Songkran and Sarawak

Before leaving Thailand for Borneo, I, Daniel, and soon Trevor, spent a week (or so) in Chiang Mai. I had heard that Chiang Mai is the place to be for Songkran, the Thai New Year... but I had no idea why: Songkran is a water festival where you throw water on passersby to bestow blessings on them for the year to come... Chiang Mai is surrounded by a mote.

When you put these two things together you end up with a city-wide water fight... that lasts for 5 days. It was crazy and you couldn't possibly leave your room without getting absolutely soaked. It's an amazing holiday and we don't have anything that even comes close to being as fun. I spent a couple hours each day just walking around the mote and "soaking up" the blessings. For obvious reasons, I don't have any pictures... which is unfortunate... but it was definitely the most fun I've had at a festival or holiday to date.

As you walk around the mote, usually with some sort of bucket or cup, you get splashed by people who have set up permanently on the mote, by other nomads, and also by people who drive around in trucks. I was basically a water leech, using a cup to steal water from other groups and use it against them. The best part about the holiday was the genuinely happy, light-hearted mischief. When you nailed someone (or when you got nailed if you were in the spirit of things) you smiled and said "thank you" or "happy new year" or "good luck!"

After a 10 hour bus ride, a too short stay in Bangkok, and a few flights, Trevor and I ended up in Borneo. When we first landed in Kuching I have to admit I was a bit disappointed... I expected Borneo to be one of the wildest and least civilized places on earth... Kuching, in reality, is exactly what it would look like if Sarasota colonized a small region in Southeast Asia. It is incredibly clean and beautiful... and the waterfront walk and parks by the river remind me (strangely) of the parks by Sarasota bay... eerie.

Kuching is beautiful and I highly recommend Borneo for anyone who wants to see Southeast Asia from a clean and comfortable place. Surrounding Kuching are 3 major parks. Trevor and I visited two (Bako and Gannung Gading) and I visited the 3rd on my own (Kubah) while Trevor was at his conference.
Bako was amazing. I have never felt so much as though I were truly in a crazy-exotic-tropical-rainforest as in Borneo. While in Bako we saw three types of monkeys, Macaques who lived at the camp area and were incredibly mischievous, Probiscus, the funny looking giant-nosed monkeys, and Silver leaf eating monkeys... they just kind of sat in the trees and ate leaves. Also there, we saw mud skipper fish (walking fish!) and a couple monitor lizards.
Truly, I travel the world looking for exotic places to go swimming, and Borneo has no shortage of them. We skipped the beach at Bako and headed down Tajor trail, which has a waterfall that fills several consecutive pools of amazing beauty. We swam there, had lunch, and visited the beach at the end of the trail before backtracking and swimming in the pools again. It was amazing.
Next was Gannung Gading. The hostel in the park was full so we had to sleep at a hotel in nearby Lundu and travel in both days. On our first day it rained, which brought out alot of the life and let us see things we probably wouldn't have been able to find otherwise. Highlights included the world's smallest squirrel (a bit shorter than your hand, tail and all) and a centipede that had two glowing "eyes" appear on it's rear end when you disturbed it. Also at Gannung Gading was a crystal clear pool and waterfall to swim in, very very nice.
Finally, was Kubah, which I did on my own. Kubah certainly had the nicest hostel, which was more like a summer cottage that you had to share with other travelers. When I first arrived I met Nickolay, the only other person staying there, said my hello's, and then headed off into the forest towards the waterfall for.... you guessed it, swimming. The waterfall was quite beautiful but the pools were quite small, so I only stayed for about an hour before heading back.
At this point I ate a late lunch/early dinner, and took a short nap. When I awoke, I noticed my roommate had a ton of field guides on various reptiles and amphibians of Borneo, so I took the liberty of looking through them while he was away. When he returned I asked if he was a biologist, and yes, he is a Russian Entimologist (bug guy) who, secretly (like all boys who go into biology, I think) wishes he was a herpetologist (reptile guy). In fact, he's been collecting specimens at this park in the hopes of securing a job with an Indian herpetologist this year.
After some discussion he asked me if I wanted to go to the nearest view point to watch the sunset. I'd had relatively little time to hike that day so without much thought I said "sure!" A few minutes into the hike I realized the "nearest view point" was about 40 minutes into the jungle... and 40 minutes into the jungle at sunset, means at least 40 minutes out of the jungle at night.
Various thoughts went through my head, not the least of which was that I was hiking into the woods with a giant Russian man (at least 6 inches on me) that I knew nothing about. I put these fears aside, and hiked on, reaching the vantage point just in time to see an amazing sunset, and a group of 3 hornbills. He was very excited about them, it was the first time in his life he had seen the famous birds.
For the trip back he had plenty of lights, and we stopped every now and then to inspect various flora and fauna. I pointed out to him some of the glowing bugs and the phosphorescent fungus around, and he pointed out to me some reptiles and amphibians including 2 frogs, a gecko eating gecko and... the highlight of the night, a Wagler's pit viper... It was amazing, and beautiful, and he caught it and brought it back to be photographed.
So, not only did I see a pit viper in borneo, I handled it, touched it, and got my picture taken with it... which I am pretty excited about. As soon as I get the pictures sent to me by Nickolay you can expect to see them up, along with the rest.
And that, plus my first leech bites, was Borneo!