New Year

Just brushing up on my skills updating this blog as I am leaving on a trip to Thailand in a few days. I will start reporting on Wednesday February 15. I hope there will not be any weather related delays. The trip is long enough!

Wednesday 3/23/11 Abai – Kuala Lumpur - Boston

Yet again an early morning. Up at 6 and the bags outside the door by 6:30. It was still raining buckets so we opted out of the before breakfast trip to a lake. It is supposedly very beautiful, but we didn’t fancy going in the open boats, once again getting totally soaked. Since we didn’t have our suitcases it would not be nice to travel in wet clothes. We have breakfast at 8 and the boats leave at 9:30 for Sandakan.

As it turned out, only 5 of 24 were eager enough to make the early morning tour in the rain. On the boat ride back to Sandakan it rained on and off but the boat was covered so it did not matter. In Sandakan we boarded our buses for a short ride to a Chinese temple, the Puu Gih Jih Chinese Temple - a majestic temple erected on top of a hill facing Sandakan Bay with a lovely view. The temple uses the symbol of the swastika quite a lot. The swastika is a historical sacred symbol in Indian religions. The word swastika came from the Sanskrit word svastika, meaning any lucky or auspicious object, and in particular a mark made on persons and things to denote good luck. Some sources indicate that during the Chinese Tang Dynasty, Empress Wu Zetian (684-704) decreed that the swastika would be used as an alternative symbol of the Sun.

Sandakan was founded 1879 by some Scottish guy. In the olden days it had the most millionaires in the world due to the timber. Sandakan is also known for the 1000 prisoners death march. When the British came to take Sandakan from the Japanese after WWII, the Japanese had 1000 British and Australian prisoners that they brought on a march by foot from Sandakan to Kinabalu Mountain some 260 km away. Of the 1000 prisoners that started on the march only six survived!


Borneo’s number one income is from palm oil, number two is eco-tourism and number three is birds’ nests! To collect the birds’ nests that are built by swifts (a little swallow with very short legs, it cannot perch on a branch, only cling to mountain walls) and they live in deep caves. To collect the nests people have to descend 250ft down into the caves on bamboo scaffolding. Because they have recently discovered the these nests contain an anti-aging agent they have become immensely popular and also expensive – around 8000RM for 1 kg (close to $1400/lb). A little strange when in actually what people consume is the spit from the birds!

Lunch at Sabah Hotel in Sandaka. They had the worst food of the whole trip. We were promised sweets like chocolate for dessert but it was not tasty at all! There was one tasty treat, like a crème caramel, but they were all gone by the time I got to the dessert table!

Plane to Kota Kinabalu no problem, but the flight from Kota Kinabalu to Kuala Lumpur was 3 hours late. We managed to re-book to another flight and arrived 1.5 hrs later than planned. We still had several hours to wait so after big cups of cappuccino the only thing to do was to shop. Oh boy, those Swedish ladies can really shop – they even bought the clothes off the display mannequins! I only bought a couple of small things for Wyatt.


The flight was uneventful and we shared a cab with 2 of the other women back to Kuala Lumpur from the airport. Checking in at Marriott was no problem. It was SO nice to be back to civilization! We could have showers and wash hair, the air-conditioning felt great and the beds were lovely too. The jungle was wonderful but 3 days was plenty. The rain did not help either but in spite of the weather we had a really great time!

Checked out at 1pm and met up with two Swedes from Hong Kong and we shared a taxi back to the airport. When I checked in, there was a mix-up in my ticket but it was sorted out. Regardless – this time travel is kind of confusing. I leave KL March 24 and arrive in HK March 24. I leave Hong Kong early March 25 but arrive in San Francisco on March 24 again! By the time I arrive in Chicago I am once again back at March 25! Oh well, by Friday morning on the 25th I should be back home in Boston.


I managed to catch all my connections on the way home and so did my bags! For the first time I tried out a new system coming back to the USA where I do not need to stand in line at the passport control, but just go to a kiosk and with my passport and finger prints and get in with no waiting. It is called Global Entry and I hope this system will spread to the rest of the world, or at least to the UK where the lines are the longest! It was still 34 hours door to door. Needless to say, I was quite tired when I got back. Stayed on the couch for the day and went to bed fairly early and already I feel like I never went away. I like being home!

