it's raining in borneo

dear old penpals,

hello again, this time from borneo! i'm in kuching which means "cat" and it's raining -- cats. cats and more cats. but luckily it started in the late afternoon, just as i was finishing up at the orangutan sanctuary down the road where i saw my first ginger haired apes in the wild. well, kind of wild, it's sort of a reserve and sort of a park, not at all a zoo, but not quite wild either -- close enough. anyway i saw five very fine specimens, one with an itty baby clutching onto its chest as it --she -- smashed coconuts into tree trunks with impressive force and then tried to pour the juice out on the ranger below (pretty sure it was on purpose), and tomorrow i go to a really truly national park and look for hornbills and proboscis monkeys and maybe if i'm very lucky a civet cat! i spend two nights at the park headquarters and i'm really excited. to wake up to gibbon calls walk around with the flying squirrels and all their forest friends..how fun.

kuching is also lovely, though, surprisingly more developed and modern than most se asian cities (including phnom penh) but still incredibly colorful and charming with lots of colonial buildings, windy streets, sidewalk cafes...i'm really glad i came. after the national park i go on up the coast towards brunei, which i'll pass through and spend a night or two in, just to see what the sultan's up to, and then over to the other side of malaysian borneo to hopefully see more orangutans in more of a national park setting, along a river which you go up in a little boat and wear a safari hat. like the jungle ride at disneyland come to life! finally.

anyway so i know i haven't written much since i've been traveling because i've just been distracted and short of attention span for the internet after several months of spending so much quality time with my computer in phnom penh (phnom penh! seems like a lifetime ago), but a short rundown of the trip so far is as follows:

first, a week on gili trawangan, a little splotch of paradise near bali with the best white sand beach i've ever been to and so many turtles that the locals get annoyed at seeing them, where i met a friend from VIA and lounged a lot and watched the world cup with some swiss people. then, a four day "cruise" on a "boat" which nearly capsized whenever a gentle breeze rippled across the sea or a tiny wave lapped at our stern, but somehow survived to take us to lots of uninhabited island gems for waterfalls, hiking, and pink beaches (from the coral that washes up there) and then onto komodo to see the dragons, which are gigantic and look like they belong with the dinosaurs but don't do a whole lot more than lie flat on their stomachs with their legs sticking out and watch you watch them (occasional tongue flick), and then final port of call at Labuan Bajo, Flores, an island that kept making me think of the land before time: Impossibly green valleys, multi-colored ever changing opaque volcanic lakes, traditional cultures with temples made out of spiky rocks and offerings of vanilla and coffee beans, and castaway beaches with nothing to do but watch the tide come in and go out over a good book and a cold beer. i rented a car with a dutch family and drove all the way across, listening to Mr. Meijer talk about things that were "so idiot" while his wife and daughter made fun of his english and his yellow speedo. charming people, the dutch. next i flew to bali, met a spaniard and a chilean and drove around the island with them, just to make sure that Bali is really as pretty as people say it is (affirmed). And then I flew to east timor which is a really strange place that appears to have been invaded by an army of white UN trucks, but still has really good scuba diving and some sweeping scenery and complicated people who can be charming but mostly just seem wary -- even of little budget backpacker me, on the local bus with the chickens and the drooling infants, with no white UN vehicle in sight! i think they may have a bad impression of westerners at this point and i guess i don't blame them. but, there was a parrot at my hostel, and it was incredibly warm and friendly, so it all worked out just fine.

and then after a short stopover in singapore to refuel and reconnect, i came to Borneo and here I am. it's still raining but i'm getting hungry, and the food here so far is fantastic. i've had minced pork in two different forms, both excellent, and the best thing by far: stir fried fern leaf. crunchy yet delicate. what a treat. so i'll brave a warm shower and head out and i will talk to you all soon! one more month of this and then i'm back to the bay. i can already tell that i'm going to miss eating fern leaves.

love, molly