Election Day

Today was election day here in Malaysia. That seemed to be a surprisingly big deal here, even though the same party that's ruled the country for the last 50+ years since independence is expected to get over 90% of the vote. Kuching is one of only 2 or 3 spots in Malaysia where the opposition has a chance (only the Chinese vote for the main opposition party, and this is a mostly Chinese city).

While exploring across the river from downtown today, I walked right through two polling places (no pictures, as that was kinda forbidden). Even before the polls closed, there was a frenzy of the locals tearing down all the campaign signs and banners, setting fire to them, or even wrapping their little brothers in them:



The highlight of the trip so far was my 3 days/2 nights in Bako National Park. The guidebooks say this is one of the best parks in Asia, and it's easy to see why. The variety of wildlife we saw was truly overwhelming: 5 types of primates (3 of them extremely endangered, the others way too friendly for their own good), pit vipers, bearded pigs, huge monitor lizards, pit vipers, bizarre insects, tarantulas, scorpions, bats, pit vipers, civet cats, fish that hop on land, and various crabs. Did I mention there were a lot of snakes? Add to this carnivorous plants, every type of jungle foliage imaginable, stunning waterfalls, beautiful beaches, and views of the South China Sea.

I'll try to let the Bako pictures speak for themselves:
http://traveler.sub-atomic.com/~karl/gallery/main.php/v/SEAsia/?g2_page=8

If you hadn't stumbled across the photos already, you may want to start from the beginning: http://traveler.sub-atomic.com/~karl/gallery/main.php/v/SEAsia

There's so much else I'd like to say about Bako it's hard to know where to start. The hikes were somewhat challenging. Even though the distances weren't vast, hiking through jungle is like nothing I'm used to. A big part of it is the heat/humidity. Your body really can't cool itself off when it's almost 100 degrees and muggy, so you can't keep as fast a pace as you'd like. It was also fairly rugged, with cool stair steps formed by tree roots. You also have to really watch your footing while keeping a close eye out for snakes and such (all of which can be deadly here - someone was evacuated with a viper bite the day before we arrived, though made a full recovery). Finally, you should really protect yourself when trekking through the jungle, which means proper boots (not sandals), heavy socks, long pants, and technically even long-sleeved shirt (didn't bring one). Taken together, that's a recipe for heat exhaustion. Still, it's worth every bit of effort to experience this, and the challenges somehow make it all the more beautiful when you get there.

The boat trip to the park was also a real E-Ticket ride. Though it was clear our captain could read the waves better than any surfer to find the safest spot to plunge through, our tiny river boat was way too small for big ocean waves. It was also reassuring to know that a boat of elderly tourists had capsized the day before. We got completely drenched several times, and narrowly avoided capsizing a couple of times by all leaning into the wave. After reaching the beach, we thought it was over, but then the big breakers really started crashing over us, and we quickly grabbed our soaked belongings to wade to shore.

Probably the biggest highlight was the night walk. One of the local guides took a group of us for a ~90 min walk through the jungle. We learned to spot a variety of wildlife we'd never have seen otherwise. We started with watching tropical fireflies in the mangroves. I'm not sure whether they're similar to those found in parts of the US, but they seemed to flash really strangely. Coolest was learning how to spot nocturnal mammals high in the jungle canopy. All you do is shine your light around and look for the bright yellow eye reflections that only nocturnal animals produce. We were able to follow several civet cats this way, bounding through the upper branches.

Bats were another frequent visitor, especially at the cafe during dinner. They would swoop low over our heads almost constantly, catching mosquitoes and such. I don't know whether I was just drained of all adrenaline at this point, but somehow this didn't bother me one bit. It was nice to know the bats were doing their best to protect us from malaria and the other fun stuff those little blood-sucking insects spread around here.

Our final surprise was having our room raided by a small army of macaque monkeys. Apparently we hadn't quite locked our window one morning, and they had no trouble opening it the rest of the way and removing the screen. They meticulously went through every bag, opening zippers, tasting everything, finding every scrap of food and most of the medicine, leaving behind muddy footprints on our beds and pillows. Instead of being upset, we were all quite amused and only wished we had video of their escapades.

The return to Kuching was much less eventful, but we were extremely glad to get back to our favorite hostel with hot showers, cold A/C, and comfortable beds. After a day back "home" in Kuching, it looks like we may go our separate ways for a while, but we're planning where we can meet up again as we make our way around Borneo.

I guess by now you're probably curious who this "we" is. The best thing about staying in a hostel like Singgahsana Lodge is you meet some really cool fellow travelers. It also helps that places like Borneo seem to attract mostly the really serious, experienced travelers. I kinda feel like the least competent traveler here, but like in college, I do my best to catch up and learn from those around me.

While talking with other travelers here, trying to figure out what to do next, several of us decided to head to the leading attraction around here, Bako National Park. Initially it was Kevin from Calgary, Tom from Belgium (not the French part) and I. Ash from Brighton, England soon joined up with us, since we'd rented a 4-person room. The 4 of us explored Bako, along with another group of 4 folks from England (you'll see a couple of them in the photos, though they had to leave a day early). On the way back from Bako, we met Balthazar from Montreal (coolest name of anyone I've met here). We convinced him to upgrade to our hostel.

After seeing the main sights around Kuching, it's time for us to move on. Though we've enjoyed hanging out and getting to know each other a little too well these last several days, our interests and (at least in my case) abilities differ somewhat, our paths must inevitably diverge for a while. Our plan was to leave before dawn to head up the coast by boat to a city called Sibu. From there, Kevin, Tom, and Ash are planning to catch a bus further around the coast to do some caving, then head inland to do several days of challenging trekking in Gunung Mulu National Park. Balthazar and I want to visit at least at least one of the tribal longhouses, and the best way to do that is to head up the Rejang River from Sibu for a few days.

Unfortunately, little things sometimes get in the way of perfect plans. We all desperately needed to do laundry after returning from Bako (seeing as how I only have like 3 shirts and 2 pairs of shorts anyway, and anything I wore in Bako is mostly jungle, soaked in the South China Sea). I turned mine in to be laundered just after the others yesterday (a shower seemed far more urgent), but somehow mine didn't come back today. With luck, it'll be done early tomorrow afternoon, but that'll be way too late to catch the boat.

I'm still optimistic I'll be able to catch up with Balthazar in Sibu or somewhere up the Rejang River, but if not, we'll all most likely meet up in Kota Kinabalu, the main city in the other half of Malaysian Borneo.

I even picked up a Malaysian SIM card today, since ~$2.50 seems like a really cheap way to coordinate things with fellow travelers. Should anyone else need to get in touch or feel like texting (I'm not sure anyone here uses their phones to talk), I'll be reachable at +60128957989 until I get to Indonesia in a couple weeks. Remember, I'm 16 hours ahead!

Take care, and enjoy the first 196 pictures.