Category: Travel (Page 2 of 20)

I’ve never had a slice of bread as delicious as this one. Topped with strawberry jam, this was a delight to chow down on. Highly recommended.

Our first stop of the day was a very pretty beach called Black Beach, so called because of the sand. It had the wonderfully shaped cliffs around the cave that I remember seeing in Ireland.

It’s also well known for its sneaky waves. Before I came over here, I saw videos of oblivious people suddenly being knocked off their feet by a wave which swept way past all the other ones before. I warned James, but he didn’t listen and escaped having wet feet by a millimetre.

No wonder there are so many myths and legends about trolls here. It’s the landscape for them.

Outside the cave.

Inside the cave. I stood for a while watching seagulls soar and swing around the towering cliffs. Corinna walked way down the beach. It wasn’t sunny, but there was still something about it that made us all happy to linger.

Apparently Iceland is known for growing bananas. Here’s how they do it. Massive greenhouses.

The one thing I asked Morgan that I wanted to do was to bob around in a geothermal pool. Seriously, you can’t go to Iceland without doing this. I’m definitely not a lover of going swimming, but this is different.

When we were in Reykjavik, we went to a fancy place, but both Baptiste and I baulked at paying $200 AUD to basically sit in a warm bath. Morgan found the Secret Lagoon, which is the oldest public swimming pool in Iceland. It wasn’t as fancy, but there was still price was far more reasonable at $60.

It was so nice.
I met a nice American couple from Wisconsin, who have 3 trans daughters, so of course we bonded instantly. They’re extremely worried about what’s happening in the US, to the degree that they’re filling out asylum paperwork for Canada for their daughters.
“When Trump ordered troops into Washington, I could see which way things were headed, and it’s not anywhere good,” the wife said.

There was a cold plunge pool. I went into it, but only once.
Sure, you feel all tingly and alive when you pop back into the warm pool, but it’s not worth it.

Then, after geothermalling ourselves, we went off to see some geothermal activity in the ground.

People were gathered all around this geyser, which goes off every 5 minutes or so. Fortunate Frogdancer struck again – we got a double whammy!
”I’ve never seen it do twice in a row,” said Morgan.

Big thanks to James for this video. I stopped filming just before the second one went off.

I think I said it all in the video.

This is the geyser that gave the name to all others. It’s pretty much dormant now, but occasionally it goes off, just to keep things alive.

This boiling hot water was right beside another pool that was calmly doing nothing at all.

It wouldn’t be a day in Iceland with Morgan without a couple of waterfalls.

We saw the mist from this one rising above the road as we drove up to it, so we knew it was going to be powerful. This part is only at the side, but it was my favourite part of the waterfall.

Here’s the main part. In the 1930’s, well before money from tourism was a thing, politicians wanted to build a dam here.

This woman, a local farmer’s daughter, threatened to throw herself into the river if they went through with it. She’s credited with being Iceland’s first eco-warrior.

This one is Morgan’s favourite waterfall in Iceland. I loved the blue water. There was so much to look at here. Every direction I focused on, there was something interesting and/or beautiful happening.

Our last day in Iceland.

This shot was from yesterday at the glacier. Isn’t it fantastic? Morgan posted it on the WhatsApp after I’d finished my post.

Rainbow street.

Tomorrow, we have a 6 hour bus ride to the boat.

Dad joke of the day:

We left our place in Vik, where we’re staying for 2 nights, and set off. Our first stop was a place where we could see the moss growing on a fairly recent lava flow. Obviously this is a very fragile first step at vegetation beginning to reclaim the land, so they’re not keen to let tourists trample all over it.

The next stop was – you guessed it – another waterfall. We had a walk up a hill, thankfully not with steps, and we could see it from up high at the back as well.

This is a ridiculously beautiful place.

On the way back to the car park.

Our next stop was a thing called’The Churches Floor’, because the people who discovered it couldn’t believe that it was a natural phenomenon.
Anyone who’s seen The Giant’s Causeway in Ireland will know that it’s basalt blocks.

