Beyond Marrs

I have the ability to dream big dreams. But, in my wildest dreams I did not think I would set foot on Borneo. To me, Borneo seemed too far away, too “big” of an idea to ever become reality. But when we really started looking at maps last winter, knowing that we would be flying out of Kuala Lumpur, I jokingly ran a search for a flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Kuching. When the search returned flights for $50 per person, I stopped thinking about it as a joke. We started earnestly researching Borneo Malaysia. The more we learned, the more it became obvious that this would become a place we would experience and explore. The choice then became Sabah or Sarawak. Thinking through our reasons for traveling to Borneo in the first place, we realized that Sarawak state, with a base in Kuching, would align with our family’s interests and travel style. And so, it became inevitable: we were going to Borneo.

Borneo is the world’s third largest island. Sarawak is a state in northwestern Borneo, with a land size almost equal to that of peninsular Malaysia. Kuching is the state’s capital, sitting on the sublime Sarawak River. In all of Malaysia, Sarawak state has the lowest population density, but is also one of the most culturally diverse places in Southeast Asia. Sarawak is home to over 40 distinct ethnic groups and some reports peg the Indigenous population at over 70%. People here fluently speak multiple languages: Bahasa Sarawak (Sarawak Malay); Bahasa Malaysia (the official form of Malay); English; various Chinese languages such as Cantonese, Hokkien, Hakka, Fuzhou, and Teochew; Tamil; and Indigenous languages such as Iban (60% of the Sarawak population speaks it as a first language), Bidayuh (with six major dialects), Orang Ulu (over 30 dialects), and other Indigenous languages. And these are only the humans. Sarawak is also one of the most biodiverse places in Southeast Asia; it’s home to some of the oldest rainforests on Earth and hosts critical mangroves, limestone cave systems, and coral reefs. It is home to thousands of plant species, over 600 bird species, and several endemic species that are found nowhere else on earth including the orangutan, proboscis monkeys, and rhinoceros hornbill. To call this place impressive is an absolute understatement. Every day, I woke up feeling an immense wave of gratitude that carried me through each new experience.

The kids will write, I’m sure, about our exciting, sometimes hilarious, always intriguing escapades in Sarawak. From watching semi-wild orangutans in Semenggoh to spotting Irawaddy dolphins in Kuching Wetlands National Park, to seeing hours-old green sea turtles at Talang Satang National Park, to being chased by long-tailed macaques at Bako National Park, to listening to the serene sounds of frogs at night at Kubah National Park, to strolling Old and New Chinatown and Indian Street and marveling at colonial architecture in Kuching, to accidentally watching a 2-hour long parade of over 90 Indigenous groups celebrate Gawai (a festival honoring the end of the rice harvesting season), to eating the “breakfast of the gods” (Sarawak laksa, can confirm it is magnificent), to simply watching the river roll by-we were never not fascinated-and humbled. If you want to learn about a world bigger than you, Sarawak is an excellent teacher. And, despite the obvious differences, it shares with Alaska that magical quality of bringing you to your knees in pure awe. With its beauty and diversity, being on Borneo has only reinforced how much I love where I live by reflecting back to me what I value in my home state. 

Right now, we are missing the heart of summer in Alaska-a time for endless sunlight, bountiful harvests, hiking and camping, spontaneous beach hang-outs, and simply reveling in all the joy that is the most frenetic season in the 49th state. We love Borneo-and all of our travels-but our biggest and most wild dream? Falling in love, over and again, with the place we call home. We didn’t need to come to Borneo to remember that, but the change in latitude didn’t hurt, either.