Simon's Travelogue from the Land Below the Wind

  
  Good Morning from the Land Below the Wind, the name given Northern Borneo by the old pirates and traders of the Sulu Sea. In the 1920s and 1930s it was the last surviving Chartered Company territory run by a board of directors in London and rather more Conrad than Coward or Somerset Maughan ,then it suffered the shock and destruction of the Second World War, got rebuilt as a British Crown colony in 1950s and 1960s and then became Sabah, the easternmost portion of modern Malaysia. I am here visiting old friend Fiona who is working with the British Council and based at Ranau 1,800 metres up on the flanks of Mt Kinabalu , the highest peak between the Himalaya and New Guinea. It is monsoon season and this morning when I emerged from sleeping off the effects of the 36 hour trek from East Sheen, London SW14 via Qatar, Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu it looked as if it might pour with rain, but the skies have cleared, it is a pleasant 26c and after a breakfast in town  of roti chanai  and fresh mango with some windfall rambutans and mangosteens, I am ready to explore...

 Some hours later , having spent the afternoon viewing the Sabah Tea estate and the tumbling green tropical forests below the cloud-hung heights of Mount Kinabalu ,as well as the sobering memorial to the 1,787 Australian and 641 British POWs who perished on the Sandakan-Ranau death marches of 1944-1945 it is time to slap on the insect repellent and have a cooling beer on the verandah as the muezzin calls the local minority of Malay muslims to prayer. The majority inland and up in the mountain country are Dusun, one of the indigenous peoples of Borneo, and who, like the numerous Chinese traders in the towns and on the coast are often Christian.  But this multicultural melange mixed with tropical languor is very laid-back and welcoming.

 On day two we drive along a switchback  road through the deeply forested Crocker Ranges to meet two other teachers on the British Council/Malaysian Government programme for a lunch of  “chicken with rice”  accompanied by “coffee O” at an airy restaurant, before climbing into the forest to  a local beauty spot and waterfall renowned for its spiritual healing qualities. Unfortunately as we were the only visitors this afternoon the lifeguard is not on duty in his kiosk beside the pool beneath the falls so we do not take a dip. On returning through the luxuriant green of the forest an off-duty park ranger tells us he wants to show us where a Rafflesia is in flower not too far from the trail. This giant carnivorous plant that is more similar in texture and appearance to a coral head than to other members of the plant kingdom. It flowers very briefly and then in putrid decay attracts insect life to death in its digestive system. We were in luck to see one of the rare gems of Borneo’s wilderness. Our off-duty ranger did not want a tip, he did want to practise his English and to enlighten us on some of the wonders of the forest. Such, generally, is the lack of hassle in these parts….

P.S. Simon has left on his way to Cambodia now but had a lovely visit to the orang utan rehabilitation centre in Sepliok. Fiona