It was a 4-hour drive from Borneo Rainforest Lodge to Semporna where we hopped aboard the afternoon boat to Mabul Island. We’ve booked a couple days with Scuba Junkie Sipidan to go scuba diving there. Our cruise today was aboard one of the Scuba Junkie dive boats, serving today as a ferry. Here’s Mabul Island … Continue reading
One of the highlights at Borneo Rainforest Lodge is the Canopy Walk. The trailhead is about 1/2 mile up the road from the lodge at the top of a hill from which you climb up several stairs to a suspended walkway. The Canopy Walk used to be longer than it is now, linking five trees … Continue reading
The evening of our rafting trip we went for a night drive, looking for nocturnal wildlife. Right away we saw Bornean Sambar Deer, frozen in the light. Next was a sleeping bird, whose name I don’t remember. But I do remember the guy on the left: tarantula! About the size of my hand! Back at … Continue reading
Up early Saturday morning, we were ferried across the river for a 2.5-hour van ride to the town of Lahad Datu. There, we switched to a 4-wheel drive Landcruiser for another 2-hour drive to Borneo Rainforest Lodge in Danum Valley, deep in the heart of the Borneo rainforest. I booked this part of our trip … Continue reading
We were up at the crack of dawn Friday (I looked it up on the calendar; by this point I’ve totally lost track of what day it is). We were on a mission to find the Estuarine Crocodile, motoring slowly up a small tributary stream in search of one. Yunis was pretty sure we’d spot … Continue reading
We were up early our first full day at Sukau Rainforest Lodge, ready for a photo safari on the Kinabatangan. Almost immediately, we spotted a macaque. They’re all over the place here and relatively fearless. They can be a nuisance, and we were encouraged, should we come across any on the boardwalk, to avoid contact. … Continue reading
I left off at Sandakan where we saw the orangutans and sun bears being rehabilitated for repatriation into the forest. Now we’re going to see what animals we can find in the wild. In the afternoon of Wednesday, October 8, we left Sandakan Jetty for a boat ride up the Kinabatangan, the longest river in … Continue reading
We took two days to travel from Kuching to Sandakan, stopping to spend the night in Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Sabah, at the Hyatt Centric hotel. Here’s the view from the restaurant at the top of the hotel. Air travel in this part of the world is notoriously unreliable, so caution and scheduling issues … Continue reading
Beginning with a day hike at Bako National Park, our time on the island of Borneo has been arranged by a travel agency, Borneo Ecotours. If you ever decide to visit Borneo, contact them. The guides they use and the lodgings they book have all been superb. Twenty-five miles from Kuching, Bako National Park is … Continue reading
The country of Malaysia came into being in 1963 as a consolidation of four former British territories: Malaya; Sarawak; Sabah; and Singapore, whose participation was short-lived, seceding after just two years to become an independent nation. As you can see from the map, below, the country today is split between “Peninsular Malaysia,” formerly Malaya (left), … Continue reading
In my last post I called Singapore an “island city-state,” by which I meant it is all three: an island; a city; and a nation. Singapore is a fully developed, urban country and one of the leading financial and high-tech capitals of the world. And yet it isn’t even as old as me. Singapore Island, … Continue reading
The island city-state of Singapore is 876 miles nearly due south of Bangkok, just 85 miles north of the equator. It sits at the southern tip of the Strait of Malacca, connecting the Indian Ocean with the South China Sea at a pinch point between Malaysia and Indonesia. Although it is not the only way … Continue reading
We enjoy being in the countryside while traveling, seeing every day life through the eyes of the common man. So, after spending a few days in the big city, we were ready for something less hectic: the train from Bangkok’s Thonburi Station to Kanchanaburi along the route of the famous Burma Railway. It’s only a … Continue reading
In my last post, I related the history of Thailand’s first 400 years, ending in 1767 with the Burmese invasion and siege of Ayutthaya. Once Ayutthaya fell, the kingdom disintegrated. The story continues by way of a local noble named Taksin who managed to make his way out of the city during the attack at … Continue reading
In order to better describe the culture and history of Thailand, I’m going to tell you about our first days in Bangkok in reverse order. On our second full day as tourists, we hired a guide and driver to take us north 50 miles to visit the Ayutthaya Historical Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site … Continue reading
Seven years ago (has it really been that long?) we spent nearly a month traveling the length of Vietnam. It was our first visit to Asia and an amazing trip. Vietnam is one of the more recent members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, known as ASEAN, an international organization – and formidable trading … Continue reading
Do you remember the story of Noah and the Ark? You know, 300 cubits by 50 cubits by 30 cubits; animals two-by-two; rain for 40 days and 40 nights? The water prevailed upon the earth one hundred and fifty days. But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with … Continue reading
We began this day with a short drive to the town of Etchmiadzin (also known as Vagharshapat), a little over 10 miles west of Yerevan, to visit another UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. Etchmiadzin is the administrative seat of the Armenian Apostolic Church and the residence of its Catholicos, that is, its … Continue reading
After a free day in Tbilisi, we said goodbye to our Georgian traveling companions. We will be on our own for the remainder of the trip. The Californians continue elsewhere in Georgia; the others are all homeward bound. On Thursday morning, May 8, Dale and I left Tbilisi and Georgia to met our new guide, … Continue reading
The Greater Caucasus Mountains, stretching from the Black Sea on the west to the Caspian on the east, constitute a formidable barrier for transit between Russia and Georgia. As consequence, the ridgeline coincides with the political boundary between these two nations, also separating, geologically, the continents of Europe and Asia. Mt. Erebus is the highest … Continue reading
The Kura River, also known to Georgians as the Mtkvari River, rises in eastern Turkey, flows east across Georgia and through Tbilisi, then across Azerbaijan, emptying into the Caspian Sea. The Mtkvari is to the Southern Caucasuses what the Mississippi River is to North America. Upstream on the Mtkvari River, about 50 miles northwest of … Continue reading
The rain and cold weather caught up with us again in Tbilisi. Nevertheless, we made the most of the situation and went on a day-long walking tour of the old city with Irakli leading the way. We started from our hotel, dead center of the old city of Tbilisi. That’s our hotel in the background … Continue reading
The Alazani River valley is the heart of the Kakheti wine region (red dot on map, below), the “Napa Valley of Georgia” where people have been producing wine for 8,000 years. Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about Georgian wine: The roots of Georgian viticulture have been traced back by archeologists to when people of … Continue reading
Early Sunday morning, April 27, we flew over the Caspian Sea from Tashkent, Uzbekistan, to Azerbaijan, arriving in its capital city, Baku, a little before noon. With a population of over 2,000,000, Baku is the biggest city in the Caucuses. The Caspian Sea today is physically landlocked, although it was once connected to the Black … Continue reading
We spent Saturday walking around Khiva’s ancient fortress city known as Itchan Kala, the capital of the Khanate of Khiva, an independent city-state from 1511 until 1747, when it was briefly under the control of Iran. In the 1800s, the Russian Empire launched several invasions into the khanate and Khiva ultimately became a protectorate of … Continue reading
The Road Less Traveled 