Log/Pic 17 Brunei

So this is Brunei. Actually the official name is Negara Brunei Darussalam. It is one of the smallest countries in the world and is located along the northern tip of Borneo. It is 67% Muslim and here are a few of the mosques we visited.
This country is run by a sultan named Sir Hassanal Bolkiah. At some point in the 1980's, he was the richest man in the world-primarily from oil. His picture hangs in hotels, restuarants and pretty much every building we entered. His photo also hangs on the outside of many major building and on quite a few billboards. He takes care of his people and I have never heard a negative thing about him; in fact, he was the topic of many conversations. They were all celebrating his 60th birthday while we were there.

This mosque was on the river front, as were several others.

This is a section of the river village. We took river taxis like this one to to the villages and walked on the docks talking to people, admiring their houses, and watching boat-makers. We stumbled upon what looked like a school, so we went in.
And this is what we saw; a group of Muslim children attending a short ceremony. The current headmaster (the one who invited us to attend the ceremony), was retiring, and a new one (the man who invited us to share a meal with them in what appeared to be the teachers lounge), was taking over.

One man took photos of the ceremony so we thought it would be o.k. too.

Aside from the school being on stilts over a river surrounded by dilapidated river houses, the inside looked very similar to the schools we know!
As the students filed out after the event, each took the retiring headmaster's hand and placed their forehead on it. At first glance I thought they were kissing his hand.
The first half of the student's day is spent in regular studies. Then they leave for two hours and upon return, they study religion until 5:30. Note the boys up front facing their religious instructor and the girls in back BEHIND PARTITIONS!

Punda and I took a ferry back and forth from Malaysia to Laboun Island, and then another to Brunei. The ferry ride alone was great, so were the river taxi rides throughout Brunei. We went to the American Embassy there so I could get more pages for my "new" passport. It was my first U.S. embassy-although I didn't see any Americans there. It was great to visit a country where everyone loved and respected their leader.

Log/Pic 16 Borneo

So I'm in Borneo and I had a chance to visit some long lost relatives from the Kabili-Sepilok Forest Reserve. This first picture is my uncle, next is my aunt, then some 3rd and 4th cousins. Punda and I hiked some trails and went to a morning and afternoon feeding at the Sepilok Rehabilitation Center. We stayed at the Sepilok Jungle Resort. This place also had a trail along the reserves borders. The owner of the lodge took us on a hike there. The grounds were wicked jungly with bamboo, flowers, ponds, turtles, lizards, birds and wildlife everywhere. I felt at home here.










There were other monkeys around us like this macqua, but when the orangutans where around, nothing else really mattered.

Log/Pic 15 Phom Phen, Cambodia

So I met back up with Punda in Cambodia (had gone to Hong Kong to meet his girlfriend). I stayed the first night in the O.K. Guest House. Punda had had a dumpy place on the other end of town that he had already committed to (I was carrying the Lonely Planet book). We met up with Natalie and Keith and they graciously let us crash in their living room. We put on our earplugs and blinders to use for this week.

This photo was from a trip we took down the Mekong River. Their were many more photos but you are probably sick of river pictures from Vietnam. Besides, I needed to use the rest of my space showing you my bonding with the bear day. ALL the rest of the photos below.

This is a sun bear-very rare.

This is her foot.

Sun bear biting her owner.

Note the unique marking, a cresent. I couldn't believe it was a sun bear because I had seen a Discovery Channel special on a guy who rehabilitated similar bears that were called moon bears. Plus I had just seen a black bear with white markings on the neck at the Myanmar Zoo. The sign said Asiatic bear. After looking it up, I realized the Asiatic, Himilayan black, and moon bear are one in the same. These bears have a "v" shape white mark. Although the sun bear is very rare, that's what I played with.

Wicked long tongue

Who has it better than me?

Here he is biting me. It didn't hurt, but later when he swatted my wrist, it ripped off my bracelet and left a scratch. That did hurt, but it was cool because it came from a bear.

So I had to restrain him like I learned to do at C.C.M.C.

What a day.

Well I'm off to Borneo, Malaysia to find some orangutans.

Miss ya'll. Blog ya soon. Love, Larry

Log/Pic 14 Siem Reap, Cambodia

So these are my pictures from Siem Reap, Cambodia. Its about a five hour bus ride from Phnom Phen. We stayed for a week just checking out all the temples/ruins of Angkor Archaelogical Park and the surrounding area. We rented bikes for a week and just rode to different place each day. I had many more photos selected but had to narrow it down (there are seven more on log/pic 13). We started at the famous Angkor Wat (vat), and spent the whole day here. Other places we went were Phnom Bakheng, Angkor Thom, which includes Byon and is the largest of the temples. This area also includes the terrace of leper kings and elephants, Baphuon, Phimeanakas, and Preah Palilay. Preah Khan, Neak Pean and Ta Som were done in one day. Prasat Kravan, Banteay Kdei and Sras Srang were done on my last day. Ta Prohm was my favorite because of all the roots still growing wild throghout and within. This was the site of some tomb raider shots. We did sunset at Pre Rup. Good times!

This is me preparing for my next destination-orangutans in borneo!

Log/Pic 13 Photos, Cambodia

So here are some pics from my 7 day bike through the ruins of Ankor Wat in Cambodia. Some of these photos are no longer shown here but are available on my website.

Log/Pic 12 Myanmar

So these are pictures from my Myanmar (Burma) trip. It was tough going from the time I started trying to get my visa in Laos to get into the country, up until the time I left here. I won't get into all the negative details but I will say that this government has a hold on the people and they are not pleased.

I was very happy to get this photo of an old lady fishing-she was not as pleased.

If your wondering about the stuff on their faces, its a powder turned to paste from the bark of the sandlewood tree. It's a cultural thing practiced mostly by women and some men and children. The designs are different. I thought initially it was to protect against the sun-and it may have begun this way. It was however worn on cloudy days and by people who work inside as well.
I stayed in Yangon and visited temples and pagodas but am really burnt out on them. I went to the zoo and saw Asiatic bears for the first time. I also got to pet a young hippo on his face. At my guest house in Yangon, they would not take their own money as payment. I had to give them U.S. dollars. Again this was a government thing.

The remains of cultural sandlewood after day working in the fields.

I took a trip to Bago and onto Kyaiktiyo and stayed in a little village called Kinpun. It was monsoon season and it pretty much rained the entire time.
Many people took canoes from their huts to wherever else they may be going. The roads were absolutely terrible and lined with potholes and ditches. Regardless of the lack of road maintenance, we had to stop maybe five times each way to pay a government road tax-huh!
I walked to a place in the mountains called Golden Rock. I was actually cold because of the continuous rain and wind. No photos of this for that same reason.
I was not able to e-mail when I was there because the government limits the providers and then screens the ones it does allow. Maybe if I was able to go to Mandalay I would have liked Myanmar better. Pehaps it was because I was comparing it to Laos and in case I hadn't said this before, I LOVED LAOS!

I'm in Cambodia now. Maybe I'm comparing it to Myanmar, but I love Cambodia. I'm still looking for Angolina, but no sign of her yet.

Blog ya later, love Larry