"State of Sarawak, Borneo Island" State of Sarawak by Rodan44

Thanks to incredibly cheap flights on Malaysian discount airline Air Asia, my wife and I traveled with 3 of our friends for a short weekend in the State of Sarawak on Borneo island. We spent the first night in the capital city of Kuching before departing for a 4 hour drive deep into the jungles, arriving at the Hilton Batang Ai Longhouse Resort. The resort sits on the shore of a manmade lake, and all rooms are in longhouse style buildings, longhouses being the traditional dwellings of the indigenous Iban people who inhabit this area. While there, we did some short jungle trekking and took longboats across the lake to an authentic Iban longhouse village. The Ibans are obviously accustomed to hosting tourists, and they were very kind to allow us to explore their longhouse (all for a fee of course). The only wildlife we encountered was a couple of nasty looking snakes (one was busy eating an unfortunate gecko). Still, after only one night in the jungle, we had to turn right back around and head back to Kuching. We spent a couple more hours exploring this charming city before we had to make our way back to the airport. Although much too short of a trip and only a small taste of what Sarawak has to offer, it definitely left we wanting to return to this exotic land again soon.

Please visit the Sarawak page on my personal website to see many more high quality photos from this destination.

Snake eating a gecko, Sarawak

Even at a luxury resort, it's not hard to encounter some exotic wildlife in Sarawak. This picture shows a snake (presumably poisonous) devoring a gecko while perched on a covered walkway at the Hilton Batang Ai Resort. I only felt safe enough to get close to the snake and take this picture because I knew that he could not bite me as long as the gecko was in his mouth. If I saw him at any other time I would definitely run away fast!

• Pros:serious jungle, indigenous tribes, charming Kuching
• Cons:verging on overtouristed
• In a nutshell:"Welcome to the Jungle!" ~Axl Rose