River safari

Kinabatangan river

As if I didn’t have enough jungle already, I had to go even further. I thought that a boat ride on the Kinabatangan River might offer more opportunities to see wildlife. And I wasn’t disappointed. I was lucky with the weather as well because although it rains almost every day, I was able to go on all outdoor excursions that I booked without being caught in the rain.

I was excited to see many proboscis monkeys, native to Borneo. They're quite distinctive, orange in color with huge noses and what looks like beer bellies.

Proboscis monkey

We saw several species of hornbill birds.

Hornbill

The jungle was full of macaque monkeys. Here they are seen climbing cables that were actually raised for orangutans to cross the river tributaries as orangutans don't like to swim.

Macaque monkey peeing

Our boat escaped in the nick of time when a macaque monkey that was perched above us decided to pee.

And there just had to be another tourist related incident on the river cruise. We noticed a macaque monkey that was quite agitated and our guide explained that it's a dominant male protecting his family from the tourists. We moved further away so as not to agitate him further. Then a boat full of Chinese tourists navigated very close to the macaque and the tourists proceeded to taunt him. I couldn't believe that tourists would be so rude as to have fun with an animal that was already agitated. The macaque eventually backed off into the jungle. Isn't it sad that tourists who come to observe wildlife don't understand that they should behave like visitors in the jungle?

Chinese tourists taunting the macaque

Half-time

Beautifully made up bed in a dirty room

I can hardly believe I've been traveling for over three months already which marks my half-time. It seems both as if I've only started yesterday as well as like I've been on the road forever. I've fallen into a steady rhythm, going slowly, not trying to do too much too quickly but just enjoying the amazing places I discover.

I've stayed in various hotels/hostels/guesthouses/inns/lodges so far and some stories related to my accommodations have accumulated. I won't discuss how dirty the rooms are as we all know that Asia is dirty by default. Here are a few stories that stand out.

Bedbugs

I've encountered bedbugs only once. I can't say whether this is good in the sense that it happened only once or bad in the sense that it happened at all. They say that a bedbug bite doesn't kill you. This may be true as compared to mosquito bites that could give you malaria or dengue fever. But a bedbug bite itch is worse than anything I have ever experienced, it just goes on itching excessively for days. No more bedbugs, please.

Drugs

Many hotels display signs that drugs are not allowed. In Malaysia, being caught with illicit drugs carries the death penalty. In Laos, drugs are not allowed in hotel rooms but the managers remind travelers that if they must smoke something illegal, to please do it discreetly. In Cambodia, drugs are officially illegal as well, but are readily available, even advertised in the more touristy places. Police in Cambodia are so corrupt that they welcome the supplemental income of taking bribes for looking the other way when drugs are concerned.

Durian

No durian is allowed in hotel rooms or on public transport in most of southeast Asia. It's funny how a local guy commented: "When tourists come to southeast Asia, they say that durian smells bad. But what about French cheese?" Yes, he has a point.

Plastic bags

This one is my favorite. A sign in a dorm room said "No plastic bags allowed in dorm. Activities with plastic bags should be performed outside." I couldn't agree more. It's happened so many times, not only recently, but whenever I slept in shared bedrooms, there's always someone who gets up early and needs to pack and unpack and re-pack and rumble plastic bags to no end. I agree that activities with plastic bags in dorm rooms should be outlawed.

Showers

I found it hilarious when I read an online hotel review where a tourist complained about wet floors in bathrooms. What did they expect, don't they know that a shower in Asia means that a shower head is mounted above the toilet? Of course the floor is always wet as people shower in there. That's why everyone in Asia wears flip-flops.

Which brings me to the question: how can you tell the difference between an amateur and a professional Asia traveler? The pro knows from experience that toilet paper must be moved to a safe place before showering, otherwise it gets soggy.

Jungles of Borneo

Tropical retreat

"It's a jungle out there!" says a tourist brochure about Borneo. Yes, it is, I can attest to that. While I'm frustrated that the internet is so slow in the jungle, I should probably take a step back and consider the fact that there is internet at all in the jungle. I'm not that much of an internet junkie that I couldn't live without it for a few days, but there are travel reservations to be made. Unfortunately, Borneo is quite touristy and the last time I showed up without a prior reservation, I had to take the crappiest accommodation that was still available.

Boardwalk through a swamp

Being in the jungle means there is the rainforest all around me with almost daily rains, lush vegetation, abundant plant and animal species, plenty of insects, humid days but surprisingly cool and pleasant nights.

Wild orchid

With the help of guides on the couple of tours I took and visits to botanical gardens I learned to recognize a few of the many species of native plants, most notably ginger and wild orchids. There is such a variety of flowering plants that I can find someting in flower anywhere I look.

Ginger bloom

I love the taste of ginger and I'm glad that due to the abundance of ginger around here they use it in generous amounts in cooking. In one of the soups there were such large chunks of ginger that a fellow traveler thought it was potatoes. I found out that they also use chopped ginger blooms to flavor and garnish food.

