The Jungle, Malaysian BorneoAnd there we were, trekking through the jungle at night, spotting colourful birds and tiny frogs and things with glowing eyes hiding in the trees. We slept in huts with only a mattress and a mosquito netting, the rats gnawing away at the planks of wood we called our roof keeping us up at night. We ate traditional Malaysian food, nasi berlauk and serunding, rambutans and mangosteens for dessert. We listened to the sounds of the jungle, the whoops and calls of distant primates, the clucks and songs of birds flying overhead. We showered with river water and a bucket, and never once felt very clean. We searched (in vain) for crocodiles in the morning, for elephants in the afternoon. We spotted wild orangutans and proboscis monkeys, snakes and lizards, insects of all shapes and sizes. We talked with people from around the world: Germany, Australia, Japan, England, Malaysia (natch). We wore gumboots that were too big for us as we trampled on through the mud. We woke at sunrise for boat rides down the Kinabatangan river, the same river we explored late at night, equipped with spotlights. We both, without hesitation, promised to go back.
