Hello Borneo!

An evening view of the waterfront in Kuching

Our trip across the northern part of Borneo started in the city of Kuching in the Malaysian state Sarawak. With images of Borneo in mind we were quite surprised by Kuching as its actually a reasonably buzzing and cosmopolitan place but with the “real” Borneo still close by. We spent just a couple of days in Kuching, scoffing on our very cool hostel’s free all day breakfast (for cost saving measures we often hung around til lunch...) and finally as a result we had a couple of days on the trot sticking to budget (hurrah, its only taken us eight months!!).

First encounters with our flame-haired cousins came when we visited the local Orang-utan rehabilitation centre – it was awesome. The centre is home to less than 30 semi-wild Orang-utans – either because they were previously kept as illegal pets, were orphaned or lost their natural habitats as a result of logging in the Borneo jungle. We arrived in time for the afternoon feed (the area doesn’t provide enough food for the Orang-utans so their diet is supplemented with bananas, watermelons and coconuts). Swinging through the trees came mums with babies, cheeky youngsters coming back for second helpings and Ritchie, the dominant male of the group, who we were warned doesn’t like crying children, being laughed at or umbrellas being pointed at him – typical bloke really...

From Kuching we also spent a day in the Bako National Park which is on the north coast. We mistimed the bus which was followed by a short speedboat trip across the murky, crocodile-infested South China Sea so despite our early start we didn’t actually arrive in the park until midday and it was sweltering! We opted for an easy trail of a whopping... 800m! Rather shameful as another couple we met had ventured 8km around the park, but our mini trek through the jungle to a secluded beach was a nice introduction to Borneo’s scenery.

South China Sea

A wild boar scavenging

Feeling the humidity

On our stroll back to the boat we were lucky enough to see several Proboscis monkeys sat up in the trees. They are quite aptly known by the locals as “Dutch men” - their resemblance is uncanny and they are extremely human-like.

Tom nearly having to dodge a "hot shower"

Back at the hostel I had a glimpse of the future when we met a Dutch girl who looked nothing like the monkeys but spookily like my cousin Lily (now eight) at the age of 25!

From Kuching we caught a rather hair-raising overnight bus to Brunei - the driver was a lunatic and arriving in Brunei we were exhausted as it’s pretty difficult to sleep on a bus that’s hurtling around extremely sharp bends on the wrong side of the road, with oncoming traffic, but its fine we survived! As we walked from the bus stop the setting sun began to cast a surreal orange light over the city which turned into a crazy electrical storm with electric blue bolts of lightning illuminating the sky. We came to realise that this kind of evening sky is a fairly common occurrence in Brunei and so the locals looking in bemusement at Tom snapping away with his camera made sense.

The storm on arrival in Brunei

Brunei is the smallest country by far in SE Asia, strictly Muslim and run by an extremely oil-rich Sultan who seems to take care of the people and the country pretty well (free education, healthcare and loans for cars etc). We spent a few days in the capital Bangar Seri Begawan staying at the recommended Youth Club with strictly mixed dorms (although when we checked in I was ushered into the dorm with Tom, my “husband” – much to the disapproval of the cleaning ladies who saw me emerge every morning off to brush my teeth). I also made use of the pool but my quick relaxing dip turned into more of a life-saving course as I had to swim fully clothed!

A view of the lawn in central BSB - the sultan is on one side saluting the mosque on the other

A view of the historical water-villages where 22,000 locals live

We had a wander around the immaculate Royal Regalia Museum - taking off our shoes on arrival made it feel as though we were walking around someone’s rather OTT house. It’s full of gifts to the Sultan from other countries’ heads of state – the Queen’s vase was a little disappointing but some of the other gifts were incredible (clearly some countries try harder to impress than others). We also caught a bus to Brunei’s largest mosque which was really impressive both inside and out.

From Brunei we backtracked back to Sarawak where we’re now waiting in the airport for our delayed flight (in an aeroplane our size you wouldn’t want to fly in bad weather!) to the Gunung Mulu National Park in the Borneo highlands.