Illegal Hikes of Taiwan: Part ....

Trail closed. Or is it? No permits, no problem!

"Bu ke neng"...you can't. Taiwan, for all its glory and beauty, is a land of "No". Everything is dangerous, and closed. Its not actually dangerous, but almost everything is actually closed.



If you want to have fun, you have to break the law. Fortunately, aside from screaming park officials, wayward bystanders telling you of immediate doom and death...there is little in the way of stopping you from breaking the law. We need perspective on this. The law is not being broken in a malicious way, intending harm on others. It is not broken in attempt to gain, or to make others lose. It is broken because if you basically want to do anything other than watch TV and go shopping in Taiwan, you have to break the law. So, declining both TV and shopping, we decide to break a few laws and hit the epic and wonderful trails around the island.

A beautifully named, yet harmless, Stink Rat Snake.

Now, my use of hyperbole is somewhat off, as there are a whack of legit trails within Taiwan that are open and easily accessed. However, there are so many more - mostly within parks - that are closed. This tail actually killed a Chinese hiker some years ago, so they left it as is and closed it. Obviously it is an angry trail and one dead man is an omen of more death to come. I call bullshit. We hiked the trail and, other than the possibility of an asteroid hitting us, death was not our companion at all.

A Sunday romp along the limestone slip on the southern coast.

The mountain, the goal...the illegality of trying to find adventure in the National Parks of Taiwan.

Ok, enough of the back story. We went south this weekend (it was a long weekend as we celebrated - took a moments pause - the Taiwanese remembrance day) and strayed into Kenting National Park. The oldest National Park in Taiwan, and one of the most unique as its forests are arid, open and dry. Very tropical vegetation but a very arid landscape. Very, very beautiful. Very.


We took a 4 hour train Friday night, a 1 hour bus Saturday morning, then rented a scooter and drove the remaining half-hour to the actual Kenting city (the kind of place that has 100 people on a Wednesday and 10000 on a Saturday...many flock here for its beaches). We spent two days hiking in the woods, checking out some sights and coming upon a really weird and rare geologic phenomenon (more on that later).



Hotel/motel in Fangliao, the place we stayed in Friday night waiting for the morning bus. Friendly owner, clean inside....all that you can ask for in Taiwan!

Hiking through the forest; note the roots as they branch and ooze along and through the undulations of the coral bedrock. This stuff was so sharp...no falling allowed!




Saturday we did the regular and popular trail circuit, during which we almost immediately left the main trail and poked around sans-permit in the forest for the better part of the day. The bedrock here is all old coral, and the trees and other vegetation grows out of the most curious divots, cracks and pits within it. The coral would be impossible with bare feet, totally rough and sharp, making it a perfect place to accumulate soil and catch seeds over time. As the sea lowered, the land uplifted and soil began to form...the forest started to grow. Today, large trees grow in seemingly impossible places, roots streaming down the sides of rock like they were tentacles on an octopus. Completely beautiful.

A large coral bedrock exposure that turned out to be a grand photo op (had I chosen the right setting, it may have been better...); Birds, bees and trees of the National Park.

Crystal checking out a bird-wing butterfly...one of the many species we found in one little patch of flowers.

Butterfly on the left, forest on the right. The ocean can be seen in the distance, and this section of the forest was closed for sitka deer habitat. The deer were over hunted and lost vital habitat in the years past, so now there is a large push to help them re-introduce themselves to lost areas and to give them a safe place to live.

A view along a coral ridge. Imagine what this would have looked like when it was a living topographical anomaly under a pre-historic sea!

Forest closeup and a - I think - Taiwan Forest Pie (bird). I will have to confirm this...name sounds strange to me but this is how it was explained to me!

After the hike, some own time and some tea we got our night time gear ready, and hit the forest again to do a night walk. We spent an hour or so in the woods in complete darkness searching for nightlife - a few toads, cool moths, no snakes and no owls (which were our main goal) but overall it was really cool to be in the middle of the forest, alone, in the dark.

