Hot News – November 2006 (Kuching/Sarawak / Malaysia, Nov. 10, 2006)
- Website statistics: In October we were able to welcome on our website 30'118 visitors who did 681'407 hits.
- (September = 30'006 visitors – ??? countries* – 661'569 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 it became clear that the eventual car permits for the Philippines will need still more time, we shifted the focal
- point to those required for Indonesia. Thus, we received from the Consulate of Indonesia in Kuching in Southern
- Sarawak the final assent from Jakarta for the overland entry with our Toyota into Kalimantan, the Indonesian part
- on the island of Borneo. This will enable us to explore this huge archipelago during the next three months with our
- LandCruiser, particularly Sumatra, Java, Bali, the Nusa Tenggara and Sulawesi. The 155th country will be another
- big challenge, as it is often compared with India too. While India consists "only" of one piece of land, there are
- 13'700 islands in Indonesia, of which more than half are uninhabited. Not only is the density of the population
- immense (there are about 240 millions), but also the size of the country, as a West-East crossing (from West
- Sumatra to East Nusa Tenggara only!) measures at least 4'000 to 5'000 miles (comparable to a crossing of the
- United States) – additionally we would like to do some detours!
- But we are still on the Malaysian side of Borneo, and the South of Sarawak has much to offer and to see. Saying
- this, we were able to admire a few days ago the world's biggest flower – called Rafflesia, which grows to three feet
- in diameter and a weight of 24 pounds. Unfortunately it is blooming only 5 to 7 days; but we had the luck to
- discover at the same time two of them – a little smaller though – at the Gunung Gading Nationalpark. The Bako
- Nationalpark, where the funny looking Proboscis long nose monkeys live, is likewise interesting. Like at Sepilok
- near Sandakan in the Malaysian province of Sabah in the North, there is, outside of Kuching at Semenggoh, an
- Orang Utan rehabilitation centre that tries to save the few surviving apes, which manage to escape the yearly "slash
- and burn forest cleanings". Recently, there was not only an article on BBC about this deplorable and vulnerable
- specie threatened to be extinct soon – no, due to the heavy smoke in this region, the visibility is sometimes reduced
- to not more than a few hundred yards, which affects the eyes and makes breathing difficult.
- For all those interested in our car: Since the "general-overhaul", we drove now about 2'500 miles and experienced
- no unpleasant surprises. Also the loss of power, caused by the flat cylinders (instead of the original dome-shaped
- European version) was not as significant as apprehended. The engine oil consumption 'dropped' from before one
- quart for 130 miles to 1'300 miles, i.e. about a ten-time decrease. The after-repairs, done again in the workshop in
- Miri – actually only minor details, which got forgotten – have been resolved courteously for free. Even the leaking
- windscreen is now water-tight, respectively rainproof. The only loss remains the heater – not an issue in the tropics
- though, but it might become one sooner or later. As we wanted to check the fan and the temperature adjustment,
- neither was working. The investigation into it showed that a connection disappeared – probably already while
- scrapping the air-conditioner earlier in Kuala Lumpur. In any case, there is no more a heating possibility, which
- poses now and in the foreseeable future not at all a problem, but might become one, should we move again into
- cooler regions or higher altitude. Getting adapted or improvise might be the solution at that time.
- Therefore, please check from time to time 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
|
||
|
 |
|
|
||
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
| + our Indonesia Trip | Sumatra, Java, Bali, Nusa Tenggara – Dez. 2006 -....... |
|
| + 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) |
|
|
|
|
|
||
