Borneo

Sam and I have been all over, and have not had a moment to write about it!

From KL Sam and I took a long and adventureous bus ride to Singapore. It began with our bus being 2 hours late... We sat in a polluted, HOT, and loud bus terminal. Boarder crossings via busses are always chaotic. We have to go from one bus, through the exit of one contry. Onto a new bus, and pass immigration into a new country. Unloading and reloading each time.


(Waiting in KL for the bus to Singapore, we ate about 2 pineapples while we waited)

We made it to Singapore at 9:00 pm and were fortunate to find a hostel that was clean and had free wifi! We shared a room with 10 other backpacker's and long term residents. We quickly learned that Singapore rivals the West in terms of amenities and cost!

Despite what everyone said "Singapore is just a big mall"... "there is nothing to see there"...etc. I LOVED Singapore! I call it the OCD persons dream! It's clean, polished, and I found there to be lots of charm. We stayed in Little India and loved the colonial architecture. Small double decker buildigs, painted pink, green, yellow, etc.


(The most expensive casino in the world, being built ($3.5 B) --the white balls in the water are for New Years Eve, they will light up)

Sam and I did a bus tour in Singapore (a great way to see the city), spent an afternoon at the botanical gardens, and visited Samposa Island (to visit Underwater World). We also spent some time checking out malls--such a spectical. Most of the malls had free stage shows, like an Australian ice skating show, a sponge bob square pants show, even a Christmas music show. I made Sam stand around and watch all of them... I thought they were hyterical.


(Australian ice show at a mall)

We flew to Kuching, Borneo after 4 nights in Singapore. We wandered the streets for accomodations and found a new hotel with a special promo rate. The hotel is new and clean (but the wifi leaves something to be desired).

Our fitst day in Kuching/Borneo we visited an Orang Yatang reserve, where upon which we didn't see any Orang Yatangs. We rushed all morning to make it there for the 9 am feeing. After spending $10 on a taxi and running 2 km we made it (with a considerable amount of sweat on our faces). The park guide started going through his schpeal: "no smoking, no yelling, don't bring food in, etc" then he goes onto say "it's fruit season, so the Orang Yatangs may not come out"..."and, we have taught them to hate humans, so they can better adapt to the wild". Renaming optimistic we treked 500 meters with a group of about 30 into the jungle and stood on a wooden platform while a park operator called for the animals. An hour and fifteen minutes later everyone gave up and dispersed.

Seeing real monkeys in the wild, we have come to find, is more difficult that we thought. The litle pesky ones will come out and play very easily (esp if you're holding a banana). But the bigger and more rare ones are smart and would rather avoid human contact. We decided to take the bus back into Kuching to nap and explore.

It was a fun adventure, but sadly, a little bit of a let down.


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