Seeing as I continue to be confined to civilization, might as well provide an update.
No word from the department of forestry yet, so my exploration of
Kota Kinabalu continues. Primarily, I've been exploring with my stomach!
Below, ye may find anecdotes of food, brain-learnings at a museum, and general la-de-dahs about the city.
Why aren't I in the field yet?
This is a question I have been asking myself daily since I arrived 5 days ago. The answer is, as it seems to be most of the time, beaurocracy.
Don't get me wrong - yes, it is incredibly important to ensure that the right people are coming into the forest with the right intentions and permits. But before I entirely excuse what I've been through the past few days, let me explain using an incredibly brief list of the steps we (myself and Shu, the PhD student I am assisting) have taken to be granted access to the protected area:
So we are waiting. It is still unclear when the Forestry department will forward us their letter of support, so we are in a bit of limbo right now.
On the plus side, I've had some time to explore Kota Kinabalu! The city is pretty fantastic, especially at night. Just this evening I took the time to wander around a few night markets, picking up local sweets and fruits that I haven't had since last time I was here. Full disclosure: I am currently salivating over a pile of rambutan. It's not attractive.
That being said, I am antsy to get out into the jungle. As much as I've enjoyed the 2 extra days to explore, I'm simply not a city person. Especially when that city's main attractions are lying in the sun or going on an expensive day trip out to the "pristine jungle" just outside the city limits. Pristine...pfffft! Give me a week and I'll show you pristine!!!
Although cabin fever has begun to set in, I'm taking advantage of the break to eat. So much.
See, Malaysia is a very interesting country, culturally speaking. Due to pre-WW2 colonialism, it has major Chinese and Indian populations living alongside the pre-colonial Muslim communities and the even-pre-colonial-er Dusun (although they are typically more rural). This means that you can get Malay food, Chinese food, Indian food, and Western food (yey tourists) on the same city block. If I had four stomachs, it wouldn't be enough. Not only that, but the fruits...oh my goodness. Mangosteen, rambutan, mango, durian, kesusu...
Sorry to anyone who was expecting actual ecological content on this blog. Apparently it will always be a food blog in disguise!
Don't get me wrong - yes, it is incredibly important to ensure that the right people are coming into the forest with the right intentions and permits. But before I entirely excuse what I've been through the past few days, let me explain using an incredibly brief list of the steps we (myself and Shu, the PhD student I am assisting) have taken to be granted access to the protected area:
- Obtain access license for the forest, and pick up in an office closes for lunch at an unknown time every day
- Find a magistrate in the city hall and take an official oath
- Obtain appropriate visa paperwork from the immigration office in KK
- Fill out paperwork, despite not being able to read Malay
- Meet up with a local collaborator who vouches for you to go into the field "under their supervision" (this is largely a decorum role, although we are lucky to have a collaborator who seems genuinely interested in our project, despite his forgetting about our appointment)
- Have a guarantor declare that you are definitely going to be in the country
- Apply for a professional pass
- Buy an official governmental stamp and use this as a bond that you will behave yourself under the guidelines of the visa
- Obtain a letter of support from the Forestry Department*
So we are waiting. It is still unclear when the Forestry department will forward us their letter of support, so we are in a bit of limbo right now.
On the plus side, I've had some time to explore Kota Kinabalu! The city is pretty fantastic, especially at night. Just this evening I took the time to wander around a few night markets, picking up local sweets and fruits that I haven't had since last time I was here. Full disclosure: I am currently salivating over a pile of rambutan. It's not attractive.
That being said, I am antsy to get out into the jungle. As much as I've enjoyed the 2 extra days to explore, I'm simply not a city person. Especially when that city's main attractions are lying in the sun or going on an expensive day trip out to the "pristine jungle" just outside the city limits. Pristine...pfffft! Give me a week and I'll show you pristine!!!
Although cabin fever has begun to set in, I'm taking advantage of the break to eat. So much.
