{"id":93,"date":"2025-05-27T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-27T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.battina.de\/?p=93"},"modified":"2025-07-12T12:13:38","modified_gmt":"2025-07-12T10:13:38","slug":"borne-go-welcome-dinner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.battina.de\/en\/southeast-asia-2025\/borne-go-welcome-dinner\/","title":{"rendered":"Borne-GO Welcome Dinner"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since we're changing hotels today, we have to check out, so I get up early to enjoy the pool first. A monitor lizard keeps me company. They come several times a day, take a dip to cool off, and then disappear again.
I find it exciting and watch it curiously as it swims only two meters away from me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
The monitor lizard chills a bit in the water<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
A carnivorous plant by the roadside. No one was injured.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Later, we, who arrived the day before the tour's start, are taken to Sepilok, where we stay for three nights. I have a nice, large room and a huge bathroom. It's nicely air-conditioned. Important, because we're expecting temperatures around 32-34\u00b0C! After we've settled in, we have some spare time until we meet up with Forrest and Eryanto, who give us an overview of what to expect over the next few days. This is also where we meet the other participants for the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
Forrest Valkai \ud83d\ude0a<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Eryanto, our brilliant guide \ud83d\udc4d\ud83c\udffd<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Afterwards we celebrate our First Supper\u26e7<\/sup> \u2013 we can get to know each other better. As I expected, given the mix of people someone like Forrest Valkai attracts for a trip like this, everyone seems really nice \ud83d\ude0a This expectation was, of course, a decisive factor in booking the trip. Of course, I had been a little concerned beforehand about the legal situation in Malaysia.\ud83d\udc80\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08<\/sup>. The reason I ultimately decided to go for it was that Sharia is \u201conly\u201d applied to Muslims there\u262a<\/sup>and also that Borneo is a bit more touristy, and that I would stay with the group most of the time.
Of course, I recognize that the situation for Muslim locals affected is precarious.
Ultimately, however, I felt comfortable, and the interactions I had with locals outside of the group were positive. I found the entire time there much more pleasant than my experience at Istanbul Airport, especially at the gate and on the plane to D\u00fcsseldorf two years earlier, where there was an unexpectedly high level of aggression in the air and I felt truly unsafe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

\u26e7<\/sup>Was ok (no wonder)
\ud83d\udc80<\/sup>LGBT rights: Malaysia women caned for attempting to have lesbian sex<\/a>
\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08<\/sup>LGBTQ rights in Malaysia (Wikipedia)<\/a>
\u262a<\/sup> Freedom of religion in Malaysia (Wikipedia)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Da wir heute das Hotel wechseln, m\u00fcssen wir auschecken, deshalb stehe ich fr\u00fch auf, um vorher noch den Pool genie\u00dfen zu k\u00f6nnen. Ein Waran leistet mir Gesellschaft. Die kommen mehrmals am Tag, drehen eine Runde zur Abk\u00fchlung, und verschwinden dann wieder.Ich find’s spannend und be\u00e4uge ihn neugierig, w\u00e4hrend er teils nur zwei Meter entfernt von […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-borne-go-group-2","category-southeast-asia-2025"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.battina.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.battina.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.battina.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.battina.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.battina.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/blog.battina.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":203,"href":"https:\/\/blog.battina.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93\/revisions\/203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.battina.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.battina.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.battina.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}