The Land Below the Wind

Flying between the two provinces of Borneo, Sarawak and Sabah, on opposite ends of the island, I could look down upon an overwhelming density of life. The Indonesian rain forest is so immense and so thick that only the rivers, and there are lots of them, break up the sameness of the ground below. Towns will pop up along the shore line and then disappear as the rain forest once again becomes dominant. The rivers snake their way to the South China Sea and form a brownish alluvial fan as they spread their carried sediment into the water. There are so many rivers that there are often three of them running more or less parallel to each other even in their snaky curves. It’s fascinating to see from 30,000 feet.

A little further on, the sea suddenly became dotted with ships, then the oil rigs came into view, and I realized that the ships were oil tankers and below was the Sultanate of Brunei, a separate nation in a “U” shaped piece of land which juts inward from the coast and just happens to have enormous oil and natural gas reserves. The entire scope of the window on the plane was all oil platforms and oil tankers. We reached Kota Kinabalu, the capital of the Sabah province, so-called “The land below the wind.” This name comes from the fact that Sabah doesn’t have typhoons (hurricanes)…we were told they never have had one, but I haven’t checked the veracity of that, but it sounds reasonable. Looking at a map, the province is sitting in a little protective bowl. Surrounded by big land masses and limited (on an oceanic scale) open water. The vast Pacific ocean can’t get there and crushes the Philippines first while the Indian Ocean hits Sumatra…they say they just get tailing winds.. If Kuching was the button-down commercial center of Borneo, Kota Kinabalu is the vibrant, pulsing heart of sea-faring environment and the rain forest. Kuching has access to the ocean through it’s rivers and estuaries, but KK as it is known locally is right smack dab on the water and that seems to dominate the entire city. There are long bike and running paths which reach out to the suburbs, and the waterfront in the city proper is all about fish. Rusty hulled fishing trawlers push out to sea every morning and return in late afternoon to unload their catch and the city turns out to buy fresh fish. They drop anchor in the harbor about 100 yards offshore, lining up like cars at the mall. Along the waterfront, dozens of stalls all hawk their seafood for the locals who come to decide what is for dinner. The variety of seafood is amazing. Everything is available from sea slugs to foot long prawns which are more than a meal by themselves. For those not wanting to cook, dozens more stalls cook the variety over wood chip fires with the red pepper marinade coating the outside of the individual pieces. Some of the fish are grilled, others are batter fried. All the stands seem to sell exactly the same things so the verbal enticements to the passerby are necessary to show that theirs are the best.

We opted for something indoors – in re, something with AC. It’s necessary for our bodies, not to mention our mental state to find area when and where we can to cool off for a while before hitting the streets again. Our choices were myriad. Australian, Italian, Japanese, and of course, that quintessential tell-tale sign that we are in a tourist area a Hard Rock Café. Our daughter and son-in-law collect the shot glasses and are quick to point out where we will be able to find a new collectable. I looked before we left and saw that there was one in Jakarta, the Capital, and Bali, no surprise, but my daughter quickly wrote back and informed us that Kota Kinabalu also had a Hard Rock. Now, that was a surprise until we got here and saw how many

Timing was excellent as we left the restaurant to be greeted by a wonderful South China Sea sunset. The tropical thunderclouds towered high into the sky and the sun gave everything a brilliant golden hue. As it sank closer to the horizon, the gold turned to a reddish orange and we truly felt we were in a tropical paradise. The kind of setting you see in travel films, but this was reality, not fantasy. But KK is all about the jungle. Whereas Kuching is basically a flat tidal basin with some tall peaks in the general area, KK is all about coastline and mountains. 100 yards off the shoreline, the hills start abruptly upward with the jungle seemingly right out your doorway. Lianas drape from the trees like spaghetti strands, all reaching for the nutrients of the earth. No matter what direction you head other than to sea, the rain forest is right there. Row upon row of tall ridges form a seemingly unending line of high crests. Each one steeply descends into some form of river or creek. As you turn you are faced with another set of ridges going in different directions, but all the same – covered in the vast biodiversity of Borneo and all seemingly unending. It is said that in 6 square miles of the Borneo rainforest there are more species than in all of Europe and North America combined. Sounds amazing, but I’ve learned not to be skeptical of the wonderment of the area. There are Orangutans in the area, more feeding stations, but since we’ve seen them in two locations we opted for something different. We traveled to see the proboscis monkeys and some botanical demonstration gardens where they have brought the various varieties of plant life into one area for better understanding. We crossed a long and rickety canopy walk where the footing is a one inch by 8 inch board all roped together to long cables. Actually very safe, but also with a lot of movement..It reminded me of how I used to drive my sister nuts by making the bridge swing from side to side as we crossed the Feather River in the little PG&E camp we lived in when we were kids.

The only things seemingly more abundant than the varieties of orchids were the skinny dogs and the even skinnier chickens who walked along the highway with cars whizzing ever so close and scratched the ground with little chicks scurrying around mom looking for the morsel of possible food. Some things that piqued my interest: As we went deeper into the rainforest, we kept seeing signs for Catholic churches. In KK they are big churches a la Western civilization. In the deep rainforest, they may just be a single room with a cross on then, but there are ever present. In Sabah, the province, Christians are a majority in an overall very Muslim country and Catholics the vast majority of those. The Portuguese brought Christianity to the area in the early 1500’s. Carol noted that the name for church seemed very similar to Portuguese, and that is the reason. Driving is different in Borneo. In Sumatra, it’s everybody for themselves. The motor bikes and pedi-cabs all stick to the shoulder of the road and everybody passes without a thought for them. Here in Borneo, motor bikes ride down the center of the lane and people pass only when it is safe. There are NO horns blaring their presence or their driver’s frustrations. It is a very peaceful and sane driving experience. The major highway is one lane each direction and many drivers go at 25 miles an hour, yet there is no road rage at motor bikes not moving over or slow traffic, no epithets being cast about at slow drivers and there are plenty of those, and no clenched fists or pointed fingers jabbing the sky. There are lots of Chinese tourists, but not nearly as many, apparently, as before the flight of MH370 went missing never to be heard of again on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing two years ago. Ben and Jerry’s ice cream in the stores….what’s not to like about a place like that?