Joyous! Lotus Position Never Felt So Good.

My Borneo extravaganza came to a close all too soon. With a little more planning I could have fit in the rhino park and the orangutan sanctuary, but they give me strong excuses to go back. Borneo, at least the Sabah state, is great with relatively mild weather, good mix of Indian, Malay, and Chinese food, and a bevy of fun stuff to do. I wish I had an underwater camera housing, because after my climb on Mt. Kinabalu, I went to Semporna, SE tip of Malaysian Borneo. Sipadan Island, I found out, is currently ranked in the top ten dive sites in the world.

This website shows some good images of what I saw, but these are not my photos. http://impressive.net/people/gerald/2007/02/diving.html. Still need to get a waterproof housing for my camera. Though I heard a hilarious story. Kids, don't try this at home. The dive master Tom said he saw a diver open his waterproof housing while 20 meters under the water, take out his flash memory card, insert a new one, and close up the camera. When he surfaced and realized his camera did not work, he said, "I thought this was a waterproof camera!" It appears he did not know the difference between a housing and a camera. Duh.

My first day diving at Sibuan, I saw creatures like nudibranches, box fish, green turtles over a meter long, and fish in color combinations like purple and organge, electric blue, yellow with blue horizontal stripes, yellow and black with white outlines almost like they were snow covered mountains, and my favorite, Nemo! Sea anenomes that were blue, green, or purple, hid bright orange, black and white clownfish as they swept in and out of the otherwise poisonous tentacles. The weather was rainy so visibility was about 15 meters. The second day at Sipadan, we were surrounded by 25 white tipped reef sharks, 50 sea turtles, a zooming squid, lion fish with delicate fronds 6 inches long, blue spotted rays, and a school of 5,000 barracuda that circled us like a tornado! Many experienced divers on the boat said it was the best dive day in their lives, and the dive masters agreed. We lucked out with sun all day after it had rained for a solid week, so maybe the fish were happy to have sun as well.

Then I flew off to Bangkok via Kuala Lumpur. Spent a brief day in BKK getting errands done, and then rode the night train down to Surat Thani. Here I will do a 10 day vipassana Buddhist meditation retreat. No talking, no reading, no writing, wake up at 4am, yoga, hot springs, instruction in methods of meditating, and lots and lots of practice. This will be my third time here, and I really like it. Good teachers, awesome vegetarian food, and a quiet, peaceful setting. You can see the pic of my dorm building above. The Joyous nail clippers are an inside joke for Jay and Anna. Is that great or what? Got it at Se-wen! The website has been down, but in case they fix it, you can read more about it here: www.suanmokkh.org

So I will be incommunicado until August 11. I'm not supposed to use cell phone, and reception is weak anyway, but in case of emergency, you can reach me at: 668-41195574. Then I head to Phuket (Pooget for the uniniatated) to see an old Thai friend. Other August plans include a stop off in KL to see friends of Leigh Ann's and then a raucous trip of volcano climbing, white water rafting, and jungle trekking in Sumatra, Indonesia. Looks like Burma is not happening this trip. Cest la vie.

Be well and remember to breathe in and breathe out.

What's All The Hullabaloo About Mt. Kinabalu?

Lervely cypress trees on the hike up to our lodge. One of my few looks up, because the steps were wet and rocky.

Not feeling very "freshy" but hey, the sign proves I made it. Up since 2am, having climbed in the dark, burnt-out head lamp, lost my hat to the wind, but I tried my best to plaster on a smile.

This peak, seen from the summit of Low's Peak, is called the Gorilla's Head. Can you see why?

My first summit glimpse of the sun as it rose
behind roiling clouds.

Just moments after sunrise.

Due to a lack of nitrogen in the soil from water

constantly running down its slopes, some of the mountain's flowers get it by trapping bugs in pools of digestive goo, like these pitcher plants.

This is a B&W photo of the forest as I descended. The mood depicted was about how I felt. Until I got down, rode a 2 hour bus to town, showered, ate, and napped for a solid 3 hours.

Now I am in Semporna, Sabah, Borneo Malaysia. I will scuba dive the next two days. Today it poured rain so I have been resting my legs, reading a great mystery called The Eight by Katherine Neville - esp. good if you are a chess fan, and writing postcards. On July 29, I fly back to Thailand to make my way to the meditation retreat. I will be incommunicado for 10 days as it is a silent retreat. That's August 1-10. This will be my third time and I am looking forward to it. Check it out here if you are interested:

www.suanmokkh.org

Oh, Me Feet Need Creamin'!

