Jungle lessons

For four days and three nights, I spent alone in the deep of a Borneo rainforest. Not exactly alone I guess, as the forest is alive everywhere and 24 hours a day.

The ants were first to welcome me when I alighted from the 4-wheel drive provided by Borneo Rainforest Lodge to take guests from Lahad Datu Airport into the heart of Danum Valley, some 77km away and takes 2.5 hours on a gravel track. The ants are everywhere, even hurrying up my lunch table to check my lunch choice as I opened my pack of "nasi kuning" lunch and sweet coconut dessert, a sugary Malay kueh.

My guide is a stocky chap with a wide grin, Rafel, dressed in pale green long sleeved shirt with a big BRL logo emblazoned on it, and long khaki pants. He pointed to his calf, covered with a grey cotton cloth pulled up to the knees and bunched up with a string and asked "Have you got your leech socks yet?" Ok, the forest is alive with leeches too!


Some lessons learnt in the jungle:

LESSON ONE: I am jungle food

Everything flying, crawling, looping, creeping view me as food supply. The sandflies swarm in droves to bite my neck, the only exposed area when I trek. Leaving red angry welts, like a large ruby necklace. Leeches are just as eager to make my acquaintance, looping up my leech socks in desperate such for exposed flesh.















LESSON 2: everything is bigger than life in the forest. I mean really big

LESSON 3: Human, apes and monkeys are primates, and the difference btw an ape and monkey is that the ape has no tail. Neither have I. I am an ape???????

LESSON 4: Everything you see in Danum is real. It is also wild.

Lesson 5: In the forest, magic is everywhere. So is colour. 

  
LESSON 6: There is more medicinal options in the jungle than in a modern clinic. Organic too.

When I hurt my hand, I had many options to choose from. Boiled tree root, Leaves meshed into pulp, Jungle oil (herbal). I choose jungle oil - called Ubat Batu or Stone medicine. Smells comforting, feels smooth when applied and leaves no marks.

Princess or GI Joe

As the date draws near for my solo spa resort/jungle trip, I am getting pretty excited. 

The Hubby Bear worries about me disappearing into the bowels of an untamed Jungle. A rainforest lodge in the heart of nowhere. Hubby's worry is my fault really, as I told him that the rhinoceros beetle I saw back in 1990 was bigger than the palm of my hand. I suppose it then led him to think that the cicak (gecko) must be Godzilla-like. And given that Malaysia has lots of cicaks, there must be an impressive gang of Godzillas roaming about on the ceiling of my hotel lodge. 

My only issue is, I am keen to be packing like a princess for my stay in lovely 5-star spa beach side resort, but then, realised I need more ammo than a GI Joe for the rainforest stint. The princess wants to take along a nice handbag, sunglasses, headscarf, colour pencils and a drawing book, alongside the dresses and court shoes. The GI Joe is screaming for mosquito (leech) repellent, Nike sneakers, long pants - fortified if possible (against leeches), linen shirts, tshirts, baseball cap, khaki clothes, thick socks. 

How now? Princess or GI Joe.

A well meaning friend said "GI can go for spa, but princess shouldnt be in the forest".