Night walk friend (toad) and a pic of us, decked out in flashlights and hopes of night crawly creatures.

Ok, so it was also a birthday and, not one for cakes, Crystal made me a peanut and magi ...platter. They were all gone in minutes...mmm....magi......

Sunday we returned to the park and, after asking a couple of people where a certain more rugged trailhead was (who all told us that it was closed, impossible and deadly) and passing assign warning of huge fines for anybody who stepped past the fence, we ...now don't tell anybody....we drove to a non-descript part of the road, packed our things and headed out, blindly, into the woods. We knew the general direction of the mountain (it was the tall thing sticking up in the foreground!) and we assumed the general place where a , if any still existed as we didn't get a feeling of when this trail was closed, trail might be. To cut the story short - we buschwacked through vines and thorns for a long while until we came to ....bleeding and hot....a trail. A perfectly pefect, perfect trail. Rugged, overgrown in parts and overall...perfect. We slinked into the forest, found the winding trail and cooked up a story in case anybody saw us (we were bird watching and got lost...) and trekked on and on. The views were great, the trail amazing...countless birds (for real!), a monkey or two and a lot of Sitka Deer scat. No snakes.

Morning meal in our room, with the birds and the mountain (to be scaled, we hoped) in the background.

Stopping along the way to the makeshift (ok, invented...) trailhead. One of the few flowering plants at this time (which is freaking huge!) invites many birds, making it a perfect birdwatching spot, especially in the early-ish a.m.

One of Taiwan's special birds, the 5-Coloured Bird in all its beauty!

We made it to the mountain, started to ascend and then near the point where the trail turned to a rock climbing adventure, we decided that we should call it a day. A lot of trails in Taiwan are over weird and crazy terrain, requiring bridges, ropes and such, but sometimes we just don't trust our lives to a rope that somebody - sometime - tied to a tree we cant see up ahead. This was oe of the times. I tried to climb for a bit, then hit a section that I just could not convince myself it was worth continue climbing. A fall here....not good. Saying our pleasantries to the mountains, downing some water and raisins, we headed back.

Once we were able to actually find the trail, crossed a little trickling river and got going with a good pace...it turned into a healthy thorn fest. Gorgeous hike, but deadly on the arms!

Crystal roping up to the first little lookout where we, after trying to go higher but realizing the ropes did not give u any sense of trust, called it a hike. On the right is the southern most point in Taiwan, with Crystal decorating the coral below.

Overall the trail back was good - there were a lot of thorns and we are pretty scratched up at this point still, but overall it was a grand trail. A good find in the face of "no" from the regular Taiwanese folk. Once we got back near the trailhead, we went into stealth mode. This is where we would be caught if we were ever to be caught. Sleek movements through the woods, then the grassland and then towards the fence....stopping with bino's to check the scene ahead...and we were safe. A few cars passing, a few scooters but nothing of the "your in trouble" variety (aka park vehicles or police). Nobody knew we were in there, and nobody will ever know (until now).

Again, the southern most point on the island...you can't get any more tropical than this on the island of Taiwan.

Later in the day we did some sigtseeing to the most southern point of Taiwan and a cool limstone collapse landscape. Lost of sun, lots of fun, legs burned with walking and the pleasure of, yet another, illegal adventure in Taiwan!

The picture on the left is added for comic relief...for us, at least. Yes, its ol' Trevor at the southern tip of TW. But, that is not the reason for the picture being up here. Notice (if you click for a larger version) the dude on the right...a guy who has no doubt traveled for a healthy amount of time to get here, is standing at the tip of a geologic playground and he chooses to take a picture of a foreigner. People here love...and I mean love... to take our pictures. Not because we are suave, cute, amazingly fit or perhaps ugly and fat. No, its because they can show people at home "the foreigner" they saw. Quite bizzare.

Along the southern coast is a chunk of land that has slumped over time, creating a really neat limstone landscape. Caves and the like here, though we didnt find them. Or look, really.

As we were getting ready to grab a coffee and watch the sun call it a day, we spotted two amazing things. A _______ bird and somebody selling fresh coconuts.

