After two nights in the jungle we have now arrived in Sempora, a typical local town with a few dive resorts and cafes in it catering for those preparing themselves, like us, to visit Sipadan, one of the best dive-sights in the world, apparently. We'll see. I am hardly an expert so anything will do! The town is fairly nice and bustling. We splashed out on the best hotel in town: about 18 pounds for a room including breakfast and a swimming pool. Bargain. Also get a good view over the harbour, and a nice shower.
Our minibus ride from the jungle was very pretty and i think i got sunburnt through the open window during the 4 hour ride, however we still arrived at the hotel remarkably clean. There are a few reasons for this: we wore wellington boots in the mud, we did not walk more than a couple of kilometers -instead mostly taking boat rides up the river, and we did not really go into the jungle. I mean it is, or was, jungle -real jungle. But a lot of Borneo's original (aka primary) jungle was cut down a while ago, and continues to be cut down. There is some left, there is also new (secondary) jungle around, which is where we were, so most of the trees were less than 150 years old. None-the-less, there was a lot of nature, a lot of insects, a lot of monkeys and plenty of birds and other wildlife on our doorstep. Literally on our doorstep, as our huts were on stilts in a swamp. That was the highlight of the trip.
The reason for there being so much to see (though still limited to insects, birds, and some lizards etc) was that most of the jungle is gone, replaced by plantations of palms. I knew this was an issue before i came here, but after driving over 300km today and seeing palm trees (for palm oils) on both sides of the road almost the entire time, and stretching as far as the eye can see, now i can get a better sense of the scale of how much Borneo must have changed. For us it was good, the animals still surviving are all packed into a small sliver of jungle along a river, so making it easier for us to see them. A real shame though. The best the environmentalists have done is convince some of the plantation owners to leave between 10m-30m of jungle lining the river so animals can continue to move between the few patches of jungle, using those channels.
It was pretty cool seeing orangutans in their natural habitat, as well as the other creatures mentioned above, including some pretty birds during night river trips and night hikes. One highlight must have been drifting down the river with the engines of our tiny wooden boats off, at dusk, as the flying foxes, a kind of bird that looks like a bat, flew overhead, under the moonlight, across the river. Hundreds and hundreds of them -it was very surreal and quite an experience after some of our earlier rather poor attempts to find much else in the jungle -maybe our expectations were too high. But the overall experience was pretty cool, the 'camp' where we stayed was great and so were many of the fellow backpackers and the local staff. Unfortunately to go further into the jungle requires a lot of money and time: certain 'eco-lodges' have a monopoly and charge accordingly -extortionately in fact!
A couple of days of diving are up next, and then it is 2010. Already. Holy ****. Merry Christmas everyone, as i believe i forgot to mention it before. Not really a big deal here in Malaysia, as you can imagine. Now I am off to eat a chocolate pudding we found in a bakery nearby. It looks really good, but it would be too good to be true if it actually was!
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Up-side down
After a morning watching Orangutans in the flesh (and on a decent educational film) and Dad pulling leeches out of his leg, we are now getting prepared to spend a few days in the jungle with some wildlife-spotting river cruises amongst other activities.
Yesterday we went white water rafting and capsized once whilst falling out once. It was fantastic. The 'danger' (not that there really us much, adds a lot to the experience, and the thrill of it! A great day and definitely something i want to do again -although it is hard to find decent white water rafting in Asia it seems. The rafting included trips along an old train line that is the only transport to parts of the river, passing by incredibly remote villages who had built tiny little stations/platforms near the train to get on when it came by. I have no idea where the villagers came from sometimes as from the train we would be lucky to even see 1 house, but they came, and we all crowded onto the very old train as it trundled along, peering out the windows or through the (open) doors along the way.
I imagine the train was built to get access to the forests and cut the trees down -most of the forests in the area did not look more than 50 years old; certainly compared to what we saw today. Malaysia has a bad (though not as bad as Indonesia) problem with deforestation for either timber or for using the land for agriculture, often growing palm trees for their valuable oil. Both being awful for the forests, the former as it is often done illegally and the latter because it destroys biodiversity and affects wildlife.
A passing comment, as we have decided not to climb the mountain here that takes 1-2 days; instead we literally flew (on our way to the jungle) right next to it, at the same altitude (4,000 m) and only a kilometre or so away. A great view/photos of the mountain and the surroundings without the hike -almost making it worth waking up at 5am for the early flight this morning!
Yesterday we went white water rafting and capsized once whilst falling out once. It was fantastic. The 'danger' (not that there really us much, adds a lot to the experience, and the thrill of it! A great day and definitely something i want to do again -although it is hard to find decent white water rafting in Asia it seems. The rafting included trips along an old train line that is the only transport to parts of the river, passing by incredibly remote villages who had built tiny little stations/platforms near the train to get on when it came by. I have no idea where the villagers came from sometimes as from the train we would be lucky to even see 1 house, but they came, and we all crowded onto the very old train as it trundled along, peering out the windows or through the (open) doors along the way.