Quite possibly one of the most physically demanding things I have ever done is what I did in the last two days. I climbed Mt. Kinabalu, highest peak in SE Asia on the island of Borneo in the Malaysian state of Sabah. 4092m or 13 425.1969 feet

Yesterday, we arrived at the Mt. Kinabalu Park at 10am. After a short bus ride from the gate, we started an arduous hike through tropical jungle for about 6.5km or 3000m elevation gain. The trail is mostly granite and clay rocks and boulders, with vegetation types changing twice on our way up to the Laban Rata Guest House at the 6.5km mark. Orchids of purple, white, and yellow hid among plants like rhododendrons, and then the trail made way to misty mountains covered by twisted cypress and scrappy evergreens.

Nothing looked so good as our rest house at 3pm. Basically stuffing myself with a burger, hot tea, and noodle soup, I chatted with Scott, my fellow American who just left a biology research project in Brunei because his professor claimed to his face he was trying to kill her - he'll be reporting her to National Geographic shortly for paranoid schizophrenia - and Ellie, a 21 year old woman from Leeds with a lip ring and more earrings than I could count. We bedded at 8pm to get ready for our 3am wake up. A quick snack and hot tea, then we started the last part of the climb. It was pitch black with several stars out but no moon. At points we had to climb using ropes, at others the wind whipped so hard I lost my hat, all the time I tried to avoid little puddles caused by rain days old that hid in the cracks in the raw black and white granite. And it was a true joy when my headlamp batteries decided to die. So I climbed in pitch dark, trying to stay near others with torches. I felt at many times like quitting, because my feet hurt, I had no lamp, my guide was way behind helping Ellie who has admitted "My fitness is for shite," and there were no plants or trees to brace your fall if you did so, as we were above the tree line, but just as I did, the sun's early light started to brighten my path, and I could see the summit just above me with a trail of headlamps heading up. I decided to push onward to the top, and once I stopped, a tomato red disk peeked from behind roiling clouds as they scratched their way over the peaks to the east of the summit, Low's Peak. Rock formations like the Donkey's Ears and the Gorilla's Face shone as ever more golden light hit them with each minute passing. Luckily I brought my guesthouse blanket so I could huddle behind a boulder to avoid the wind, and just bask in the sunrise. I took several photos, but my camera handling abilities were hindered by my gloves, and I was loathe to take them off. Judging by the ponds of water, it must have been above freezing, but not by much, especially with windchill.

Not more than 30 minutes later I headed back down with Scott, a former forest ranger and I am sure he is half-goat because he could hop and skip down that mountain face as if it were made of rubber. I was more cautious, so he often waited for me. We got to our guesthouse at 8am, took an hour nap, and scarfed some nuts, granola bars, and raisins. Then back down through the 3 levels of vegetation. This time I got to observe a brown and black frog climbing up a wet and mossy rock, some pitcher plants with pools of water and dead bugs, and fat squirrels clearly happy with hikers' leftovers. Of course, my ankles and knees were screaming, and occasionally they'd just go wobbly so I'd have to stop and rest. But finally at 1pm, we were back at the gate, and waited for our bus back to town. Nothing felt so good as that hot shower and Hainan chicken and rice I devoured in the afternoon back in Kota Kinabalu, the city I used as my arrival point in Sabah, Borneo.

And why the title of my posting? Thanks to Leigh Ann, she told me about a rasta guy she sat next to on a plane and he quoth "Oh, me feet need creamin'!" after removing his shoes and socks and rubbing his feet in his hands on the airplane seat. I now know exactly how that man felt.

Tomorrow, off to Pulau Sipadan for supposedly one of the top 5 scuba dive sites in the world. Pics to follow soon...

Safari-a-gogo, part 2

Just a few more pics off my camera from the safari.

Hey, guess what?
Elephant butt.
Elephant butt is always funny. But it's especially funny when you can get them in single file lines.
I felt like I was walking my old 2nd grade class to the cafeteria.






This is one is for my Thai peeps.
Chang, chang, chang, koei hen chang ruplao?
(Elephant, elephant, elephant,
have you ever seen an elephant or not?)

This was a kids' song we learned in Thai language
class, that I could never remember the lines of
beyond the first two. Maybe because it is completely useless.
Unless you are 5.



Ok, so we didn't get to the Serengetti. It turned out to be an extra 8 hour super bumpy ride and an extra $100 per day. But we did see the "Small Seregetti Circuit" in one of the parks. Here it is. Just imagine you are in the Serengetti. We did. Worked just fine for me.






Leigh Ann's not really laying down, I just can't seem to rotate this photo now. She showed up all the boys in the Range Rover by suggesting, after Rich and Jay offered her warm Killimanjaro beer, "Let's do vodka shots!" Jay and Rich were shamed and had their
"straight guy" membership cards revoked for not thinking of this first.



