Let me start by saying this. Borneo is an island, shared by three nations: Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia. The Malaysian Borneo is comprised of two states, Sabah and Sarawak. Within Sabah is the capital city of Kota Kinabalu or KK, with over 450,000 people. This is where my Borneo adventure takes place. I preface this here because it took me a few days to grasp the geography of this visit.

The sun sets early, but in glorious fashion.

I arrived Monday evening from Hong Kong, after my first Malaysian Air experience (will save the innuendo and review for another time) into KK. Two things struck me immedietly. First, ok wow this place looks amazing on the flight in and second why is the sun setting at 6:30? On the subsequent drive to the hotel, I was presented with a mix of a well structured city, tropical paradise, cultural melting pot, and a lot of cars (gas and cars are cheep so EVERYONE drives). The cultural and ethnic mix is obvious everywhere, and population growth (400% since 1970) spurred by rapid immigration has increased the diversity and broadened the feel. I digress, but this lesson in ethno-geographic relationship was very evident, and very much a part of the experience of KK and Borneo in the food, the people, the surroundings, and the mix of ideals.

Felix and the mangrove forests. Rude of me to only have a picture of him from behind. Sorry Felix.

On Tuesday my itinerary started with a rainforest hike on Gaya Island, the largest of five off the coast of KK. Eco Tourism is huge here. A massively bio-diverse island, Boreno boast not only the assets of an incredible ecosystem, but the wherewithal to promote and conserve them; challenged only by some of the cultural nuances aformentioned in people who are not native to this land and do not share the same detication to its preservation. On Gaya my guide Felix and I spent a few hours working a hike through the tropical rain forest about 3km which showed some great examples of plant an animal life as well as many lessons learned ranging from pharmacological impacts to erosion control to punk rock and reviewing Felix's favorites (Blink 182, Green Day, etc).

We wrapped up the afternoon taking in lunch, another small hike and some beach time on neighboring Manukan Island which was a bit of a tourist trap, but they had cheep beers, and you cant beat the view. Despite the Monitor lizards threatening my beach domain, it was a relaxing afternoon.

Durian with Ipus for scale (left); Breadfruit (top); Rambutan (bottom)

Wednesday was the cultural day, and despite not being super thrilled about the itinerary item initially, actually was an interesting day. The day started with a drive and a stop at a market/stall/parking lot to kill some time before the tour in which Felix and our driver Ipus gave me a tour of the exotic fruit scene. Really cool experience getting to try breadfruit, durian and rambutan. Quick sysopsis: breadfruit: crazy structure, tastes like sweetened condensed coconut milk; durian: tastes like expired almond butter mixed with mango and garlic. Was expecting much worse, totally unique taste I can see how some love it and most hate it; and rambutan which was interesting to consume and very much like lychee.

Indoor trampoline hut traditional dance demostration

After the fruit tour I spent a few hours at the Mari Mari Cultural Center which felt a lot like a field trip in my younger days, but with better activities (rice wine) and more diverse tour group (Italian family and Chineese family elected me group leader). Mari Mari was a fairly interesting cultural recreation of the tribal heritage of the Malay, complete with rice wine making, headhunters, food demostrations, cultural dance and even a trampline house made out of bamboo. Now listen, was this cheesy and a bit verbose for the heat and content, yes, but I did enjoy it, and I feel a lot better coming out of this trip with a bit more time spent on people and the environment as I know a few family members would be proud of me for that.

Thursday I got the opportunity to relax and explore the Nature Preserve on location at the resort which has a variety of aminals, including the Orangutan, the largest tree climbing animal in the world. With only 22,000 left in Borneo, the Orangutan is severly endangered. Overall a great chance to see this awesome species and learn a bit about conservation efforts here despite some afternoon rain which hampered photo efforts.

So after a few days in Borneo I feel much more adjusted, with a chance not only to relax, enjoy the pool and enjoy the beach, but learn a lot in the process and take in all the diversity here. The mix of cultures and the mix of enviroments here is super diverse and made for a really well rounded few days relaxing a lot and learning even more.

Friday brings a pre dawn departure to Cambodia.