Layang Layang: A Paradise in the South China Sea [Joshua Burke]

Layang Layang is what the title says, a paradise in the South China Sea. Layang Layang or swallow atoll is a natural atoll about a whole day (24 hours) sail from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. Like most atolls Layang Layang used to be a volcano millions of years ago. But the volcano sank and reef grew up around the edge. In that time between then and now, corals have flourished and the marine life that is attracted to the coral has made the atoll a simply amazing place.

 A beautiful sunset over Layang Layang.

Your probably wondering how we got inside the atoll. The military blew up a section of the reef to make a channel so that their frigates can come inside. We stayed on a mooring the size of our dinghy that were built for frigates/destroyers. There was no fear of the mooring breaking because of our weight while we were there.

The artificial island and giant mooring. 

On the atoll the Malaysian government built an artificial island. The island is 1 km long and a third of the island houses a navy base with a runway, the next third houses houses an eco resort, and the last third houses a government marine research station with a bird sanctuary. There is also a bird island but I will talk about that later.  

One of the warships that patrol around the island. 

A plane landing on the runway.

The military base here is the main base in the area and all the warships in the area operate out of the base here. As you probably know from the news China, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Taiwan are all laying claim to the tiny islands in the South China Sea.  The military base is here to protect Malaysian claims to the islands. Having the military base here is also a good thing for the reef. It keeps all the fishermen out of the area. Greedy fishermen = DEAD reef.

What makes Layang Layang so unique is that all around the atoll there is a +2000 meter strait drop to the bottom. On the “walls” surrounding the atoll vast amounts of fish, stingrays, dolphins, mantas, and sharks call this place home. Even whale sharks visit the atoll from time to time, but unfortunately they are not permanent residents. Also on the few rocks that jut out of the water and the artificially made bird island there are many types of birds.

The Diving

 Diving is obviously the main thing to do at Layang Layang. The diving and snorkeling is amazing wherever you go into the water. We used the eco resort for diving. They made diving so much easier. After a dive they would refill your tanks so that they were ready for the next dive. Every dive, a dive boat would take you out to the dive site and would be a live boat while you were diving. And I can’t forget Victor, our amazing dive master. He was worth every penny and I wouldn’t have seen half the animals if he hadn’t pointed them out. 

Jumping off the dive boat. 

There were multiple dive sites on the outside wall on Layang Layang. All of the dive sites were wall dives and the wall went 2000 meters strait down to the ocean floor.  On some dives the wall went down gradually while on other dives the wall was sheer.

I did 7 dives in 4 dive sites in 3 days!

Having some fun at our safety stop.

Wrasse Strip

Wrasse Strip is a dive site that is located on the NW side of Layang Layang. During one dive on Wrasse Strip I saw 4 hammerheads, a green sea turtle, a huge manta ray, a puffer fish and 5 grey reef and white-tip sharks.  I saw all of that in ONE DIVE!!!! AMAZING!!!! It was the first time I had seen hammerheads in the wild.

To find the sharks you had to swim away from the safety of the wall and out into the open water. It is a bit scary at first when you swim out into the blue because you have no point of reference but you get used to it. It especially helps if you keep your eyes on the dive master. Besides from seeing sharks in the blue, you can also see schools of huge fish, such as barracudas, a big-eyed trevallies.

It is a bit hard to see, but this is one of the hammerheads we saw.

Wreck Point

Wreck Point is just off the artificial island and hence the dive site name has a wreck. The ship is there and I would have loved to explore it. The only problem is that the wreck sank down to +2000 m….

We did a night dive there and I saw 6 turtles varying in sizes! Most of the turtles were sleeping in holes in the wall and we accidently woke them up when we shined our lights on them. One huge turtle swam so close to me that it rubbed its fin against my dad and me. That dive was defiantly the turtle dive.

A TURTLE!!!

Shark Cave 2

This dive site was quite amazing but ironic because I saw more manta rays then I did see sharks. This was the second shark cave at Layang Layang and was smaller then shark cave 1. During the dive I saw 2 white-tip reef sharks and 3 manta rays.

