.

This is one of the houses built in the cave. I for one would not like to live among the roaches.

It's hard to see, but this is me standing on a mountain of bat poop covered in cock roaches. Thank god Osman let me borrow boots.
Some of the roaches living on the walls of the cave.