The sun (the bright dot in the middle) setting.

Monday - the holiday - we separated. Crystal got the first chance at taking the highspeed train fro Kaoshiung to Taipei, while I poked around the south for a bit more, checking out natural flares (ChuHuo) and a little birdwatching in the sticks.

Chu (go) Huo (fire). These are natural gas vents that, during the dry season when no rain and mud gets into the vents themselves, flame all day and night.

What better place for an afternoon nap...

Along the way home...the truck on the left is actually quite regular and the shirts on the right are...actualy quite regular. The weirdest phrases and idoms mashed together, though this one stands above the rest as it is seemingly grammatically correct.

Borneo: Round Two

A land of a million mysteries and a million more yet discovered...


The rest of the photos are here...I hope you enjoy!

Wing seat on AirAisa...passing by our home. The flat area with the noticeable city is Hualien City, to the south you can see the coastal mountains starting, and all east of the city (we are flying due south here) are the central mountains. Three hours south of this moment we would touch down on the Kota Kinabalu runway (Sabah, Malaysia) and wait another two hours for our flight to Miri (Sarawak, Malaysia).

Oil Palm plantations, Miri.


Miri is a wonderful little town on the Borneo coast; founded on oil and oil alone, it is a place that holds culture and a home for Shell. But, to the south (further inland) lies the obituary writer for Bornean biodiversity - Oil Palm plantations. Our flight from Miri to Mulu National Park was a solid hour, and the majority of that flight was spent flying over a scene like this. Only the park boundaries protect a remaining swathe of primary forest for the likes of large primates all the way down to yet discovered small creatures. These oil palm fields are the sole result of the worlds desire for cheap junk food. Orang Utans, Gibbons, Macaques, Leaf Monkeys, Proboscis Monkeys...all taking a solid step higher and higher up on the endangered list so we can continue to eat pretzels and packaged corn chips.



Assam fruit; I was told that these were tastey, local fruits. I ate one - standing in a crowded market - and found out that this was nothing more than a friendly practical joke and the assam fruit is actually a super sour fruit that nobody...nobody...actually eats. They are for cooking. They got me...


MULU NATIONAL PARK (and UNESCO World Heritage Site - Caves)




Mushroom formations in the cave...

A yet to be identified insect that is crazy on the crazy side. So beautiful...so strange...

At the entrance/exit of Deer cave a lone falcon sits and waits for the not-so-daily mass exodus of the thousands of bats that live inside. They make the most amazing mass exit at random intervals and the predators know this, so they sit and wait for the buffet.



This was our first actual destination on out trip and, after the depressing trudge through the endless hectares of lost forest and oil palms, we landed in perhaps the most beautiful place we have been to. You can only get there (for now...wait for the logging roads) by air, all food, supplies and people must be airfreight for a while to enter the yawning expanse of rugged karst mountains, untouched primary forest and the epic cave systems and the worlds largest cave chamber. This is the place that the Caves episode of Planet Earth visits.

The boatman that helped us through the riffles and tricky spots of the river...

Deer Cave, from the outside looking in. The limestone cliffs are permeated with some of the worlds most dramatic cave systems. The dark spot on the left of the white rock face is the entrance of the cave proper.

Boats lined up, waiting to take us from the cave to the trailhead for camp5.

Getting ready to climb the pinnacles...leech protection and headlamps primed. Within three muntes of the hike I was shirtless from the heat and the sun was poking its head through the clouds.

Crystal taking a water break and doing a leech check along the Headhunter Trail.


So, the park itself is a stunning array of biodiversity, curious geology and home to the equally curious headhunter tribes of the past. Short past, that is. It was circa WW2 that the Dutch convinced the headhunting tribes to halt their practice (although, a special cancellation of that agreement was made during the end of WW2 as Japanese heads were taken).

More than halfway to the top, the ropes and ladders start. A tough go, but exhilarating.


