WELCOME TO MY WORLD

The pix Modis Borneo belongs to the European Space Agency www.esa.int/esaEO/SEMRA7Y04

Borneo, east of Sumatra, north of Java, west of Sulawesi is a gigantic island, 757 050 sq km; the third largest on our planet. Around it, seas: the South China Sea, the Sulu Sea, the Celebes Sea, the Sea of Sulawesi and the Java Sea.
On it, the highest picks in South East Asia (Mt. Kinabalu 4 094m) tower above 40 million years old rain-forests and mangroves.
Men have lived here for at least 42 000 years. The first ones on records thrived in the caves of Niah between the towns of Miri and Bintulu in Sarawak. Traditionally, villages in the interior of the island stretch under one long single roof; they are the wooden longhouses constructed on river banks by the indigenous people. Closer to the sea, Malays live in individual houses built on stilts. While modern towns and cities keep on expanding so do national parks. Indonesia, Malaysia and the Sultanate of Brunei share the whole of Borneo and the three governments have become painfully aware that their territories are fast becoming an endangered world that requires their most responsible vigilance.
I am not a native of Borneo, yet I have lived in Sarawak (East Malaysia) for many years now; my husband and my children were born here. When I followed my husband from the south of France to Kuching, the capital city of Sarawak, little did I know what a tough challenge it would to be to adapt to the climate, to my new life style and to the people, how I would have to shut my loud European ego and let my love grow for this amazing land. For this fortunate change I owe many strangers from Jorgen Sundvall (www.sseah.se/index_eng.htm) who introduced me to hypnotherapy, to Ecckart Tolle (http://www.eckharttolle.com/ – The Power of Now – The Awakening) and a long list of philosophers, not to mention The Secret team and of course Helen Lo, the best friend anyone could ever wish for; yet and most of all I am eternally grateful to my son Fabien who is the living proof that life, come what may, is a daily exciting adventure that is well worth living.
Now, and thanks to modern technology, its pay-back time as I can now contribute with this blog and its French alter ego untoitaborneo@blogspot.com to placing Borneo and more particularly Sarawak on everyone’s list of places to visit during one’s life time and that includes Sarawakians themselves!