It might be a week or so before my next post as I’m about to depart from the connected world for a bit. Internet availability in Borneo is expected to be patchy – that’s why they’ll benefit from more satellite communications.
If I manage to survive the jungle, the mosquitoes, leeches, snakes,spiders and the occasional Orang-utan I hope to surface eventually in Singapore.Then immediately travelling on to colder climes.
After having made some 6,000 flights I never really want to see another plane again. At least I usually manage to be asleep before they even push back from the stand.
That reminds me of the time I boarded the wrong plane in Stockholm and nearly spent Christmas in Helsinki instead of at home – but that’s another story in itself, involving a smoked leg of reindeer, a very rapid trot through Dutch customs and wrecking a Christmas day for a whole bunch of friends.
I might save that story for 25th December.
Photo courtesy of and copyright © Ralph Arbus. He has a very interesting website at www.orangutanpix.info
Gordon, a friend who wishes to remain anonymous, asked me to post this on his behalf:"I wouldn’t worry too much about conditions in Borneo, I’ve heard from a reliable source that even the biggest mossies there rarely exceed a kilo (there are anecdotal accounts of some exceeding this weight, but only after a feeding frenzy).This same source said he had personally seen an orang-utan being fought over by a mosquito and an eagle, and in the end the mossie ate both the eagle and orang-utan. Tough bugs where you are headed, your childhood plastic helmet might be worth resurrecting."
More good advice from Gordon:"Just don’t bring back one of those Borneo Bombers with you!! Also make sure you fly in nothing smaller than a 737 as anything less is subject to mosquito attack (not sure you are aware but the WW11 Mosquito warplane was named following the designer’s visit to Borneo)."