BORNEO: Why I only write about this place

Waterfall in Tuaran

JESSELTON, THE CAPITAL of North Borneo, had a population of approximately five hundred thousand people. It had some of the world’s most beautiful beaches and islands. The most famous were Pulau Gaya and Pulau Tiga. Both of these islands were national park. Within two hours after enjoying the sunny beaches there, visitors could reach the highest mountain in Southeast Asia, Mount Kinabalu. They could spend the night there and enjoy the temperate coolness.                                                                        THE EURASIANS, Chapter 19, Page 74

Hello there! I saw many wonderful travel blog posts written by fantastic writers. Many of them inspired me. I noticed one thing in common; most articles were written about traveling far away outside the writers own country. They shared experiences about new places which were enchanting such as beaches of Fiji or Maldives; historical and nostalgic places like Rome and Jerusalem.

There are people who asked me; why do you always write about your own backyard? Why don’t you go outside your own country and write about new places, cultures and people? They told me in that way, I will have more stories to tell, instead of only talking about the same place all the time. My answer to this is; well! Not that simple! Because they are right!

Matanani Island

OK! Let me explain; Borneo is a vast island and it is considered to be a world within a world. Anything the tropical earth have, we can find it in Borneo (not everything though; we don’t have New World monkeys, tigers, chimps). This island has many of the tropical world floras and faunas, marine life and the culture of the people are also unique and their history is fascinating. Now for North Borneo (now known as Sabah), I consider it is Borneo within Borneo; whatever can be found in Borneo, definitely can be found here. At this moment, North Borneo alone has so many sceneries to offer that it seems stories told would be endless. 

Mount Kinabalu view from golf club

But the most important reason why I want to cover only Borneo is because Borneo is like a runaway train waiting to crash! We just lost our last pygmy rhino, an endangered and endemic species and soon we will be losing the proboscis monkeys, orangutans and the pygmy sun bears. We will also have barren seas around Borneo as all the corals and marine life will soon perish because of unrestricted fishing activities and fish bombings. The endemic tropical jungles will soon be wiped out as it is being replaced with palm oil and rubber plantations. This is not only our problems but also your (readers) problems. As I mentioned over and over again; we are in a small crowded room full of people call earth. A bad guy smoke cigar and the whole people in this room choked!  

  

That is the reason why I only cover stories around Borneo. I want you to come; as many people as possible and visit this place. One day, this might not be around for your next generations to enjoy. So at least you could take pictures or write about your visits here and who knows these will be the only materials left for the future to see. 

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