Tuesday 3/22/11 Sakau to Abai

The luggage went out the door at 7 am (almost). Around 8am we went for breakfast where they served us orange juice, scrambled eggs, hotdogs (!), baked beans and fried noodles. They also provided us with white bread for toast and of course coffee or tea and tropical fruits for dessert.

After breakfast Anne-Marie from SWEA Rome gave us a lesson in laughter yoga. She is a certified teacher of this type of yoga. As we all have heard, laughter is good for you in many ways. Some Indian guy realized this and first tried to make people laugh by telling jokes. It really didn’t work that well in the long run because the reactions to jokes can be quite different – someone thinks it is funny and laughs, someone else gets offended, a third has heard it before and someone else doesn’t even get it! Therefore he started laugh yoga where you laugh a lot and also learn how to breathe properly. So for 20 minutes we had laughter yoga on the dock. Our guide got very enthusiastic and joined in and the local people also laughed – probably AT us. It is actually hard work to keep laughing hard for 20 minutes. I might check out if there are any classes back home. They have “chapters” in 80 countries all over the world and on the first Sunday in May is world laugh day when they all go out in public places, like parks, and have laughing sessions! They are doing it for World Peace and think by doing that they can get the whole world to shake with laughter!

When we finished laughing we boarded our boats and headed for Abai – a one hour plus ride. About half ways there it started to pour. Luckily this ride was in a semi-covered boat, but we still got wet. We waited for the rain to stop, but it didn’t so we once again boarded the boats to cross the river to the Abai village. It is a very small village with only about 140 people. They do have a primary school that we visited and we spoke to one of the teachers. Then we took part in a tree planting project. We all got to plant a tree, it was a flowering tree and they all had numbers. Later we can e-mail them to find out how our trees are doing. We were supposed to have lunch with one of the families, but we were too many so we crossed the river again to the lodge where we had our lunch. A short session of laughter yoga followed the meal.

After lunch we went on a walk through the rainforest but on a boardwalk. Because of all the rain the ground is too wet to walk on. It was sprinkling just a little.

Now the rain was coming down in buckets – torrential rain. You rarely see such a lot of rain at home and at least not for this long. At 3.30 we once again boarded our boats (in the rain). Oh, by the way, down here there are no roads – the only way to gain access to our lodge or to Abai village is going on the river. There is also no access for our cell phones – at least not with AT&T. The local people do have cell phones though. So anyway, now we were going to search for elephants. Here in Borneo they have pygmy elephants – much smaller than both the African and Asian elephants. The boat ride was almost 2 hrs against the current and it was still raining like crazy. Half ways there some of the girls wanted to go back to the lodge, so one boat turned back. The rest of us, in 2 boats, carried on. And boy, were we happy when we came upon a herd of 13 pygmy elephants by the riverside eating, drinking and bathing! There were adults and several babies. Unbelievable! The trip back in the rain was faster as we were going with the current.

Back at the lodge we did our best to dry out. Our fingertips looked like raisins and we were totally soaked – 100%. Sufficiently dry (you cannot get totally dry here because it is 100% humidity even if it doesn’t rain!) we went for dinner. Once again rice, chicken chop, beef balls, veggies and shrimp. You could also have soup for a starter.

Erik - our terrific Borneo guide

Next on the program was the fireflies which are not of thefly family buta beetle. It had stopped raining and we went out on the boats again into the totally black tropical night. Not very far from the lodge we found an area with lots of fireflies – looked like an American Christmas tree. We learned that the LED light was developed from learning from the fireflies. Their light is very efficient – 100%, whereas a yellow light bulb only produces 20% light and 80% is heat i.e. wasted energy. Both the male and female fireflies produce light but the female’s light is pulsing faster than the males. After pairing the females eat the male. Then the eggs are laid and turn into larvae that already then produce light.


We finished off the evening with coffee (and/or wine) and conversation – and – the sky opened up again. It has rained torrentially almost all day today and evening. Tomorrow we are heading back to Kuala Lumpur and a final night at the Marriott.

