And Borneo it was. At least the Malaysian part of it. We started off in Kuching, a relaxed, modern city with enough to see and eat (who would have thought a fern could be so delicious). It's worth visiting for a few days and functions as a basecamp for exploring multiple nearby parks. First one we went to was the Semenggoh Orang Utan sanctuary. In this park Orang Utans that have been saved are rehabilitated into the wild. They pretty much live like wild Orang Utans but because the forest does not always provide for enough food fruits are layed out twice a day to give them the opportinuty to grab some snacks. For a very small fee tourist are allowed into park to witness this. Since it was the fruit season and therefore there is enough fruit in the forest you have to be lucky and we were, we saw three young Orang Utans. It's the thing that comes closest to actually seeing them in the wild.We watched them for about an hour, exchanged names to become Facebook friends and went our seperate ways.

{David Attenborough's voice] The proboscis monkey is a fairly rare species of monkey that only can be seen on the island of Borneo. Locals refer to them as 'Dutch monkeys' because they reminded them of the colonists with their hairy arms and faces, big, sunburned noses and fat bellies. [/David Attenborough's voice].

Whilst watching these amazing animals hopping from tree to tree in Bako National park I must say I indeed saw a stunning resemblance with some people back in the Lowlands.

By boat and bus, Bako national parkis an easy visit from Kuching and absolutely worth it. I guess it's a bit of a boring read if I sum up all the animals we've seen in the two days, one night we spent there, but I'm gonna do it anyway. The forementioned proboscis monkeys, silver leaf monkeys, macaces (a.k.a. burglars and thieves), bearded boars, two pit viper snakes (personal highlight), a flying lemur, a kingfisher, swallows nesting, a centipede, some spiders and I'm probably forgetting a couple more. Apart from the wildlife there are some really nice treks where you can see 7 different types of vegetation (including meat eating plants) and we stumbled upon some nice beaches.

Since going over land would take about two days we flew to Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Sabah, the northern province of Malay Borneo. We wanted to climb mount Kinabalu, but that was ridiculously expensive. Flo had read about some nice beaches way up north, so we took a bumpy taxi ride to Kudat, not really knowing anything about that place. While looking for a hotel room in the pooring rain an English bloke named Howard passed by in his car and informed us about his 'jungle camp' way up on the tip of Borneo. Because we had no idea where we wanted to go we took his card and checked his place out online that evening. It looked like a very nice place so we called him and he picked us up the next day. Howard is doing things the sustainable way with an ecologically friendly resort and investing in projects for the local community, the Rungus people. The accomodation is a replica of an original Rungus longhouse and it was a nice experience to stay there. Visiting beautiful but very touristic places I have often wondered what it would have been like to have visited those places before mayor touristic exploitation hit those area's. Although the Sabah tourism board is really trying to promote 'the tip of Borneo' as a tourist destination and, besides Howard's place, there are, as far as I could tell, 3 other places you can stay, things are still pretty pristine there with several beautiful empty beaches where it's a huge coincidence if you bump into another tourist. We had a very nice time with the other people staying at Tampat do Aman hanging out at the restaurant, having a bonfire party and watching sunsets at the tip of Borneo, where the South Chinese sea clashes with the Sulu seas. We discovered all the beaches on foot and by bike, seeing the daily activities of the Rungus people and hanging out with local fishermen. There are big plans for the region to be 'developed' more, and since it seems inevitable I hope Howard's and other people's quest to protect the area from the big contractors will be succesful.

Two flights later we're back in Kuala Lumpur. Delayed by some bad food we're planning on taking a boot to Sumatra soon. The kick off to the Indonesian chapter of our trip.