frumiousb

Adventure for me has three stages. There is the first unshackled interval before starting when my dreams are bounded by nothing, north, south, east or west. There is the second interval when, footsore and insect-bitten, aching-backed and broken-spirited, I wish that I had never come. And then comes the third interval-- and in this interval I know that such adventures are the caviar of my existence compared to which other events in my life are Schwarzbrot. In this interval the fantastic, the unreal, the magnificent, and the unimaginable, which might have occurred only to other people, are occurring really to me. And then I know that it is right that such things must be paid for in discomfort, discouragement and weariness; I know it is right that they are not free.
pg. 205

I bought this book in Borneo-- it was one of the few English books on the country that was universally on sale in shops and airports.

Land Below the Wind is the memoir of life in Sabah as told by Agnes Newton Keith. She briefly touches on her American life and how it was that she came to be in Borneo. She started a young female reporter in the 1920s, but gave up her writing career after a serious head injury sustained in a random attack by a mentally ill man. A whirlwind romance with a British friend of her brother found her married and following her husband, the Conservator of Forests and Director of Agriculture, back to Borneo.

I really enjoyed the book, largely because I really grew to like Agnes through her voice. The structure is a little strange, and it jumps around a bit more than is ideal. At times I was frustrated by the limitations of the memoir form and would have liked her to explore more subjects that were only touched on-- their role as unofficial wildlife rehabilitation center, for instance.

The period in Borneo from which she was writing (1930s and 40s) was a fascinating time: the famous Headhunters of Borneo were becoming more and more used to other cultures on their island; there was tension between the Chinese immigrants and the native Borneo tribes, reflected in the comments on medical care in the chapter "A Son is Born"; the interactions between the daughter of the Chinese ambassador and the Japanese ambassador showed Japan's rising aggression quite clearly. There was virtually nothing for her to write about which wasn't interesting-- makes for a good memoir in and of itself.

The Land Below the Wind is one of three volumes of memoirs that Keith wrote about her time in Borneo. The most famous is actually Three Came Home, the retelling of her families time in a Japanese POW camp during World War II. I'm kicking myself that I did not buy all three while I was in Borneo (to support the Natural History Publications of Borneo who have republished these books), but I've already ordered Three Came Home from Amazon UK and am really looking forward to reading it.

Recommended.

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B. got better still photos than I did, and we are in the process of sorting those out...

Sepilok Rehabilitation Centre.

the purpose of getting up at 1:30 to begin the climb at 2 is to watch sunrise from the top of the mountain.

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Our guide, looking at us patiently just after sunrise. He was really really nice and helpful and everything.

( us at the summit )

We were told 100 times a day how lucky we got with the weather. December is the rainy season, and it is often too wet to really climb.

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Intrepid adventurers, early in the morning.

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(from Uncle Tan's Wilderness Camp, Kinabatangan.)

Hej all,

Back in Singapore. Borneo turns out to not be much on Internet connections (shocker!) and so I happily adventured without scribing.

More detailed description when I get back, but have been busy and am tired and a little sore right now but really had a wonderful time.

First was the rainforest and jungle trekking/boating with orangutans, proboscis monkeys, scorpions, crocodiles and wonderful wonderful birds.

Then Sepilak, primary forests (more limited trekking) and the Orangutan Rehabilitation Center.

Then we climbed Mount Kinabalu, which didn't turn out to be that hard in all the hard bits, but I turned my leg on the way down and had to hobble the six kilometers off the mountain. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to stick with hiking rather than climbing, but it was good to do it once. We were lucky and had a clear day-- could see forever. It was even worth waking up at 1:30 to climb from base camp to the summit. The sunrise was what it was advertised to be. You don't need specialized equipment to climb Kinabalu, and it's one of the easiest in its size range to climb, so it isn't all that impressive. (I do think that I was one of the oldest people climbing on the day that I went, if not the oldest, so I was reasonably pleased with myself because our time was quite respectable. Not the fastest of the day by a long shot, but in the top 20% I guess. At least until the way down. When my messed-up knee guaranteed the pace of a 100 year old.)

Then off to the hot springs in Poring (which was great for being an almost purely local attraction) and finally two days on an island off KK-- enjoying the diet-guilt luxury of an eco-resort/marine research center. Needed the rest, as I'm still hobbling around from the leg. We were practically the only guests at the resort except for a group of Chinese journalists or pop stars (?). They spent the two days wandering around the resort posing a pair of monchichis and taking photographs. Very strange.

So much more that I'd like to see in Borneo. I really loved the people-- the friendliness, the mix of different tribes, religions, cultures. The amount of time that we had really wasn't enough. Never is, I guess. But I could feel so strongly how much they are trying to convert their economy into a tourism-based economy-- trying to do so in time to save their incredible nature and biodiversity. A race against time. It isn't the first place that people think of when they visit Southeast Asia, but I'd really recommend it-- particularly if you're looking for wildlife or natural beauty. I definitely hope to make it to Sarawak (I was in Sabah the whole time) at another time. The experience has also inclined me to see more of Malaysia's mainland in the future.

Anyhow, more will follow. With pictures. We're in our hotel in Singapore right now and there's a wild storm on at the moment. B. is off at the tailor, getting a suit fitted. Tomorrow we're doing a food tour and cooking lessons, which will be something completely different.

Hope that you're all well. Will be back on Sunday. Promise to post pictures later.

Tired still, but in Borneo. We won't be in KK for very long-- we're off tomorrow to Sandakan. We have one night of comfort and then we're going to Uncle Tan's famous jungle camp-- 3 days and two nights of mud and leeches and flooded toilets and no showers. But it's supposed to be one of the best ways to see the available wildlife. I'm wasting time now because B. forgot his passport at the hotel and we need it to buy our ticket for tomorrow. The only real way to get around here are little plane hops.

KK is a real system shock after Singapore. Pedestrians take their lives into their own hands as pedestrian crossings are few, far between, and roundly ignored. Although radio and signs are in English, few speak it. Strange mix of the half-touristy because of all the tourists heading for Borneo. First thing that you see when you get off the plane is Starbuck's (packed, actually) but this is still a different world. Borneo is semi-autonomous and not at all conservative in religion. We saw two huge Catholic cathedrals on our way into town (and our flight was full of pilgrims from Singapore heading to one of 'em, actually)

Big lizards in the street! Makes a nice change from rats, I guess. This town is not at all charming. It was razed, twice, during WWII and most of it dates from the early 1960s. Our hotel tries very hard to be nice, but mostly fails. But well priced at 29 euros per night.

The whole town smells like fish-- cooking fish, dead fish, fish paste.

Off tomorrow again. 92 and sunny all day, but rain and thunderstorms tonight. We took Sabah because the weather was theoretically better, but we'll surely get our rain.