Speaking of Killimanjaro,
here it is,
above the clouds,
near sunset.












Ok last one for today!
It's Papa Giraffe giving his son the sex ed lesson!

Gee, thanks, Dad! All the other teenage giraffes get is a couple condoms, and "Don't get anyone pregnant!"

Five Nights in Bangkok Means My Plans Have Cha-anged!

Jay took this shot at a rooftop bar in Zanzibar. I think the place is owned by the lead singer of Emerson Lake and Palmer. It's called Emerson Lake, I believe.



Well, it appears Burmese holidays and weekends have conspired against me. I was told yesterday that my visa application for Burma would take until next Wednesday, giving me only 6 days in the country because I have a set date for my meditation retreat on August 1. So I considered my options and decided to fly direct to Kota Kinabalu, on the Borneo side of Malaysia. It's the city to the far east of Borneo. Stuff to do there includes climbing Mt. Kinabalu, a medium level difficulty to summit - takes about 3 days, 2 up and 1 down, and supposedly great scuba diving at Sipadan Island. I also want to travel west on Borneo to see an orangutan relocation center (they nurse sick or injured ones back to health to reintroduce them to the wild) and a city called Kuching. Lonely Planet claims Kuching has the best food and best museum in all SE Asia. Later on in August, I may go to Burma and peninsular Malaysia. I'll see how things work out. People keep telling me to go to Bali, so that's an option, too.

Here in Bangkok, I've been getting $5 Thai massages, meeting up with old Peace Corps staff I used to work with, and other friends who live here. My Thai friend Byrd is now an author! A publisher caught his blog about traveling with photos in Bhutan, and paid him to write a book (and stop blogging!). Publishers, if you are reading this, I am up to the same challenge.

In fact, here's a poem I started while on safari - it's rough and incomplete, but I thought I'd share.

The Earth is Red

The earth is red

not red of fresh blood

but red of rusty corrugated iron roofs

ancient trees in ravines grow,

baboon-filled, showing lipstick

and presenting for mounting

as we enter their world

The earth is red

climbing switchbacks

into depressed craters

not from meteorites but volcanoes

bursting the earth in spews of rocks and dust

saving the first bidped footprints

locked in mud, ash, and rock

The earth is red

where wildebeest munch grass beside zebra

alongside buffalo with crossbites and ponderous eyes

chins lifted in blase curiosity

and giraffes gingerly steal acacia leaves

from thorny branches forming

dangerous plate-like treetops

The earth is red

with Maasai in brilliant plaids of

blue! red! purple!

beads in concentric circles of white or turquoise

earlobes stretched which create circular frames

of the view behind of circular huts of mud and thatch

where fences are grass and roofs are grass

The earth is red

sprouting crabby lion-colored grass and

placid lakes hiding murderous hippos

where tourists ogle animals but shun being photographed themselves

and blood-stained lions feed on open beasts

defending their kill as hyenas, wavelike,

whoop! shriek! holler!

crouch, lean, lunge, and cower

punctuated by lioness bellows

The earth is red

where elephants cross in single-file lines

across white sand roads

picking up grass in bundles thick

as they trudge and trundle

with no fear of predator save the one

who carries a gun

More Safari-a-gogo

Some super cute kids who were part of running the Jambo gauntlet in Zanzibar. Most people on Zanzibar were adamant about NOT having their picture taken. These kids begged for it.


Here's the crew I safari-ed with: L to R - Rich, Jay's good friend, Jay, his cousin Leigh Ann (in my Peace Corps group in Thailand), and me. This is taken in Ngorongoro Crater, just before the start of our safari.



Here's a pic of the gorging lionesses. I couldn't get a clear shot of both the lions and the hyenas because of the Range Rover traffic jam all ogling to see this crazy spectacle. We gave up after about 20 minutes - we could have waited to see the lions give up their kill and the hyenas move in like savages, but by leaving early, it gave us viewing practically alone the rest of the day. Smart move on our driver's part.



I just love the look on this buffalo's face. Whatchu talkin' bout Willis?









I told Leigh Ann when I saw these: "The problem with British English is that they say zed, instead of zee for the last letter of the alphabet. We don't call it a zedebra, now do we?" Thank God we've evolved.

Mzungupalooza! Safari Accomplished.

Mzungu is Swahili for white man. Because of the Zanzibar International Film Festival, the island was rife with mzungu. Jay, Leigh Ann, Rich and I were happy to leave the mzungu behind five days ago for our safari. We arranged a private, budget safari ($160 a day don't sound budget to me, but that was rock bottom unless we decided to go with a group of 20). We flew to Killimanjaro, met our guide John and cook Arun, and drove off to Arusha for a single night in a cheap hotel. Gorged on ethiopian food. The next day we drove to Ngorongoro Crater, and we were immediately greeted by baboons in trees.