Not bad for taking a photo on.

Look at the clouds kissing the mountaintop.

Ice! I thought it was snow, but it’s actually a glacier.

We drove through a very desolate patch where there was nothing but lava and mud. It was as flat as a pancake. When the nearby volcano erupts, the glacier melts and there’s kind of like an inland tsunami and this is what happens. There’s just nothing left. 

There’s no wildlife here in Iceland, apart from Arctic foxes. No crows, even, which seems so unusual when you think about it. Crows are everywhere you go in the rest of the world.

It was odd to me to see a glacier end in green. The others I’ve seen were either in snowfields, or ended in the sea.

This was all taken from the side of the road.

Then came the biggest surprise so far of the trip. I didn’t research anything before jumping on the plane. I’d never heard of Diamonds Beach.

So beautiful… until James in his footie shorts wandered across! 😂😂

This place is around the corner from the icebergs’ graveyard, which we caught a glimpse of from the road.

The tide washes the icebergs around the corner and onto this beach, where they wash up onto the sand and gradually melt.

Lots of happy people.

James was the only one of us, apart from Morgan, obviously, who knew what we were going to see. He brought a bottle of gin and some tonic and we toasted to friendship.

Just one more shot. I loved this place.

Then we went over the bridge and walked back to see the icebergs’ graveyard. It was like a little memory of Antarctica.

We have been so lucky with the weather. I had a jumper with me, but it was too warm to wear it. You can see I’m travelling with my trusty merino tops again.

I was so happy to see blue ice again!

This guy had the biggest selfie stick I’ve ever seen.

Kayakers.

Obviously we had to see a glacier up close. Morgan took us to two.

This first one was an easy 5 minute walk to get to. The next one?

Around 40 minutes of walking, mainly over rocks like this. Fortunately for me, it was all pretty flat, so it was an adventure.

Here is the end of this glacier. I didn’t realise it was ice until Corinna told me. (Morgan had told her.)

Morgan first visited the glacier in 2015 and it was quite a bit bigger than it is today.
We drove back to Vik after this, stopping at what turned out to be a fantastic restaurant beside a petrol station in the middle of nowhere. Everyone enjoyed dinner.
My pizza and 2 tiny wines cost $90 AUD. ouch. I’m looking forward to getting onto the Hondius, where all food is included.

One more day with Corinna and James, and then Morgan and I will be heading up to the top of Iceland to join the Greenland cruise.

Dad joke of the day:

Morgan is obsessed by waterfalls. The name of this Iceland tour on the YPT website is ‘Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls.’ For a tour telling us not to chase them, we certainly ignored that directive! At the end of the day, as we were walking towards the black sand beach, he proudly told us that we’d visited 9 waterfalls that day.

I believe him. I mean, we’d all lost count long ago, but why would he lie?

I’ll preface this by saying that unlike my usual travel blogs where I have the names of everything down pat, this isn’t going to happen this time. The Icelandic spelling is really hard, plus we saw a LOT of water being affected by gravity today. These waterfalls are nameless. Some are way famous, while others are secret little ones that only the locals know about.
Anyway, here’s what we saw today.

1.

The first one of the day. The water was a little murky with sediment, but it was strong and powerful.

2.

This one had it all. Swans, the glacier in the background where all the water came from, and a beautiful vista as the river rolls away. Big thumbs up for this one.

3.

This one was a crowd favourite. The water has etched its way through the rock and it looks spectacular as it hides away within the mountain, then appears. The grotto it’s in is wonderful, and everyone was sure that this would be the one.
However, Morgan had a few tricks up his sleeve…

4. This one is one of the way famous ones. There was a massive car park, parking attendants and food shops there.
We put

Amazingly beautiful, and you can walk behind it.

See?

As we were walking around to the next waterfall, I saw these horses being taken out. Icelandic horses are everywhere. I think I’ve seen more horses than sheep.

5.

This one was stunning. You get a tantalising glimpse from outside, then have to hop through the stream, rock by rock, to get to see it in its full glory.