Monday 3/21. Kota Kinabalu – Sandakan – Sakau

The alarm went off at 3:34 am. At 4:30 we had breakfast and at 5:15 the buses took us to Kota Kinabalu airport where we boarded a plane for Sandakan. It was a short flight but we were still served orange juice and peanuts. New guide, Erik, and new bus to the Sepilok Orangutan Sancturary where we were to see orangutans at their feeding station. They get fed at 10am and at 3pm each day and they get a variety of fresh fruit and also sugar cane. This is the oldest rehab center for orangutans in the world and was started in 1964. Since then they have been able to release more than 400 orangutans to the wild. An orangutan stands only about 140 cm tall but if they stretch out their arms the length between the fingertips is about 2.5 meters! There are 11 – 12 thousand orangutans in Saba and there are more in Sarawak, but I don’t know how many they have there. It costs about RM180/year to adopt an orangutan – more info at http://www.orangutan-appeal.org.uk/

We saw 2 mother orangutans with small babies and a large male. There were also many little monkeys entertaining us until the orangutans came to eat. Moms and babies first, then the big male. After all the orangutans had eaten the little monkeys were allowed to have some food.

After Sepilok we went by bus to Kinabatanga river where we boarded boats. We were going quite fast and after a long time maybe 2 hours, we arrived at Abai Jungle Lodge for lunch. Once again the food was good and we stayed there for about one hour. Then back to the boats for another 1.5 hrs while we also had some hard rain. We had to cover the sides of the boat so as not get as wet as we did yesterday! It rains every day and when you hear that they get 3 meters – around 10 FEET – of rain each year in Borneo you can understand it. The rain is good though and everything is very lush and green.

We had now arrived at Sukau where we are going to sleep tonight at Riverside Lodge. The lodge is simple but quite adequate. There are 2 beds and a shower. No A/C but fans in the ceiling. We were allowed to rest for about 45 minutes and then we went back to the dock and boarded smaller open boats for a jungle safari and see lots of Proboscis monkeys – they are the ones with long noses almost like humans. The male has the biggest honker. They live in harems with one male and several females, The male babies are kicked out when they are around 1.5 – 2 years old and the bachelors create and all boys club. The monkeys are endangered and are only found in Borneo where there are only about 7000 of them. In Saba, where we are, people do not kill these monkeys for food but they fall prey to leopards and if they fall into the river also crocodiles! They are quite good swimmers though because they have webbed feet. In Sarawak people sometimes kill them for food. We also saw a small Hornbill – a type of bird they have here. We saw lots of them in the bird park in Kuala Lumpur.

We will have dinner at 7.30pm and we are all supposed to wear sarongs the Malay way. We were given a lesson in how to put them on. They are provided us by the lodge.

Dinner was once again very good. BTW when I post all my pictures after I get back to the US you will see pictures of all the food we have been served! We are all eating well and are getting quite plump. Well, it isn’t really all the food but also the weather conditions here. It is very warm and humid and we are all getting waterlogged. Legs and feet are really swollen; the ankles have all but disappeared. At first I was worried that it was my kidney giving me problems but Ninni and most of the others also have swollen feet and ankles. 


After some singing and stimulating conversations we went to bed at a decent time. Departure tomorrow is not until 9:30, but the luggage has to be ready at 7am, so not really a sleep-in.

Sunday 3/20/11 – Travelling to Borneo

At 6:20 am we boarded the buses for the hour long drive to the airport. It took a long time checking in, but security was a laugh! But we liked it because we could bring our water bottles, keep our shoes and clothes on and my artificial knee didn’t even set off the alarm. I think maybe they were fake, because I have never been able to go through security after I got my knee and not to set it off! The flight was about 2 ½ hours and we were served chicken and noodles at 10 am! A guide met us at the airport with buses to take us to our hotel. It is a very nice resort right on the water.

We were given about 30 minutes to get into our rooms and change for a boat trip to an island for snorkeling and BBQ lunch on the beach. We had to wait quite a while for the boats, but that was OK. Once we arrived to the island (which was rather touristy – yeah, I know we ARE tourists, but we feel we are kinda’ special!) However, the BBQ lunch was plentiful and very good with a big variety of eatables. After lunch some took a dip in the ocean, but there was not much snorkeling. It also started to rain. First it was just a very light rain while we were eating (outdoors) but it was warm so we didn’t care. But – as we started back to the boat the sky opened up with full force and there came a hard tropical rain. The boat was going really fast and between the rain and the sea spray it was actually quite painful, like little needles pricking you face. Naturally we all got totally soaked and to cheer ourselves up we started to sing mixed with hysterical laughter. It was actually a lot of fun and we all looked like drenched rats. Quite the sight!

