Sent on Dec. 15, 2002 from Kota Kinabalu.

US $= about 4 Ringgits.  
Ringgit is about 28 cents US
Brunei Dollar = 2 Malaysian Ringgits

Friends, we are done with our 3rd and 4th destinations in
Borneo, tomorrow to another destination.  Actually a few
weeks later we will again be on Borneo to enjoy this
wonderful and scenic island from Kuching in the southern
Malaysian Sarawak province.

1. GEOGRAPHY, ET AL.  As some of you may know, Malaysia,
with Kuala Lumpur as its capitol, is located on the
Malaysian peninsula, bordering the Andaman Sea on the west,
the South China Sea on the east, Singapore to the south,
Thailand to northeast, and Myanmar (old Burma) to the
Northwest.  This part is made up of 13 provinces, with the
capitol Kuala Lumpur also serving as a special province.
There is also the Eastern Malaysia that is located on the
western shores of Borneo, the northern Sabah province with
its capitol at Kota Kinabalu (Lat=5N, Long=116E),
stretching to the Sulu Sea on the east, and the southern
Sarawak with its capitol at Kuching.  Between them is the
tiny (small land, about 350,000 pop.) Sultanate of Brunei
with its capitol in Bandar.  The rest of the island is part
of Indonesia, that is spread over some 14,000+ islands. 
Borneo has the Celebes Sea to its east, below the Sulu Sea.
 The total population of Malaysia is about 22 million, of
Malay, Chinese and Indian extractions.  It is one of the
better-off countries economically in SE Asia.

2. SABAH PROVINCE, KOTA KINABALU.  The primary attraction
in this area is the Kinabalu mountain and park, which at
4100 meters (13,000 feet) is the highest mountain in
Southeast Asia.  There is also Poring hot springs, where we
took a canopy walk over some huge trees, and the Rafflesia
flower preserve, a rare flower which grows to 1 meter/yard
in diameter. The western half of the Sabah province is a
dense and lush jungle spread over steep mountains, very
much like the Rocky Mt. National Park in Colorado, but for
the jungle and tropical climate.  The other half (to the
east) is endless oil palm and banana plantations.  Half of
the 130km stretch from Kota Kinabalu east to Ranau is on
mountain tops--why I called our ride canopy drive.  In
turn, the canopy walk is on shaky and wobbly bridges made
of ropes slung 41 meters--45 yards--up between trees. 
First we had to climb 500 meters of a very steep mountain
side to get there.  All in all, we drove our rental car
some 1,100km across the island (east to Ranau, Telupid,
Batu, Sandakan, and south to Lahad Datu and back) in 2
days, surrounded by hot-like-Miami-in-May weather,
fantastic scenery of huge lush mountains, the endless
jungle, all sorts of tropical fauna, Borneo's version of
wild west villages, and oil palm and banana plantations. 
And I found 4 new delicious fruit unknown to me before,
despite many previous trips to the tropics. Their names
(local?) are: Durian Belanda (like a very juicy, sweet, and
fleshy white pumpkin), Rambutan (with the white
mother-of-pearl-like looks and taste of lychee), the yellow
plum like Langsat (that also looks and tastes like a
lychee), and Manggis (that has a dark brown carapace-like
thin shell; inside the white fruit looks like a whole white
garlic but with mildly sweet taste.)  And I must have eaten
about 3 dozens of tiny (3 inches) tropical bananas that are
tastier much more aromatic than the ones we know.) It may
interest you to know that Kota Kinabalu was called Api Api
(Fire Fire) for many years, due to the habit of
Borneo-based pirates to repeatedly put the city to torch.

3. BRUNEI.  Unlike the flourishing and vibrant (also
oil-rich) Dubai, Brunei is a sleepy sultanate, in some ways
like Oman in its sedate lifestyle.  My 1st impression
of Bandar was not positive, based on long stretches of dead
areas along the road from the airport.  The downtown area
is a bit more lively, at least one street lit festively at
night, some light poles on one street decorated like
fireworks.  In addition to 2 impressive mosques and 2
imposing buildings of mixed architecture, and a few
buildings of Chinese design, there did not seem to be
anything interesting in town, EXCEPT the water village
called Kampong Ayer that is actually a combination of 28
such communities with homes built on stilts on the Brunei
river, with total population of some 20,000 people.  Here
the homes are connected by 3 to 4-feet of wooden walkways,
some of which are a mile or 2 long, with homes on both
sides, steps to the water--to catch a water taxi--a cafe
and grocery store, several mosques, bridges, and side
streets, all on stilts.  The homes electricity, water, and
TV connections too.  Some of the older neighborhoods are
now being destroyed and replaced by public housing, but
other water communities are made up of double-trailer like
homes that are neat and functional.

The map of the countryside shows several forest reserves,
but getting to them is not easy, as some roads are used by
private cars only.  Nevertheless, water taxis operate to
the water villages and the mangrove forests in eastern
Brunei.  We took a 2-hour bus ride to/from the town of
Seria near the Sarawak border, another bus 45 minutes to
northern town of Maura, and circled the city with a
city bus to get a feel for the city and the countryside. 
The drive south to Seria was very much like the Tamiami
Trail between Miami and Naples.  Brunei is 75% jungle.  We
took a boat to the eastern province of Temburong. Since the
eastern and western Brunei are separated by the Malaysian
province of Sarawak, water is the only way one can reach
Temburong and still be in Brunei.  The 40-minute ride thru
the mangrove forest was glorious, exactly as one would
envision a jungle, the way parts of Florida must have
looked 150 years ago.  However, since this was a forest
along a river, the jungle is dense like a wall, some areas
covered by large areas of water, unlike the watery
Atchafalaya swamp in Louisiana and Texas, the
Everglades in Florida. 

Brunei is one of the largest exporters of natural gas.  I
cannot name the present sultan in that under his public
picture I counted some 30 names, a listing of the entire
family tree of males leading to the sultan.  His 2 wives
have also multiple names.

4. OVERALL.  English is the official commercial language in
Borneo.  People like Americans but NOT American policies in
the Mid-East, nor against Iraq.  You can find the latest of
everything in these parts.  Some shops in tiny Bandar
and Kota Kinabalu have more selections of for example
electronic stuff than in USA.  If you visit this area and
need cheap tasty food, ask for Nasi (rice) Goreng (with
beef)/Lamak (with octopus?), etc. and vegetables. The money
of Indonesia, Brunei and Malaysia interchangeably used
in these countries.