I was lucky on the way back through the stream. There was a gridlock of people, some going in, others going out. I hesitated, balancing on a rock, and someone’s hand shot out to mine just as I was about to overcorrect and step into the water. Then, other hands helped me all the way along the line.

”Thanks everyone!” I called out as I reached dry land.

Next was a drive towards lunch. Morgan was taking us to the best fish and chips in Iceland. I was happy, because I have now gotten rid of most of my Icelandic money.

Don’t bring cash when you come here. Iceland is pretty much completely cashless.

6.

How impressive is this?

Though look at those steps running up the hill beside the waterfall. Those were nearly the end of me. I knew that there’d be a lot of physical activity on this trip. Everyone else on this tour is decades younger and much fitter than me. But oof. Those steps were HARD, especially after a few days of racing around and climbing things.

”How are you going?” asked Baptiste at one stage.
“Ok, but I’m sure my Apple Watch thinks it’s been stolen!”

This waterfall attracted some interesting tourists…

Once at the top, we walked along a path and saw another couple of waterfalls.

7 and 8.

9.

This one was very special. We walked through an amazingly beautiful canyon, with the waterfall at the end.

Again, we could walk behind this one. It was fantastic.

My legs were hurting, so I walked back before the others, enjoying the quiet time on my own. All I could hear was the babbling of the little stream beside the path.

.

I made some new friends.

Driving through this country is an absolute feast for the eyes. It’s so varied too. On one side of the car are things like mountains and glaciers, while the other side is a lunar landscape.

We parked at the top of a big hill with hairpin curves on the road and saw the black sand beach. It was around 5 pm and it was still perfectly sunny.

The legend here is that this is a family of trolls who were attracted to the shore. They got caught by the sunrise and were turned to stone.

I love how the land is around half of the house. It must be so warm in winter.

This church is perched above Vik, the town we’re staying in for the next 2 nights. Vik has a population of 400.

Before dinner, the guys decided to go and walk on the black sand beach. Corinna wisely decided to stay in the room. Morgan snapped this photo of me emerging from the “short cut” they took.

I was starting to feel slightly grumpy. My thigh muscles were killing me and I was over the walking.

But look at how glorious it was. I couldn’t stay grumpy. I love these guys!

This morning, after a quick detour for coffee,breakfast ( for the others – I had another  Frogdancer’s Sad Breakfast), and a quick stop at the supermarket to buy lunches, we jumped in the car and started heading out in search of waterfalls. It turns out that Morgan loves waterfalls, so seeing as he designed this little Iceland pre-tour for us, we’ll be seeing a lot of water affected by gravity. 

This one was what he described as “ a nice enough little thing.” We had to clamber down an embankment with slippery stones, where I slipped and grazed my leg. Needless to say, I courageously carried on.

There was also a little stream to cross, but the waterfall was worth it. Here are the other 3 in front of it.

We headed off again. “I love to drive in Iceland,” said Morgan. “ You can point the car anywhere and it’s always beautiful.”

I can see what he means.

An hour’s drive later, we arrived at Morgan’s favourite waterfall. Unfortunately, it was a 3 hour hike. My blistered toe wasn’t up for such things, as well as my lifelong avoidance of bush walking, so I looked at the map and decided to go as far as the cave. 

1.2 kms each way was quite enough for me! They walked to number 6 on the map, while I walked to number 2.

It was enjoyable, though I have to admit that I was more than ready to see the cave when it finally appeared. We said our goodbyes, Morgan handed over the car key and, after I videoed them crossing the river further downstream by walking along a log, I turned back.

One thing about Iceland is that there are not a lot of public toilets. I can’t remember the last time I did a bush wee, or as we said in Africa earlier this year… “picked some flowers.” Remember? For guys it was “checking the tyres.” 😂

It was a lovely walk back to the car. There were goats in the area. I heard them bleating as I was almost back at the car park. 

I sat in the car, ate lunch, read a novel and wrote this blog post up to this point. Baptiste promised to take shots of the waterfall so we can all see what I elected to miss.

