When the mercury dips, people who have the option head inside. It’s fairly obvious other animals don’t have that choice quite so readily available to them. Sure, I’d be happy to share my room with a menagerie of critters in a snow storm, but I… Read More
All posts filed under “Natural History”
Fallout from the Wend
Somehow it’s like I was never in Thailand or Malaysia or Indonesia. There’s all these photos, much more writing to do. But settling back into your typical existence, of not simply learning for yourself, is a strange fallout. Really it’s a mild personal melodrama, but… Read More
Kao Yai, Final Days
When the worst of your mishaps in Southeast Asia include unplanned soakings, issues with gravity, or a mild swindling, you’re probably doing pretty well. Unfortunately, my luck was running out. By the time I’d left Malaysia and made the slog to Kao Yai National Park… Read More
Kinabalu; One Tall Mountain
(I got back exactly one month ago and I’m not done blogging. So, the post is long and tardy because I arrived home with only two weeks to recoup AND get myself to California for work. Enjoy!) After several forays, I still couldn’t fathom the… Read More
Gomantong Caves
All oncoming traffic had their brights ablaze, yet I was being impetuously rude by not turning mine down on approach, provoking a barrage of anxiety enhancing light flashing and horns blowing. An aging truck, heaped with a patchwork of tarps and choking over slight hillocks,… Read More
Danum Valley
Have you ever been to tropical rainforest? While exploring this part of the world, one is sure to eventually encounter a resemblance to the primeval forest of their imagination. Tumultuous vines, ethereally green, fundamentally impenetrable. Here, this run-a-muck growth is often the result of plants… Read More
Sabah’s Mighty Kinabatangan River (Long)
(The problem with seeing much is finding time at the end of the day to write about it all. It takes a fair amount of time to prepare an entry! This is a bit tardy and I haven’t been quite as frequent as I’d like… Read More
KL, Kuala Lumpur, Selamat Datang
As the self-aggrandized old hand of the Southeast Asian urban landscape, you’ll peer about joyfully bewildered. You aren’t enveloped by partially peeled cement walls and blackened exhaust. Writhing, verdant walls of vegetation veil cyclone fences and railings. The scene outside the window of your cab… Read More
Bukit Lawang Literally Means “The Door to the Hills”
There are a lot of hills in Northern Sumatra. Some are functionally inaccessible and a few are just down a potholed highway from Medan. Being my first sojourn to the land of palm plantations, Orangutans, and horrible natural disasters, I settled for a realistic… Read More
Pak Thale and Spoon-billed Sandpipers
Sometimes I question my sanity. Here I was, halfway around the world, standing next to fields of salt. I wasn’t lost, I intended on arriving here at some point. But did I really need to come to Thailand to feel desiccated? The answer in this… Read More