Not 30 minutes later, we witnessed 4 lionesses, who had just killed a wildebeast, guarding their kill against a pack of 25 hyenas whooping and shrieking. Two lionesses fed while one guarded front and one guarded rear, paws splayed forward, and roaring periodically as the writhing mass of hyenas moved forward then back like ocean waves. We witnessed herds of zebras, wildebeasts, buffalo, gazelles, springbucks, a cornucopia of birds in purples, yellows, greens, and oranges, baboon troops with hitchhiking babies, males frontin', and a little self-stim by alpha males. Most beautiful was a giraffe sex ed lesson. See below right. An obviously horny but overeager young male tried to mount an older female. Think Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore. The young male was not quite tall enough. So he begs off, dejected. Then dad comes in, swoops the young male's neck down repeatedly, and teaches him how to dance and romance a female by putting the young male in the female role. It was graceful and balletic.

The parks we went to were Ngorongoro Crater, a forested hill leading into a seregeti like plain where an ancient volcano collapsed; Tarangire National Park, filled with 400+ year old baobob trees and herds of large grass eaters; and Arusha National Park, a lush green jungle at the base of Mt. Meru, smaller neighbor of Mt. Killimanjaro. At one of our campsites, we decided to take an unguided walk of a nearby forest, and halfway in realize that fairly fresh elephant and buffalo tracks are in our path. Ignorance made us brave, I guess. As we got deeper into the forest, we realized our folly and beat a retreat to the Maasai cattle field just west of us to walk back home. Whew!

Now I am in Dar Es Salaam, and about to fly to Bangkok where I will obtain my Burma visa. That trip starts in a few days. I will update with more safari adventures and pics when I have time.

Thai Massage Novice and Zanzibari Beaches

I completed 60 hours of ancient Thai massage training a little over a week ago. Ok, so I did 30 hours of Level 1 in 1999, but my memory was pretty good after a rusty first day back at it. Of course, now I need people to practice on and for some reason, I never have anyone refuse. I still need to refer to my book, and a few of the cartoons and notes give me pause, but my rhythm and confidence are improving. In case you've never had Thai massage, it's like yoga for lazy people. So learning Thai massage is like learning how to physically choreograph and manipulate another person's body into hundreds of different stretching positions. I made some pretty good friends in Mark (Filipino) and Yumiko (Japanese), two fellow students. But I was in Chiang Mai, Thailand for just five short days while taking the course.

Then I flew to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania via Ethiopia, met my good friend Jay at the airport and scrambled to catch a flight to Stonetown, Zanzibar. We met his cousin Leigh Ann, an old Peace Corps buddy, and his best friend Rich. We caught the Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF to Seattle's SIFF), saw an outrageous Ugandan band with 11 dancers doing various takes on the stripper dance - you know the one where the butt goes up and down in ways you know is not possible by 90% of the world's population, and soaked in the crumbling concrete, gorgeous carved doors, and white sand beaches of this Muslim island. Leigh Ann is here doing research on men who have sex with men and sex workers' behavior as she earns her doctorate in public health from Tulane. So we've been able to meet an interesting mix of expats with swank pads and locals who work with her on the research study. She had big drama recently (shagela bagela in swahili, my new favorite expression when a situation is a mess) where the sex workers wanted more money for reimbursement, because they said "time is money!" Even for the oldest profession, this is true. So today she met them at a brothel and worked out a deal for money up front rather than for each step in the study.

Otherwise, we took a spice island tour where we saw vanilla, pepper, cardamom, taro, bananas, nutmeg (the funny looking red spider webby thing covering it in the picture is mace, another spice that grows on top of nutmeg inside an inedible fruit!). We chilled out at a guesthouse called Mwamba Garden run by a Rastafarian and his Czech girlfriend, rode bikes on the beach, read, ate crab masala, grilled lobster, and amazing local fish, and "ran the jumbo gauntlet." Jambo is Swahili for hello, and the town nearby had over a hundred kids just waiting to say hello to any mzungu walking by (that's white outsider in Swahili). So any errand in town was quite a chore because of having to say hello at least a hundred times. Many toddlers have the word on repeat like a skipping record. The people here are mostly Muslim, but the culture is a mix of all the conquerers, colonizers and immigrants like Portuguese, British, Indians, Maasai, Tanzanians, natives, Omanis, and various expat mzungu. Everyone has been very welcoming, friendly, and warm. Zanzibar is really a magical island and I highly recommend it to everyone.



Tomorrow we head off on our safari of the Serengeti, Mt. Killimanjaro, and the Ngorongoro crater. We are all very excited for that. Details to follow...