See, Malaysia is a very interesting country, culturally speaking. Due to pre-WW2 colonialism, it has major Chinese and Indian populations living alongside the pre-colonial Muslim communities and the even-pre-colonial-er Dusun (although they are typically more rural). This means that you can get Malay food, Chinese food, Indian food, and Western food (yey tourists) on the same city block. If I had four stomachs, it wouldn't be enough. Not only that, but the fruits...oh my goodness. Mangosteen, rambutan, mango, durian, kesusu...
Sorry to anyone who was expecting actual ecological content on this blog. Apparently it will always be a food blog in disguise!
Field Work Nombor Tiga: Borneo
It's been four years, but my ecological escapades are returning me to Malaysia.
Mairin, you say, how is it that you are yet again in the same place? Have you found yourself in a Star Trek style temporal causality loop at long last?
Hold your horses, oh cynical and surprisingly condescending hypothetical readers. For although I am, yet again, in Malaysia, on this go-round I am in Borneo.
Borneo: an island I have imagined visiting since...well, since I first learned of its existence and its importance to early naturalists and ecologists. The island is the fourth largest in the world, borders the Wallace line (a an imaginary line that separates ecoregions in Asia), and is an important biodiversity hotspot. It's better than Disneyland for someone like me!
Borneo was also a massive influence to Alfred R. Wallace. While living in Borneo, Wallace penned his On the Law which has Regulated the Introduction of New Species, an essay that concluded "Every species has come into existence coincident both in space and time with a closely allied species" and presented an early discussion of what would become biogeography.
Three years later, Wallace would write On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely from the Original Type, an independent description of natural selection. After Wallace sent a copy of the essay to Darwin (whom he had met and kept correspondence with) to request feedback, Darwin picked up the ideas with enthusiasm. Wallace's essay was published alongside some of Darwin's early writings on natural selection in Linnean Society of London (which was initially overlooked).
A few years later, Darwin finally got around to publishing a manuscript he had been working on for quite some time - On the Origin of Species - and the significance of Wallace's and Darwin's earlier work was recognized.
*Seriously, if you don't know this incredible story of two amazing naturalists and their interesting friendship, read up on it. Wallace is a hero of mine, and was not only a wonderful scientific mind but also very socially progressive and an avid writer on economics and morality.
What are you doing back in Malaysia?
This time around, I might be helping out with as many as four unique projects under an umbrella expedition put forward by the Sabah Biodiversity Centre and Forestry Centre. It's still a little bit up in the air, and the details of what I'll get up to are unclear.
The overall project is a biological survey in the UNDP area, a region between Danum Valley and the Maliau Basin - two incredible pristine regions of Borneo. I will primarily be camera trapping and performing transect censuses, although I'm hoping to get my fingers into the pies of the other research topics as well (including seedling persistence, carbon fixation, and dung beetle ecology - how neat is that?)
What is camera trapping?, you might be asking. Well, camera trapping is a form of remote animal capture. First, you set up a motion-activated camera, often by affixing it to a tree:
in a place like this:
to get photos like this:
With the camera trap images, I can do some work looking at animal diversity and abundance in different areas. Although I'm not 100% certain at this point if I can work my current field work's data into my MSc project, it's still going to be a ton of fun going out into the field.
That, plus transects, will be the main focus of my work here.
But let's talk more about Borneo.
Not only is this island important to me historically, but the animals that live here are incredibly diverse and unique. From flying frogs (thanks for that one too, Wallace) to forest elephants to orangutans.
I'd love to catch a glimpse of any one of these critters. In fact, I'm itching for the field enough that I got a little rise of excitement out of a cockroach I saw in the gutter this evening.
...sigh - I wish I were joking...but that cockroach was a unique species I'd never seen before!
Soon enough, I'll be straining my eyes for sight of anything in the dense jungle, ears searching for croaking frogs, hooting hornbills, singing gibbons, bellowing orangutans...all while swatting away at mosquitos and dripping with sweat, mud, and leeches.
I can't wait!
Mairin, you say, how is it that you are yet again in the same place? Have you found yourself in a Star Trek style temporal causality loop at long last?
