North Borneo: Not Boring

Well, it seems like I’ve finally fallen off the tourist trail. I’m in Sandakan in northern Borneo now and things have certainly gotten more “foreign.” But mainly in a good way. Very few tourists here. Much less English spoken. But finally have the feeling that I am exploring now instead of having pre-digested adventures spoon fed to me. I’m sure I will accidental find my way back on the tourist track sooner than I want. It seems to be pretty well beaten. Now the random notes:

• Today was a “business day.” I changed hotels (more on that later), did laundry, booked a 3 day/2 night trek (with option for extra days), tried (and failed) to get my cell phone working, got a hair cut, made some travel plans for Katie’s visit, and ate a lot. And now updated my blog!


• Paying $2 for a haircut from a guy that doesn't speak English is a little scary. I look a little geeky, but not too much more than normal. (Someone once told me that all guys look like nerds for 3 days after a haircut, so should be OK)


• The people in Sabah (north Borneo province) are pretty "cool." A little depressing, though not all that surprising, that even kids in Borneo are more hip than I am. They are all spiky-haired, tight-jeaned, cigarette-smoking, shiny-belt-wearing, grungy-T-shirt-sporting cool (see photo above). And I'm wearing zip-away pant/shorts. Looooser.


• Even though its a billion degrees here, I'm wearing pants because everyone (except the few uncouth tourist around) else is. You wouldn't understand; its a Muslim thing...


• And these cool Sabahniese (?) are also pretty tough looking despite that fact that I don't think I've seen one yet that is bigger than me. I would not want to meet any of them in a dark alley. Which is unfortunate as there are many many dark alleys here.


• Last nights hotel: Was OK for $20 (i know i was going to stop doing that, sorry...) but was on a super noisy street. I had to sleep with ear plugs in and take one of the sleeping pills that I had brought over for overnight plane/bus trips. Wow those pills are nice. What a sleep. Almost seems worth getting addicted.


• Plans: so the next 3-4 days, I'm on a river boat going up the biggest river in Borneo. Spend the night in 2 different juggle lodges. Maybe stay an extra night in one of them. Lots of mini-treks, boat safari's etc. Then when I come back, I'm gonna head to Sipadan, which is suppose to be one of the best dive spots in the world. Me and my 6 dive-history will have to see about that. Then I'm not sure. Probably head to central Borneo and/or go to hike some really big mountain they have here. And I might go and try to "do Bali" before Katie comes on Sept 5.

Well that's it for now. Unless one of the juggle lodges has satellite Internet, I'm probably AWOL for a few days. I hope you all can survive it.

Stay leech free and don't let the bed bugs bite...

-erik