***

Morgan sent me this one. 😀

We popped into the War and Peace museum for a look around. To be honest, the outside art was better than what was inside.

As soon as we walked in, I did a Queen Mother and ducked into the loo. The guys walked into the main entrance and were told that the museum was closed for the winter, but it was open for a private function that day.

Not being privy to this information, Corinna and I went all over the museum.

It was pretty bad. It was full of fusty old things, with mannequins posing as radio operators and random soldiers. It reminded me of those antique warehouses, with little stalls full of absolute garbage. I was glad that we didn’t pay for admission.

Corinna sampled a few of the desserts from the function. She came back to the car raving about how good they were, and the next thing I know, Baptiste is back in there with her, to sample things for himself.

On the road again. Once you leave the city, Iceland is very empty. There are little houses and churches scattered in the most picturesque places.

Morgan turned up a little dirt road and promised to show us something unique that no other tours have on their itineraries.

And here it is. Corinna and I thought this rock looked like a hand, but the information board likened it to a goblet.

We were getting hungry, so we headed back through the park to get back to the car.

Suddenly hundreds of women clutching Prosecco glasses burst out onto the pathway. They kept coming past us in a constant stream.

” I feel like a salmon!” Baptiste whispered to me. Some of them had empty glasses, others had a gliding stride as they tried to avoid spilling any wine.

James from Ireland/North Korea 2018 had landed. We agreed we’d all meet up for dinner at Morgan’s favourite burger bar. They adjust the numbers here every time someone dies or has a baby.

And now the Iceland crew is complete!

I didn’t post yesterday because James, Baptiste and I had a few drinks that night. James brought some delicious duty free gin with him.
The next morning, all I could think of was coffee…

Dad joke of the day:

Here we are! The Antarctica 2022 crew (almost) all together again. Morgan, Baptiste, Corinna and I. The boys arrived in the middle of the night, while we swung by the airport after lunch and picked up Corinna.

The boys and I met at 9 for breakfast, but unknown to them, I’d already had Frogdancer’s sad breakie, so I joined them in a coffee. We walked to the rental car place, picked up the car we’ll be driving for the next few days, then off we went to the supermarket to pick up lunch. I was relieved that they didn’t want to go to town with lunches – you never know how precious people will be about food.

Then we headed off.

We stopped by a lake for a photo, and this group of bike riders swished by. Just like Beach Road on a Sunday morning!

It was beautiful.

Morgan was saying that outside of the cities, there’s only 1 person per square kilometre here.

Our next stop was a place where there was steam coming out of the ground, with pools of boiling water bubbling away.

It was so strange to think that all of this heat was being generated right under the walkways we were standing on. How could water be boiling hot without a kettle? It was crazy.

You can see the different minerals in the earth by the colours.

As we were driving towards the next thing, Morgan was telling us about how the first thing to grow on top of a lava flow is moss. “It’s very fragile”, he said.
Many of the roads we drove down today were roads that cut through lava flows. Some were old and the moss was busily working on them. Others were very recent and were still pitch black.

Morgan took this one as I was fighting for breath coming up the hill. It was the first of many uphill climbs that day. The top picture of us all was taken from the top of a lighthouse!
See the black in the background of the photo? This was from last year’s lava flow. Morgan, Baptiste and I were heading up to see another recent lava flow.

This one was a couple of years old. Iceland has lots of volcanic activity and the place is covered with lava in various stages of reclamation by nature. This was stark, black and very new.

Later that day, we drove through a town that was almost deserted. A swathe of house s were abandoned, with fences in front of them forbidding entry.

”What happened here?” Corinna asked.

”There was an earthquake, and the houses got damaged,” said Morgan.
First lava, then earthquakes. It’s risky to be a homeowner here!

It’s a strange, otherworldly landscape here sometimes.
“It’s like walking on the moon, “ said Baptiste.

The guys climbed a bit higher, while I turned back and walked down, almost making it back to the car before them. I had to be careful about where I put my right foot. All that walking in Copenhagen gave me a blister so bad that most of the skin had come off one of my toes. I had a bandaid around it today, which helped, but I won’t be going on any long hikes for a few days.

