barbed wire and what's with all these warning signs?

after leech-fest, we went to the rafflesia center and adjacent rainforest which is supposed to be home to the the largest flower in the world. we entered the trail, which was gated, despite knowing that the next hike wasn't slated for 3 hours, and we were supposed to pay to enter the center and only enter with a guide. we figured we'd catch up with the group. "lookout trail at your own risk" the sign said. we were getting a little fatigued of all of these warnings. "do not enter" the sign had said on the trail yesterday. "beware" a sign said next to a locked room next to our treehouse. um, okay? well, the group apparently gave us the slip (or perhaps you could say we gave them the slip), and we wandered all over the place, stomping leeches from our boots on occasion.

only after hiking for four hours and finding one paltry rafflesia the size of a soccer ball did we realize that the big flowers are not found in this region. wrong species. our other adventure that day was getting locked inside the trails. we got in just fine (despite our reservations) but when we tried to leave, the eight-foot gate with nasty spikes on top was locked and there was barbed wire in either direction as far as the eye could see. we were cold and soaked through
with mountain rain (yeah, it's cold even in the tropics!) and not a good samaritan in sight.

no worries. we're both lawbreakers: daniel by nature, and me by profession. we made a gap in the barbed wire just large enough to squeeze through and we smiled our way past a row of kids and quasi-game wardens, until we hitched, soaked but smiling, back home. not that a night spent in the rafflesia rainforest wouldn't have been great, but...

cute lil' earthworms

daniel and i have been in malaysain borneo for a week now and we're having a great time. after spending a day in capital city Kota Kinabalu we headed out into the jungle of the Crocker Range national park where we spent two nights in the cold rain in a cabin up in the treetops.

our room was moldy and there was a tree trunk running through the middle of the bedroom (i guess that's where it gets the "treehouse" label), but there was super hot water, which upgraded the situation from dismal to quirky, yet charming. the owners called our place a resort, but personally, i think they were misappropriating the word.

we arrived midday and headed out on a hike with a hand-drawn map of a trail we could follow up to a tower in the jungle. halfway through the hike the trail ended, and we were staring a "do not enter" sign straight in the face. we looked at each other, shrugged, and pushed on. we had to bushwhack and scramble up to the ridgeline from a massive clearcut, but we ended up back on the trail. i kept my fingers crossed that lawlessness wouldn't be as common in malaysian borneo as it apparently is in the indonesian side.

sometimes the fog and mist let up and we could get some spectacular views of the mountains and hills we were surrounded by.

it wasn't until midway through the hike when i looked down and thought "oh, what a cute little earthworm", until I pulled it away and discovered a stream of blood issuing from what now appeared to be a cigarette burnmark on my leg. turns out leeches are common in borneo in the rainy season.

who knew? apparently, the guide book, the guides, the tour operators, and basically everyone except us. there are ugly leeches and pretty, colorful leeches, but let's be honest: they're all gross. we caught most of them but one of them somehow made its way through daniel's shoe and sock and made a complete meal out of the top of his foot (then escaped, unscathed and undetected). daniel's foot didn't stop bleeding for hours.