Borneo

My Borneo trip a few weeks back was the fulfilling of a dream. The trip I had envisioned when I first started to plan for Borneo was as adventurous as can be, unfortuantely also highly unrealistic. I wanted to head into the deep Borneo jungle and take my chances at seeing my beloved Orang-Utans in the wild. I thought this could be done in 5 days. Boy was I wrong. The trip I ended up doing didn't involve a deep jungle experience, but it did involve many other amazing experiences and it gave me a very good sense of how to plan my dream Borneo trip in the future. That kind of trip will require at least 3 weeks of time. 

Kuching waterfront from above

My trip was based out of Kuching. The capital of the western state of Borneo, Sarawak. Here I finally got to experience something I have been wanting to try for years. Couchsurfing! So the first day I stayed with a guy called Emmanuel who DJs and manages bars in Kuching. He showed me around the city and took me out for a great night of drinking that first night. Overall it was a very positive experience and definitely made me want to continue using couchsurfing. He took me to the bar of a hostel near the waterfront where I ended up meeting 2 Danish girls who I travelled with for 3 days. I also stayed at the hostel for the last 2 nights of my trip.

With 2 new travel companions, I set out for Bako National Park...one of many national parks in the vacinity of Kuching. 

You have to take a boat to get to the park

Mangrove forest

Jungle level 5 or 6 maybe

Trek to an isolated beach

                            

Of course we met some monkeys along the way. At Bako we stayed overnight so we could do the night trek. We saw snakes, spiders, insects, but unfortunately no mammals. 

One bite could kill you

Hobby snake expert

The next day we went for a 12 km hike that took us pretty deep into the park and to somewhat of a waterfall, which was unbelievably refreshing after 3 hours of hiking!

The day after we got back from the park we met with another couchsurfer who I had contacted. She wasn't able to host me, but offered to take us out for some awesome local food. One thing you always have to do in Asia is EAT LOCAL! So I had to find a local who could show us the good stuff. She delivered.

Delicious sting ray

Local BBQ chicken

We got lucky because there happened to be a Chinese mooncake festival at the time, so we got to see a little Chinese orchestra in action outside of a temple!

The next day it was time to go fulfill a dream.

Alpha male

Clever

In the above picture lies the downside of this experience. You share it with about 50 tourists all glued to their cameras. 

They even have viewing platforms 

Since I knew I was settling for this version of the monkey-viewing experience, I wasn't too bothered by it. I guess I prepared myself mentally for it. I focused on the beautiful apes instead and loved witnessing their cleverness. Orang-Utans are 97% genetically identical to humans. The center was called Semenggoh Rehabilitation Center and initally through researching this place I had a very negative image of it. Supposedly, the apes become dependent on the food offered to them during the two daily feeding hours (during which we went to go see them). They are also limited in their freedom, since only a small speck of forest remains in that area. When I was there I spoke to a few rangers/guides who clarified the situation for me. It's true that the forest in that area is limited...thanks to deforestation. Their freedom is however in no way restricted. They can range wherever, whenever they want. During fruit season it is almost impossible to see any Orang-Utans during the feeding times, thus showing that they are perfectly capable of finding their own food when it is available. The main difference between these apes and the apes I had initially hoped to see is simply that these are rehabilitated. The adults were taken from people who were abusing and mistreating them, and involving them in illegal animal trading. It would be very unrealistic to expect animals who have been through this to thrive again in the deeper jungle areas, where they would be competing against apes who have fully adapted to the wild habitat. This is therefore the next best thing, and since they are breeding and countless babies (who are damn cute) have been born in the center, it is absolutely beneficial to the keeping alive of this species in my opinion. 

Unfortunately, I have no great camera shots of these amazing creatures because of my super outdated camer with its limited zoom :( ! This won't happen again though since I just got myself a sweet new camera for my upcoming Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia trips!!

