Borneo!

My son, Jared, came to visit us from Philadelphia!!  He had some vacation time left so he bought a ticket and came to visit!  He came during the school's fall break for my younger kids. So, even though we all just got back from China/Bhutan/Laos, I wanted to take advantage of the free week and go somewhere with Jared.  But where?  I first wanted to go to Thailand, but it is monsoon season there, so I tried to find someplace 'drier'.  I found an internet article titled "Top 10 Beach Resorts in Malaysia", and that was that.  There were two Shangri-La resorts on the list, my favorite hotel chain over here, so I chose the Rasa Ria Resort.  I then booked some incredibly cheap flights on Air Asia, and wondered why it would take 2 1/2 hours to get to our resort, when Thailand was less than 1 1/2 hours away.  I had forgotten that Malaysia has this eastern part, on the island of Borneo.

You may think Borneo was its own country, but no.  Borneo is the island, with part of Malaysia, Brunei, and part of Indonesia.  We were in Kota Kinabalu, the Malaysian part of Borneo.  It was actually very nice to go on a vacation where our cell phones worked and we didn't have to exchange our money!

Sunset view from our balcony

Our favorite spot to sit and read

Second favorite spot.  We spent three days at this resort and never left it.  The food was fabulous and there was plenty to do.

The beach

Austin holding his big brother,  Jared

Beach ball fun

Joe on the hydro-bike.  We spent two fun mornings doing water sports.

Jared sure enjoyed the warm weather.  It is already chilly in Philly.  :)

Papa Joe conquers stand-up paddling!

I loved being out on the water

One morning we went on a hike in the rainforest.  This resort has a wildlife reserve right next to it, where they take care of wild baby orangutans.  We were hiking up to the observation platform, to watch their feeding time.  The hike probably lasted 15 minutes, but it was sticky and hot, and we were swarmed by mosquitoes.

These two young males were quite entertaining.  I know a gal who came to Borneo to seek wild orangutans.  She hiked in the jungles for days.  Let's just say, my family was very done after our two hours in the forest.  We were all ready to head back to water.

View of the water from the platform

After the orangutans had eaten their fill, these small monkeys came and gobbled up the leftovers.

After watching the orangutans, we did a canopy walk on a suspended bridge.  Oh, in the evenings, we enjoyed watching movies together in our hotel room.  What movie did I pick the night before our orangutan viewing??  Who remembers "Any Which Way but Loose" with Clint Eastwood?  It was so bad, but the orangutan in the movie had the funniest part.  :)  A great movie to watch before our hike.

Clyde and Clint

Look closely at the park ranger's wrist.  Do you see that ant??  It was huge!!!

Austin

I am a sucker for a set of big brown eyes.  I just had throw in a picture of my adorable grandson, Cooper.  It's my blog post and I am allowed.  :)

In the afternoon, the kids went zip-lining and did a ropes course.  Here is Savannah's trip across the river.

Austin on the ropes course

Savannah, Austin, Jared

Ready for zip-lining

Ready for the ropes course.  Or it could be vice versa.  My kids are in the other room so they aren't here to ask.

This was an especially busy day for Savannah.  We are enjoying cupcakes as she and I wait for our massages.

This is the main hotel lobby.  As in The Maldives, the public spaces were open-air.

Joe and the welcome gong, as we were leaving.

I snapped this picture of the gorgeous golf course on our way to the airport.

Boarding our Air Asia flight ahead of the storm.  Actually, we got a thunderstorm every afternoon, but it didn't rain long.  And Air Asia was great.  I had low expectations for a budget airline in Malaysia, but it was a comfortable and efficient trip.  

A truly great time was had by all in Borneo!  And we stayed safe from the headhunters (the kind that take your head, not offer you a job).  Next blog post will be about showing Jared KL.

X'ian and the Terracotta Warriors

Joe's original plan was to fly back to KL on Friday (remember, I am tagging along on his business trip.)  But when I was looking up tours in Shanghai, I noticed a one-day trip to X'ian to see the old city walls and the Terracotta Warriors!  Now Joe has been to China several times.  He had already been to the Forbidden City and the Great Wall.  However, the one thing he had always wanted to see was the Terracotta Army, but X'ian was never close enough to any place he was.  So, I talked him into taking the day off and doing this trip.  It was a loooooong day.  We were picked up at 5:30 am from our hotel, driven 45 minutes to the airport, 2 1/2 hour flight to X'ian, and all back again in the evening.  But what a great day!!

Here is one of the doors leading to the old city walls of X'ian.  Now the Terracotta Warriors were found in a field by a farmer, only in 1974.  I was expecting X'ian to be a smaller town.  And it is, by Shanghai standards.  Population of X'ian?  Over 8 million!!  The size of NYC!  But 600 years ago, it was small enough to be surrounded by a wall.

Joe and our guide, Lucia.  She was waiting for us at the airport.

The walls surround the central part of X'ian.  That is a moat you see on the right.  The walls go for 13 km, or 8 miles.  You can rent bikes and ride around the walls.  We just didn't have enough time for that on this trip.  Like I mentioned, the walls are 600 years old and the only complete remaining city walls in China.

Sitting like royalty

Next, we were taken to the factory that makes replicas of the warriors, from clay taken from the same region as the originals (or so they believe.)  We had actually seen a couple of documentaries with this factory in them, and were excited to visit!

Couldn't resist!

Here is an army of miniature warriors.

Waiting to dry completely.

The clay is pressed into molds then taken out and joined.  This woman is smoothing out the rough edges and adding more details.

I love the way she is illuminated by the skylight overhead, while being surrounded by headless warriors.

On to the warriors.  We had to drive a ways out of town, and to the museum.  The museum was actually built around the warriors, who are in their original locations, for the most part.

Our first look!

The signs on the right show where the original well was.  The farmer, who was 20 at the time, was digging a water well and discovered the warriors.  That farmer comes to the museum every day, to sign his book and for photos.  We actually saw him, but didn't get his picture.

This pit holds around 6000 warriors.  The warriors were ordered by Qin Shihuang, know as the First Emperor, who unified China 2200 years ago.  They protected his tomb.  For some more information, 

http://www.chinahighlights.com/xian/terracotta-army/

There are about 8000 warriors, all different!

Originally, most of the warriors held some sort of bronze weapon.  The bronze weapons were stolen centuries ago.

Some of the warriors have been found in conditions beyond repair.

But here are some under repair.  The one lying down is getting foot work done.

This picture cost us $3, but worth it!  :)

There were actually three pits.  All the previous pictures were taken in the first and largest pit.  This area had a large number of kneeling archers-- but not yet dug up.  It turns out that these warriors were all originally painted.  But when they are dug up and exposed to air, the paint quickly fades.  This section is being kept buried until the technology exists to preserve the paint.

Here are some pictures taken right after being uncovered.  X-rays show that the warriors still uncovered are painted.

I can't tell you how many times the movie Mulan came to my mind!  :)

What a great week in China!