Canopy walk

In addition to botanical gardens there are canopy walks through the upper layers of the forest, wooden walkways across marshes and bird watching towers.

Bird watching - this is the only bird I saw, an egret

I'm staying at what is called a tropical retreat. It's in the middle of the jungle, peaceful and relaxing.

Recycled woks serve as sinks at the tropical retreat

Orangutans learn to smoke

Orangutan

Orangutans live in the wild only in the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra. A visit to the orangutan rehabilitation center in Sepilok is therefore a must while I'm on Borneo.

Young orangutans are brought to the rehabilitation center as orphans due to losing their mothers to deforestation or because they were confiscated as illegal pets. Very young orangutans need care just like human babies. They have to be bottle-fed every four hours, bathed and cuddled. As they grow older, the rehabilitation center provides an education process that is very similar to a human kindergarten. They play together and learn how to climb. This is a crucial skill that they must learn before they can be reintroduced into the wild.

Orangutans come for the feeding

At the age of about five years they are gradually released into the jungle. This is the age at which they would have left their mother had they grown up in the wild. They can’t survive on their own yet as they must still learn how to find food and make nests in trees where they sleep. They learn these skills by observing other orangutans. Until they are fully self-sufficient they willingly return to the rehabilitation center to sleep in their cages. The center also feeds them twice daily and tourists are allowed to observe these feedings.

Orangutans go off after feeding

Although the tourists are warned to be quiet because the orangutans are shy and may not come to feed if there is too much noise, this was not the case. Many tourists ignored the signs and yakked away incessantly. And the orangutans are oblivious to the hordes of tourists with their cameras snapping away. Because the orangutans grew up in captivity, they probably believe that groups of tourists twice daily at feeding times are a normal element of the jungle.

Eating pose

In addition to orangutans, the jungle hosts many other wild animals, including macaque monkeys. They are not only accustomed to tourists, this fellow knew I was taking his photo and he posed for me:

Macaque

The macaque monkeys also came to the feeding platform, but it was obvious who is master of the jungle. The macaques were tolerated to approach only after the orangutans ate and even then an orangutan brutally smacked a macaque who dared come too close.

Macaques approach after the orangutans are fed

As with any close encounter with monkeys/apes, tourists are warned not to touch them, not to allow them access to food or their belongings. There are free lockers at the entrance to store stuff where I gladly left my daypack, going into the jungle with only my camera, holding it tightly and closely so it wouldn’t be grabbed by a monkey or ape. And as usual in large groups of tourists, there are always those who refuse to obey instructions.

An orangutan examines a tourist's pockets

A woman allowed an orangutan to examine her pockets although she should have moved away. A guard was on hand to remind her to keep moving but she just stood there, finding it amusing. The orangutan found and took her cigarettes and lighter. Another orangutan joined him in examining the loot while the guard was upset, explaining that is why the tourists are asked to keep a distance from the animals. He went to fetch the ranger who would take care of the situation. In the meantime, the two orangutans examined the cigarettes, tried chewing them and upon discovering they were inedible, abandoned them.

Orangutans with cigarettes

Then they focused their attention on the lighter. Now it wasn’t funny anymore, what if they succeeded in lighting it? They weren’t able to light it but for lack of any better ideas, one of them bit it. Finally the ranger arrived and the orangutans immediately recognized him, handed him the two pieces of the broken lighter and went back over the fence into the jungle. It ended well although the ranger was concerned whether they had swallowed any of the lighter fluid but apparently they didn’t.

Orangutans playing with fire

All’s well that ends well. But tourists will always be tourists and there are always those who ignore instructions and thus put themselves and others in danger.

On the summit of Mount Kinabalu

On the summit of Mount Kinabalu

According to some sources, Mount Kinabalu is the highest peak of southeast Asia. Actually, it isn’t. The highest peak of southeast Asia is the 5881 m high Hkakabo Razi in Myanmar, but because it’s part of the Himalayas, some don’t count it as southeast Asian. There are also a few Indonesian peaks that are higher than Mount Kinabalu. Whatever. I didn’t climb Mount Kinabalu because it’s the highest peak of anything (although it is both the highest peak in Malaysia and the highest peak on Borneo). I did it for the same reason I climb any other mountain: because it’s there.

Our team, ready to start the climb

The number of climbers that can access Mount Kinabalu per day is strictly limited and enforced through many permit checks. It's mandatory to pay all sorts of fees and to hire a guide as well as to have a reservation to spend the night at the Laban Rata mountain hut in order to be issued a permit. The permit is printed on plastic with the climber’s name and the date and must be worn at all times. Guidebooks warn that reservations should be made months in advance so I wasn’t sure if I would be able to get a permit on short notice. But it turns out that due to the high cost of the climb it isn’t completely sold out every day. I was thrilled that I was able to get a permit and do the climb!

