12 November, 2013

Borneo and Brain-eating Monkeys

It has been more than a year since I've written anything. I am pretty sure it is because Monkey Baby has eaten my brain. I had no idea that monkeys even liked brains, but the more I've checked around, the more it seems that brain is standard fare for the wily creatures.

Anyway, earlier today I found part of my brain in a corner of the dining room next to a dried broccoli floret. It appeared still to be usable, so I brushed it off and put it where Monkey Baby couldn't reach it. In order to protect its future usability, I have to use this remaining piece of brain sparingly. Hence, this will be short and make use of many pictures.

We went to Malaysian Borneo with Viking Man's parents in October 2011. The bit of rainforest that is left in Borneo is full of the most spectacular wildlife imaginable. From insects to elephants, Borneo has it all, including more than 1,000 species of ants. Ants! Large and lumbering, small and industrious, they were everywhere. We also saw proboscis and red leaf monkeys, a crocodile, regal birds of all kinds, deer, lizards, a marble cat, and a bunch of other things that I made note of somewhere.

My brain fragment is starting to overheat, so I will finish by making a list of recollections from this trip followed by a slideshow.

  • I had to deal with Air Asia which is like being stabbed in the eye with a hot poker. 
  • I really liked watching wildlife from a boat. 
  • The orangutan sanctuary was good, but seeing a man of the forest in the wild gave me goosebumps.
  • The drive to Borneo Rainforest Lodge was long and jarring and totally worth it. 
  • One of our guides saw an animal he had only previously seen in a zoo. 
  • Leech socks may have been overkill, but they kept out the leeches. 
  • Getting up early to hear the rainforest wake up was also worth it (it almost killed me to just admit that). 
  • Viking Man can totally pull off wearing a sarong.