Manta rays always amaze me. Maybe it’s how they seem to fly in the water, or maybe it is just because they are so big. You can’t go to a specific spot in the Layang Layang reef and find them like you go out into the blue to find sharks. It is luck when you cross one. While at Layang Layang I never saw more then one manta at a time, in other words they were not in groups. And they never really stuck around for long, one minute at the most.

A big manta gliding through the water. 

The Point

The Point was a cool dive site and this is where the sharks went from cool to scary.

We were out in the blue looking for sharks and Victor pointed two grey reef sharks out to us. Then another showed up, then another and another until there was six grey reef sharks swimming around us! These sharks were quite big in size. One of the sharks swam about 10 meters (30 feet) away from me. Sounds like a pretty fair distance but under water it is close. Especially with an animal like a shark that can turn directions and come at you in a blink of an eye.

Luckily we were near an atoll were there is tons of fish food for the sharks. If we had been in the middle of nowhere it could have been a different story. 

A sleeping shark.

Layang Layang is the best dive site I have EVER BEEN TO, PERIOD.  I would defiantly recommend coming out here if you ever you have the chance. 

A stunning hot pink coral piece. 

Bird Island

Bird Island is a small artificially made island. Well I wouldn’t call it an island, more like a bunch of rocks stuck together. Terns and boobies are the main birds that are here.  But I have also seen some cormorants.  It is currently the beginning of the breeding season and little chicks were running all around the small beach screaming, “where is my food!”. While at Bird Island you could barely hear yourself talk over all the birds squawking to each other.  The entire island was covered in birds.

The amount of birds for the size of the island was quite amazing.

Most of the birds just stay here for the breading season and then go back to the mainland during the off-season. But some tough birds stay here all year round and endure horrible weather during the off-season.

This place was simply awesome and I wouldn’t have experienced it without my mom’s wanting to go here. Special thanks to Mom, Dad, our dive boat captain and Victor for making my experience at Layang Layang unforgettable.

Victor and our dive boat captain. 

Thanks for Reading 

Happy Travels

JOSHUA

 

Brunei $$$$ [Joshua Burke]

BRUNEI $$$$...

We arrived at the land of the Sultan and oil, the nation of Brunei. Brunei is a tiny country, only about three times as big as Singapore. You would think the country would have a dense population like Singapore, but the country only has about 400,000 people! The rainforests are still everywhere. As a citizen of Brunei you get free education, government jobs, and lots of benefits, but it is challenging to become a citizen of Brunei. Even if you are born in Brunei it does not ensure you are a citizen. To be a citizen one of your parents must be a citizen. There is another way, you can live in the country for 40 years, then take a Brunei culture test and pass it (one part of the test is about the Sultans and you must remember all the Sultans names in high Malay), and then maybe your kids can be a Brunei citizen. It's tough to become a citizen; just over 400 people were accepted as Brunei citizens last year! Of course you can still live in Brunei and not be a citizen, but you do not get all the free stuff+ fancy mansion and gold Ferrari. (Just joking about the fancy mansion and gold Ferrari, only the Sultan gets those!)

The biggest and most beautiful mosque in BSB. 

The modern shopping malls. 

 Brunei is one of the few countries that is still an absolute monarchy, the Sultan runs the country. The main religion of Brunei is Islam and the main resource of the country is oil and natural gas. The entire country (onshore and offshore) is basically sitting on oil. Brunei was split into two parts when it separated from Malaysia. There is the main Brunei land that consists of the Belait District, the Tutong District, and the Brunei-Muara District, then there is the Temburong District which is separated from the other districts by Malaysia. We stayed at the Royal Brunei Yacht Club that is on the main river near Brunei's capital, Bandar Seri Begawan (BSB).

The Royal Regalia is a museum that is housing the Sultan's gifts from his coronation and birthdays. Have you ever heard of a Museum that housed expensive stuff all belonging to one guy? The sultan is one of the richest people in the world, thanks to his oil industry. He even owns two private jets (one 747 and one 777) covered with gold on the inside. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos or wear our shoes when we were inside, but entry was free. Inside there was gold bowls, a silver replica of Angkor Watt, mini diamond mosques, expensive rock art, paintings, galore! There was also all of his coronation stuff like his gold throne, ceremonial gold weapons that have been passed down from one Sultan to the next, and his coronation cart that he was carried around in during the coronation. The gold cart was huge and lots of people were needed to push it around.

