The sky is a heavy grey.

We awoke to the constant sound of running water and flute music overlaying the rhythmic beat of bamboo being chopped in the garden. Ezra returned before I was out of bed with a chunk of green bamboo as a souvenir from the gardeners, “I’m going to make it into a necklace, Mom, there’s a hole down the center!”

We’ve been in Borneo for just a day and a half and most of that has been spent resting. Singapore wore us out. We have work to catch up on and sleep to catch up on and we just needed a couple of good nights’ sleep to get our feet under us. This morning we’re feeling much better.

The place we’re staying is amazing, a little hand crafted sanctuary in the middle of town. Water runs out of bamboo pipes, drowning out the noise of everything else, there’s a pool and a fish spa and more than a few hammocks to read in. It’s been the perfect place to rest and rejuvenate and work from for a few days.

Today we’re going to pick up a rental car and begin our explorations; starting with a National Park and Orang Utan sanctuary. Our plan, for those who’ve been asking, is to take between now and Christmas to explore the Sarawak end of Malaysian Borneo.

I’m looking for some late holiday deals to present themselves for Brunei, in the hopes that we can ring in the New Year there, before heading on to the opposite end of Malaysian Borneo and spending a few more weeks in the Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan area.

The big dilemma is where to go after that… we’re hearing reports of socially unacceptable behavior on Mindanao, in which a few travelers have been held as ransom for political gain. And on the other hand, we have friends in the central and southern Philippine islands who love it and have had no problems. So we’re weighing our options. Do you know anyone there who might have boots on the ground experience to share with us? If so, please connect us! 

We plan to be in Borneo for at least a month, maybe two. It’s an exercise in under planning, we’ve got a car and we’re going to see where the roads take us. I don’t have a guidebook and I don’t have a phrase book (although I’m in the market for the latter) so it will be an adventure in seeing where the road takes us and what we learn on the way.

Do you have recommendations for Borneo or Brunei? Or contacts in the southern Philippines? Hook us up!