From ages ago to this instant, I’ve landed in Borneo. July 2010, when the thought first struck me, it seemed like such a long way off! I started reading as I knew virtually nothing about Borneo, then learned how much there was close to here. A short trip to explore Borneo expanded to a full on exploration of the area.
I’ve been introduced to leeches, walked the longest canopy walk in the world, hiked in the oldest rain forest, traveled by boat and bus and tuk tuk and pickup and plane and foot (no motorbike yet but that will come soon), listened to the Clouded Leopard hunt (Clouded Leopard), seen wild Orangutan in the “Original Forest” of Sumatra, had really bad and really good coffee, made a ton of new friends, experienced amazing serendipity and flow in my life, sampled lots of local food, found a few good bakeries, seen Flying Foxes, Thousand Feet, Stick Insects, amazing varieties of butterflies & moth…..and only today have I landed in Borneo where I thought my adventure would start.
This morning, in that space between almost asleep and almost awake, I was aware of observing and living my life. My experience was of instantaneously flipping back and forth between observing and living. One aspect of the experience was being fully immersed in whatever experience was occurring in the moment. Immersed, I was it and not thinking about it, just flowing with it and finding the path with the greatest ease. The other aspect, I was observing and reporting on life from a distance. For some time, I was in neither experience but bouncing back and forth between them not aware of what was happening. Then, my awareness shifted and I became aware of the choice: Live it or Report it?!
The past 30 days have flown by, I’ve been blessed with amazing experiences and people, some amazing in a not so pleasant way but amazing none the less because all the experiences have touched me making me more aware of MY life. Where am I in THIS moment in relation to this or that going on around me? What experience do I choose to have independent of any external situation that might have provoked an internal experience in the past? Where is the FLOW in this moment.
Paying attention, listening, finding the space with the greatest ease and flow and experiencing wonderful connections have been the delight and heart of this trip.
Today, I got up with absolutely no plan. I really hadn’t done much research on Borneo, how to travel, where I was, forms of transport, etc. So I left the hostel to walk about. A couple blocks away, I suddenly remembered the time change between here and the US deciding to come back to the hostel to make a couple calls. When I got back to my room, I saw my wallet that I had forgotten to take!
Calls made, I wandered about finding a local bakery with cinnamon roll and chocolate roll. Then I found the Tourist information office. They told me how to get to Mt. Kinabalu by minibus but were completely clueless when I asked about travel from the East coast to Sulawesi next door. They don’t know about anything beyond Sabah which is the state I’m in here.
I wandered to the water front then clear across town walking and taking pictures. I had heard about a great Indian Restaurant on the water front and don’t know how many opportunities I’ll have for that food after I leave here. It was closed!
Through a couple malls, looking for food, being told: No Indian Food here!….Yes, food court downstairs (no Indian food)…..Yes, yes, you go up to fourth floor (no Indian food)….so I left wandering in the general direction of my hotel.
I spotted a travel agency and popped in. They too were clueless about getting to Sulawesi??? I let it go and headed back toward my hostel only remembering as I was crossing the street that there is a nice little restaurant below. Food looked great so I ordered Curry Chicken for lunch and noticed a woman at the table next to mine with a very colorful book and the word “intention”.
At one point, she turned and I asked her if she was enjoying the book? She and her husband are from Canada and are teachers, they have lived around the world teaching school. She just picked up the newly released and very colorful version of Wayne Dyer’s book, “The Power of Intention”. That started an interesting conversation.
At one point she asked me if I had ever heard of Joan Ocean? She was there on a trip last June. My friend Phyllis went on a trip with Kathy and Mary so I asked if she was on the same trip. Her eyes opened wide with surprise, she was on the same trip with my friends from Colorado. The wonderful people at my house this winter were staff on that trip.
How small is this big world we live on?