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Hot News - October 2006   (Kota Kinabalu/Sabah / Malaysia, Oct. 11, 2006)

 
Website statistics: In September we were able to welcome on our website 30'006 visitors who did 661'569 hits.
                                           (August = 27'879 visitors ??? countries* 699'031 hits)
                                Record days since 12/17/1998 - the birthday of our website: March 20, 1'474 visitors; August 29, 47'038 hits
                      (*= the country counter, which stopped working March 23, 2006, has still not been repaired by the
                              ISP Goldnet - frustrating! - usually there were monthly between 100 and 118 different countries!)
                   
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
Since our LandCruiser's successful "rejuvenation", we drove over a thousand miles again and slowly, we are getting 
back our confidence into our Toyota's reliability. During this stretch, we crossed six times a border line, not only
because Brunei is sandwiched twice within the Malaysian West coast, but also because its two provinces of
Sarawak and Sabah are so autonomous that they have their own customs and immigrations at their shared border.
Soon after leaving Brunei's exclave of Temburong, the palm oil plantations became very obvious again, interrupted
by virgin rain forest only in the proximity of Mt. Kinabalu, because the spectacular mountain road climbs to a height
of approximately 5'000 ft. However, soon after the descent about 75 miles before Sandakan the palm oil fields
are omnipresent once more, from horizon to horizon, as far as the eye can see. Just 14 miles short of Sandakan
Malaysia's main port in the Sulu Sea there is a small stretch of natural rainforest of 15 square miles left, containing
the rehabilitation center for the endangered Orang Utan's besides the gorillas and chimpanzees the third species of
big apes. It is very impressive and also moving to experience the idealistic attempts to save desperately these lovable
human-like creatures from extinction. There is no doubt, however, that their natural habitat is continuing to shrink
pretty fast.
 
 

Sabah/Malaysia (Borneo): Jungle camping between Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan

 

There are still a few more protected wildlife and nature areas towards the Northeast of Borneo, but currently, their
access is becoming very difficult or even impossible due to the heavy downpours and thunderstorms a clear sign
that the rainy season is in full swing. The main road conditions are actually not a problem. The infrastructure even
in this remote part of the world is pretty good due to the intense agricultural and logging traffic, although more and
more damage is caused by too heavy trucks. Our biggest headache however is the difficult bureaucracy of the
Philippines. We were supposed to ship from here (Sandakan) to Zamboanga in Mindanao. Somewhere along the
long line of the Philippines' customs procedure for our car, somebody made a mistake in Manila. The Department
of Tourism of the Philippines is trying now to remove this obstacle, but this might even involve a change in our
itinerary due to the slow processing. However the wet weather conditions in this region makes an ongoing
postponement – possibly for weeks – not the best solution.

Therefore, please check the progress of our Borneo trip on our pictured site!

 


New Reports/Pictures

SOUTHEASTASIA:                                      mouse over picture shows comments
                     click a picture to see details

 

Sarawak/East-Malaysia
(Island of Borneo)
(June - Aug. 2006)

Miri/Sarawak/East-Malaysia (Borneo): Traditional stilt houses reflecting in the water of the Miri River

Myanmar
(May 2006)
 
Myanmar: Waiting for customers in Kawthoung
Thailand
Temples, Pagodas, Shrines 

Thailand
People, Beaches, Nature

(Nov. 1993 - Jan. 1994)
(Nov. - Dec. 2005)
(Febr. - April 2006)
Thailand: Ho Phra I-Suan Temple in Nakhon Si Thammarat

Laos

(February 2006)

Laos: The ’Patuxai’, the Laotian replica of the French ’Arc de Triomphe’ in Paris

Vietnam

(January 2006)
Vietnam: Two women cultivating a rice field

Cambodia

(December 2005)

Cambodia: The main temple of Angkor Wat with its five towers viewed from the hill of the ’Phnom Bakheng’ - Temple

Malaysia

(Oct. - Nov. 2005)
Malaysia: The four minarets of the ’Sultan Salahuddin’ State Mosque in Shah Alam are visible already from far

Singapore

(September 2005)

Singapore: High-rise buildings pop up everywhere - here behind the Parliament House

Macao

(September 2005)

Macao: The ’St. Paul’ ruin is an inspiring sight also at night

Hong Kong

(September 2005)

 

Hong Kong:From ’Hong Kong Peak’ we get an excellent view of the ’skyscraper jungle’
+ our Borneo Trip

Sarawak, Brunei, Sabah, Kalimantan – Sept.-Nov. 2006

+ our LandCruiser on a "Rejuvenation Cure"

in Miri/Sarawak - the East Malaysian province on Borneo June-Aug. 2006

+ added from a earlier visit to the USA:

Las Vegas    (Millennium change)

+ added from our Arabian Peninsula round trip:

Pictures from Yemen (May-June 1996)

+ Flashbacks of our Worldrecordtour:

Pictures from "all the continents" (Oct. 1984 - April 1997)

+ Follow-ups about Toyota-Experiences:
Encounters resp. "Ups + Downs" with
Toyota Companies since 1982
On July 7th, 2005, we were able to celebrate after a journey through 150 countries the car's
600'000th Kilometer - very prosaic in front of the post office in Cayenne/French Guiana.
Are you interested into the LandCruiser History, prepared by Toyota Motor Sales USA and taken over by
Toyota Motor United Kingdom? (after some loading-time please klick "IN LEGEND" and afterwards "HAIR TO MAGELLAN
- and you will see that we already belong to it too!)

 

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