Hold your horses, oh cynical and surprisingly condescending hypothetical readers. For although I am, yet again, in Malaysia, on this go-round I am in Borneo.
Borneo: an island I have imagined visiting since...well, since I first learned of its existence and its importance to early naturalists and ecologists. The island is the fourth largest in the world, borders the Wallace line (a an imaginary line that separates ecoregions in Asia), and is an important biodiversity hotspot. It's better than Disneyland for someone like me!
Borneo was also a massive influence to Alfred R. Wallace. While living in Borneo, Wallace penned his On the Law which has Regulated the Introduction of New Species, an essay that concluded "Every species has come into existence coincident both in space and time with a closely allied species" and presented an early discussion of what would become biogeography.
Three years later, Wallace would write On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely from the Original Type, an independent description of natural selection. After Wallace sent a copy of the essay to Darwin (whom he had met and kept correspondence with) to request feedback, Darwin picked up the ideas with enthusiasm. Wallace's essay was published alongside some of Darwin's early writings on natural selection in Linnean Society of London (which was initially overlooked).
A few years later, Darwin finally got around to publishing a manuscript he had been working on for quite some time - On the Origin of Species - and the significance of Wallace's and Darwin's earlier work was recognized.
 |
| Wallace says: "I think Borneo's pretty neat, too!" |
What are you doing back in Malaysia?
This time around, I might be helping out with as many as four unique projects under an umbrella expedition put forward by the Sabah Biodiversity Centre and Forestry Centre. It's still a little bit up in the air, and the details of what I'll get up to are unclear.
The overall project is a biological survey in the UNDP area, a region between Danum Valley and the Maliau Basin - two incredible pristine regions of Borneo. I will primarily be camera trapping and performing transect censuses, although I'm hoping to get my fingers into the pies of the other research topics as well (including seedling persistence, carbon fixation, and dung beetle ecology - how neat is that?)
That's pretty neat!
in a place like this:
to get photos like this:
 | |
| I'm keeping my hopes up that we'll catch a monkey selfie like this one...fingers crossed! |
With the camera trap images, I can do some work looking at animal diversity and abundance in different areas. Although I'm not 100% certain at this point if I can work my current field work's data into my MSc project, it's still going to be a ton of fun going out into the field.
That, plus transects, will be the main focus of my work here.
But let's talk more about Borneo.
Not only is this island important to me historically, but the animals that live here are incredibly diverse and unique. From flying frogs (thanks for that one too, Wallace) to forest elephants to orangutans.
 | |
| In case you needed to know what a flying frog looks like, this is what a flying frog looks like. |
 |
| Or, more accurately, like this. |
I'd love to catch a glimpse of any one of these critters. In fact, I'm itching for the field enough that I got a little rise of excitement out of a cockroach I saw in the gutter this evening.
...sigh - I wish I were joking...but that cockroach was a unique species I'd never seen before!
Soon enough, I'll be straining my eyes for sight of anything in the dense jungle, ears searching for croaking frogs, hooting hornbills, singing gibbons, bellowing orangutans...all while swatting away at mosquitos and dripping with sweat, mud, and leeches.
I can't wait!
صافي! C'est fini! We're DONE!!!
Sad, but beautiful, leaving Azrou was an emotional challenge.
I've grown really quite fond of this landscape, these people, and these fascinating and complex animals we work with.
Perhaps I'll be able to revisit the monkeys on a trip to Azrou - the newborns might be rowdy teenagers or rambunctious rowdy males like Joey or George; the current matriarchs old and frail like Anna.
More adventures await from here - N, J, and I are off to Spain for a well-deserved holiday, then I'm coming back for a solo trip to Casablanca (hello, Rick's!) before coming home to Victoria.
Until then!
I've grown really quite fond of this landscape, these people, and these fascinating and complex animals we work with.
Perhaps I'll be able to revisit the monkeys on a trip to Azrou - the newborns might be rowdy teenagers or rambunctious rowdy males like Joey or George; the current matriarchs old and frail like Anna.
