Survival in Jungle (Part 1) – Long Pasia (Sabah, Borneo)

If you have ever thought of living in the wild, or wondered how it would be like to live in the jungle, then this is the one post you must read.

To be honest, I never even heard of Borneo before coming here. But during my travel, many fellow travelers recommended this destination to me, as I was looking for somewhere primitive rather than developed attractions, so here I am.

Borneo has the third largest rainforest in the world, most travelers and tourists come here to experience nature by jungle trekking. Although I desired for something more extreme, to experience living in jungle, also to acquire some of the skills necessary to survive in the wild.

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So I went to the Sabah Tourism Board, as they’re actually the agency for tour guides that are capable to take me into the jungle. I told this nice lady my requirements, and et voila, she got ahold of a guide that was fitting to my unusual request.

Which brings me to mentioning my guide, Lait Lakong, whom has a really impressive and unique resume. He’s a former headhunter, not the kind that hunts people for job positions that we see nowadays, but literally hunt for people’s heads. Other than being a jungle guide now, he’s also an artist, even holds his own exhibition and all that.

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That’s my guide Lait Lakong and me, I look totally like a tourist holding a huge camera.

Ok so once everything is negotiated, we started heading to our destination “Long Pasia” the next day. It’s neither a famous nor popular tourist site. On the contrary, it’s so remote that we had to switch to a 4×4 wheel and drive for approximately 9 hours from the closest town, as no transportation heads there and the road condition is extremely rough. But that is exactly what I wanted, a hidden jungle without the excessive tourists.

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That’s the ocean view in the nearest town to village. Town is called Sipitang.
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Bought a pair of pants that would dry up fast for entering forest, only cost 20 Malaysian Ringgit, which converts to only about US$6, and I loved it!
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The way from Sipitang to village in Long Pasia.
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That’s our 4×4 truck, which is the only way to enter the village.

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After hours and hours of uncomfortable driving, we’ve finally reached Lait’s village of his tribe “Lundayeh”.

Courtesy of Lait, I was invited to stay longer in the village after our expedition into the jungle, it’s a truly magnificent place, I even seriously considered settling down in the village at some point.

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My original planned itinerary was 7 days:

1st day                    Car trip and sleep over in the village

2nd day                   Enter the jungle with other villagers

3rd~5th day            Keep on going further into the jungle with Lait and his brother

6th day                   Exiting the jungle and sleep over in the village

7th day                   On the road back to city

(Although I stayed for almost 2 weeks more in the village after 6th day)

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***TO BE CONTINUED***

3 thoughts on “Survival in Jungle (Part 1) – Long Pasia (Sabah, Borneo)

    1. Thanks for your comment, really glad you like it!
      I personally love the 2nd part of this post topic, it’s one of my most interesting travel experience.

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