On the Road Filming in Borneo: An Update

Hey Travel Geekers,

A personal note to give you an update on what’s happening here:

I’ve flown my new producer and myself out to Borneo to get the concluding footage for my latest film, Travel Geek: Documentary Malaysia.  It will be released in two main parts, with extras and outtakes as well as short film releases over the next couple months.  I will also release Travel Geek: Documentary Borneo as a separate video, but will collectively create the video that is inclusive of all parts of the film once it’s all put together.

Cristina Owen is a blogger and travel enthusiast that I met over a podcast interview.  Those that follow this blog will remember her as the longest Travelcast that I’ve done so far.  We definitely got along well on the podcast and we’re doing good things here as well.  She flew out from San Francisco on her way through Asia for a chance to come filming with me.  We left from Kuala Lumpur last Sunday and already we’ve gotten some good footage.

There’ve been some interesting challenges along the trail so far.  For starters, Borneo is not the most agreeable place for weather, the most reliable place for travel plans or the most relaxing place to visit.  But that should, in now way, hinder your plans to come here if you want to do so.  The people, the epic, natural backdrop in all directions, the amazing and adventurous things to do and the geological and biological diversity all more than make up for what seem like troublesome challenges along the way.

Another factor for me is that I have picked up the cough that my producer brought in from Taiwan (not that anyone’s pointing fingers).  So it’s been a little more of a struggle to do the same types of hikes that I am used to doing due to muscle and bone soreness as well as a lung full of mucus that constantly needs to be coughed out.  But even with that in tow, I still (may have) got out to an amazing waterfall hike yesterday where I (might have) swam in a pond fed by an absolutely breathtaking 40-foot-tall waterfall in the middle of Lambir National Park.  I (possibly) had the park all to myself, too, because I (kinda, sorta, might have) showed up after the park had closed for the day… and (kinda, sorta, might have) happened to hop the fence and enter the park without a pass, a filming permit or even registering my name at the park office.  That might have happened.   I dunno.  The footage will have to speak for itself.

So, here I am on day four of my trek and I have seen and done enough things to satiate my travel bug.  And I’m only halfway through.  I’ve gotten a locally crafted tattoo from the local Iban artisans, I’ve filmed wild proboscis monkeys leaping from tree to tree, seen 3-meter-long pythons and deadly pit vipers amid the inescapably beautiful backdrop of Borneo’s wilds.  And I’ve still got Class IV rapids at the Padas River, a Mosque walk through the tiny country of Brunei Darussalam, and to make it back to Kota Kinabalu to possibly fit a mountain climb in before heading back on Sunday morning.

This is turning out to be one helluva film.  I can’t wait to see the edited version.