07.05.
We are back at our favorite Malaysian State Sarawak, but this time for a short period. We stop to eat at the last town of the state – Lawas. The atmosphere is more Muslim than the other towns we passed through. The people from the off-road team treat us to lunch at a very nice restaurant in otherwise not so interesting small town Lawas.
The Malaysian part of Borneo consists of two states – the huge Sarawak and the so called North Borneo, Sabah State.
The beach at Mukah
28.04
In the morning while we bathe in the South China Sea Mr. Shushtari is stung by a jelly-fish. He later told me that his heart had stopped for a second and he felt excruciating pain from the strong neuro-toxin. The tentacles touched his neck, chest and leg and the moment he got out of the sea red blisters started forming.
By the look of it we decide that this is not the most dangerous kind of jelly-fish and we run to the tent to put ointment on the blisters. Later the fisherman, we communicated with before, shows up (he is from the Melanau ethnic group, a Catholic) and tells us that this is the pink jelly-fish and though the sting is quite painful it is not dangerous. He says that he has been stung by the white jelly-fish that can cause fainting and medical care could be needed. Well obviously we were very lucky to be stung by the pink one.
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28.02-06.03
In the morning we recharged our camera in one of the floating restaurants close to the river bank. After that we took a boat. On the opposite side there were many giant tree with branches hanging over the water. We paid the tickets (just 0,25$ per person), took a map from the headquarter, made a photo of a diagram with the altitude of the base camps and around 12 o’clock we were absolutely ready to be swallowed by the jungle.
Buddhist temple at Tak
22.12
We cross the Thai border rather quickly. The employee asks us if we are OK with two-months visa because the one we have in our passports is without expiration date. We are overjoyed and say “yes”, he stamps our passports and here we are… walking on the streets of Thailand. This is the second time we are here but nevertheless we get a culture shock upon entering. The contrast seems even stronger to us the 7 months we spent in Pakistan, India and Myanmar. Continue reading
Living root bridge
06.11
We arrive at 4:20 a.m. at Guwahati’s railway station. The sun hasn’t risen yet and the weather is cool. We leave behind us the broken roads of West Bengal, the egg and beet rolls and the men wearing blue striped skirts. Assam State welcomes us with humid tea plantations and people with Asian features. Sadly we won’t have time to see much because traveling next to the border promises to be slow and extreme and our visas will expire soon.
Assam is famous for its black tea, which is exported all over the world and with its extremist groups, communists and strange tribes. The situation in the north states is pretty insecure, but Guwahati is safe. Continue reading
Magic Kervan 