Back to the hotel for showers and dry clothes. We are meeting in the bar at 7 pm. Hopefully we can get an early night because we have to get up before 4 am. Breakfast at 4:30 am and the bus leaves for the airport at 5:15 am!

We did meet at the bar for some snacks and drinks. The service was VERY slow. We had asked how many pieces were in a serving of chicken/cheese croquets. They told us 2 and the size of a cheese doodle. So we ordered 2 servings for Ninni and me. When they came there were 5 (yes five) pieces the size of knockwursts!! We could manage 2 each and then we gave the rest away. Everybody was very tired so now it is 9:21pm and we are ready for bed. The alarm is set for 3:45am, Ugh! Sigh! Some vacation!

Saturday 3/19/11 Kuala Lumpur

Today we first WALKED to China Town and were guided along the way. Saw some areas of the city that we hadn’t seen earlier. We passed by a very large mosque and stopped at a Chinese temple. We did a little more shopping (!) on the busy streets of China Town. At lunchtime we took a taxi back to the hotel.

At 2.30 we boarded a bus for High Tea at Caracosa, which used to be the British Governor’s residence while Britain for 90 years ruled over Malaysia. When Malaysia gained their independence in 1957 they let the British keep Caracosa with lots of land and when the Queen of England visited Malaysia for the Commonwealth meeting in 1987 she stayed there. However, some time in the 90’s some Malaysian people made a big stink about the British owning such a large piece of real estate in Kuala Lumpur and demanded it back. The Brits gave in and gave them back Caracosa and it is now a hotel with only 8 rooms. We occupied the whole dining room for our tea party. It was a proper English High Tea with sandwiches, scones and sweets. After tea the bus brought us back to the hotel so that we could pack and also get ready for the “Gala Dinner” tonight.

The evening started with drinks in the foyer at 7:30. By 8:30 we entered the dining room which was set with round tables for eight. For starters we got salmon carpaccio over greens and very nice bread rolls. We had a master (or mistress?) of ceremony and first we were treated to traditional Malay (Borneo) dances by a dance troupe. There were thanks yous and speeches and gift giving and then we got the main dish which was chicken with some risotto and veggies. After we had almost finished eating we were treated to a fashion show by a very famous (in south East Asia) batik designer and the dresses, someone said, cost around 8000RM (more than 2500 US$!!!) Some were looking at the creations which were for sale, but I don’t know if anyone bought anything!

After the fashion show there were more thank yous and the SWEA women here in Kuala Lumpur had done an outstanding job arranging everything for us. The evening ended with a raffle drawing. I did not win anything. Around 11:45 we returned to our room to finish packing and to check out from the hotel. The bus for the airport left at 6:20am and we didn’t get back to our room again until about 1 am. So it was a very short night.

Seventh Day in Kuala Lumpur

Today was a conference day. We were first briefed by a member of SWEA Japan about the situation there. It was quite sad but the girls are real troopers. The first guest speaker was the ambassador who talked about Sweden and Asia and all the developments over here. He informed us that 60% of all the people in the world live in Asia, there are 263 cities in Asia with more that 1 million people and there are 330 dollar billionares living there. That makes you understand how important Asia is becoming.

There was a fairly short speach from the SEB bank and then there was a presentation by The Swedish Institure. Sweden had participated in The World Expo in Shanghai in 2010. The expo was from May to October and had 73 million visitors! 95% from China! Quite impressive!

The last speaker was really funny and he taked about the developing world, but in a very engaging way.

After lunch we went for a manicure and then just rested at the hotel. In the evening we all walked a short distance to a Chinese restaurant. The food was great and we had a good time. We had to compete with a group of Malay people who were very loud, so we did our best to keep pace with them. One of us had a birthday, so 150 or so of us sang Happy Birthday in Swedish and later some drinking songs. A good time was had by all.