Jungle Fever - Part 2

(Note: These 3 Jungle Fever posts are best enjoyed when read in order)

Around 1:30pm, Jungle Dave announces it's time to begin our hike. We will be trekking approximately 7km. Since Jungle Dave guides by watching and listening to the wildlife, no two hikes are ever the same. We go where the animals go.

I pull on my Wellies, but would have preferred my Pumas. These boots are made of rubber and they are HOT. I'm not sure why I'll need something so protective for a stroll on the boardwalk.

Our team breaks away from camp. We walk in a line. It is Jungle Dave, Mr. Happy, me, Kim, Naffy, and Murel. Jungle Dave warns us we must be q-u-i-e-t, so as not to alert wildlife to our presence. I'm not the most sure footed person in the world, but Naffy and Murel sound like a pack of elephants tearing down the path. I start to worry we won't see any wildlife.

Just below camp, we must ford a stream. There's a (very narrow) fallen tree crossing the water. My last go on a balance beam was when I was seven, but I call on these skills to lead me to dry land. It's not easy, but I make it! When we get to the other side I notice another (very narrow) fallen tree mounted about three feet in the air. Then another...and another. This is the boardwalk? This is not a boardwalk. Jungle Dave has clearly never spent time on the Jersey shore.

Suddenly, what I expected to be a lazy ramble where I might befriend a group of handicap tourists out for their constitutional on the boardwalk, has turned into a death defying balancing act. There's not even a safe solid surface to grab hold of. The trees here are not like the friendly ones back home.

The "boardwalk" is a dangerously elevated stick path built by an Indonesian company contracted by a Brunei oil company. The oil company uses these temporary walkways to lay out dynamite in hopes of finding oil reserves deep in the forest floor. After several months the wooden walkways are supposed to decompose leaving behind nothing but thousands of four inch nails.
These paths were built six months ago. They are still standing but many of them are weak. "And you can relax," Jungle Dave tells me, "I am almost certain all of the dynamite was exploded."

These jungles used to be the hunting ground of local villagers. Nine years ago, Jungle Dave's conservation group approached the community leader and asked to make the land a reserve. In exchange for allowing tourists on to the grounds, the community would receive B$30/pax. But this meant the hunters would have to dismantle the traditional booby traps they used to capture their prey. The net traps were cut down. And, to avoid impaling touring hikers, the bamboo spike pits were covered up. Today, locals may still hunt. Now, they use poison blow darts and glue guns (don't ask). Jungle Dave's group forbids hunting during mating season and fruiting season when the new babies develop. This is necessary to sustain and promote the growth of the wildlife population. Jungle Dave also keeps a nursery at his home. There he nurtures indegenous plants, fruits, and trees and then replants them inside the forest. This helps to maintain the food supply for the animals and protects species like the egg fruit, which are in danger of becoming extinct (and they are in danger, did you ever hear of the egg fruit?)

I pick my way along the path, one foot in front of the other. I try desperately to walk quietly, walk quickly, and not break my neck. Every once in a while I see leeches scoping me out. I'm now very glad for my Wellies which are coated in mud from the moments I lost my balance.

(Note: All photos are taken at the WIDEST part of the boardwalk. I didn't get my camera out during the more dangerous parts!!)

Jungle Dave points out several more snakes. We can hear gibbons nearby. Twice we see movement up in the trees, but they don't show themselves. Two hours into the hike I am exhausted. My legs are shaking.

"Don't worry," Jungle Dave encourages, "We should be back at camp around 5:30."

That is two hours away.

Several minutes later we hear what has become a familiar crash.

"Ha ha," Jungle Dave laughs, "That is just like fireworks!"

It isn't fireworks. It's the boardwalk collapsing (yet again) under my husband's weight. He's ok, but muddy, and his boots (which are too big on his feet and too short on his legs) have filled with water.
We fail to see any monkeys or baboons (unfortunately) or any cobras or wildcats (fortunately). We fall into camp bone tired. I'm now too exhausted to get upset over the camp latrine which left me near tears earlier. But seriously, the camp has been here nine years, can't they install some sort of a sitting contraption? That's what we had at girl scout camp. Even Laura Ingalls had a sit down out house.

"Take your shower," Jungle Dave orders, "I'll get dinner and then we'll do our night hike."