The water village. All the nice houses are on stilts over the water.

The Ulu Temburong National Park was located in the jungle heart of the Temburong District. To get there you first drove to the main small ferry dock in BSB near the water village. The ferries that you rode on were small and could carry about 20 people max. The ferries would take you from BSB through Malaysian waters to the Temburong District on the other side. It was amazing how the drivers knew exactly where to turn in the mangrove river. Left right left left right, I wouldn't know how to get back. After arriving at the ferry terminal in Temburong, we took a van to the jungle headquarters of the local travel company we were using, Freme's Tours.

We then hopped into a surprisingly shallow draft longboat that could fit about 7 people and headed off. We basically went upstream through the rapids and at a couple points we were in such shallow water that if I stood in the water, the water would only come up to my shins! The scenery was AMAZING, so much vegetation!!! We also saw hornbills, swallows, and kingfishers. The longboats were definately my favorite part of the tour.

On on of the towers. 

After getting off the longboat and climbing lots and lots and lots of stairs we arrived at our destination. A giant steel structure that you climbed up to, to get above the mammoth trees. More stairs! Luckily we brought our Chicago caramel popcorn along so we were able to refuel

before climbing again. Many more stairs up and we were above the trees, the view was indescribable. You could see miles and miles of rainforests and mountains. You could hear all the animals talking. The only downside was that it was roasting up there. There was no shade and these Chinese people were ahead of us so we had to wait up there until they were done taking their millionth selfie before getting to go on the highest tower and thereby getting back down to the floor. The steel structure was made out of four towers (with stairs inside them) and three bridges. The towers kept getting higher as you walked along. The rules were that four people on a tower at a time and two on a bridge at a time.

It is a very, very long drop. 

On one of the bridges. 

The amazing scenery in Brunei Jungle. 

One more thing before I finish writing. The fuel here is CHEEP CHEEP CHEAP! Less than 1 dollar a gallon!

Thanks for Reading!!!

Joshua

A picture of the Sultan on the Brunei 1 Ringgit bill. Notice that there is no secretary of treasure, there's just the Sultan and his signature.    

Adventures in Brunei [Jacob Burke]

We are now in Brunei. Brunei is home to 400,000 people, all ruled by a Sultan who has complete control over everything in the country. On our first day here we devoted our time to finding out about the city. After we got out of the boat at noon, we met Bev and Gram at the Royal Brunei Yacht Club and had some lunch. The pizza I had there was great. When we finished catching up on the latest stuff, we left and went to the city.

The major city in Brunei was tiny. There was a mall and a HSBC. The rest of the city had large buildings, and there was a stilt village. There was also a huge gold and white Mosque.

A stilt village

When we finished touring the city, we found an interesting building and decided to visit it. The building turned out to be the Royal Regalia Centre. It contained the Sultan's gifts from his coronation ceremony from around the world. There were gifts from all over Asia: Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, and Korea. There was also presents from places like Jordan and Zanzibar. One of my favorite gifts to look at was a picture of a Mosque made completely out of gem stones. The detail of it amazed me. Another thing I liked was a horse carved out of jade. The biggest thing in the museum was the royal carriage. It was complete with tons of weapon bearers marching beside it.

The next day we got up early so we could go to the Ulu Tamburong National Park. Once we woke up, we got ready and went to the Yacht Club. From there, we drove to the pickup point, a jetty in the city. After a while, our taxi boat came and we all got in. The trip down the river to the next point in the trip took about thirty minutes. On the way, we passed lots of jungle, but I wasn't able to see any monkeys or crocodiles. When we finished our ride, we stopped at land and took a car to the Rainforest Lodge. Once we arrived, we took a break and had some tea and snacks.

The Longboat ride

To get from the Lodge to the beginning of the trail we were going on, we had to take a longboat through the river. The trip was very fun. The river had a very strong current and some parts were rapids, so they were really wavy. The longboat kept tipping and turning and at some points in time we got sprayed by some water. When we arrived, we all got off and started the climb. We had to go up about one thousand steps, all through the burning hot sun. Fortunately we had water, or we would still be there in a little puddle on the jungle floor.

