That Was The Trip That Was [Video]

With the backpacking part of this trip done and dusted. I've been in a reflective mood and put together a montage of the journey so far. Now it's onto Melbourne where another new experience awaits - living and working in a foreign country. Is Australia really the land of Milk & Honey? _____

Ancestral Manoeuvres in the Dark

For some reason, I've always had an interest in human evolution and how we got here. So when the guidebook told me that the oldest human remains in SE Asia were found in a nearby cave, I could feel a day trip coming on. The Niah Caves are about an hour and 45 minutes from…

Borneo Done

A few of my favourites from the 17 nights we spent on Borneo. Where we stayed (nights)... Sabah; KK (3) -> Sandakan (2) -> Kinabalu Park (2) -> KK (2) -> Brunei; Bandar Seri Begawan (2) -> Sarawak; Miri (1) -> Kuching (5)

The Friendly Dictator

Our journey along the north coast of Borneo takes us to an old stomping ground - Brunei was a British protectorate until 1984. These days it's a "dry" country (you can't buy booze anywhere)... Did we not teach them anything? We arrive on a Friday (their day of rest), the streets are eerily quiet. A…

Parklife

I'm no David Attenborough, but if they've made somewhere a world heritage site it must be worth a butchers... So off we set for a couple of days in Kinabalu Park. Our accommodation was just outside the park at Borneo's equivalent of the Villa Bella* - a rundown homestay; cold and damp, with grubby bed…

Hanging with the Orangs

It's not everyday you get to see an endangered species in its natural habitat. So the opportunity to visit an orangutan sanctuary was too good to miss. The Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre aims to return orphaned or injured orangutans back to the wild. Orangutans only exist on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra and are…

“Meat Bone Tea” to You & Me

One of the drawbacks of being married to a Chinese Doris is that from time to time you can end up in some decidedly suspect eating establishments. One such establishment was Yu Kee Bah Kut Teh in Kota Kinabalu. From the outside it looks like a low grade canteen, which is due a visit from…