Borneo
The first week of Malaysia I spent on Borneo. First we visited Brunei, where we stayed in the Empire Hotel and Spa that the brother of the Sultan had built for his guests – yes, a whole hotel. It was very lavish.
We had rented a car to drive to Gunung Mulu National Park, an UNESCO World Heritage Site. However, the night before leaving in trying to find the way there, realized there are no roads that lead to Mulu. The choices are a 30 minute flight from Miri or an 8 hour boat ride. We opted for flying.
The Penan tribe fought hard to have the forest named as an UNESCO world heritage site. In flying from Mulu to Miri, you can see why. At some point, the rain forest drastically ends and is replaced by palm tree plantations. By the time you get to the coast (Miri), there is no rain forest remaining. What I really noticed is that rain forests are truly the lungs of the earth. Being in the rain forest with the heat was completely bearable and pleasant with the fresh air. The cities (Kuala Lumpur and Singapore) were practically unbearable with the heat and humidity. It was exhausting to spend time walking around the cities, but wonderful walking through the rain forests. We stayed at the Mulu Marriott, which is amazing.
There were very many cicadas in the forest. Here, at a local bar. They were huge!
This picture I love because of the surprises. Which of the 3 trees is the vine, the oldest and the biggest? Left is a 200 year old hardwood, in the back is a 20 year old tree that grows super fast and to the right is a vine.
We hiked an hour into the rain forest, after taking a boat for an hour to a Penan village, to this waterfall. Our guide didn’t speak English and used a machete to get us through. A fellow remote, Cathy, had a leech that entered into her leg and she didn’t see exit again. We are assuming it did – that was our level 3 fun for the day 🙂
On the boat ride to the Penan village.
Generally, it was very hard to capture the beauty of the forest on film.
We went for a night walk, the highlight of which was stopping in the middle of the forest, turning off our flashlights and waiting for our eyes to adjust. We then sat there for at least half an hour, saw the bioluminescent fungi, watched the lightening bugs and lightening from a daily thunderstorm. No pictures were possible, and it was so magical, I didn’t even want to try to waste the experience trying to capture it.
The last day, we went for a canopy walk. There were 480 meters of wooden slats hung on the trees with cables as railings – only 2 people were allowed to walk from one landing to next at a time. It was actually a bit terrifying – especially when the guide mentioned that the netting on the sides was only added after tourists complained. I can’t imagine having to do it without netting :-O
On the day we were supposed to leave, our flight was cancelled due to technical difficulties. There was only 1 flight a day, so we had to stay another night. There are worse places to be stranded 🙂
Then we spent 36 hours in Singapore:
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur was hot and humid. Walking around outside was exhausting, but the diversity was wonderful. It is a hub, so there are large Chinese and Indian populations that have been there for generations. However, since Malaysia did not sign the 1951 Refugee Convention, there are technically no refugees. Yet, since Malaysia and Sudan are the only countries where Syrian citizens can go without having a visa beforehand, quite a few Syrians (as well as from other countries) have landed in Malaysia. They essentially “do not exist”. And their children and grandchildren remain “non-existent” in the eyes of the government. The situation is quite dire. One of our tracks was being invited to a Syrian woman’s house who works for Picha Project, which is a for-profit business.
Our apartments were right next to the Eco Forest Park.
We visited Chilling Waterfall in the pouring rain. An hour hike through the forest, crossing the river 6 times through the pouring rain. If it hadn’t eventually stopped, we would have had to turn back because otherwise we would have been killed by flash floods.
Rooftop bar Helipad:
Mixture of old and new in KL
View from Dinner in the Sky, where you hang in the air from a crane and have dinner.
My favorite saying, at the entrance to the Bukit Gasing Forest Park. The park is not touristy, so there are literally no signs. We spent 3 hours wandering around looking for the old suspension bridge, which we finally found!
Doha, Qatar
April is in Buenos Aires, Argentina, so the flight from Kuala Lumpur to there is quite long. We decided to stay a few days in Doha to break up the flight. It was very interesting to be one of only a few women walking around, even more rarely one that wasn’t covered completely.
Tea at the Souq Waqif.
In preparation for FIFA 2022, Doha is building _a lot_. Here, a reconstruction based on Venice on an artificial island, part of The Pearl.
View of downtown Doha
View of downtown Doha at night. All the way to the right is the Sheraton, the first building built on the west bank.
The last day, we went for a jeep ride into the desert to watch the sunset and visit the Inland Sea that separated Qatar from Saudi Arabia. Again, impossible to capture the true beauty.
And finally, the mash up for the month.