existential struggles in greater China and southeast Asia
On the way back to Penang from Kuala Besut (the gateway to the Perhentian Islands), I noticed these logging trucks when we stopped for gas. Â I was a little bit nervous about taking these pics because there were a bunch of dudes standing near the first truck watching me suspiciously, and I had a feeling that this logging activity wasn’t entirely legal.
Whew, I’m back online after an eye-opening trip along the Dongjiang (æ±æ±Ÿ) river, a primary tributary of the Pearl River (ç 江) in Guangdong Province, China.
Dongjiang provides about 80% of Hong Kong’s water supply, as well as much of the water for important cities in Guangdong such as Shenzhen and Guangzhou. Â Human activities such as mining, garbage disposal, municipal and industrial sewage disposal, damming, and agriculture are all contributing to the deterioration of Dongjiang’s ecological health and water quality. Â I digress. Â More on Dongjiang in future posts. Â For now, back to Malaysia!
Biodiversity, an absolute good. Â Maybe I am religious, after all.
Click on the picture for a full-sized version.
the mouth of deer cave contains a forest
Note: Please read this previous post for information about rampant deforestation in Sarawak.
Mulu National Park is in Sarawak State on Borneo Island. Â It’s well known for its breathtakingly gigantic limestone caves, of which Deer Cave is in competition for the largest cave passage in the world. Â If you’ve seen BBC’s epic nature documentary Planet Earth, you may remember a scene showing millions of bats streaming out of an enormous cave in a seemingly endless ribbon. Â I was there!
Extending 480 meters, Mulu National Park’s rainforest canopy trail is claimed to be the world’s longest. Â The trail is a series of rope and wood bridges suspended among a number of treehouse-like platforms built about 20 meters above the forest floor. Â From the trail, Â all of the layers of the primary rainforest are visible. Â It’s an enjoyable, low-impact way to see the rainforest from a different perspective.
Warning: the mildly acrophobic may feel an oddly (un)pleasant tingly feeling in the ass region when looking down from the trail.