Local educator Bart Williams spent 12 days in the Sabah state of Malaysia on the island of Borneo this summer. He was traveling with a group enrolled in Miami University's Global Field Program of graduate studies. The following are the first three of a five-part installment of his account of his adventures in oceanic Asia.
A three-hour van ride carried us to the little village of Sukau where we would be lodged for the second half of our Borneo experience. We were greeted at a large open-walled pavilion in the center of the village. Our welcoming party turned out to be members of the local home stay association with whom we would be boarding for the next several days. Representatives of the Hutan conservation group were also on hand to greet us. Hutan, formally known as the Hutan Kinabatangan Orangutan Conservation Project, is a French non-governmental organization based in Sabah. We were served juice, pastries, and a yellow corn custard wrapped in a broad leaf of grass. After some brief welcoming speeches, an old man with wrinkled, leathery skin demonstrated the art of spinning large wooden tops. The idea was to get them to spin on a low plywood platform about 10 feet by 10 feet. We were soon encouraged to try the game ourselves. Our efforts met with varied success. Some people could not get the top to spin at all. Others, while they managed to spin the top, could not land it on the platform. Soon tops were careening across the broad floor of the pavilion. One had to be on the lookout lest an errant top come sailing at his or her ankles. Thankfully, the learning curve for top spinning was not too steep, and, after two or three tries, most of our class members achieved a degree of success. ...
The following morning, we assembled early and boarded vans to carry us to our appointed boat transport down the Kinabatangan River. The Kinabatangan is a broad waterway, the second largest river in Borneo. Its muddy banks and coffee-with-milk color reminded me of a larger version of our local Forked Deer River. The bank was alternately lined with native trees, oil palms, and elephant grass which grows to a height of 10 feet or more. ...
My trip abroad this summer began with considerably less drama than last year's series of grounded flights and close connections. I opted to fly out of St. Louis, Mo. as airfare was more than a third less leaving from there compared to departing from Memphis. Besides, I had a generous invitation from Tim Schmalz, a friend I had met in Mongolia last summer. Tim was to be part of this year's Borneo class, but, with a wedding date within three weeks of the trip, he opted to cancel his travel plans. He offered to let me stay at his house the night before my flight and provided transportation to and from the airport. I arrived at his house at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, and we went forthwith to a nice café in the University City section of St. Louis. I met Tim's sister and his charming and gracious fiancée Emily, and recognized that he had made the right call in putting his studies on hold in favor of matrimony. At 7:30 a.m. on Sunday he whisked me to Lambert International Airport just minutes from his house. ...
.
.
