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.

Malaysia - Arriving in KK

Quick geography lesson: Malaysia is split up into two sections, peninsular Malaysia and Borneo Malaysia. The peninsular part (where KL is) sticks out just south of Thailand. Borneo is an island to the east. The southern part of the island is Indonesia, and the top half is Malaysia. The biggest city in Borneo Malaysia is Kota Kinabalu (or KK), so we flew from KL to KK. We spent a day at the beach and then decided to head right back into the jungle for some more adventure. One of Helens friends had done a home stay in the jungle, and gave the guy rave reviews and so we decided to do the same. All we had was a name and a number, so when we got to our hostel in KK we gave Osman a call. As soon as I spoke to him he sounded very excited and told us we could arrive the next day. He spoke to the guy at our hostel and the two of them arranged a bus and the details of our trip.

Some bathroom advice from the KK airport

Cool hermit crabs at the beach in KK

Rocking my Taiwanese fashion

Malaysia - Taman Negara

After spending time in the orderly streets of Singapore and my stomach recovered from Kuala Lumpur, we were excited to escape from the cities and venture up to the jungles of the Taman Negara. We traveled by bus to Jerantut a small little town with not much except a few shops, a post office, and the compulsory KFC, and then went by boat up the river into the jungle. We still had a while left before we had to fly out to Borneo and the plan was to spend a few days in the jungle and then head off to see a little more of peninsular Malaysia. But the jungle sucked us in and we both fell in love with the area and never wanted to leave. We ended up spending the rest of our trip in a little hostel on the river. The place didn't have hot water or a solid structure, but what it lacked in stability it made up for in character. The guy who owned the place was the most laid back guy I've ever met - not concerned about money or rules and was often found painting in his room late into the night.

The base for the jungle is a little town called Kuala Tahan that is set right on the river across from the national park. Along the water are a whole group of floating restaurants (they have to float because during the rainy season the water level goes up so high that they would be covered) where you can eat, book tours, find guides, and get water taxis across into the park.

The boat on the ride into Kuala Tahan

Water buffalo on the side of the river

On our first day after lunch we took a taxi into the park to check out the scene and get a feel for how we wanted to spend our trip. The guy driving us across offered to take us on a tour that afternoon and offered a price lower than all of the package companies. We decided to take the chance and see what he had to offer, and set off on an afternoon down the river. First we went to visit a local native tribe called the Organ Asli (literally 'original people'). These tribes are the descendants of the first people to settle peninsular Malaysia, and are the only people allowed to live within the park ground and use the trees and animals for their survival. They hunt using poisoned bow darts and live a nomadic life living in huts. When a member of the tribe dies they abandon their huts and move to a new settlement. On our visit they showed us how they traditional start fire and how to make and use blow darts.

Learning how to start a fire

They had a pet giant squirrel. This guy is the baby, and right after this picture our guide put him on my shoulders and he crawled across my back.

One of the huts they live in

I never hunt deer in Pennsylvania, but I thought I'd give the blow darts a try

And I almost caught a bear!

On the way back from the settlement we stopped a really cool rope swing and went for a swim in the river. Our guide was a young guy of about 20 and while we were there all of his friends came from the town to play on the swing. We ended up staying for a few hours, watching playing in the water and relaxing on the shore.

By hiring our own little guide we were able to do what we wanted and decided that this was probably the way to go for the rest of the trip. As it is the low tourist season we were able to get pretty good prices to do everything we wanted. That night we decided to go on a walking night safari, and we hired the guys father as our new guide. He went by 'Freeman' and was a smart old man with eyes full of the mischief of a small boy. As we walked through the jungle listening to the night sounds he pointed out different insects and plants teaching us so much along the way. He knew everything from what baby termites eat to what plants are currently being used for AIDS research. He had an amazing knowledge and appreciation of the jungle, and his excitement was infectious.

Because we really liked the night walk we decided to do an overnight in the jungle the following day. We walked 4 hours into the jungle to an open air pavilion that was an old fishing hut on the river. On our trek we saw lots of animals including a water monitor, a family of otters playing in the water, loads of monkeys, and a wild boar. We arrived in the evening and went for a good swim in the river and then went back up to set up camp. I have a deep love for hammocks, and in Cambodia on an impulse I decided to buy one. I thought it was going to be useless and a waste of space in my bag, but Freeman told me I could spend the night in the jungle in my hammock, which was probably the highlight of my trip. At night he cooked us chicken curry and rice and we sat talking and listening to the crazy sounds of the jungle. In the morning we could hear the gibbons call as we went for one last swim before packing up camp and heading down to meet the boat that would take us back to Kuala Tahan.

Loving my beautiful red hammock

The monkeys can be cheeky here too

Cool mushrooms on the trees

The insects were GIANT. This centipede was almost as big as my giant sized foot.

And GIANT trees...

The park also has a bat cave that you can climb through, but unfortunately just before we came a rock fell near the entrance and they were closed to the public. Freeman seemed to think this was silly and that we could still go in, so we decided to go and check it out. We climbed past the taped off entrance and shinning our lights ahead crawled into the tiny caves. The caves were COVERED in bat poop, which was probably worse than normal because no one had gone through them in a while. We crouched and crawled through the caves sliding through the poo and coming face to face with the blind pig nosed claw fingered beasts that called the place home.

Crawling over the taped off entrance to get into the caves

Bats EVERYWHERE

That's not dirt, it's bat poop. I hope I don't get Ebola.

There is also a long canopy walk way that connects through the tree tops where you can get a cool view from up above.

I don't like things that suck my blood, be it mosquitos, nurses, or leeches, and the jungles of Malaysia have really tested my nerve. Although I had been warned about the mosquitos I didn't have a big problem with them, but what really got me was the leeches. On our first walk through the jungle I saw what I thought was a cute little inch worm and stopped to pick up the leaf and check it out. Our guide quickly informed me that what I originally thought was cute was the little monster that wanted to eat me. They sit on the ground and leaves sticking out their heads like a submarine periscope looking around for fresh meat to feed on. When they find you they latch on and inch up until they find a spot they like, and sink their teeth in. We had been warned to wear long pants, but actaully found it was better to wear shorts because then you could feel them crawling up your legs. Most of the time I caught them, but ocassionally they had a meal before I ripped them off my body.