More adventures await from here - N, J, and I are off to Spain for a well-deserved holiday, then I'm coming back for a solo trip to Casablanca (hello, Rick's!) before coming home to Victoria.
Until then!
Last week of work what! (Also yey monkeys monkeys!!!)
I have no idea how this happened. Probably because time acts linearly...shocking!
As of today, we have 4.5 days of work remaining. Of course, the work is still pretty crazy - leaving for the field at 5:30, not getting back until 7 or so in the evening. Curse you Earth's shifting orbit!
On the plus side, that means we have tonnes of daylight with which to focal monkeys and collect poops! In fact, rather than three sets of focals each week, now we're managing four! Can I get a whoop-awhoop-a-doop-yeah?
No?
Oh...that's okay too. I guess extra time spent staring at monkeys and their posterior protrusions isn't a party for everyone...sigh...
It is going to be a shock leaving Azrou. N, J, and I have become regulars at a local cafe (Cafe Flora) where we drink cafe au lait, jus d'avocad, and milleui avec fromage et amilou. Oh, the life of sitting and gossiping in the sun...so pleasant!
Mmmm...avocado juice...
Anyway! I have some extra time to kill now, and I think it's time you met some (more) of the monkeys!!!
BUT FIRST! BIG NEWS!!!!! ALERT ALERT!!!! There are now baby monkeys!!!! One of the females you can learn about below, Dakota, had a little baby boy this week. We have decided to name him Davos (after the Game of Thrones character - the theme for this generation of monkeys), and he is already the centre of attention of the group. Males are all trying to get in on the baby action, teeth chattering and trying to sandwich the infant. Oh, and the monkeys are also into Davos, just after Jamie and Paddy have had their turn.
And now for the monkeys!
Read more...or...
As of today, we have 4.5 days of work remaining. Of course, the work is still pretty crazy - leaving for the field at 5:30, not getting back until 7 or so in the evening. Curse you Earth's shifting orbit!
On the plus side, that means we have tonnes of daylight with which to focal monkeys and collect poops! In fact, rather than three sets of focals each week, now we're managing four! Can I get a whoop-awhoop-a-doop-yeah?
No?
Oh...that's okay too. I guess extra time spent staring at monkeys and their posterior protrusions isn't a party for everyone...sigh...
It is going to be a shock leaving Azrou. N, J, and I have become regulars at a local cafe (Cafe Flora) where we drink cafe au lait, jus d'avocad, and milleui avec fromage et amilou. Oh, the life of sitting and gossiping in the sun...so pleasant!
Mmmm...avocado juice...
Anyway! I have some extra time to kill now, and I think it's time you met some (more) of the monkeys!!!
BUT FIRST! BIG NEWS!!!!! ALERT ALERT!!!! There are now baby monkeys!!!! One of the females you can learn about below, Dakota, had a little baby boy this week. We have decided to name him Davos (after the Game of Thrones character - the theme for this generation of monkeys), and he is already the centre of attention of the group. Males are all trying to get in on the baby action, teeth chattering and trying to sandwich the infant. Oh, and the monkeys are also into Davos, just after Jamie and Paddy have had their turn.
And now for the monkeys!
Read more...or...
Crazy Times
I warned you, didn't I? Warned you that I wouldn't be updating regularly?
WELL IT WAS TRUE!!!
Although my gut instinct is telling me that I should just write out another bullet list of things that we've experienced again (I love point-by-point information delivery systems), but instead I'm going to create a highlight reel:
- That time we went to Spain kind of (to Ceuta specifically)
- That time we planned to go to Spain for realsies
- That time it snowed again
- Dung beetles!
- That time someone asked me to marry them within 1 minute of introducing himself
Also, because people have been pestering me for photos - you know who you are - have another picture!
The combination of semi-unreliable internet and large file sizes means that each photo takes about 5 minutes to upload after 10 minutes of file compression. So for now, NO MORE PICTURES FOR YOU! At least, not until I have much more down town or a much better internet connection (did someone say vacation?)
 |
| I also have pictures of lizards, lichen, and rocks! But I assume you're all here for the monkeys. I mean, that's why I'm here! |
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