You can see that they’ve had to cut the road right through a lava flow.

I took this from the window as we were driving to pick up Corinna. It’s pretty thick. No wonder this country is one of the most expensive places in the world to live. Such a small population is paying for all these massive roadworks and infrastructure replacements all the time.

Though Morgan has a different theory. “It’s tourists,” he said over dinner. “ I was here in 2023 and every night I would buy a 3 course meal for 30 euros. Now, you can only get one course for that if you’re lucky.”

The lighthouse! Yes, we climbed all the way to the top. When we started, I looked at all of the flights of stairs winding up and thought, “If I could make it to the top of that fort in Japan and that island in Vietnam, I can do this!”
And of course I could.

It was very windy up there. It almost felt like I could be blown off the top. The wind wasn’t so bad earlier in the day, but it soon picked up. It wasn’t at all cold, at least, not for me. Corinna was regretting her choice of clothing that morning. But the wind was a THING.

See my scarf? I wore it on my huge 9 week Uk/Europe trip 10 years ago. And people wonder why other people knit. It’s so satisfying to make something and then have the benefit flow on for years to come.

Then we drove to America.

This is the bridge between continents. The tectonic plates of America and Europe are on either side. Isn’t that cool?

As we were walking back to the car, Morgan pointed out the tiny island out in the sea.

”Bjerknes lived there for a year or two and recorded an album there. She left when a fish told her to move out.

Our next stop was to a place that Morgan said was called “A nice beach.” As the others wandered towards the cliffs, I saw a sculpture of a huge bird. It was a Great Auk, once common here but is now extinct.
Imagine being the last one of your kind, like the Tasmanian Tiger in Adelaide zoo. So lonely.

Here’s Baptiste and I, lords of all we survey!

What a sparkling day!

Though the wind isn’t really kind to flared jeans!

Oops. A little bit askew.

Another drive. We were covering all of the peninsula below Reykjavik.

Can you believe this? It was incredible. The air was thick with sulphur as the steam poured out in an unending flow. We walked right through it on the boardwalk. At one stage, I had to stop as I literally couldn’t see anything at all in front of me.

Morgan caught Corinna emerging from the mist. What a great shot.

We then went to “ another nice beach “ where, if we wanted, we could go for a swim in this little pool beside the sea. In a country full of geothermal swimming pools, this one was not.
We asked Morgan if he was planning to swim there. “Oh no!” he said. “It’s far too cold. But you can, if you like.”
um… no thanks Morgan, all the same! But it was very pretty.

On the way back to Reykjavik we stopped to take a couple of pictures.

Look at how impossibly blue the water is.

We swung by the main church in Reykjavik, with a statue of Leif Ericsson at the front. It’s a very impressive structure, though according to Morgan, they were scammed when they bought the concrete and twenty years after it was built, the never ending restorations began. Sure enough, as we drove up to it, the back end was covered with scaffolding.

It was beautiful inside though. I loved the simplicity. Corinna and Baptiste are feeling the vibe.

It’s a funny thing, but many of the buildings here are corrugated steel. I wouldn’t have thought it would be insulated enough against the cold, but clearly I’m wrong.

Colours!

And to finish the day…

… swans at the edge of the huge lake in the centre of town.

Dad joke of the day:

My last morning in Copenhagen, I went down to breakfast, then went back to my room and lay in bed and read a book. I know, it seems like such a waste, but the night before the girls from the WhatsApp Africa group got chatty. Every time I got to sleep my watch would buzz when a new message came through.

I’d wake with a start each time. Finally, I completely turned off my phone, but by then, like MacBeth, they’d murdered sleep. I needed a lazy morning reading a good book, so I took the chance to get it.

Later, at the airport, I spent serious dough on a new travel bag. Not something I wanted to do, but yesterday, when I was galloping around the streets of Copenhagen, I felt an odd ‘twang’ at my shoulder and this happened:

My Borneo bag didn’t even last for one holiday. I was at the airport and I saw a shop that was “By appointment to Her Majesty The Queen.”