Can you see the spider?
(click the picture to zoom up)

At the top of the mountain there was the canopy bridges. These were huge towers with ladders on the inside. Platform after platform of metal all the way up and over the canopy with bridges between them. Once you got up there it was like a completely different world. The tops of the trees are very different from the bottom. I made it to the highest point and was able to see the great scenery of rolling mountains with jungle. While I was up there I saw two different types of spiders. One of them had a yellow mouth and a green head. His butt was striped black and white, and he was waggling it up and down.

After the canopy walk, we went back down the mountain and went back into our longboat. Once we were in, we set back down the river. The second time we did it was just as fun as the first. It was a new experience since we were going with the current instead of against it.

When we were about halfway down the river, we arrived at a small entrance to the jungle with water coming out of it. Our guide said it was the path to the waterfall. The path was very cool. It was a flowing river all the way, and there was rock path to walk on. The water fall we went to was about six meters tall with freezing cold water constantly pouring down. That wasn't the fun part though. The second you put your feet in the water, they would be bitten and tickled by little grey fish! The pond was full of them. The fish would find a piece of dead skin on your feet, grab it and tear it off.

After the refreshing trip to the waterfall, we went back into the longboat and traveled to the Rainforest Lodge. On the way, I saw a monitor lizard and a small water lizard. When we arrived at the rain forest lodge, there was lunch waiting for us. I had lots of rice with beef curry and vegetables. After our stomachs were full, we took a car back to the taxi boat drop off and waited for the taxi boat. Unfortunately, there was a small thunderstorm and the boats were all delayed. Because of this we were waiting for an hour before we set off, back to the boat.

 Thanks for Reading, Jacob

Sarawak Museum - Kuching [James Burke]

                            Sarawak Museum  Malaysia

This museum was built by Charles Brooke,the white rajah of Sarawak. The building was designed by a French aide of Brooke. The government gazette said, "the design dates from the time of Queen Anne." The rectangular building is 50 meters long and 13.5 meters wide.

Near the entrance there was two old looking cannons. In the building there was two levels of tons of galleries. On the first floor there was mostly land animals,sea animals and air animals of Malaysia.

The first gallery we went to was mostly filled with snakes and turtles but there was little sea life. There also was a snake with a watch found in it's heart. The second gallery we went to was filled with bird after bird after bird except in almost every glass case in the building there were hidden insects or snakes as well. The third gallery we went to had a lot of shells. There was even a huge conch shell. The fourth gallery we went to had two giant whale skeletons. They were so big I could fit in their stomach! The fifth gallery we went to was filled with lots of cats and flying squirrels. In the sixth gallery we saw displays filled with monkeys, proboscis monkeys, orangutans and many more.

After that we went to the second floor which was about Malay culture and buildings. The first gallery we went to on the top floor was full of Malay art which was very interesting the next gallery we went to was full of Malay culture which was also very interesting. The following gallery we went to had a small Malay hut in it. In the hut there were, real human skulls hanging over the fire. To the head hunters of Borneo it meant good luck but they had to be over the fire. The last gallery we went to was full of Malay boats and canoes.

    

Niah national park [James Burke]

                    Niah National Park Malaysia 

Today we are at Niah National Park. It is a park with some caves. To get there we had to go on a long 1 hour walk. While we were walking to the cave we spotted lots of wildlife like snails, millipedes and butterflies. It was amazing.

Once we reached the caves we had some lunch then went into the traders cave. When we went into the cave we spotted a waterfall and when we walked some further into the cave we started noticing that in every gap in the railing and stair there was a spiderweb. Each one having a spider occupying it. We also saw swarms of bats.

After we were done with the traders cave my parents went to the painted cave. My parents said that there was ancient drawings from forty thousand years ago. While my parents were at the painted cave we were playing at a rest hut in the great cave. At the end of our cool experience we all returned to our boat.

Here is a story that I wrote while waiting for my parents outside the cave.

The Cave

By James Burke

There once was a man named Luther Lenard. He was a young man about 27 and an explorer. He just recently found a cave in Africa. His team of 3 believed that it was a home for barbarians 5 millennia ago.

5 days after his team found the cave Luther sent them to explore it. It took 3 days to get to Africa but they reached Africa safely. They went on a walk which took 2 hours to finally reach the cave. Once they looked inside they instantly knew it wasn't a good idea to go inside, but they had to. There might be something rare inside and with this in mind they went in.

