Borneo beckons you
Article & photos by Linda Selig


Idyllic river scene

巨大的热带处女雨林, 美丽仿如与世隔绝的离岛和世界公认保护得最完善的野生动物保护区, 使马来西亚沙巴驰名遐迩. 这里是自然、探险、什么也不做的游客心中休闲旅游的天堂. 而这一切自然让生活在厦门的Mike Selig夫妇流连忘返.

When we were planning our month-long Spring Festival Holiday this year we wanted to go to a warm place that offered something new and different for us. After looking at several options we chose Sabah, on the Malaysian part of the island of Borneo.

We flew directly from Xiamen to Kota Kinabalu, the capital of the province of Sabah. Kota Kinabalu is a city with a mixture of modern and traditional Malay cultures. This culture has been heavily influenced by the presence of a large ethnic Chinese population. We were surprised to find in the stores many of the same Spring Festival decorations that were being sold here in Xiamen!

One of the best-known places in Sabah is Mount Kinabalu. It is considered a "must see" destination for tourists to the island. It is possible to climb the mountain, which is home to many unique types of vegetation, but in order to reach the top before the clouds obscure the view, you have to start the arduous climb in the middle of the night. We decided to pass on that and limited ourselves to a guided nature hike on the lower slopes of the mountain.

In the same area we also did a treetop canopy walk through virgin rainforest. Walking on the swinging walk, 43 meters above the forest floor was a great experience. Even though we were so high, the tallest trees still stretched many meters above us!


Orangutan, man of jungle, is seen everywhere in Borneo.

Our next stop was the Orangutan Rehabilitation Center near Sandakan on the northeastern side of Sabah. We enjoyed watching the antics of four young orangutans of various ages as they visited a feeding station on the edge of the rainforest. As a result of the work done in this remarkable center, over 600-orphaned orangutans are now living independently in the wild.

From the reserve we went to the harbor to board a boat for a trip up the Kinabatangan River to the village of Abai. On the way the boat stopped frequently to observe birds and other wildlife in the mangrove forest that lined the riverside. After reaching Abai, and checking into our riverside cabin, we continued our journey up a smaller river. For over two hours we were mesmerized by the sights and sounds of the jungle, and amazed by our guide's ability to spot snakes, lizards, birds, and monkeys in the trees bordering the river. These included a snake called the Green Viper sleeping on a branch about 2 meters from my seat in the boat. Since this snake is deadly poisonous I was very, very quiet!

One of the chief attractions of this trip was the proboscis monkeys that live near the river. These funny, long-nosed monkeys spend the night in the trees overhanging the river, so that they can escape nocturnal predators like snakes by dropping into the water.

By far the noisiest inhabitants of this area were the Rhinoceros Hornbills, with their large, colorful beaks. They flew over us screeching, as if to say, "We're here, look at us". At the end of our excursion our only regret was that we could not turn around and go again, but by this time darkness was overtaking us, so we adjourned to our dinner in the open air dining room.

The next day we went overland to the Tabin Wildlife Reserve where we enjoyed staying in wonderful cottages, with all the comforts of home, beside a rainforest stream, far from the nearest town. Outings included two-night excursions to see nocturnal wildlife, visiting a mud volcano, and hiking through the forest to a scenic waterfall. We saw additional wildlife and birds, including a wild boar, lizards, small leopard cats and more varieties of hornbills. Unfortunately, although we saw many signs of their presence, the wild rhinos, pygmy elephants, and deer, native to this area, all stayed well hidden.

We completed our time in Sabah with a day at the beach near Kota Kinabalu. This was one of the best holidays we have ever taken and we left wishing we had more time to enjoy more of the sights and sounds of Borneo.

Vocabulary
canopy 罩盖
swinging 愉快活跃的
antics 滑稽的动作
orangutan 猩猩
mesmerize 施催眠术
proboscis 长鼻
beak 鸟嘴
screeching 呼啸

 

 

Polo Ralph Lauren
Article & photos
collected by Michelle



舒适、好穿的马球衫无论在欧美、亚洲, 几乎已成为人人衣柜中必备的衣着款式, 而这样深远的穿着影响, 竟是来自于一位无名的美国领带售货员!

Probably even Ralph Lauren himself could not believe that it was just a little tie which changed his destiny from being a very common salesman to a remarkable leading global fashion designer.

Graduating with an irrelative major to design in the 1950s, Ralph got his first job as a tie salesman in Boston. Being bored with those old-fashioned long ties with all their dull and dark colours, Ralph started a revolution by centering the patterns and changing the lengths of the ties produced by the company. Unexpectedly, with his specially-designed colourful ties, two times longer than they had once been, Ralph, at that time soon drew the interest of the American fashion world because of his distinctive personality shown in his designs. This was the beginning of his career as a fashion designer. Later in 1968, a fashion company named Polo was established by Ralph Lauren in New York, mainly introducing two branch brands which were "POLO by Ralph Lauren" for men and the series for women "Ralph Ralph Lauren ". He also produced sporty clothes, jeans, perfume, home decorations and so on. It has been said that you will always be ready to breathe the fresh air of freedom and comfort from America no matter when and where you see designs by R.L. Exactly, as we can see, the spirit presented there appears never to have been abandoned by the main stream throughout time. Different from other luxury brands, Ralph Lauren emphasizes more a particular way of life, a kind of attitude towards it rather than merely one's appearance in other people's eyes.

Since establishment, Ralph Lauren had always been regarded as the guru of the American spirit because his designs have been a clear and vivid representation of the "American way of life". Moreover, its elegant designs with natural and casual styles have satisfied most of the medium income earners in the USA.

In addition, the variety range of products by RL is another feature that is worth mentioning. Even before the 1990s, Ralph Lauren had begun to introduce his home collection series which included bed sheets, which had blue and white linear patterns, plates and cups with little flowers and forks and knives made of pure silver. All of them have produced the relaxing atmosphere from the southern farms of America, attracting people to dream of that fantastic era.

Each branch brand of Ralph Lauren holds its own distinctive image. "Polo Ralph Lauren", being one of them, is specially designed for the urban male elites whereas "Ralph Ralph Lauren" for elegant and mature women. "Polo Jeans company" perfectly interprets the image of American cowboys and "Polo sport" is associated with the modern athletic spirit.

 

 

Russian contemporary paintings & sketches exhibition
俄国当代油画·素描大展
Duration: April 18, 2005-May 18, 2005; 9 am -18 pm, Monday - Sunday
展期:2005年4月18日-5月18日, 上午9:00-下午6:00, 星期一-星期日
Venue: 6th floor, Xiamen Workers' Culture Palace
地点:厦门工人文化宫6楼展厅

 

Xiamen Kaiming Movie Complex 厦门天地开明电影城4月29日起隆重上映 《鲨鱼传说》 "Shark Tale" 地址:江头北路69号 Ticket line: 5517918