Now, the queen of Denmark is Australian, so I’m sure she wouldn’t steer a fellow Aussie wrong.

The new bag. I’ll let you know how it goes.

It was 14C and sunny when the plane touched down in Reykjavik. I drove into town with a very nice taxi driver from Poland who told me lots about Iceland. Did you know that there’s only 400,000 people who live here?
He also pointed out the lava flows from a year ago. They broke the water pipes of a town nearby and the people had no heat or hot water for 3 weeks in the middle of winter. The government was supplying free electric heaters to keep people alive.

He seemed very nonchalant about the volcanoes. “They happen every year,” he said. “Two years ago the lava nearly covered the Blue Lagoon.”

Oof. I guess you can get used to anything…

I arrived at the place Morgan booked, only to discover that it was unmanned and I didn’t have a way to get in. Bloody Morgan forgot to send me the key code for the door. Fortunate Frogdancer struck again. I frantically messaged him and he was on the way to the airport. If he was already in the air I would have been stuck outside until he landed in the middle of the night.

With that little problem sorted, I went up four flights of stairs to the room – thanking all the gods that I brought a tiny suitcase with me – and then took myself out to dinner.

It’s lucky I was warned about Icelandic prices. This is the first time in my life I’ve spent $50 AUD for soup and bread. Ok, it was delicious, but I’m still reeling from the sticker shock. A chicken Caesar salad was on the menu for $65 AUD.

After dinner, I went through the streets to walk along the harbour. It was stunning. Sunny, with just a slight wind, with music coming from the bars. Never thought I’d hear Barry White in Reykjavik, that’s for sure!

I was going to walk around to this big green pimple, but after a few minutes I realised it was too far away.

I stood looking one way and took this photo…

… then turned 90 degrees and snapped this.

It appears that Iceland has the same muscle-bound seagulls that Canada has!

Dad joke of the day:

Today was a day that was totally unplanned. If I wasn’t flat chat with Mum’s stuff before I went, I might have researched and worked out an itinerary, but after breakfast this morning, I grabbed the map I was given yesterday and had a look.

I decided to walk to see the changing of the guard, the botanical gardens and the David Collection. This last one was a museum which was free. How bad could it be??

So I set off, after finishing a really good book. Breakfast at the hotel was great, but expensive, so I didn’t feel bad about making a cheese and ham roll for lunch. I jumped on the train, and my walking adventure started.

This is such a beautiful city.

Full of cobblestones though. They’re everywhere.

I ducked into a gift shop and bought a magnet with the Little Mermaid on it, so when I realised I had over an hour to wait for the changing of the guard and I was nearly at the edge of the map where she was, I threw caution to the wind and went to see her.

I’ll be back in a couple of weeks when I’m on the tour.

Remember last year when Meg and I were in Vancouver and we saw The Little Diver. She was modelled on the Little Mermaid, but the good matrons of the city didn’t want naked boobies on show where the kiddies might see. Hence she’s wearing a wetsuit.

After visiting the mermaid, and promising her I’d be back, it was time to hotfoot it to the palace square. Thank goodness I wasn’t here in high season. There were plenty of tourists as it was.

The changing of the guard ceremony happens 4 times, so I filmed the first one, then raced around to simply watch the others. These videos are in 20 second increments to make them easier for wifi to upload.

The new lot march in, watched by most of the old group that are ready for some R & R.

They then march around to all the stations in turn, to swap over. The soldiers have a quick debrief.

The leader then rummages around, making sure that all the equipment that is meant to be there is there.

The swap is made.

And off they go to the next doorway.

I headed off to the Botanic Gardens to have a picnic. Copenhagen was really turning the weather on. It was 21C and I knew I was probably getting sunburned. On the way, I saw another park, so I ditched the Botanic park, found a nice tree and plopped down underneath.

The park was full of people enjoying the day. It was lovely. While I was there, Liga messaged to say that she’s booked the Michelin Star restaurant for the Latvia part of this trip. James and I are very excited. It’s all happening, baby!

