Borneo is an island just south of the Philippines. It is made up of three countries: Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak), Brunei, and Indonesia (Kalimantan). It’s the third largest island in the world, and it is full of world class scuba diving, untouched jungle, and unique wildlife and plants.

I arrived in the northwest part of the island by plane to the city of Kota Kinabalu (city), Sabah (state), Malaysia (country). To be frank, it was the cheapest flight to Borneo, so that’s why I chose it. After reading about it, I learned that it is a great base for some good treks. To this point, I’ve been planning day by day, often not knowing where I was going the next day. It has worked out beautifully, but Borneo was the first place that I missed out on some things because of it. For example, the east side of northern Borneo (Malaysia) is home to perhaps some of the best scuba diving spots in the world. I was so close, but I had to miss out because I found out that the best reef books up about eight weeks out. The government only issues so many permits to the site per week. Good for them because it will keep their reef pristine compared to in the Philippines. In the Philippines, they were just throwing their boat anchors in the water crushing the reefs and making me cringe in pain thinking, “Quit destroying our world!!” In the long run, Malaysia will be rewarded for treating their reefs better than the Philippines. Just off eastern Borneo, the Sipadan Islands were waiting for me there, but I wasn’t able to go. Next time…

“I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list.” Susan Sontag

Instead, I enjoyed a day trip to Mount Kinabalu (UNESCO site), the tallest mountain in southeast Asia. Many people trek a couple of days to the peak, but I opted out simply because I wasn’t in the mood to endure a multi-day hike. We were lucky to get a great view of the peak from the lookout point. Kinabalu Park is home to many rare orchid species and carnivorous plants. We stopped by Poring Hot Springs, a waterfall, a rainforest park canopy walkway, and the botanical gardens. It was a nice day, and I made friends with a woman from Hawaii (originally from Singapore by way of China). She was likely in her 80s, and she was traveling alone. I loved visiting with her, and she inspired me. On the return trip, we were lucky enough to see the world’s largest flower, which is rarely in bloom. The rafflesia is found in southeast Asia and has no stems, leaves, or real roots. The flower can get up to 100 centimeters (39 inches) in diameter and weight 10 kilograms (22 pounds). The flower smells like it is rotting, and you can see flies on it. The locals call it the “corpse flower’ because of the stench. The guide told us it was the world’s largest flower, but after reading more on Wikipedia, I found that it has the “world’s largest “single” flower of any flowering plant.” The world’s largest bloom starts to bloom at night and then decomposes two to three days later. The flowers are a big enough attraction that locals sometimes make fake ones to attract tourists. Our guide said that you can tell if they are real by the smell and flies. The government enforces heavy fines to those caught making fake ones.

In Kota Kinabalu, I made friends with the person in my room. He was on his last leg of Borneo, so he was giving me all the pointers on where he had been. I enjoyed a nice dinner at the fish market and walking around the city.

My next stop in Borneo was the country of Brunei. It’s a tiny oil-rich country. I decided to take the bus from Kota Kinabalu to Brunei to see more of Borneo. Along the way, we hit eight immigration stops. The different states of Malaysia have immigration points between Sabah and Sarawak. Some locals even tried to tell me they were separate countries (truly considered states).

During my time in Borneo, I had twelve immigration stops: 1) Entering Sabah, 2) Exiting Sabah, 3) Entering Sarawak, 4) Exiting Sarawak, 5) Entering Brunei (east), 6) Exiting Brunei (east), 7) Entering Sarawak, 8) Exiting Sarawak, 9) Entering Brunei (west), 10) Exiting Brunei (west), 11) Entering Sarawak, and 12) Exiting Sarawak. They were all painless with very few lines.

When I arrived in Brunei, I tried to stay at a youth hostel recommended by Lonely Planet. The comments said that sometimes the staff was away but just to wait. I arrived at 5:00 PM, and some people said the guy would be back by 7:00 PM. I waited, and he was a no show. At 7:45 PM I decided I needed to find a different place to sleep. I found one and met two girls (one from Singapore and one from Japan). Brunei is hugely an Islamic country, and there were some very beautiful mosques. I saw a nice sunset and walked along the riverfront. Many of the people lived in a large water village across the river. Everyone was very friendly to me. The women were completely covered except their face, and I felt exposed walking around with my head uncovered.

