Borneo Trip: Sungai Kinabatangan Exploration

Borneo Trip: Sungai Kinabatangan Exploration

A thorough description of the second portion of our Borneo adventures will be added later. For now, here is a collection of highlight photos for your enjoyment. We decided to journey across the state of Sabah to the eastern coast to visit an orangutan rehabilitation center. After a bit of a let-down there, we decided on a whim to hire a guide service and travel along a river and in the jungle around it for a few days, exploring the land and searching for wildlife. What we found and experienced was way beyond our expectations.

Borneo Trip: Mount Kinabalu Climb

Borneo Trip: Mount Kinabalu Climb

A full description of the first portion of our Borneo adventures will be added later. For now, here is a collection of highlight photos for your enjoyment. The moths are all ones that were outside our bedroom at a crazy hostel we stayed at. I took about 40 pictures of different insects that night, but here I selected a few that are interesting due to their leaf-like appearance. So far, the collection includes photos of our time in Borneo up to reaching the summit of Mount Kinabalu. The descent was just as much of an adventure as the ascent.


[EDIT]

I have uploaded photos of the descent, as of 6-7-09. The trip down on the via ferrata was very enjoyable. Scott and I felt completely relaxed on the rock and were able to revel in the beauty of the scenery. The hike down from the base camp was another story, as my legs became increasingly sore. It was a grueling 2.5 hr. hike down, and I was seriously spent by the time we reached the end. My knees and calves ached whenever going up or down stairs for three days afterward. But it was so worth it.

Singapore Trip

Singapore Trip

On the evening of the 10th of May I met up with my brother Scott at the Changi International Airport after a rather tedious flight in which my nose was dripping like a leaky faucet from a cold I caught while hiking around in the rain in Japan, and our journey together began. We checked in to our hostel's cave-like dorm room and quickly set out to see the new Star Trek movie at a nearby mall, because it was completely necessary to do so. We stopped at a convenience store for some tissues, grabbed a quick bite to eat at a hawker center (a congregation of small restaurants) and then headed into the mall. It was a different kind of mall than I was used to in America. The movie theater spanned four or five levels, and we went to three different floors before we found the place (level 9) where we could buy our tickets and see our film. I guess the mall was kind of like a hip Dayton's. One thing to know about Singapore is that there are malls everywhere. Each new mall tries to outdo the rest, like casinos in Las Vegas. And there is always a new one being built. In fact, I was astounded by the amount of construction and development going on in Singapore. The movie was sweet by the way. And by sweet I mean totally awesome.

Scott showed me around the NUS campus, which was very large and impressive. Instead of giant oak trees like at the U of M, there were strange, beautiful tropical trees whose trunks were coated with moss and small plants. We later hiked up to the top of Bukit Timah hill and through some dense jungle trails. My first jungle experience was very enjoyable. There were so many crazy sounds coming from every direction, both from the wildlife and the helicopters flying around overhead. The wildlife was elusive, and I only saw a few movements out of the corner of my eye, save for a stray dog and some kind of squirrel near the picnic area. One trail we took was pretty rugged, with huge rocks and vines you could use to clamber down them. We then went to the night safari, and I got to see plenty of wildlife, albeit in a semi-controlled environment. It was a very full day.

The next day we toured the city some more, saw some more malls, and toured the National Museum. I learned a lot about Singapore's history through a well-done audio tour of a labyrinthine exhibition hall. I heard all kinds of interesting stories, and I began to understand a bit about how things got to be the way they are now.

On our final day in Singapore, we walked through more malls, tooled around the island of Sentosa on some crappy bikes, and watched the crappy yet enjoyable X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Sentosa is a tourist destination with a lot of resorts and missable attractions, which we skipped. It was still a lot of fun, though. [edit] I have posted a photo gallery for the Singapore trip with some pictures from all the main places I mentioned. [/edit] We took the train back to Changi, caught our flight to Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia that evening and said goodbye to Singapore. We were both a little bit relieved, and excited to be heading towards Mt. Kinabalu.

Japan Trip

Japan Trip

My time in Japan was wonderful. I can't wait to return and explore it in more depth. I was able to do just about everything I had hoped to, as well as so much more than I thought would be possible. I have so many stories that I could tell about my experiences that if I tried to tell them all right now, I'd not be able to gain any new ones for quite a while. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I'll tell a few stories with some pictures first. I will add to this post and the album I linked to above when I get time, and will create other similar posts for the next segments of the trip as I go. Travel blogging is quite difficult, and I will need to prepare a few more things for next time to make it easier. For example, it would be very helpful to have a computer to prepare things for the post, and then just upload things when an internet connection is available. Hopefully a light, compact, rugged, powerful, and not too expensive computer will become available before my next major trip.

Some highlights of my trip included:

Staying with two different Japanese families and eating traditional japanese foods at each home and at many nice restaurants. These foods included: ramen, sukiyaki, shabu shabu, chanko nobe, sushi, sashimi, sansai udon (edible wild plant noodle soup), dango, onigiri, and many others.

Walking through spectacular parks and gardens, including an immense sculpture garden.

Visiting many amazing shrines in the city of Tokyo and in a few more remote areas. There are shrines and sacred objects tucked into so many places in Japan, and it is a joy to explore and discover them.

Playing my recorder while Nana-chan played the piano beautifully.

Singing Karaoke in Japanese, Portuguese, and English.

Running up a mountain past many gravestones, past a shrine, through a hidden bamboo forest, cedars, clouds, and over rocks and roots to the top. And then running back down in time to change my clothes and catch my train.

Taking many novel forms of transportation around Hakone with Yamaguchi San, and then exploring the area on my own for a couple days.

Bathing in the bath at the resort hotel in Hakone.

Teaching origami at the Origami Center in Tokyo, meeting the director and talking with a cute girl who worked there, and receiving many souvenirs and gifts.

Exploring Akihabara with Ishigamori San and Yamaguchi San, including the Tokyo Anime Center where I drooled over some transforming robot toys and models, and a giant anime and manga department store with seven levels.

Learning about the history of Tokyo at the Edo-Tokyo museum, and seeing a complete collection of Hiroshige's 53 stations of the Tokaido ukiyo-e woodblock prints.

Making a hand-turned ceramic bowl at a craft-town, and then playing around at a river-side campground where I climbed a few retaining walls.

Driving through the mountains of Gumma and Nikko with Itoh San, and hiking around the flower-covered mountains, from which we saw some beautiful waterfalls and landscapes.

Studying the design of many products, interiors, and vehicles.

Learning Japanese as I went, and using it.

--------------------------

I'll elaborate on these highlights and add to the list as time permits. Thanks for your patience.

-Ben