Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Borneo & Beyond

We had a day layover in Ho Chi Minh, just enough time for a few photos.

Then off to Malaysia.  We flew into Kuala Lumpur and spent a day there walking around the incredibly modern city.  Tons of skyscrapes, a stark contrast to our destination the following day:  Borneo.



Malaysia has two parts:  Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo.  The parts of the country couldn't be more different.  Borneo is more remote and is host to amazing rainforests and spectacular diving.  We focused on the wildlife, taking river cruises and getting rings around our eyes from the binoculars being on them so much.  The camera I brought couldn't capture all of the critters unfortunately, but here are a few pictures of where we were.

Orangutan Reserve

This place is a haven for orangtans that have been found in adverse situations and brought here to be nursed to health and hopefully released back into the wild.  Their aren't a whole lot of these left so their work is incredibly important.






We spent an entire day bird watching in this rainforest.  


The next stop was sleeping in the rainforest.  We hooked up with a really cool place that does conservation and tours.  You sleep in the rainforest, get fed, get a few river cruises, and plant a tree to replenish burned areas of the forest.





The conservation group also set us up with a homestay, which is a host family giving you two meals and a bed.  They were pretty interesting to talk with, they wanted to discuss American politics.  This happened over an awesome dinner of curry, which they ate entirely with their hands (rice and all).







Malaysia.