“So I know we just met, but how about our families go travelling together… for like six months?  It’s not weird, we’ll just go everywhere together, do chores together, and realistically if you don’t finish your dinner at a restaurant, I’ll probably sneak a few bites.  Am I coming on too strong?”

Six months later, at Belitung Island in Indonesia, we had to say a sad farewell to the crew of Bumfuzzle.  We had some great times hunting for bread in foreign countries with this amazing family, who almost never finish their dinner at restaurants.

Belitung Island represented a major turning point for Mandolyn.  Not only were we parting ways with friends, but we had reached our furthest point from home.  There had been a long debate about whether to go east or west after Indonesia, and there was no more putting it off.  East.  Every mile from here on will get us a little closer to where we started.

With our convoy of kid boats reduced to two, Mandolyn and Harmattana set off for Malaysia, on the north side of Borneo.

Before this trip I didn’t know that Borneo had a north side.  I had mentally filed Borneo somewhere between Timbuktu and Asscrack Nebraska, in my list of exotic sounding places that might not even exist.   

But it does exist, and it’s a fascinating place.  The indigenous peoples, Dyaks, were once feared for their tradition of headhunting. They harvested and preserved the heads of fallen enemies, to be displayed as status symbols or traded as currency.  

An early observer noted that no self respecting Dyak woman would accept a marriage proposal that didn’t include at least a head or two.  This is the same reason that Sarah and I aren’t married.

It took us six days to make the passage from Belitung Indonesia to Miri in Malaysia. I’m not sure what I was expecting from Malaysian Borneo, but it wasn’t what I got.  Miri is a clean modern city with quality roads and infrastructure.  The traffic anarchy of Indonesia was replaced with people driving calmly in air conditioned cars, staying in their own lanes.  Instead of open air markets we explored air conditioned malls with large Christmas displays.

In one such mall Sarah and I fell victim to a reverse mugging, where a lady spoke to us excitedly before shoving a loaf of bread into each of our hands.  She then shooed us away emphatically with the first word we could understand, “Go!”  

Should we… run?  The crew of Mandolyn have always been formidable breadhunters, but this felt a little too easy.

Malaysian Borneo was shockingly different from Indonesian Borneo.  We’d need to visit one more country to sample the full trifecta.

Next stop: The Kingdom of Brunei! (also on Borneo)

A few more photos…