I imagine the train was built to get access to the forests and cut the trees down -most of the forests in the area did not look more than 50 years old; certainly compared to what we saw today. Malaysia has a bad (though not as bad as Indonesia) problem with deforestation for either timber or for using the land for agriculture, often growing palm trees for their valuable oil. Both being awful for the forests, the former as it is often done illegally and the latter because it destroys biodiversity and affects wildlife.
A passing comment, as we have decided not to climb the mountain here that takes 1-2 days; instead we literally flew (on our way to the jungle) right next to it, at the same altitude (4,000 m) and only a kilometre or so away. A great view/photos of the mountain and the surroundings without the hike -almost making it worth waking up at 5am for the early flight this morning!
Sunday, December 20, 2009
An old friend and an excellent documentary about the earthquake
Last Sunday we went out for Dinner, but because my previous 'birthday restaurant' was destroyed during the summer (birthday restaurant meaning somewhere cheap, friendly, with good atmosphere, convenient and with space for a large group of people), a new one had to be found. After 40 minutes of hunting, a new one has been found and it did not disappoint. After a great hotpot dinner, we went to the Mississippi Bar which has happy hour from 11am to 11pm -fast becoming a favourite!
Tuesday night was quiz night -actually it was my first time at this particular quiz at Tim's Texas BBQ, now just one of over ten different quiz nights at various bars for foreigners in Beijing. This one was somewhat easier than the other one, and less high-brow, so I made a few meaningful contributions (such as knowing the length of a snooker table, knowing how many clubs have been in the Premiership consistently without being relegated etc); although more amusing was the quizmaster reading out questions that often, for some reason, had french words or names in them, and he had no idea how to pronounce them.
Tonight I took the bus to meet a friend for dinner and the driver said something to me -a bit confused and not sure what he said i moved further down the bus (thinking that i was blocking something), but then he beckoned me over, so i went over and chatted to him. It seems that he remembered me from 2 years ago when I often used motorbike taxis (with little cabs/sidecars on the back), and quite often him, to get me to work. Somewhat bizarre that he remembered me after two years -I guess he did not have many foreign customers.
Also tonight we went to watch a documentary (called '1428' after the time of the Sichuan Earthquake) by a Chinese director which won some prestigious awards. It has not been released in any cinemas as I know, but a special screening was organized along with a Q&A from the director. The documentary is just 2 hours edited from the director's 178 hours of footage he shot in the week after the earthquake and then around 9 months later -the director says nothing in the film at all. Interestingly there is no real message in the documentary though it is well done.
It has several different perspectives expressed by those affected; mostly related to reconstruction, getting aid etc. There was plenty in there that will teach viewers a lot about China, from the government slogans painted on the walls ("only the lazy rely on the government") to the visit of the Prime Minister to the area, and the clips related to the police, military and party officials. There are some interesting insights, such as people rummaging through rubble to get scrap metal to sell which is the only income source for most people or others who were stealing. There were perspectives from the elderly and the middle-aged, from those who lost everything and those who lost almost nothing. There was also though a couple of larger points i took from the film that i had not really thought specifically about before.
The first is that the Chinese government has made sure the people know it is in charge and have expectations that it will meet their needs. This ensures the government is seen as the only source of power in the country, but it also means that the people have very high expectations of the government and expect them to help no matter what. Thankfully the government is fairly efficient, as most of you will have heard.
The second is that when the government encouraged its people to "go get rich", which many of them are doing, or at least are trying, it also opened a can of worms by creating expectations that everyone should be able to get rich. But for those who do not? How patient can they be? Who do they blame if they are still impoverished? Thus the government has unleashed entrepreneurialism but at the risk of also undermining its authority if it cannot deliver.
In hindsight there were plenty of other interesting things in the documentary, and some comical moments too. Probably it meant more to me having lived here for 5 years, and visited the earthquake area 6 months ago, but i do think it is well worth watching!
Tuesday night was quiz night -actually it was my first time at this particular quiz at Tim's Texas BBQ, now just one of over ten different quiz nights at various bars for foreigners in Beijing. This one was somewhat easier than the other one, and less high-brow, so I made a few meaningful contributions (such as knowing the length of a snooker table, knowing how many clubs have been in the Premiership consistently without being relegated etc); although more amusing was the quizmaster reading out questions that often, for some reason, had french words or names in them, and he had no idea how to pronounce them.
Tonight I took the bus to meet a friend for dinner and the driver said something to me -a bit confused and not sure what he said i moved further down the bus (thinking that i was blocking something), but then he beckoned me over, so i went over and chatted to him. It seems that he remembered me from 2 years ago when I often used motorbike taxis (with little cabs/sidecars on the back), and quite often him, to get me to work. Somewhat bizarre that he remembered me after two years -I guess he did not have many foreign customers.