Porters carry goods to the Laban Rata mountain hut

A guide is assigned for every four climbers at the start of the climb at Kinabalu National Park. The track is well maintained and signposted and there are many rest stops with flushing toilets along the way. We frequently passed porters who carry stuff to and from the Laban Rata mountain hut. Surprisingly, women serve as porters as well as men. We were told that it is a matter of pride to be a porter on Mount Kinabalu and that is why they haven’t arranged other means of transporting goods.

The trail on Mount Kinabalu

Before the climb we were also instructed that guides are provided for our safety only but they do not speak English and do not have to give information about the many interesting species of plants and animals, especially squirrels and birds. Our guide did speak a few words of English and he did answer questions about plants, such as:

“What plant is this?”

“Yes.”

“Is it a raspberry?”

“Yes.”

“Can we eat it?”

“Yes.”

“Is it poisonous?”

“Yes.”

We should have obeyed instructions not to ask. (I later Googled that it was indeed a raspberry plant that we saw and that it is edible.)

Higher up on the mountain

We spent the night at the Laban Rata mountain hut and continued again at 2:30 in the morning in order to reach the summit at sunrise. They certainly take their permit checks seriously as there was a checkpoint hut about one hour up and someone was there in the middle of the night to check each and every climber and record their permit number.

Fog below the summit of Mount Kinabalu

The air was thin as we neared 4000 m altitude but it wasn’t really cold, in fact, I went about half way in short sleeves and only put on my jackets and sweaters and gloves near the summit where the temperatures dropped and the wind started blowing. Since I walked faster than our guide anticipated, I was at the summit about half hour before sunrise when it was still dark. I squeezed into a crevice between two large rocks and waited for the sun to rise. Which never happened because it was completely foggy. While we were lucky with the weather in that it didn’t rain (they told us it could rain any day of the year, there is no dry season or wet season on Borneo), we unfortunately didn’t get to see the sunrise. It started clearing up on our way down and we were rewarded with some views after all.

Ragged peaks on Mount Kinabalu

A hint of a sunrise

Fighting for a seat on local transport (again)

Boarding an Air Asia flight

Once again (as on my trip from Laos to Cambodia) I found myself in the situation where I had to fight for a seat with a Chinese woman on local transport. How does this happen?

Malaysia is the most developed country I visited on my trip so far. This means that local transport is not by a rickety old bus, but with Air Asia, the low cost airline. I know well enough how low cost airlines work: the only thing they give you for the price of the ticket is the seat. (Which is good, considering that I recently came across an article where the owner of the low cost airline Ryanair proposes standing room on flights.) I had to pay extra for checked baggage because I have my large backpack which can't go as carry-on. I also decided to pay an extra fee so that I could reserve a window seat to have a view of Borneo where I was going.

When boarding my flight I noticed that all of us tourists took regulations seriously, that is we had just one carry-on bag that is allowed. The local people, on the other hand, looked like they were boarding a bus: they carried plastic bags and tote bags and cardboard boxes and armfuls of stuff. So no one really enforces the one bag rule, good to know for next time. I saw that the local woman in front of me carried plastic bags full of bread rolls. I'll probably never understand why she had to transport so many bread rolls on a flight. Don't they have bread on Borneo?

On the airplane, one of the local Chinese-Malay women was sitting in the middle seat next to my pre-booked window seat. Her friend, the woman with the bread rolls, was in the middle seat across the aisle. And the women wanted me to exchange my precious window seat with the other middle seat so that they could sit together. I shook my head no, but they insisted, trying to explain in gestures that they are traveling together.

As I don't speak Chinese and they didn't speak English, I gave them a look that tried to convey "Hey, lady, I paid an extra fee so that I could have that seat and if you think you and your bread roll transporting friend can get me to give it up for you, you are seriously mistaken!"

They got the message. And I got my seat. And my view.

Approaching the Kota Kinabalu airport on Borneo

Carnivorous plants on Penang Hill

Nepenthes albomarginata, native of Penang

The Penang Botanic Garden is nothing spectacular. It's more or less a public park that offers nice picnic spots and photo opportunities for wedding parties. But there are real botanical marvels nearby, they're just very well hidden. Reaching them involves two hours of hiking up Penang Hill and a 15 minute walk further along the ridge. There lies the Monkey Cup Garden that specializes in carnivorous plants, specifically those from the genus Nepenthes, also called monkey cups. For the less hiking obsessed, the garden can also be reached via funicular railway and a short ride on a golf cart.

View from Penang Hill

The enthusiastic guide at the garden showed me all the different species of these fascinating plants, gathered from all over the world, many of them from southeast Asia, and some from as far away as South America. Some are small and some are large, in fact, according to the guide, the largest ones can trap small mammals such as rats. Some have lids that close after they trap their prey and some remain open, for the rain to dilute the enzymes. Some grow on the ground and some form vines that twine their way up high. Common to all is that they employ various mechanisms to trap insects and other small animals so that they eventually digest them.

Here is a photo gallery of a few of the many varieties of these plants.