Things are finally looking up, "There are showers here?"

"No, just jump in the river," Jungle Dave laughs, "but watch out for the eels."

Jungle Fever - Part 1

I am balanced on two inches of rotting wood three feet above a muddy river in a Borneo rainforest. My skin is slick with sweat and my eyes sting from bug spray. My hand is bleeding and my guide, Jungle Dave, has just been bitten by a snake. "Don't worry," he reassures me as his arm starts to swell, "This snake is poisonous, but not deadly." We move onward.

I met Jungle Dave the day before at Mona Florafauna Tours. I wanted to book a hike into Brunei's National Forest Ulu Temburuong. My guidebook explains that this hike includes a canopy walk high above the jungle floor where I can look forward to seeing Proboscis monkeys and hornbills in their natural environment.


"No good," Jungle Dave insists, "In Ulu Temburuong you have a 1% chance of seeing wildlife. Where I take you, you have an 80% chance." Well, I do want to see wildlife, but I thought the canopy walk sounded rather romantic.


"On our tour we have a boardwalk. So you walk above the mud at your own pace." A boardwalk sounded a little less hardcore than what I was hoping for. My parents live near a bird sanctuary with a boardwalk. It's lovely and accessible to wheelchair bound people. But I haven't been hiking in quite a while. Mayhaps a stroll down the promenade while snapping photos of wildlife was exactly suited to me.


I checked out what the other tour offices had on offer and then I booked Jungle Dave's Adventure Camping Tour. The brochure promised that my husband and I would be picked up from our hotel, taken for breakfast at a local eatery, driven to a forest reserve, and briefed on rainforest safety. We would then set up our tent, eat some lunch, and start our first of three hikes.


Our driver arrived at our hotel promptly at 7am. We swing by Jungle Dave's house where we drop off our suitcases (only the essentials in the jungle) and try on the Wellies we'll be using as hiking boots. We then stop off at a small cafe for some roti canai with dhal and coffee sweetened with condensed milk. The meal was good, but I didn't want to eat too much before conquering the jungle.



Our car dropped us off on the edge of the foreset reserve in the Tutong District. We loaded up our supplies, stepped inside our rubber boots and took our first steps into the jungle. I admit, the hike to camp was strenuous. I assumed this must be the adventurous bit of the trip. We would be taking it easy once we hit the boardwalk. On the way to camp we see our first snake, a vine snake. It is green but turns yellow-ish when it's ready to attack. Right now, it is mating season and this evening will be half-moon. These two conditions combine to make the snakes more aggressive than usual. Yes.




It is 93 degrees today and we arrive at camp wet with sweat. The mosquitoes arrived before us. They are everywhere, especially around the area where we need to set up our tent. But I'm prepared with deet and it seems to keep the bugs at bay. At camp we join up with Jungle Dave's right hand man Kim. Also, there are two guide trainees present Naffy and Murel. We eat some fried noodles and sit down for Jungle Dave's safety speech.



He starts out by describing the 600 species of leeches we might meet on our trek. This gets my attention. I wasn't aware that leeches were the wildlife I'd be viewing. He assures us that as long as we flick them off sideways we'll be ok. Plus, he seems to think that a little blood suckage is good and shares the heroic leech stories he knows.



Next, we talk rainforests. There are four types of rainforest (freshwater, peat, dipterocarp, the one I forgot) and each of them are present in our 39 sq km forest reserve. Since only 20 permits are issued per day for visitors, the jungle is relatively untouched and conservation,we soon learn, is a priority for Jungle Dave.


Our early wakeup call, lunch, and the heat of the day combine to make my eyelids heavy. I'm trying to listen but it's becoming harder and harder. Then I hear Jungle Dave mention the time he had to cut off a person's hand. Now I'm awake.


"What?!"


Jungle Dave is very matter of fact about the story. He was leading a snorkeling tour when a woman started feeding the fish bread. Introducing bread into the water does excite the fish, but it also excites the fish's predators. A water snake showed up and promptly bit this woman's finger...and didn't let go. She, of course, lost her mind. Jungle Dave had to knock her out using a pressure point on her neck and get her to the beach.

"I had no choice," he explained, "If I didn't cut her hand off, she would have died."

I need more. "But wasn't it difficult to decided to slice into her flesh?" I ask.

"Yes," he admits, "especially since I didn't have a knife."

