Quite!

This is Borneo we are talking about. Does that word in it's own right not bring up evocative images of jungles, rivers, Orang Utans, journeys and expeditions.

The world is sufficiently blighted by massive identikit concrete hotels. Spirit of adventure vs world of bland.

Sure but if you can experience all that; plus having a nice hotel to go back to at the end of he day, where you are comfortable eating at local restaurants, where English is widely understood/spoken, where the roads are in decent conditions and you can move around comfortably; its not surprising why many choose to experience Borneo on this side of the border.

Yes. I read that BKI is Saga's 2nd biggest long haul destination after Florida. It's fine as long as people are aware of the sheer volume of numbers of tourists they will see on Turtle Island, that Sepilok feels like visiting a zoo at times.

It's sanitised. And if that is what you want, great. If you have your own visions of what you expect Borneo to be like, you probably will be dissappointed.

My vision of Borneo is destruction of rain forests and oil palm plantations :rolleyes:

And for the orang utan experience, I much prefer Semengoh near Kuching over Sipolok. No it's not a zoo, its a real jungle but because its so close to Kuching where there is a Hilton, a Pullman, a Four Points etc its probably not 'Borneo' enough for some ;)

Precisely. There's little chance someone like me would make the effort to go to Borneo and then end up staying in hotels like these, at least as a tourist without the need for business-related functionality. I'd at least look for something more local and more independent.

I see that your "vision of Borneo" must not include enriching 5* building absentee owners based in country capitals, and multinational operators, at the expense of local operators. Hmm..... Thread doesn't need to veer too far into the political, but just sayin'.

I'm just planning my (2nd) Kalimantan trip (which is why I poked my nose in). I'm planning on hiring a Klotok, and sleeping on it just outside Camp Leakey.

Means I get to jungle trek with the Orangs at sunrise before any other tourists arrive. I imagine it'll be amazing sleeping outside on a thin mat under nothing but a mosquito net on a boat on a river in the heart of Borneo!

I'll pick my lovely plush comfortable hotel afterwards near Borobudur. Not Amanjiwo or Losari (or whatever the new name is) as i've done them. Considering Plataran (anyone?). Either way, it won't have a business centre, a coachload of blue rinse, and with a bit of luck no mobile phone reception!

These 5 star buildings are also providing jobs for the locals, many who used to work in places like KL or Singapore are able to return home and have a long term career in hospitality and close to their families at the same time.

And generally international hotel operators look after their employees better than local operators.

Hope that the mosquitoes and leeches will be kind to you ;)

BTW you shouldn't use the term 'orang' on its own, it means people and you see more of them in KK city centre.

Talk about trying to defend a position with specious reasoning and unsupported assertions! Never mind, this entire discussion is a completely unproductive threadjack and doesn't add enlightenment to the OP's original question....and is now irrelevant anyway since the OP has now amended her trip plans and moved on to another thread.

You have your point of view, and I have mine. If you want to give your money to the smaller operators that's your prerogative. But please do not impose your 'Americanised' views on others, which is always support the small guys.

I am looking at the bigger picture here; the smaller local operators will not give the local workers the sort of training nor exposure for them to take on bigger roles later in their career. And for most local workers I have met (including those in Borneo) it's a privilege for them to be working for some big American chains. And these jobs are actually keeping them at home ! Otherwise they would be in Singapore or somewhere in the middle east.

Thank you. I also know what Utan means. Years of living and working in Indonesia means my Bahasa is passable. I'm happy with my context!

I also try and support small local entrepreneurs where I can, especially in Indonesia which thrives off village economies. Rather than multicorps that send their profits back to shareholders back in Europe / America thanks (i'm not American btw).

But as jiejie rightly points out this is threadcreep, apologies. I might post a picture I have of a leech on my right testicle from Sumatra to bring it back onto topic.

For more reason you should use the correct term !

It's very annoying listening to some 'bule' use the term 'orang' to describe 'orang utan' as if its the correct and accepted term. The next time I am in London, I should probably ask for directions to Buckingham..... you know the one where the Queen lives ....