Into Borneo with the Unforgettable 2016 IPS Pretour

[LJG]

You ended up having quite an epic adventure with this, the biennial and post. Thanks for taking the time to share the trip here.

[Cindy Adair]

On October 1, 2016 at 3:53:01 PM, doranakandawatta said:

Cindy,

It seems to me I can see some weeds which are the same as what we have in our srilankan jungle, did you recognize some of the weeds of our garden too?

I wanted most every one of the Bornean "weeds" to try in Puerto Rico. Some looked familiar but just different enough to prove the adage about weeds being just plants in the wrong place...

[Cindy Adair]

19 hours ago, Jeff Searle said:

Hi Cindy!

    Wow, so nice you have posted so many....excellent looking pictures of what was truly a great and interesting trip. I tried posting my own pictures but can't seem to upload them. A couple did, but most won't, therefore I have given up. Anyways, thanks so much for sharing and showing the whole world what the IPS is all about!!

Thanks Jeff! I know you have a treasure trove of better photos and am so sorry to hear about your technology issues!

I expect there are many folks here who could troubleshoot if you want to give it another try in the future.

By the way, I wish you great success with your upcoming sale and wish I could be there. Maybe in the Spring?

Please say hi for me to all our fellow travelers and PT members. Remind them they are welcome to make the short trip to PR to see my jungle, parts of which remind me of Borneo.

[Cindy Adair]

4 hours ago, LJG said:

You ended up having quite an epic adventure with this, the biennial and post. Thanks for taking the time to share the trip here.

Thanks Len.

I would certainly have enjoyed the leech free trip I had planned to California for the recent PSSC meeting.

If it were not for the death of a family member I would have relished the chance to see Jeff Brusseau's magical manicured paradise in good company.

However, given the choice for future epic adventures, a mixture of wilderness with creature comforts is my continuing ideal.

Perhaps in a future topic I will ask for suggestions in between IPS offerings, so I can prioritize and be motivated to save and plan!

Hawaii, Sri Lanka, the rest of Australia, every tropical island group, etc. etc. etc. Still much to see in PR too!

 

[Cindy Adair]

Here we are at the airport where we hear of a delay.

I tried sitting down and others napped or read.  I passed around my laptop with our group photo and asked folks to add their name to help me learn, but mostly I wandered. 

As I have yet to really learn Spanish, although I am trying, I do not aspire to converse in the native tongue of everywhere I visit. However I do find words interesting and thus photographed the signs.

Nice to see that the stop sign shape and the drawings on other signs made the meaning clear even without the English translation.

Really slow downloads of my photos today so of necessity this travel log may drag on and on to take at least as many days as the actual trip. I have not completely adapted to the less predictable and often slower pace of island life I guess.

While traveling it seems mostly acceptable, especially when tour guides take over the details and just point me in the right direction! Thank you again Rudy, Philip and David!

[Jeff Searle]

3 hours ago, Cindy Adair said:

Thanks Jeff! I know you have a treasure trove of better photos and am so sorry to hear about your technology issues!

I expect there are many folks here who could troubleshoot if you want to give it another try in the future.

By the way, I wish you great success with your upcoming sale and wish I could be there. Maybe in the Spring?

Please say hi for me to all our fellow travelers and PT members. Remind them they are welcome to make the short trip to PR to see my jungle, parts of which remind me of Borneo.

Thanks! I'm really worried about Hurricane Matthew heading our way this weekend. It's so nerve racking! Your name will certainly come up among others during the sale this weekend, the topic of the Biennial trip to Borneo will surely come up. It would be an honor for any Directors to drop by at the sale. Better yet, we will be honored to have Ray Hernandez, the IPS President come down and join us all. He will be staying at the house. Ryan will surely capture many good moments and will post on PT. Hope to see you soon, Cindy!!

[Cindy Adair]

11 minutes ago, Jeff Searle said:

Thanks! I'm really worried about Hurricane Matthew heading our way this weekend. It's so nerve racking! Your name will certainly come up among others during the sale this weekend, the topic of the Biennial trip to Borneo will surely come up. It would be an honor for any Directors to drop by at the sale. Better yet, we will be honored to have Ray Hernandez, the IPS President come down and join us all. He will be staying at the house. Ryan will surely capture many good moments and will post on PT. Hope to see you soon, Cindy!!