On my last day I wasn't flying back until the evening so I took an hour-long bus ride out to Kubah National Park. I had to get through a lot of this...

Massive jungle ants

to get to this!!!!

There was an Australian family there as well. Which did spoil the serenity a bit, but ended up being useful since they were able to take pictures of me in the waterfall!

Gotta climb it 

I swear to you, that place was paradise. I could've spent hours/days there just hanging out in the little pools created by the waterfall, or messing about climbing various parts of it! My plane back was calling though. I will leave you with a little taste of what tall, white people in Asia go through. A little slice of fame ;) 

Germany in December

So how long can i keep living this lifestyle? Normally people would say at this point: When is it time to get back to reality? I can't bring myself to ask that question. It just doesn't make any sense to me. These last 7 months have been more real than most of my previous experiences. Reality to most people in this case would also be synonymous to "taking things seriously again". Gotta say I don't quite understand that one either. This trip has caused me to make so many more serious decisions and allowed to me to have many more serious experiences than I ever did during my "serious" time pursuing my first degree. So no I'm not going back to reality and no I am not going to start taking life seriously again...I'm just going to take the next right step for me. That just so happens to be starting a Masters in Berlin. The way I have been living the last 7 months has been a very unique lifestyle. It's very difficult to put it into words, but the best way to describe it I guess is: I've been living. Going out on this adventure I wasn't sure it could be done this way. Now with definite certainty I can say it is possible. What that means to me is simply that I can and will go back to it whenever the time is right again.
There is a reason for all this babbling. Recently I have booked my flight home to Germany. For the first time I have a date for when this adventure will come to an end. December 14th I will be flying back to Frankfurt, but not from Kuala Lumpur. The last few weeks I have known that quite soon my trip would be nearing its final stage...I just wanted to make sure that I went out in style. So on Dec. 14th I will be flying back to Frankfurt from Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. On November 28th I officially leave Kuala Lumpur for Siem Reap, Cambodia, where I will have 5 days to see and do as much as I can before I make my way to Vietnam to meet my awesome and almost equally as cool as me sister! The Broetz duo infernale will have 11 days to experience Vietnam and then head back together. Can't really think of a more worthy exit than that!!

Pulau Perhentian (Kecil)

After 2 weeks of finally simply travelling, it's time to update. After my last post I spent a very cool weekend in Singapore, seeing a lot of the city and spending some time with a friend of mine who lives there. I don't really have any interesting pictures to post of that trip, since I mainly just took some standard ones of the buildings and what not. The city is quite nice, but it's not really my type of place. It's too modern and expensive. The weekend after I went to a place that's more up my alley. 

Pulau Perhentian is off the North-eastern Malaysian coast. It has a big island and a small island (Kecil). Choosing the small island ended up being a great decision. The two main beaches are within a 10 minute walk from each other...so you really get two beaches for the price of one! What does one do on a tropical paradise island?

Chill

Pose next to German flags

Ease into the day with a teh tarik

Jump from lighthouses

This lighthouse was near one of the 5 or 6 unbelievable snorkling spots near the islands. A tour that takes you to 5 of them over a span of about 6 hours costs 35 Ringgit.,approximately 9 euros...yeah....I know. If you go snorkling in paradise this is what you might see...

Our guide

It wasn't all fun in paradise though. On the last day I was packing up and I realized that my shoes were missing. Now when you are travelling the way I am, you have shoes for certain purposes. These were my outdoor, running, walking, etc. shoes. Over the last 6 months these shoes have taken some serious beatings. I had them for a good 4 years...they have torn, been sewed up again...and lately they started to smell awfully bad. I always figured damnit you know that's what old shoes do, they smell! So, I stuck with 'em...but mainly because I had no alternative and I was going to Borneo for some jungle trekking in a week. So I left them on a boat in paradise. I can't think of a more worthy resting place for those bad boys and it calms me to think that they will always be there just chillin. 