The main goal here was to see birds, see more birds, look at birds and then spend some time birdwatching... Following this, night hikes to find crazy and weird critters and frogs and glowing mushrooms... Following this, a three day hike to see the Pinnacles and then exit the park via the profane and once dangerous Headhunters Trail. No headhunters, just excellently beautiful scenery, sloppy muddy leech filled ground, towering trees and the choral echo of insects and birds unknown. After a few days of birds, caving and waterfalls, we took to the pinnacles trail. It takes a one hour longboat ride upriver to the trailhead and a three hour hike to Camp5 where we stayed for the night (a hike during which the rainforest lived up to its name). In the morning, straight up to make it to the pinnacles.

The evening vista at Camp5, post rainfall. The limestone face across the river is blanketed by clouds that would equally blanket our pinnacles view the next morning.


The hike to the pinnacles is a tough one, up and up and up on the rooty trail to a outcropping of limestone that has persevered through the most amazing erosion history. We hiked and eventually made it to the inevitable ladder section. Up and up some more...then the top. We were lucky enough to arrive there at the same time the worlds total cloud store did, so we got to see little more than what we could only imagine lay beyond the mucky fog. After lunch, a few pics and a quiet time together with fellow hikers (Hey Zach, Tessa, Frank, Daniel!!) the clouds fazed out a bit and we got the best possible shots we could. Ill link here to what they look like on a clear day. Regardless, it was a stunning hike, tough and beautiful, to a very stunning geologic landscape.

Crossing one of the many bridges along the way of the Pinnacles/Headhunter Trail.

Trail sign, reports of conditions....cartoon interpretations of what to expect as you climb the pinnacles.

The pinnacles.


After our time at the top, it was another 3 hours (ish) down. Anybody can tell you that the way down is always the hardest part, and this led to no exceptions. The thick rooty trail gives you very little suitable footholds and as everything is wet and you are inevitably looking at the forest and not your feet most of the time....its slow going.

Crystal during our lunch break at the pinnacles. You can see the weird formations behind her in this picture, but the real oddity and view is the other way...as shown in the above pictuer.

Strangler fig which does not actually strangle. But, it appears as such so the name was given way back in the day...not sure what tree is on the inside but the tentacle-like roots roping around the tree are the fig tree to-be.


Back to Camp5, sleep. Well, swim then cook dinner then sleep. Morning....follow the headhunters trail for a solid 3 hours to the river, then meet a longboat driver and sit and ogle at the forest during a 4 hour boat ride to a downstream community where we could catch a ride to a city with bus service...then move on.

Did I mention leeches....so sneaky, those little sucking beasts. Bleeding for hours on end...at least I didn't get one on my bum (somebody should really ask Crystal about her leech run-ins, though).

Back at camp5 after a successful Pinnacles climb and a swim in the river. Tea...more tea....and some more tea to take the chill off and take us away into the coccophonous sounds of the night.

After 5+ days in the middle of Borneo and making our way to a small coastal city, nestled between the finger-like projections of Brunei, we cleaned, dried our gear and had a nice beer and warm meal in a sidestreet hawker stall. Then moved on....

Mulu National Park is, overall, a spectacular place. However, the one down side is that once they got the UNESCO hat-tip they stared running the natural wonderland like a business. Everything needs a guide, everything needs to be booked and if you want to do anything extra/cool/interesting...you have to pay. Want to go to the bird tower in the early morning or dusk....pay. Want to go in the middle of the day when all sane birds are tightly locked away in their nests and holds...free. The business plan of Mulu is its ruin, and while all the paths within the main park headquarters area is a perfectly well maintained boardwalk, you need to have a guide to do everything. Canopy walk....guide. Pay. Night walk....guide, pay. I'm surprised they allowed us to sleep without a guide.

However, the park is grand, the nature untouched (once you retreat from the main park HQ area and leave the putrid guide-filled and pay-per-use atmosphere). From a biological and geological perspective, this is a place like no other. Astounding is an understatement. But, the business plan, as so often happens, just takes a certain something away from the experience. It really is a last vestige of true primary untouched forest in the Malaysian Borneo area, bordered by logging camps and oil palm plantations. The force of the developed world slowly nicks its way through the forests, but the park is there to stop them....if only for now.