Now my imagination hits overdrive. How did he possibly cut her hand off? Did he gnaw it off? Grab a sharp shell? Catch a passing swordfish?


"I was snorkeling so I broke my face mask and used the glass."


Oh. My. God.


"It is important to save the hand," he instructs our shocked, fully awake group, "I handed it to the woman next to me. She was scared because the snake was still attached to the finger, but we had to take it to the hospital. We put it in the water, but fish immediately swam up and started eating it. So we wrapped it in a shirt, dunk the shirt in the water, and got help."


"Her husband was sitting on the beach drinking beer," Jungle Dave remembers, "And he beat me up pretty good. But I did what I had to do." The woman's hand was successfully reattached, but the couple sued Jungle Dave. The charges were dropped, though, when an expert doctor testified that if the hand wasn't cut off she probably wouldn't have survived. The doctor thought they were lucky that a person who knew how to cut a hand off cut her hand off. Otherwise it may not have been able to be reattached.



I'm not sure if I'm happy I'm in a dangerous, desolate area with Jungle Dave or not.

BSB

Ok...Maybe Brunei is as boring as everyone told us. We caught a cab at the airport and he drove us to our hotel just outside of town (about 5km) for B$20 (expensive!). The capital was DEAD. We were one of the only cars on the road and there was no sign of human life.

We arrived at our hotel Apek Utama a hair after 9pm and it was completely dark. We had to wake up the desk assistant to check us in. He greeted us belly first. He wore a sarong and a tank top with said tank top pulled up above his generous stomach. This hotel/guesthouse was recommended by Lonely Planet and only cost B$38 for a double room with a private bath and air conditioning.

We arrived hungry and Big Belly told us we could grab some food at the bodega down the street, but we needed to hurry because it was about to close. We ran upstairs to our room (which could use a serious facelift, but it was clean). I killed a cockroach, used the bathroom, and we headed out to the store.

Mr. Happy bought some papaya and fixin's for cheese sandwiches. I insisted on Oreos and Chips Ahoy to calm my nerves. We prepared the food back in our room, but my surroundings sort of made me lose my appetite. I managed a few Oreos.

There was a puzzling sign on the ceiling above our bed. I'm not sure what it meant. I'm guessing it means 'Surrender Now'.

In the morning we decided to change hotels. We coughed up a few more bucks to stay at the substantially nicer Terrace Hotel. This cost about B$60. It even had a pool! Big Belly asked us where we were going when we left. We felt very bad abandoning his hotel, because he was quite nice and jolly. Mr. Happy told him we were going to stay with a friend. I'm not sure if he believed us (quite unlikely we had a friend network in BSB) but I think the fib made us all feel better.

Time to sightsee!
Mr. Happy left for his meetings and I took to the streets of Brunei's capital. They were pretty much empty. After living in traffic riddled places the past few years, it was nice to walk down the middle of the street and not fear for my life.

I visited a picturesque wet market positioned next to the river. This was the quietest market I've ever been to in my life. No one was speaking at all.

I then took the No. 39 bus (B$1) to the Brunei Museum. The Petro-Chemical wing was closed for renovation -where's my egg timer luck when I need it? - but there was plenty to see. I was the ONLY person in the museum other than staff. After my visit, I sat on the museum porch waiting for my return bus. They run every 30 minute and the idea is to spot the bus on the road and wave it down. It was quite warm with a gentle breeze, and it took everything in my power not to doze off and miss the bus. I waited more than 30 minutes, so for all I know, I did doze off and miss the bus.

Back in the city centre I stopped for lunch at a cute bakery and had their meal of the day - Thursday: Nasi Chicken Rendang B$5. I washed it down with a root beer B$1. Attn Asia: Please start carrying diet soda!!
I wanted to take a boat ride around the town and checkout the floating village. Locals pay B$10 for this but they'll try to charge B$20 from you. Negotiate! The boat men are all over and motion to you by moving their finger in a circle. I decided I would wait for Mr. Happy to take this tour.

I visited the tourist office next to the Brunei Hotel (it has moved from its previous location inside the post office). There I met Jungle Dave who convinced me to book an overnight camping trip in the jungle. I hope Mr. Happy will be up for it! He won't be missing much by not touring the city.

I had a wander on the way back to my hotel. I passed many pretty, large, empty places.

