World Cruise: Malaysia - Island of Borneo

After leaving our last stop in Indonesia, we had an at sea day as we sailed through the Molucca Sea and the Celebes Sea and across the Equator back into the northern hemisphere on our way to the island of Borneo. Borneo is a very large island and is divided into three countries -- Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. We visited the port city of Sandakan in Malaysian Borneo located on the north side of the island. This part of Borneo is only 24 miles from one of the islands in the Philippines.

In the morning, we went on the "Wildman of Borneo" tour that took us outside the city to the Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary to observe the orangutans in the jungle. This popular park is a rehabilitation sanctuary where orphaned orangutans are protected and fed so they can return to their natural habitat. These adorable creatures share about 96% of the same genes as human beings. We saw about 6 orangutans on our visit to the park. They are much smaller than the ones we have seen in the zoo since they live in the wild.

Our tour also stopped at a Chinese Temple built and operated by the Moral Uplifting Society, a religious social welfare society that has been in existence since 1939. This magnificent temple with its bright green shiny tile roof and bright red columns was open air and perched on a hillside overlooking the water. Such a serene setting for worship is certainly an uplifting experience.

Another interesting site, was the Buli Sim Sim water village which is a community of houses built on stilts over the water. The houses are all connected by plank walkways. At first glance, this housing looks pretty shabby and unsanitary. However, our tour guide told us that the residents choose to live in this community because they believe it is preferable to living on the land. Living on the water is part of their history and culture. The houses have electricity, running water, satellite dishes for television and internet. They are perfectly content with their lifestyle. While the sanitation conditions in the water village are not pleasant, the residents and their children are supposedly happy and healthy. They must develop strong immune systems.

We finished up our day with a walk around downtown Sandakan. We sailed out of Sandakan that evening for a 3 day sail across the South China Sea on our way to Hong Kong.