From Brunei, I took a short flight to Kuching (nicknamed cat city), Sarawak, Malaysia. We stopped off in Mulu/Miri on the way, and the flight in made for some beautiful scenes. We were flying over some untouched jungle. In Kuching, I shared a taxi into the city with two different groups of people, one guy from Spain and two from the Czech Republic. I checked into my hostel, Singgahsana Lodge, which was one of the nicest hostels I have stayed in during my trip. It was clean, and the atmosphere and decorations were great. That evening I walked along the waterfront, to one of the shopping malls and grocery stores, and through the Chinese and Indian districts. At the shopping mall, a creepy man said hi to me. I said hi back and kept walking. I noticed he followed me through a couple of stores (judging by his appearance he was clearly not shopping), but I strategically “lost” him and exited right away. Souring my mood, I quickly walked back to my hostel. It was there first time on my trip that I felt uncomfortable.

The next morning I took the bus to Bako National Park. The park has 17 trekking trails, all clearly marked and color coded, making it quite easy for me as a solo traveler. About half of the back trails were closed. I was only there for a day, so I had plenty to do. Once I arrived, I took a small boat to the park’s entrance. Bako is full of hills, cliffs, carnivorous plants, and home to around 150 endangered proboscis monkeys (ones with the long nose). At the park entrance, there was a large hairy pig (later I found out was called a bearded boar) walking around and some very small (not proboscis) monkeys. I did two of the treks in hopes to see some wildlife. The hikes were a bit more strenuous than I expected, but I was able to cut two hours off of the expected time on the map, allowing me to do them both. The paths were covered in tree roots. The roots helped assist during the climbing section, and they made the pathways look pretty cool. On Paku Trail, I was supposed to see the proboscis monkeys, but I did see any. The path ended at the ocean with a beach cove. On the way back, I saw a fist-sized spider in the middle of a large and beautiful web. The next trail, Lintang Trail, was a six kilometer circular loop with some nice views and vegetation. It had some interesting changes in terrain, but I still didn’t see wildlife other than birds and bugs. I had given up the hopes of seeing the long-nosed monkeys because I had started my descent back to the park’s headquarters. However on my last half kilometer in the middle of the forested area, I found myself all alone in the middle of a troop full of proboscis monkeys. I could hear the branches crashing, and I could see blurred streaks of motion. Through the next half kilometer, I counted around 25 large monkeys. It was fun experience walking through their world, their natural habit, as they jumped around me.

During my time in Kuching, Malaysia, it was the time when the country brought the bodies back from the MH17 plane crash over Ukraine. One of the families was from Kuching, so it was a somber time in the city.  Malaysia declared it a National Day of Mourning, and everyone wore all black.

I finished my time in Kuching seeing some of the touristy sights, temples, and mosques. I made my way to their new (and not completely finished airport). I had to wait at some unexpected points because different stations were closed for prayer, which I thought was neat. From Kuching, I took the flight across the water to Kuala Lumpur again to overnight before my next flight. I stood in line to get my KLIA high speed rail ticket into Sentral Station, across the street from my hotel. After getting my ticket, I turned and sideswiped a smiling girl about my age with my backpack. She looked shocked, and after I apologized, she just smiled and said it was ok. Later as I was waiting for my train, I saw her approach. I wasn’t positive it was her because only her face was uncovered, but when I smiled at her apologetically she gave me a big smile back. We chatted while waiting for the train, and then we sat together on the train and talked about my country and hers for the hour we were together. It was a special time for me. That evening at the hotel, I arrived around 8:00 PM because my flight was slow taking off due to the toilet not working. I had to wake at 4:00 AM the next morning for my flight, so I quickly did some highly necessary laundry in the sink, utilizing the hair dryer to dry almost every piece in my bag. I enjoyed having a television again, even if I couldn’t hear it because the hair dryer. The morning came early, but it was an pleasant and uneventful flight to Vientiane, Laos.

I ended up staying a lot more time in Borneo than I had planned, simply because there is so much to do (and it is so big). I had intentions of crossing over to visit Kalimantan (Indonesia), but I didn’t make it there. I primarily stayed on the west side of the island. Borneo was more expensive than I had expected, and flights and extra time to the east side were not in my budget or schedule, especially since I could not scuba where I wanted. I left satisfied with my time in Borneo, and I hope that one day I can come back to visit the other half.