This is the name for Borneo that may (or may not, not clear on this point) have been coined by Agnes Keith, an American who lived in the town of Sandakan with her husband before and after WWII. Apparently she has written a book about it, which I will endeavor to read sometime soon, provided I can find it. I have at least seen her old house, set on a hill high above the town of Sandakan. I have been in Malaysia for the past few days, enjoying the break from mega-cities of Asia out here. Sandakan serves as a base for exploration and tours into the hinterland, and I opted to partake.

My first thought was that I had signed up for a tour with a Mr. Aji, a three hour tour up the Kinabatangan river, which is one of the island’s longest. It turned out that I was actually on a much larger trip, as I discovered the morning I was picked up by Mr Aji, who had a pair of Scottish mates in tow for the ride. Our first stop was a roadside tire station over two hours away from Sandakan. Needless to say, it was unscheduled and the result of a flat tire and extended, subsequently, by the flat spare. After an hour or so and a quick motorbike jaunt, Aji rectified the situation and we were back on our way to the Gumontang Caves. Here, the Malays have collected edible bird nests for thousands of years since they are considered a delicacy in China (they eat anything), though the practice is much more regulated now.

The cave itself is a large cavern with a few high openings through which swiftlets and bats flutter about. The entire ground, save parts of the walkway, is coated in musky guano which is altogether not a terribly unpleasant odor. I would’ve quite enjoyed staying in the coolness of the cave if not for the swarms of cockroaches littering every dark stretch, scattering between planks as you walk past them. My souvenir of the experience was some nice bat droppings onto my hat, which, thinking about it, is a much better thing than having that stuff in my hair the rest of the day.

That night we ended up at the end of a road, settled into a stilthouse near the river in a backwood town called Sukuo. Here we were lodged, and around dusk we took a motorboat up a side river from the Kinabatangan to spot wildlife. After a few false starts, Aji hit his game and was able to point out snakes curled and motionless on tree branches or monkeys far off crashing through the trees. We saw a group of macaques close to shore, and later the distinctive Proboscus monkeys leaping along the shoreline trees, with their large noses and stomachs giving them away easily. Also included were a pair of molitor lizards, which were easily over a meter long each. I had hoped for a pygmy elephant sighting, but won’t complain about the views we did get.

Six the next morning we took a hike with Aji through the jungle looking for animals. Save a gibbon, there was little activity in the foliage, and instead I took to enjoying the walk. I had my first experience with a leech, which decided my leg was a good feeding point. I caught him quick and rubbed him off against a tree trunk before he could even dig in to me. Back down the gravel road and out from the bush after another tire change, and I left the rest of the party at the parking lot to Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary, which is exactly as the name sounds.

Orphaned apes are rehabilitated here, with two daily feedings to attract them and tourist dollars. To kill some time until then, I wandered on trails in the jungle, growing a bit uneasy about the idea of what may be lurking out there. In Oregon, I don’t worry about such things hiking, but those are ‘my’ animals and I know that we don’t have any primates with thumbs who like to steal from tourists. Still, the monkeys never came after me, and my patient trekking was rewarded when I was able to spot a pair of orangutans high up in a tree, rocking the trunk slightly. Its an eerie feeling walking alone in the jungle, and I was happy to be back out and with cold water in hand

The feeding time was a bit crowded with tourists but I suppose I don’t have the right to complain as I am part of that traffic. All told, seven orangutans showed up, playing along the trees and ropes to get to the feeding platform as we diligently snapped pictures. A monkey lurked underneath, periodically getting a banana thrown its way to keep it from bothering the apes. Despite the crowds, it was a nice experience and I was relieved to get back to Sandakan where I can enjoy a hotel that does not have bats flying overhead the main seating area after dark or foot-long geckos hanging on the walls.

So my three-hour tour, as they have a track record of doing, became something much longer. But it was also incredibly worthwhile, and as we bumped along the gravel road in our 4×4 I couldn’t help but crack a grin thinking about the past few days here. I had hoped to escape the stresses of the city and work by coming to Borneo, and now I find myself casting a wary eye to teaching on Monday, wishing I had more time to spend here.