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April 03, 2009

Borneo, Bali and Beyond

Another highly enjoyable Nov-April season in the Andaman Sea draws to a close, with the Raja Laut docked in Langkawi, and our crew on R&R - quite rightly so after out-doing themselves on the cruises between Langkawi, Phuket and the Mergui.

So it is now, once again, that highly anticipated time of the year when Raja Laut sets her sights southwards to the magnificence of Indonesia and Borneo, the 3rd largest island in the world.

Malaysian Borneo is well-endowed by Mother Nature, with imposing mountain ranges, lush rainforests, swollen rivers, a smattering of idyllic islands, and a smorgasbord of natural charm and friendly locals! We can never talk too highly of Malaysian Borneo - one of our favourite places in the world - and an area that offers up a highly rewarding cruising experience for those who know where to go.

Borneo is also Raja Laut's birthplace, her spiritual home. The schooner was built on these shores, and with it our dream of exploring Borneo, Bali and beyond!

The clue is right there in the name 'Born(eo)'! And true to this name Borneo is the birthplace of many an inspiring, impossibly romantic, yet sometimes very real adventure… which is a conclusion the writer Joseph Conrad must have come to having traced the paths to Borneo many times both as a sailor and novelist. Conrad did more than any other to make Borneo legend, and we like to think of the journey from the Andaman sea to Borneo, and then Bali as 'Conrads Voyage'.

For much of the English speaking world, and for Conrad in particular, interest in Borneo began with the 'White Rajah' of Sarawak - Englishman James Brooke, who sailed from Singapore, armed with a 100ft schooner (not unlike the Raja Laut) and an inheritance to take on the feared headhunters and pirates of Borneo, claim the Kingdom of Sarawak and found a dynasty that lasted from 1860 to 1940.

But these are stories for another time.

For now suffice to say that some 150 years since the days of Rajah Brooke and the headhunters of Borneo, we are having an immense amount of fun re-discovering these adventures and we look forward one day to sharing them with you !

Ahoy,

Team Raja Laut

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