After I’d relaxed, I looked to see where the David Collection was. Turns out it was across the street from, just 3 minutes walk away.

I’ve seen some cracking little museums in London, so I was keen to see what this one had to offer.
Not a great deal, as it turned out. It was dry, stodgy, and dull.

It had two floors of Islamic art. I quite liked this helmet. It’d scare the shit out of anyone on the battlefield.

Unfortunately, 99% of the labels on everything were in Danish, so I whipped through this museum pretty quickly.

This reminded me of all the stuff we’ve been sorting through at Mum’s house. I had a bit of PTSD when I looked at all of the cabinets full of knick-knacks.

What a boring place. Give this one a miss if you have some time to kill in Copenhagen.

But the Royal Chapel made up for it. Just lovely.

This place certainly loves its bikes.

I’m proud of myself. As you know, I’ve been on many tours over the last few years. You get very used to being shepherded through things.
With this small leg of the tour, I was on my own. Any mistakes I made, such as not booking enough nights’ rooms, had to be solved by me.

I’ve spent two wonderful days wandering around the streets of a city where I know no one. I’ve worked everything out, without asking anyone for a single direction. It’s good to know I can do that.

Tomorrow I fly to Iceland where I’ll be meeting up with Morgan and Baptiste from the 2022 Antarctica trip. Corinna (Antarctica 2022 and England 2023) and James ( North Korea 2018 and Ireland 2023) will be joining us in a day or two.

What fun we’re going to have!

Dad joke of the day:

Every roundabout here has a sculpture. This one is the hibiscus flower, which is the national flower of Malaysia.

Entrance to the Mari Mari Cultural Village is via a hanging bridge across a creek. This place was set up to showcase the 5 tribes of Borneo, showing how they lived and also offering food and drink tastings.

I wasn’t sure how this day would turn out. It could be good, or it could be hokey and a little bit Disney. Fortunately, it was good.

The first area we visited was the Rungus tribe, where they offered honey from stingless bees.

If you’re ever in the jungles of Borneo and feel like eating some honey, here’s what you need to do:

Cut a small hole in bamboo. 

Take it to the forest and leave for a month, but check once a week. 

When the hive is ready, take bamboo, cut it in half and harvest for the honey. Too easy!

The honey tasted very lemony. Not nearly as sweet as we’re used to. It was delicious.

Our next visit was inside a Rungus longhouse. I have to say, if I had to spend some time in the jungle, I’d be pretty comfortable here. Aside from being eaten alive by mozzies, of course.

One longhouse for 1 village. 

1 room for 1 family.

The longhouses could go for 1.5 km long, sometimes! When someone gets married, they just add another room.

Everyone in the tribe had to learn how to make fire. The boys… because they’d be out hunting for days in the jungle as men.
Girls… final task before she gets married. She has to make it before her prospective in-laws. No fire? It means she can’t cook, so therefore there’ll be no wedding.

Marat are the headhunters. There are two different types of headhunting.

1. Ethnic cleansing. They kill the whole village, men, women, children, even babies.
2. Normal headhunting. This is warrior to warrior. A man from this tribe needs to present a head to his in-laws to prove himself worthy to marry their daughter.

This is a coffin for a warrior. After 5 years, they come back, clean the bones and bury them.

“We will not be showing you the headhunting demonstration today.” That’s a relief!

They used to hang the skulls around a house. It protected the village by acting as a deterrent. Too many skulls, a group of attackers will go to another village instead.

They call blow darts the silent killer. The poison on the dart paralyses the warrior. Then the attacker runs in, chops off the head and leaves the body there.

The dart can go as far as 50 metres, depending on the lung capacity of the warrior.

My lung capacity isn’t as good as that, but I managed to hit the wall both times. Happy with that.

Tapioca and sugar. We typically know tapioca as sago… little round balls. Mum used to make lemon sago when we were kids and I loved it. I must ask her how to make it.