Bako National Park

After some city time, travel time and a 5 hour bus ride through Brunei and a few border crossings we made it to the city of Kuching, the capital of Sarawak. Our next main destination was the celebrated Bako National Park - a chunk of land that is protected for its geology and biology and most importantly its small remaining plot of mangroves which offers the only habitat suitable to proboscis monkeys. These monkeys are going extinct, save for a few small plots pr preserved land and forest that the government has worked to establish (and one private plot in Sabah to the north east). This is their last stand...literally.

Checking the bird book for our morning tally....

Crystal, in front of a forestry camp (now closed, as it is in the park....yet signs of life abound...perhaps they are still logging selectively....#$Q$%#$%#$#@#@#!)

Proboscis monkey in a tree....not that you really needed an explanation of this one....

But also notable are the wild boar, the macaques and the (apparently, thought we didn't see any) leaf monkeys that live on this part of Borneo. Its known as the biodiversity capital of Sarawak, so to it we went exploring....

Pygmy Owl, seen on the night walk. Our guide (this was a real guide, unlike Mulu where they just kinda walk beside/in front of you....the Bako guides - not required but offered, much different than Mulu - just knew the forest so well) spotted this and whispered "you are lucky tonight!".

On our last full day in Bako, we took on the longest loop available to us. 8 hours all told in a rainforest slog through hills, more hills, and a few hills, mud, bogs and wet areas that were quite wet and had a lot of water, through dry, dessicated and sun bleached open areas.....all to make it to the swimming spot. Here, Crystal takes the first dip into the tannin-rich tropical water. We were going to do this loop on the previous day but, you know, snakes, poison, Crystal....plans changed.

Its a great and wonderful park. A 45 minute boat ride in is the only access, and we were able to wrangle four days in the park (we basically arrived with no reservation and were told that we could not enter...full to the limit already. Then, after some asking and pleasantries, we got in!). A lot of hiking...a lot of cool plants (pitcher plants of multiple varieties)...a lot of birds (morning bird walks alone in the forest and on the beach)...cool geology (sandstone and almost pure-sand soils in the forests) and not a day went by without Proboscis and Macaque sightings. And there was some swimming and picture taking and the like. This was a nice change of pace as we were totally free to explore on our own whereas Mulu Nat'l Park was much more regulated (being a UNESCO site they can claim it necessary to make a guide go with you everywhere...).

The same way you would look if you were watching a wild bearded boar ate your still-living friend. A sight of utter awareness and sadness...so tough to watch.

The most startling thing we saw was during an evening walk through the trail by the HQ and hostels...what we thought was a perfect scene of myriad macaques hanging out on the low branches of a tree while a wild boar muddled about below turned out to be much more sinister, yet true to reality in nature. The boar had -somehow- caught a macaque and was tearing the flesh off it as the rest of the troop watched. One monkey, above, seemed the most interested and distraught...must have been closer to it. We watched and were able to see the flesh being torn from bone, the flopping of dead macaque limbs as the boar ate out its inner body...a gory mess of a time for us, let alone the family of the now-dead macaque. To see the reality and the realization in their actions was simply heartbreaking yet amazing at the same time. They knew they lost somebody....they knew. They felt it. They showed it.

Crystal at our second beach in Bako; afterwards we had lunch and watched hermit crabs battle for their control of the riverbank. Cool, so cool, to watch!


The trails at Bako are fairly rugged - lots of up and down, very rooty and muddy in parts and, in some places, barren rock and sandy loam. Quite varied, but all together a gallant effort at trail construction (as opposed to the Mulu method of making boardwalks to all the local sights, Bako just cut a trail and let nature takes its course...and the feet of many hikers. Much more enjoyable).

One of the many species of Pitcher Plant found at Bako (and all around Borneo).

A few hikes take you in circles through the rainforest, and a few take you to secluded little beaches. The beaches were phenomenal and the forest loops...well...phenomenal. Hard to leave. We got in the routine of morning birdwatching walks...breakfast (mmmmm....Borneo coffee.....)...hike all day....dinner...night walks to find crazy stuff. Rinse, lather and repeat. Above the macaque and proboscis monkeys, the wild boar and the fish, crabs, birds, we saw four different snakes (two poisonous....ask Crystal....) a pygmy owl, a flying lemur, poison frogs, scorpions, drongo (yes, a bird...but a totally cool one!), lizards of unending patterns and sizes and in reality very few Homo sapiens. It is a park like no other - crazy biodiversity and you always feel alone in the woods, despite the hostels being full.

Mama and baby...

I have no clue what specific type of frog this is as of yet, but our guide told us it is common in Bako and quite poisonous. He didnt tell us it was cute, but we figured that our for ourselves.


So we spent four days here getting bitten by poisonous snakes (wait, were we not supposed to tell people that part, Crystal?!? About the snake, your leg....me rushing to get a park guide....the "yes its poisonous, you should sit down" speech and the australian hikers that came by? heh- heh...ahhh...memories...) and hiking our hearts out. Sunny, hot, so many birds, plants everything. Bako is a place of places. A biological wonderland. And a workout...those trails, I tell you.....!

Us, the first day at Bako, on the cliff that overlooks the first beach we hiked to. We had just got off the boat and had not yet got news that we could stay for the full four days. So, thinking we might have to leave the next day as we only had the one night booked for sure, we hit the trails immeditely. Worth every heated, sweaty step to get there.



Semenggoh Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre

Ok, not to belabour an already laboured issue, but here we go - Humans want cheap junk food and cheap lumber, humans cut down forest to supply endless lumber and plant oil palms to supply cheap cooking oil. Those plantations last 25 years, the oil palms are cut down, replanted and after a few generations the soil is done, so they move deeper into the forest. Cut down more trees, plant vast oil palm plantations and leave the previous plantations to the rages of time. Slowly, the progress of capitalism pushes the oil palm deeper into the jungles of Borneo.

Another Mother and baby approaching the feeding platform.


Fine, if you are in the oil palm industry. Horrid if you are a large mammal that needs space to live. Orang Utans and Proboscis monkeys are among many of the most hard hit. A few places around Borneo offer respite, in the way of preserves and feeding centres and rehab opportunities.

Further, the animal trade is huge - was huge - in Borneo. Sarawak, the western province always had a law against confinement of rare/endangered animals, but it was never upheld. Then, as relayed to us by a park warden, the governmetn decided it was time, that enough was enough, and that the law was to be upheld. So, the authorities searched out all the known places where animals were being held (not always as pets, but as "good luck" animals in a cage rarely bigger than their bodies...) and dug in to find all the remaining places. That wa a while ago and, while the captive animals are still being found, they needed somewhere to go. So, the government opened rehad centres to work with the animals and help re-introduce them to their natural habitat.

There are two places in Sarawak - The Semnoggoh Wildlife Centre and the Matang Wildlife Centre. They work together, quite well apparently.

So, when animals are retrieved they are brought to the Wildlife Centre. There they are ared for, trained to be "wild" as best they can, and then eventually releaed back to their (shrinking) natural habitat. Sun Bears, Pangolins, Bear Cats, Orang's, Hornbills, Crocs, everything...and these two places allow for both the security and training as well as a parcel of land to re-introduce the animals into.

Mother Orang Utan with baby (hidden behind the tree).

Semenggoh was the first, the original, but it eventually became too burdened with animals so they worked with another centre, Matang, to take the load of rehab and care while Semenggoh focused on in-the-wild feeding and maintenance.

the main care that Semenggoh now is in charge of is the feeding program for the Orang Utans. The dwindling forest does not provide enough resources to provide a full balanced diet at all times of they year so they provide daily feeding of fruits and a few veggies. These are open to the public - totally wild animals that are habituated enough to coem back to the feeding platform and feast for a few minutes on bananas, papayas, lettuce and coconuts. This acts as both a public outreach effort (awareness) and as a practical support for the Orang's.