Just when they entered the entrance collapsed. They were trapped unless they could find an exit!

There names were John, Porky and Mark. They were all really scared but they soon calmed down. The first one to speak was Porky, "Do you think we'll be stuck in here forever?"

Mark said back, "Nah, we'll get out of here soon I think."

Then suddenly John saw something. It was a drawing of a human fighting a giant black spider. Suddenly a huge black spider with fangs as big as an alligator appeared from the gloom. The spider looked so evil and deadly porky fainted. The other two ducked under the spiders legs and ran but soon enough the spider caught up to them.

John noticed that they were on a bridge so he found a huge rock, picked it up and threw it right under the spider. The spider fell off and he was never to be seen again.

Later they decided to press on into the cave. After they passed some more small spiders and bats they found a lake of pure lava. They instantly knew that they were under a volcano about explode!

John suggested that they run back. The other new it would be no use. Mark remembered that he had brought along a grappling hook. He took it from his pack and threw the grapple up at the roof. The hook stuck to the cave roof. He proceeded to swing across with John. Passing millions of small spiders but soon enough they met a huge swirling bat cave mark thought it was really cool but then they started swarming them like they had just hit a misquote nest they started running around trying to find the exit out of all the bats which were also blocking their vision one time Mike even ran into the wall of the cave but eventually they escaped the huge swarm of bats. Later they found the exit to the cave and right next to a huge rock was a glowing diamond. Once they found the village that they lived in they sold the diamond and got $111111111111111. After getting that diamond they had a good life.

Miri Crocodile Farm [Jacob Burke]

MIRI CROCODILE FARM

We are spending our Easter in Miri, Sarawak. For the holiday, we went on a Easter hunt, and found thirty eggs hidden throughout the boat. After that, we had lunch, and quickly decapitated a large chocolate bunny. Just as we were starting to eat the bunny's body, Dad and Mom said we we were going to the Miri crocodile farm.

Miri's roads are covered in sea horses. There are big metallic ones, groups of colorful ones, and small ones in the bushes by gas stations. The roads also have huge roundabouts with stuff all over them. After we drove for forty minutes over Miri's spread out city, we made it to the crocodile farm, barely. All there was to notify us of its presence was a small sign on a turn with two crocodiles and an arrow on it.

Crocodiles

The Miri crocodile farm bred crocodiles so they could sell their products. This included crocodile skin belts, rugs, hats, and crocodile teeth. They also sold crocodile meat, but we didn't go to the restaurant that prepared it. After we browsed through the products we went to see the biggest crocodile pen. There was more then fifty adult salt water crocodiles there, and we walked over their habitat in a raised wooden walkway. The crocodiles' habitat was made up of mud,with a few pools of water and one huge lake. The crocodiles each had their own part of it, the smaller ones shared spaces and wouldn't go into the larger croc space. The crocodiles we saw were surprisingly active. They were crawling around and sloshing in the mud. The ones in the water were coming out and going in, and blowing bubbles when they went under. They were like this because it was almost time for them to be fed.

Yummy, bird sandwich

I see you

The feeding went quick. A guy started throwing dead chickens over the fence and all the crocs jumped around and caught them. In a few large splashes the feeding was over. After watching the feeding, we left the walkway, and moved on. The next spot we visited had lots of animals to take pictures with. I took a picture with a big snake. It was very heavy and smooth, but some of its scales were falling off and they felt dry, like a dead leaf. Also in the area there was an owl in a birdcage, and wherever I went around it, it would look there. It even looked at me right behind it without moving its body.

What are you looking at?

The rest of the crocodile farm mainly consisted of crocodiles in different groups, and a few different types of animals. My favorite animal to watch was the bear and leopard cats. The bear cats, big black lumbering beasts, were stomping around their cage, while the leopard cats were sleeping. Another cool thing I did was watch the eagles. They would look around at the other birds, then lift their wings and launch themselves at them, only to find themselves stopped by a cage. While we were there, the Philippine eagle got feed some fish. After we finished looking at the animals, it was getting late so we started to leave. On the way we fed the goats. A baby goat even came out and let me pet it while I fed it.  

Thanks For Reading, Jacob