Sunday, March 23, 2008

Malaysia

BORNEO:
Borneo is green, wet and exotic.
From the air (the plane window) the view is mostly of wild rain forest, with meandering streams of water flowing through. I shared a small 8 person boat for a two hour ride down the Kinabatagan River to the Kinabatagan river lodge, my house-on-stilts-above-the-water. The river is flanked on both sides by green rain forest holding the largest concentration of wildlife in Borneo. The region is renowned for colorful tropical birds (I saw several types of horn bills, kingfisher...); Crocodiles- a young Croc floated along the side of our boat during our daytime river cruise; huge monitor lizards- we spotted on trees; tree snakes- we saw some deadly yellow and black, brown and yellow... Most delightful, we spent time during our several river cruises searching and spotting playful proboscis monkeys, huge bellied, with long white tails, their most prominent feature is their long nose that can flap well past their mouth and chin! A dominant male will attract females with the size of his nose, a long one can net a guy up to 15 wives! The Proboscis showed me their daring skills, free fall jumping from one tree to the next, much like the 300 foot drop my airplane nose-dived in some turbulent weather over Borneo's mountain peaks (really!). Proboscis are the largest monkey species and can jump so far, they can get over to the other side of the river bank. i also spotted some wild orangutans up on the treetops, sunning. orangutans build three homes a day- two for midday siestas and one for the night. When they wake up they usually eat their leafy nest, making it a convenient bed and breakfast. At the Sepiloc orang utan sanctuary, a controlled rehab center for orphaned orang utans, I was able to see young orange hairy orang utans interact with each other and playfully swing, hand over hand on ropes set up between the trees. the rope system ensures that these young orang utans will be able to get to the feeding area, where rangers supplement their diet with twice daily buckets of bananas. The orang utans that i saw are in the middle stage of learning the art of survival in the jungle, and will soon be set free. For now, though, I enjoyed seeing them interact with each other: two orang utans got busy smooching, and held feet while swinging off to the other side; one male tried to get with 2 females who scampered off, though he wouldn't let go of one females foot while he did something that looked suspiciously like sticking a finger up her butt (i know, kinky). One got greedy, holding a bunch of bananas with each foot, her mouth, and in one hand, and tried to swing away using just her remaining free hand (MORE PICS B UP IN 6 WEEKS, NO WAY TO UPLOAD NOW.) Rainy Malaysia was a jungle of fun... I cant wait to go back!

India


India is dusty, crowded, and pushy.

Places I visited:
Chennai.
Erode.
Mammalapuram.

Mauritius


Mauritius is sunny, beaches, party.

Places I visited:
Port Luis

South Africa

South Africa is jungle, art, and up and coming.

Places I visited:
Cape Town.
Johannesburg.






Brazil



Brazil is tiny bikinis, smooching strangers, muggings.

Places I visited:
SALVADOR
Carnival!

Puerto Rico

San Juan is sunny, cobblestones, arts.

Bahamas

Bahamas is all about meeting new friends, staying at a fabulous hotel, sliding down the water slides.