RIP Nike's...you are literally in a better place now

They've already been replaced with awesome orange shoes that have just survived 5 days in the jungles of Borneo...pictures of which will take a little while longer to post :(

Don't want to end this post with pictures of old shoes...so Perhentian at low tide will do the trick...

     

SouthEast Asia

The last few weeks have been very, very pivotal for my journey. Life in Malaysia has definitely been more settled and routine driven than in Turkey. At first it caught me a bit off guard, because I was so used to moving homes on a weekly basis and not having fixed working hours in Istanbul. What started here as a simple way of making money has quickly developed into an incredible experience and an amazing opportunity for me to see what it's like to teach as a profession. Time has kind of just kept passing and passing without me really stopping to think about how long I want to continue here. Well life works in beautiful ways sometimes...just when I was starting to get stuck in the doldrums I got a wake-up call. My current accomodation here is only going to be available to me until October...

No accomodation...what to do. Maybe it's time to go home. I do miss it...I would like to start my new life there. Ok it's settled I'm coming back in October. Let me go on one last epic quest up North though...Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam; after I'll fly back to Germany. I started to research and plan everything, even going as far as writing people on www.couchsurfing.org asking them for places to stay come October. It was as good as done, until, and not for the first time on this trip, my plans got completely flipped turned upside down. (I hope you caught that Fresh Prince reference ;) )

I went to tell my boss that I was leaving. She responded with a plea. Please stay till the end of November, which is when the first half of the school year ends. Ummm I have no accomodation. She insisted that I stay at her place. Just to elaborate on that though...many students come from Korea for summer courses and they always stay with her. So she always has someone staying with her, and has plenty of space. Everything I had been starting to think about the future development of my journey was tossed out the window. I somehow still wasn't convinced that it was a good idea to stay though.

Then I really started to consider it. Lately, I've been getting more and more classes...which obviously means more money...which in turn means more possibilities to travel. If I could earn that kind of money on a consistent basis for the next 2 months I can easily go see most of the places I came here wanting to see. I also started to think about the experience I could gain from this opportunity. Every teaching gig I've ever had has never been longer than 3 months. If I stay, in November I will have taught quite a few students for almost 6 months. It would be the first time ever for me as a teacher to be able to see (or hopefully see :p) some long term progress. That would be incredible and very rewarding. Staying with my boss would also give me an opportunity to live with a Korean family and would be a great chance to learn how to read and write Korean. I have definitely stumbled into a strong Korean environment. For example, Gangnam style (which most of you should know by now) was first introduced to me when it was still at about 1 million views (currently it has 150 million), by one of my first students who we called Kim Jong Teddy. On my first day at the school he told me that his uncle was Kim Jong Un (he was lying obviously :) )and that his English name was Teddy. I quickly learned that everyone simply called him Kim Jong Teddy. It's just a simple reminder of how great of an opportunity this could be to learn the language and the culture...the latter I have already learned tremendous amounts about. 

This entire trip I have always stuck with the mentality of not thinking ahead too much. Things will find their own way and for now I will just play by ear. It doesn't work out all the time, but overall it has proven to be a very successful strategy. When end of November hits I will have been away for 9 months and will have easily earned more money on the road than in preparation for this trip. What matters most to me though is what I will be able to take with me from this experience. What, in its entirety, that will end up being is still unknown, but if you watch this space you will definitely find out. 

3 more months in Malaysia means more of this:

Seafood dinner with king crabs and prawns

Awesome but crazily spicy Korean food called daakgalbi

Late night prawn fishing

Shenanigans with old friends and new ones

Travelling and seeing amazing things

Hangin with the kids

This weekend I head to Singapore, mainly to renew my travel visa, but also of course to finally go see it. The week after I head to the Perhentian Islands, apparently ranked #6 in best beaches in the world. End of September Borneo is calling, as I head to Kuching to fufill a dream of mine. Life is damn good...