KL: this is a really huge metropool

08:07 mareku 0 Comments


KL is a big city: 1.6 million people live here and everywhere you look construction of new apartment buildings and malls is going on. It seems that the whole city is under development. It is not easy to navigate because of the lack of a grid street system, the roads more or less go around the buildings... But anyway it is a nice city to spend a few days, do some shopping and seeing the sites. Not a lot of history here: people are more interested in the future. The best way to see KL is from the KL tower (which is also used for the yearly KL tower base jumping event - oops!)

Animal Life in KL

08:51 mareku 0 Comments







Malaysia is full of wild life and even here in KL you can find exotic birds, millions of butterflies and such. The aquarium is also a great place to see animals - and the feeding of the piranhas is something you do not want to miss...

Room with a view III

08:48 mareku 0 Comments


KL and the Petronas Towers

08:47 mareku 0 Comments

We arrived in Kuala Lumpur and having a hotel next to the famous Petronas Towers.

Having a swim at the endless pool on top of the hotel in Sandakan

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Sandakan Death Marches

06:13 mareku 0 Comments

The Sandakan Death Marches were a series of forced marches during the very end of WWII in Borneo from Sandakan to Ranau which resulted in the deaths of more than 3,600 Indonesian civilian slave laborers and 2,400 Australian and British POW.  Only 6 Australians managed to escape during the marches and because he Japanese did not spare anyone and killed even the few survivors of the grueling marches trough the jungle - these men were the only ones who could tell the story...

The amazing Discovery of Agnes Newton Keith

05:54 mareku 0 Comments

On a hill here in Sandakan overlooking the bay of the Sulu Sea is the house of Agnes and Harry Keith. Probably you never heard of them - as did I. But I got intrigued when I visited the house (now the Agnes Keith Museum) and learned about this amazing woman. Born into a wealthy family in Oakland IL. she became a reporter in SF, met an English  man, Harry Keith who worked for the North Borneo Government as the Conservator of Forests and Director of Agriculture. They maried and sailed to Borneo in 1934. In her trilogy she describes first the live in pre-war Borneo (Land Below The Wind), her stay in the Japanese camps during the war (Three Came Home) and their final return to Borneo (White Man Returns). I couldn't help and bought the books right away and haven't start reading since... They are warm, funny and a excellent description of life in Sandakan in the 1930s. When there were still people living in the jungle who never had seen ice (stone water) planes (flying boats) or what have you. She also gives a compelling account of here adventures while walking trails in the jungles week after week and to try to deal with the bugs and having apes as pets.
Her story about here Japanese Camp years was made in to a movie with Claudette Colbert in 1950. You can see it on youtube here. After their days in Borneo, Agnes and Keith lived in the Philippines and Libya she even went to Japan to reconcile with here Japanese captures. What an amazing full life she must have had.
But no time to waste now: I HAVE to return to the books




http://archive.org/details/ThreeCameHomeClaudetteColbertHankrip
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnes_Newton_Keith


X-mas with the Mulvaneys - what else?

10:33 mareku 0 Comments

How could we not have x-mas dinner without our friends around/on our table :-) See you soon guys.

Some (wild) animals in Borneo

05:57 mareku 0 Comments

Vogue: Strike a Pose


at least 4"...


Very dangerous monkey on a Rainforest canopy walk

Sandakan from our balcony

05:56 mareku 0 Comments


So this is how it feels to be a celebrity

08:58 mareku 0 Comments

Here in the more rural parts of Borneo Tall White Guys like Eddie and I are something of an attraction. Especially young boys flock around us and start smiling, jumping and shouting. It is a bit of embarrassing on one hand and on the other just heartwarming.

Sandakan - On the northern tip of Borneo

08:46 mareku 0 Comments

Wild telephone lines

Apartment blocks

No need for washing dryers here - always high 90s' and dry
Sandakan is a pretty little town right on the northern part of Borneo. Here you will find the famous sepilok orangutan rehabilitation center and other interesting nature discoveries. The town itself is still as it was in the 1950's except for the brand new high rising Sheraton Hotel which is a sort of island of western "civilization" here. As everywhere the Malay people are super friendly - but it seems that here they are even more friendlier. Eddie and I are greeted by virtually everybody - people in cars, on the street in restaurants - where do we come from? And wow: we are tall!

A room with a view II

08:32 mareku 0 Comments

Sheraton in Sandakan - 23 floor