This was ok, but without the sugar it’d be tasteless. Before European colonisation, they used honey for flavour.

Single lady staircase. They sleep above their parents and pull the ladder up with them. If they get attacked, the girls will hopefully escape notice.

In another longhouse, we were told that after the girls went upstairs to bed, the father would take the ladder and hide it in the jungle. If the girls needed to go to the toilet in the night, they had to wake their dad or their brothers to get the ladder for them.

Every time they chop off a head, they get a small tattoo from charcoal.

Nurseries look the same the world over.

What’s also the same the world over is alcohol. No matter where they live, people have always found a way to get drunk. Here, they make rice wine. The fermented rice wine tastes just like port. The unfermented one tastes like soju. (Happy memories of North Korea…)

Sugar, rice flour and water. Yum! Like crunchy, sweet noodles. They also served a ginger tea which was fantastic.

How to keep the kid quiet while Mum and Dad are working.

Straight after this, it was time for the cultural presentation. We were among the last groups to get there, but Fortunately Frogdancer snagged a seat in the second row, behind some very short kids. Not often that happens!

The musicians were good.

This dance was fun. On the beat, the bamboo poles are moved apart, then together. The dancers have to move in time to avoid getting caught.

The Murat longhouse has a trampoline in the middle. Yes, really.

They use the trampoline to celebrate their victories, or to see who can jump the highest.

Nowadays they hang money, a camera, an Apple Watch. The highest ones win.

Here I am midair, but only just. It’s safe to say that I wouldn’t win a cracker.

On the way back to the bus, I saw the hanging bridge and went across it again, just for fun. Morna was good enough to take this photo when I called out to her.

On the way back, we stopped so that people could buy souvenirs, and the people that were going onto the 5 star resort could buy cheaper wine. I wandered around on my own, only buying a postcard of a baby orangutan to put on my fridge.
Every morning while my coffee is brewing, I look at my fridge with its postcards and magnets from my travels and it makes me feel happy. Not a bad way to start the day.

I decided that my last night in Borneo would be spent entirely alone. I’m going back to probate with Dad’s will, dealing with disposing of my parents’ belongings, dealing with banks, real estate agents and other horrible things. Tonight was a night where no one would make any demands on me.

Not even a small, beloved dog. (Sorry, Scout. Mummy loves you.)

I went up to the rooftop bar and bought a couple of cab savs during happy hour. I saw a small group from our tour up there on the other side when I walked in, but I pretended I didn’t see them until I was settled at my table, book in front of me and wines in place.

We waved.

I stayed there for an hour and a half, just reading and sipping my wine. Piano music was playing, it was warm and very pleasant.

A dinner in my room of muesli bars – like China with Blogless Sandy! – and I finished my book. It was an introvert’s dream.

I fly out today and I’ll get back to a Melbourne literally 20 degrees Celsius colder than here. How is that even possible?!?

I’m so glad I came to Borneo. We only scratched the surface of it, as we only went across the top end, but we saw so much in our short time here. My main desire was to see orangutans up close, which we did in the sanctuary. Seeing sun bears and the proboscis monkeys was an unexpected joy, and as for the otters? omg, so rapt.

The interesting thing for me is how different I felt here from how I felt in Zanzibar. I was a little on edge in Zanzibar, whereas here I felt totally at ease and very welcome.

I wondered at the time in Zanzibar if it was all of the women in head to toe coverings, but the Muslims here do that too, so it clearly wasn’t that.

After mulling it over, I think that the people here in Borneo have a clear path forwards to individual prosperity, whereas in Zanzibar there was a much larger gap between the haves and the have-nots. I wouldn’t want to be there if any trouble started.

I booked this tour through TripADeal, and it was excellent value for money. I’m leaving with so much Malaysian money still in my wallet that I’m probably going to have to book a holiday on the Malaysian mainland, just to spend it!

Back to normal blog posts, until I leave for Iceland, Greenland, Scandinavia and the Baltics in a couple of months’ time. That’ll be the longest stretch I’ve been at home all year!

Dad joke of the day: