And then I had arrived at my evil master scheme. The whole two months of my voyage I was trying to squeeze a day out of this trek or pinch a couple from that country. All this balanced, of course, with my inalienable knack for distraction, for enlisting in unplanned adventures like the retreat or 4000 islands, or just for following randomly made travel companions to their destinations. But finally, I collected 5 extra nights on my voyage that I was dreaming of depositing in the Malaysian Borneo. My goal: to climb Kota Kinabalu - at over 2 miles high, I'm told it's the world's tallest mountain you can climb without needing professional equipment. So I flew into "KK", as the same-named city at the base of the mountain is referred to. The next morning, calling from the hostel to check the logistics of climbing KK, an Indian journalist, Aditi, overheard me and asked for the details. After I explained, she said it sounded interesting but a bit expensive - I understood immediately that she was my kind of person! She proposed this jungle lodge off the Kinabantan river. So in an instant I had scrapped the goal I'd been greedily collecting days for to go look at monkeys with her. Borneo's the only place in the world where you can find the goofy looking probiscus monkeys. They live in two groups: the haremwhere an alpha male takes care of his wives and their kids unlill the boys turn three or so, and the Batchelor packs, where three or four unwed males hang out till they get strong enough to fight an alpha male forhiswives. Unfortunately, the only camera I have left is this tablet and the zoom isn't that great but Aditi promised to dropbox me her photos which I hope to upload soon. We also saw crocs, snakes, other monkeys, kingfishers and the gorgeous rhinocerous hornbill.
Oh yeah, and the endangered Pygmy elephants!
These are majestic, playful creatures roaming the banks making all sorts of noise and having fun. But they also screwed up our plans as we couldn't take any nature hikes with the big oafs around. One had killed an Austrailian tourist a few years back. Instead we went on a lot more boat rides.
I was a upset because I loved the jungle hikes in the Amazon, but in retrospect the elephants are a much more rare sight than most things I would have seen in the forest so I should be grateful. Aditi was one of the more interesting (if opinionated) conversationalists Ive met over these couole months. We discussed life in India, racial tendencies, gender inequality, and political structures over the world. She's moving to NYC for her 5th masters - creative writing. I hope to visit sometime next year as Keroauc's inspired me to give NYC another chance. She's easily the most traveled person I've met so far. And oh yeah, she likes beer as much as me! Speaking of booz, I took a chance on some Borneo wine. Read the ingredients list and alcohol content!
Wine it is certainly not! But if you could imagine cough syrup cut with ethenol you'd get half the flavor of that swill. But after a couple nights in the jungle, we finally made it to KK! Aditi's unrivaled negotiating skills brought us to a nice lodge at the foot of the mountain. We took a decent hike yesterday and had every intention of climbing to a minor peak this morning but the snooz button got the better of us... oh well.
I'm well rested and at peace with the fact that I'll have to wander my way back to the Borneo someday.
I forgot to mention that I spent a bit of time the first morning at the Sabah State museum where I learned some ineresting history about Sabah, the very unique Bornean state where KK is located. It's changed hands from Brunei to the English, American, Dutch before finally submitting to Malaysia - with very specific state exclusions. I also learned about the headhunters that live here. Wehavenothing to be afraid of. The headhunting is mostly for blood feuds and to impress women, so they'd have no need for a caucasian skull!
And now I find myself at the very impressive Singapore airport waiting to meet the one and only Jeanette Ling! I can't wait for the whirlwind of adventure that awaits us! I think Jonas and Shirin from Laos will be in Singapore the same time we're here so it should be a fun reunion. Till next time, thanks for reading!
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