Before Borneo

I know some of you are waiting to see the photos from Langkawi. Well, I don't think I will have time to edit and upload them before Thursday, when I leave for my Borneo adventure. I also doubt that I will have time (or the inclination) to upload photos from the road, so check back here after July 1.

My first stop in Sarawak will be Miri, which was recently declared a city. I read somewhere that Malaysia has only 10 cities. This list shows only nine, and it counts both north and south Kuching. Now, I know the two sides of Kuching have separate mayors (one for the Chinese side, one for the Malay side). But is it really two cities?

After Miri, we'll visit the Mulu National Park (four days), where there are caves and bats.

From there, it's south to Kuching (capital of Sarawak), a boat ride up the river, and an overnight stay in an Iban longhouse.

Next, we fly north to Sabah and the state capital of Kota Kinabalu. That's our staging point for a trip to Mount Kinabalu, at 13,455 feet, the highest mountain in Southeast Asia. (I'm not climbing to the top -- too scary!)

After the mountain, we go for a soak at Poring Hot Springs.

Then we go into the Kinabatangan River area for an overnight in the jungle.

We continue east to Sandakan, from which we will visit the Sepilok Orangutan Reserve and Turtle Island.

After that, it's a short flight back to Kota Kinabalu, and our adventure is finished.

For anyone who's not up-to-date on Malaysian geography, the two states of Sabah and Sarawak are on the island of Borneo. The larger, southern side of Borneo is part of Indonesia. The total area of Malaysia is 126,873 sq. mi. (328,600 sq. km). Peninsular Malaysia (the western piece) is 50,811 sq. mi. (131,600 sq. km). As for the eastern piece (Borneo), Sabah is 28,456 sq. mi. (73,700 sq. km) and Sarawak is 47,606 sq. mi. (123,300 sq. km). Peninsular Malaysia is separated from Sabah and Sarawak by 447 miles (720 km) of the South China Sea.

For comparison, the total area of Florida (U.S.A.) is 65,758 sq. mi., and the distance from Florida to Cuba is 90 miles.