After the 5.30am start at turtle island we were grateful for the lie the next day. Unfortunately their was power problems at our jungle hotel the night before so we spent most of the night without air-con but once we were asleep it was fine and more of a jungle experience :-).

At 12.30 the owner of 'The Last Frontier' came to drive us two hours into the Sabah jungle for a river cruise and jungle walk adventure. This guy (never got a chance to ask his name) talked non-stop. He is from Belgium and has started his own tourist business in Sabah. He had a lot of opinions about the politics and culture in Malaysia and for the most part it was interesting to listen to him go on and on .... and on!! Let's just say I am an expert in Palm oil and Malaysia now. The fact he repeated a lot of it on the way back to the airport, because he had forgotten he told us, helped!

On the way to the jungle we passed acres and acres of palm plantations. Jungle is being stripped away at an alarming rate to make way for these plantations which line the pockets of politicians and employ illegal immigrants from the Philippines, India and Pakistan. Palm oil is predominantly hydrogenated and used in food products such as margarine, fast and pre-packaged foods and chocolate in the west. Apparently it's chemical structure is not dissimilar to plastic and it is extremely unhealthy for you. The reality of it is that rainforest is being destroyed along with it's inhabitants and this is going to have a catastrophic effect on the environment. It was very eye opening to hear all about it and I will certainly try and be more aware when I buy products that could contain hydrogenated palm oil (raw palm oil is quite good for you).

Once we arrived at the hill where the Frontier lodge is located we had over 600 steps to climb up in some serious heat and humidity before being greeted at the top with a cold welcome drink and spaghetti bolognaise. The lodge was entirely surrounded by jungle and our room was the nicest we had stayed in so far, except that it didn't have air conditioning :-(.

There were 5 others at the lodge including a Dutch couple who didn't speak much English and three Australian girls who we talked to a bit about Vietnam.

After lunch it was time for our first jungle river cruise. In the first hour we saw monkeys and crocodiles and most exciting of all we spotted a wild pigme elephant!!! I was almost jumping out of the boat to get closer to it. It was an amazing site and apparently they are only visible in the area about 60 days per year as they work their was up and down the river.

The second hour of the boat cruise was a completely different jungle experience when the heavens opened and it rained so hard that it was like someone spraying you with an army power hose! It was thrashing down on us in our tiny boat and the thunder was blasting and there was lightning all around us. Our guide took us straight back to the jetty but we were quite far away and it took over 45 minutes to get back. It was super exciting and quite funny but I think I was as wet inside my poncho as I was outside haha. The owner said that on a scale of 1-10 this was a 9 when it came to jungle storms.

Dinner that night was a delicious Malaysian curry with coconut rice and beans. It was so nice to have some half decent food after turtle island and mount Kinabalu. Luckily after the rains the air cooled and a fan was more than enough to keep us cool during the night.

Breakfast the next day was banana pancakes with caramel sauce followed by a 2 hour jungle walk. Unfortunately we didn't see too much wildlife on the walk but we did see a Venus fly trap plant, a leech and some Orangutang nests. I wish I hadn't seen the leech as I was then paranoid that I was going to get one on me :-/!

After the walk we had time to relax until our second boat trip. It was so unbelievably hot that we were dripping with sweat sitting still in the shade. Esben even managed to somehow get sunburnt on his front in the shade!!! For me the cool breeze of the boat trip couldn't come fast enough and I started to fantasise about air conditioning and swimming pools :-).

The second boat trip was even more successful than the first and we saw loads of monkeys, some sitting in families and some very close to the river where we could float so close to them we could almost touch them and they didn't run away. We also went back to where we had seen the elephants the day before and saw 5!!! One was getting in the river to swim along and then a mother and child walked along the river bank next to it and there were some others stomping around. I couldn't believe our luck and was overjoyed to see them in the wild. This was definitely one of the highlights of Borneo for me, my favourite animal in the wild and so close to our boat! I again almost jumped in the river to swim alongside it, I was too scared of crocodiles though.

That night it didn't rain so when we sat down for dinner the insects where out in force. There was things flying into me from all directions and I don't like insects at the best of times so dinner was a bit of an ordeal for me! There was these gigantic wasps which apparently eat tarantulas legs off then carry the live body to a hole in the ground where they then lay their eggs in it!!! Disgusting! The owner was telling us a woman stepped on one once and was in so much pain from the sting she was screaming. This did not help my fear. We also saw the second biggest moth in the world which was almost as big as my hand. Needless to say we headed to bed early that night so I didn't have to act as insect tape anymore, not before a huge beetle decided to poo on our dinner table though haha.

Today we are on our way to Vietnam. We had some hours to kill before the airport so used the pool at a local hotel and are now sitting in a tiny part of the airport which is being refurbished. All being well we shall arrive in Hanoi late tonight to start the next part of our adventure. I think we both agree that Borneo gets a thumbs up from us. Great start to our Asian adventure.

Over and out from Borneo!

Alice
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