Thanks Jeff. I will look forward to the photos from Ryan.

 I certainly hope you and everyone in this hurricane's path stays safe.

[doranakandawatta]

I will look forward to the photos from Ryan. So do I 

 I certainly hope you and everyone in this hurricane's path stays safe. So do I , is PR on the trajectory of that Matthew? is it now over?.
Best wishes for a safe and happy end of the story !

 

[Mantis sp.]

This plant looks so beautiful...what's that? 

[Cindy Adair]

Salacca rupicola is what I was told Mantis.  Really lovely. And I am sure there are better photos around as some in our group had cameras that made mine look like a toy.

 http://www.palmweb.org/cdm_dataportal/taxon/6dc92b95-3ff4-4a5b-bea6-324dc0a8596f  gives some more information.

[Cindy Adair]

5 hours ago, doranakandawatta said:

I will look forward to the photos from Ryan. So do I 

 I certainly hope you and everyone in this hurricane's path stays safe. So do I , is PR on the trajectory of that Matthew? is it now over?.
Best wishes for a safe and happy end of the story !

 

Matthew is still alive but has bypassed Puerto Rico.

[Cindy Adair]

Back to my story, our flight was then uneventful and we headed for the travel by bus to the lodge.

More palms soon, I promise.

[Mantis sp.]

2 hours ago, Cindy Adair said:

Salacca rupicola is what I was told Mantis.  Really lovely. And I am sure there are better photos around as some in our group had cameras that made mine look like a toy.

 http://www.palmweb.org/cdm_dataportal/taxon/6dc92b95-3ff4-4a5b-bea6-324dc0a8596f  gives some more information.

This plant looks so beautiful...what's that? 

Thank you @Cindy Adair ! 

[Cindy Adair]

Well my Travel Log had to wait while I captured a baby non native Boa near my house this morning. Yesterday I had seen a much larger relative far away in my jungle that looked like  one I saw a year ago. Only occasional racer snakes before then. 

I hoped one a year to be enough to be interesting, without scaring away visitors. If you want to see some photos I posted them under the most enjoyable "Garden Visitors" topic here

 http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?/topic/25596-garden-visitors/&page=6

I thought Borneo might be full of dangerous snakes, but I personally only saw one that I was told was a palm viper, appropriately in a palm. I did not get a photo so maybe someone will add theirs?

Soon I will go back to using my voice memo from my camera to name my palm photos since my Mac won't download them like my old PC would. Helps me learn anyway.

So stay tuned.

[Cindy Adair]

Here is the clearly-not-a-chain Borneo Tropical Rainforest Resort! 

There were signs above us to educate us as to their philosophy. The one below could have a double meaning with green being slang for money as well as its probable meaning here. Sorry the lighting was tough on these.

We were treated to some music and dancing and invited to join in. Only one of us did, probably because we were afraid our photo would show up on PalmTalk?

Later I wandered again to see the lodge property. 

[Cindy Adair]

The next morning we headed for Lambir Hills to see a waterfall (and palms!)

We knew we could choose short, medium or long hikes.

We think maybe they could have been called long, very long and are you crazy long. Yes, of course I chose the latter. No regrets. 

Notice how clean and dry and energetic we all are and compare with the are you crazy long group's lunch spot photo when I post that one.

Yes Jeff, I warned you I'd post that photo. What a shame your photos won't download to PalmTalk so you can't get even.

 

[Cindy Adair]

Finally back to plants! Wish I knew all the names so please add/correct as always with my posts. First Licuala borneensis with fruit and flower buds.

Licuala valida nearby

The paths were easy at first.

 

[Cindy Adair]

We were all pretty confidant that we were up to this all day adventure and still dry at this point. 

We photographed pretty much every palm. Several times.

[Cindy Adair]

Beautiful Pinanga mirabilis.

 

 

[Cindy Adair]

Just think, nearly all these photos were taken from the trail. Imagine all the amazing plants that were off trail? 

Tristaniopsis oborata had this stand out red trunk.

Yes, there are hills in Lambir Hills National Park! When I was climbing I did not stop to take photos.

[Cindy Adair]

[Cindy Adair]

I believe it was at the waterfall where decisions were made as the "short" hikers for that day headed back to the resort. The very long and crazy long hikers were just beginning. Some of the crazy long hikers rethought their priorities and changed their minds. We might have added one or two from the middle group as some got their second wind.