Also tonight we went to watch a documentary (called '1428' after the time of the Sichuan Earthquake) by a Chinese director which won some prestigious awards. It has not been released in any cinemas as I know, but a special screening was organized along with a Q&A from the director. The documentary is just 2 hours edited from the director's 178 hours of footage he shot in the week after the earthquake and then around 9 months later -the director says nothing in the film at all. Interestingly there is no real message in the documentary though it is well done.
It has several different perspectives expressed by those affected; mostly related to reconstruction, getting aid etc. There was plenty in there that will teach viewers a lot about China, from the government slogans painted on the walls ("only the lazy rely on the government") to the visit of the Prime Minister to the area, and the clips related to the police, military and party officials. There are some interesting insights, such as people rummaging through rubble to get scrap metal to sell which is the only income source for most people or others who were stealing. There were perspectives from the elderly and the middle-aged, from those who lost everything and those who lost almost nothing. There was also though a couple of larger points i took from the film that i had not really thought specifically about before.
The first is that the Chinese government has made sure the people know it is in charge and have expectations that it will meet their needs. This ensures the government is seen as the only source of power in the country, but it also means that the people have very high expectations of the government and expect them to help no matter what. Thankfully the government is fairly efficient, as most of you will have heard.
The second is that when the government encouraged its people to "go get rich", which many of them are doing, or at least are trying, it also opened a can of worms by creating expectations that everyone should be able to get rich. But for those who do not? How patient can they be? Who do they blame if they are still impoverished? Thus the government has unleashed entrepreneurialism but at the risk of also undermining its authority if it cannot deliver.
In hindsight there were plenty of other interesting things in the documentary, and some comical moments too. Probably it meant more to me having lived here for 5 years, and visited the earthquake area 6 months ago, but i do think it is well worth watching!
Saturday, December 12, 2009
A chocolaty night
Last night we went out to Chocolate, as Andrea had never been but had wanted to go as she heard lots about it. It is the newest Russian club in town, out of about 5 in the Russian quarter. This one though is one special place. It is all underground with the entrance down a red escalator with red velvet drapes overhead. Once inside the club is designed around a dance floor with 2 poles (you can guess what they get used for). Behind is a stage with a couple of platforms (you can also guess what they are for) framed by massive photo frames, so the dancers almost look like they are in the photo frames. Surrounding the dance floor are probably 100 tables which match the chairs in style: the chairs are velvet backed and golden framed as if they are from a 17th century palace banquet room. On the ceiling, everywhere, are handing face down, hundreds of large fake french paintings, each one 2m x 3m or so and around the outside of the club are a couple of bars.
At the back is another room with pool tables, as well as a kids area, believe or not, though most of the clientele (and predominantly non-Russian, unlike all the other Russian clubs, but maybe this club is just too garish even for the Russians, or there are not enough Russians to fill the club) sit and drink vodka, or dance to the awful Russian band. Around midnight the show starts with the girls coming out and 'exotic dancing' though they don't actually take their clothes off. It is one strange experience.
This afternoon i got a call from a random Russian guy that it seems i gave by business card to last night, and whom i communicated with in Chinese, since i speak no Russian, and he speaks no English. Hopefully he won't call again as i really have nothing to say to him. Although i am keen to find out just what is appealing about Chocolate, apart from its strangeness and exotic dancers.
The Russian quarter in Beijing is very distinctive with at least 3 shopping malls of 3 floors each purely for Russian clientele: the Chinese sales people there even speak Russian. there are several Russian restaurants of course selling hearty Russian food and vodka too, as well as Treasure Island, the precursor (but still in existence) to Chocolate with its own exotic dancers that was perfect for Leon's stag earlier this year. Yet the strangest thing about the Russian quarter is that it is not near the Russian Embassy!
At the back is another room with pool tables, as well as a kids area, believe or not, though most of the clientele (and predominantly non-Russian, unlike all the other Russian clubs, but maybe this club is just too garish even for the Russians, or there are not enough Russians to fill the club) sit and drink vodka, or dance to the awful Russian band. Around midnight the show starts with the girls coming out and 'exotic dancing' though they don't actually take their clothes off. It is one strange experience.
This afternoon i got a call from a random Russian guy that it seems i gave by business card to last night, and whom i communicated with in Chinese, since i speak no Russian, and he speaks no English. Hopefully he won't call again as i really have nothing to say to him. Although i am keen to find out just what is appealing about Chocolate, apart from its strangeness and exotic dancers.
The Russian quarter in Beijing is very distinctive with at least 3 shopping malls of 3 floors each purely for Russian clientele: the Chinese sales people there even speak Russian. there are several Russian restaurants of course selling hearty Russian food and vodka too, as well as Treasure Island, the precursor (but still in existence) to Chocolate with its own exotic dancers that was perfect for Leon's stag earlier this year. Yet the strangest thing about the Russian quarter is that it is not near the Russian Embassy!
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