This was an excellent opportunity to see the wild Oran Utans (and a nice place to slip quietly into the woods and hike for a while...being chased by leeches and mosquitoes!). We also had a great chance over lunch to chat for a long time with the park warden/guide about the politics of Sarawak and the forest industry....quite illuminating.

Kubah National Park

Crystal at the first of two waterfalls we hiked to and swam in while plunking around Kubah.

A day trip from Kuching, Kubah (nobody who worked there knew what the word means, although I posit that it relates to 'palm' somehow as that is their main flora hotspot....a few endemics and a few places where the highest density of diversity is found....so, it just makes sense) National Park is a small delight for so many reasons - one, it is a very rugged and natural park in the midst of a growing city; two, it is home to absolutely stunning waterfalls and hiking trails; three - it is home to the three hour trail that connects the park with the above mentioned Matang Wildlife Centre. We spent two full days here, one hiking and carousing with the insects and plants, the other trekking frmo the park to the wildlife centre (and then carousing with the wildlife!).

Curious point - when we first got to Kubah Park we were told that the main trail connecting the park to the wildlife centre was closed. The bridge was not finished (after a long story about the contractor dying mid-job and thus the work was halted and never finished; impassable) and we could not hike all the way. Totally impossible. The second day we got there and asked another warden and they told us that there was no trial really, it was closed (how could "it" both not exist and be closed; being closed imparts the notion that there is an "it"...) and that they are doing maintenance. So, either the bridge was out, there was no trail, the trail was impassable or just a general 'dont go there' warning was given to us whenever we asked. The reality....we actually hiked this trail twice, there and back on the first day and there on the second day. Bridge was perfectly finished, the trail was wide, clear and well marked. No problems....yet the park staff seemed to think that the trail was in disrepair. Curious, and ill leave it at that.

Big butress roots along the trail...

Bintangor tree, a current main candidate for AIDS research. The tree lives in a region of Borneo that is nearing eradication from the logging and oil palm industry.

...and then there are the sights that are not intended to be "sights". For instance, this one below speaks to the power of a single letter. See if you can find where a missing "d" changes the meaning of this, somewhat important, warning:

Sign on the bus going to Kubah.

...Ah, Islam. The bountiful source of freedom, equality, rationality and inclusion. Oh...wait a minute....

Sign on the door to the City Mosque. We, in shorts, t-shirts and no head-dress of any sort, entered and poked around. It was empty save for a class in progress....youth and religion....ahh....thats nice...

As the sun set on the banks of Kuching, the sun set on our trip. All that was left was a 13 hour Taxi-Plane-Bus-Train journey back to our home, our life and the reality of work fast approaching.

Borneo stuns, awes and amazes. Too much to drink in, the biology and geology too epic. Lessons learned and worlds dicovered while we spend time there will not be forgotten, but in reality they act as only catalysts for a return.

Us at the City Mosque; couldnt find a picture of that Mo-Mo guy they keep trying to speak too...I thought I would hep them out and sketch a quickie in the mosque wall for them....kidding, kidding...I would be dead if I had done that, I presume. Such is the peaceful entity of Islam.

There are two great documentaries available that outline the problems and the reality of life in the logging industry of all three countries of Borneo; "Losing Tomorrow" and "Cathedral Forest". They are poetic, horrid and stunning. Help Patrick by checking out his work and, if you are so inclined, purchasing a video. Watch it, then lend it to somebody. Ask them to lend it to somebody else... . Patrick has a new video called "Green", available online for free.

Here is a shorter look at Sarawak and oil palm/logging realities via Al-Jazeera.

We love Borneo, all of it that we have seen, but there is a tortured history and an uncertain future to this island of nations. We go there to hike, explore and to learn. And to share. I guess we can only start somewhere, and right now the somewhere is here. If you took the time to read this down to this point, we would appreciate at least clicking on one of those above links and spending a another cup of tea worth of time reading or watching. Behind the pygmy owls, the creative insects and the monsterously huge trees lies a blade and a plantation and a death sentence.