Travel Time

Mr. Happy and I are booked on a 18:40 Air Asia flight to the capital of Brunei, Bandar Seri Begawan (BSB). We leave from the LCC Terminal NOT KLIA. This is a mistake many tourists make. We made it ourselves the first time we visited KL. People end up going to the wrong airport and missing their flight.The airport is really far away from the center of KL. City planners expected a higher rate of development and stuck the airport about 50KM away. The expansion never happened and we're now left with a long (and expensive) trip to the airport. I tried to map out our cheapest and quickest route. We left our apartment and took the LRT from KLCC to KL Sentral (RM $1.60). It was lucky we left from the mall, because Mr. Happy forgot to pack a tie and had to buy a new one.

Mr. Happy's new tie.

We then took an express bus from the train station to LCCT. Sky bus costs RM $9. Buses leave ALL the time. Chances are whenever you show up, there will be a bus about to leave. In addition to Sky bus there are other operators who try to undercut their business and sell tickets for RM $8. It took us 45 minutes to get to the airport, but there was no traffic. The travel time is supposed to be 1 hour 15 minutes.

Our flight left on time. I tried to catch some sleep, but Air Asia was making flight announcements all the time. They even tried playing games with the passengers. I thought this was pretty silly and didn't participate. But before I knew it, the flight attendant asked the winner to broadcast his name and where he was fromon the intercom. Who introduces himself but...Mr. Happy! He'd won! We weren't sitting together, so I didn't realize he was competing. Unfortunately, I was too stunned to snap a photo of the award ceremony. But I did get a pic of his prize.

An egg timer. A free flight would have been way cooler. Why does Air Asia even make egg timers? Oh well, we are winners!!!!!

(UPDATE: I tried the egg timer and IT DOES NOT WORK!!!! No wonder Air Asia wanted to get rid of them.)

Brunei or Bust

After one month in KL, Mr. Happy and I are leaving for a few days in Brunei. He has some meetings and we are staying an extra two days to sight see. We were pretty excited about the trip...and then we started telling people about it...

Most people remark with raised eyebrows, "Why are you going there?" As if I've told them we were heading someplace crazy like North Dakota. Others question our sanity, "Bru-nei???" While miming the act of slitting their wrists. Some people try to look on the bright side, "Maybe you can catch up on TV while you are there."

Brunei is a tiny country on the north coast of Borneo. It is RICH because its got lots o' black gold, Texas tea, say it with me...oil! It is Muslim, it is dry (not like a desert but instead no alcohol), and it's rather expensive compared to the surrounding bits of Malaysia.

We are only going to be there for three days. I am looking forward to it, and can't imagine it can be as boring as people have indicated.

Row, Row, Row Your Boat!

This past weekend Mr. Happy and I headed out to beautiful Putrajaya for the Oxford-Cambridge boat race Malaysia-style! The day called for an early start -- which wasn't easy after our very late Saturday at Ciccio, 21, and No Black Tie. But we bounded out of bed, called a cab (which agreed to pick us up for the first time), and drove out to the city which is home to Malaysia's government offices.
We refuled with some lattes to give ourselves the strength to get through the day.

The Oxford-Cambridge boat race has been held on the Thames since 1829. The competition in Putrajaya has only been held for the past five years (maybe six, I've lost my program). The boats are crewed by a ragtag groups of racers who start training in March. Rather than racing on a river, they test their skills on the manmade Putrajaya Lake.

The first race was a 2-man (or kid) kayak race.

This was followed by a 2-man scull race (Cambridge won!)

The Dragon boat race was next. These boats have a dragon head on the front and an on board drummer keeps the beat for the rowers.

The highlight of the day was the 4-man race. Oxford won by a hair. Maybe next year we'll have a Yale boat and show these stuffy Brits how it's really done!

In between races we checked out the free outdoor gym in the park. It wasn't the best workout, but it was fun!

The day was capped off with a lovely lunch in the clubhouse. where Mr. Happy and I managed to finagle a ride back to KL. We stopped along the way to take in some of the Putrajaya sites and grab some ice cream.

When we got home we set up our new DVD/Surround System that we bought the day before at Carrefour. Unfortunately, we were too tired to watch anything and fell asleep on our sofa. I'll tell you, being a spectator is exhausting.