 

[Cindy Adair]

For those of us that continued on, the hills were many, but so were the rewards. However we needed to move faster or spend the night in the jungle! Also once it began to pour, My very wet glasses and my non waterproof camera had to be stowed and it became a little more of an endurance test-which we all passed! I guess playing on my hills in Puerto Rico was good practice.

 

 

[Cindy Adair]

Licuala petiolulata below was the most challenging for me to pronounce and spell correctly!

[Cindy Adair]

Yes these Lambir Hills photos were all taken on a single day in Sarawak and I am still not through posting day 5 out of a 13 day trip! Our terrific trio of volunteer IPS guides had walked every trail before us to plan everything perfectly! I am still astonished at all the work involved and very appreciative!

 

[Cindy Adair]

I do have names for some of these and also have access to some truly professional palm portraits taken by others in a shared group which I hope will be posted in the main forum or elsewhere in the future. When I can I will add the names of those I know, but feel free to speak up anytime and I can likely even edit them in.

 

[Cindy Adair]

Remember that after the last group photo we still needed to walk back to catch our ride. However we had eaten so our packs were lighter and we had rested a bit by the time this photo was made. 

Here are the last Lambir Hills photos (taken as I wandered around the shelter) as we were told to move quickly on the return trip to get back before dark. Quite a memorable day for all of us and I am ready to go back.

[Cindy Adair]

And now for something completely different...

I did not buy any newspapers, but occasionally read a free edition or a discarded one while on a bus ride. It was interesting to me to see what in the United States made the news in Sarawak plus a bit of local flavor. There was information on the US political campaign, but I believe we all could use a break from that at the moment.

There was very little real news about America, but plenty of gossip.

I particularly enjoyed the Miracle Water article which described testing for magic spells (?!) and finding only filters.

The cover article asking for face to face meetings with dissidents rather than arrests was interesting.

The free paper from the post tour in rural Australia (not included here) amused me too, but then I am easily amused.

So here goes:

 

[Cindy Adair]

The next day we headed to Niah which involved a bus ride to a short ferry and another cave excursion.

And palms!

At the entrance a butterfly hitched a ride on one of our travelers and posed for photographs.

I can see one of my own Cyrtostachys renda clumps in Puerto Rico as I type, but I still photographed them in Borneo. I do not tire of these. Way too slow downloads right now and the sun is finally up here!  So the rest will follow another time.

 

[Cindy Adair]

[Cindy Adair]

[Cindy Adair]

More amazing caves! Difficult for me to to properly photograph caves. You just had to be there to appreciate the grandeur.

[Cindy Adair]

[Cindy Adair]

 

 

[doranakandawatta]

Thank you, Cindy, for all these wonderful pictures.

But I was wondering why we don't see any IPS Biennal travels and palms picture threads others than your?

[Cindy Adair]

Thanks again. There are some very nice photos on the Biennial already on PalmTalk and I still hope to see others over time.

I only have extra data (use it or lose it) to post lots of photos for 17 more days so I'll do what I can!

[Cindy Adair]

We were not always in the jungle, just most of my photos were taken there. We ate many interesting and delicious meals. At the time we traveled, a Malaysian Ringgit was equal to about 25 cents USD so as you can see, lunch was cheap. Tremendous difference between prices in downtown Singapore versus rural Malaysia. The Magnum ice cream bars I was spoiled with at Nong Nooch during the Thailand Biennial, varied from USD $.50 to $2 for example.

Notice the heart shaped fried who knows whats below.

Pet's Delight offered 12 items none of which I could translate.

I did not buy the Pandan creamed waffles but found the green filling in the picture interesting.

Wandering around I saw market items too.

Notice the Salak from Salacca palms. On several occasions generous fellow travelers shared their bounty on the bus.

Good, but can't compete with fresh mangosteens or rambutans which were not in season here.

Another example of delicious inexpensive food in Sarawak.

Another market with colorful displays of some familiar and other unfamiliar items.

[Cindy Adair]

Here we are beginning another wonderful hike. 

Token cycad.

This is our destination for lunch. 

I was not tempted to stray off the boardwalk here.

Nypa fruticans fruit.

 

[Cindy Adair]

 Licuala bintuluensis

[Cindy Adair]

An unknown species of Licuala.