Malaysia 3.2 - Hang on to yer wallet!

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – OK, so I guess when traveling you have to experience a few bumps in the road right?

About a week ago my computer started dying. For some reason it wasn’t re-charging. I basically used it until the battery ran down and I thought that would be the end of it for the rest of my trip. Well, I don’t know what happened since then, but given that I’m using it now, something got fixed. Perhaps it’s more likely I was screwing something up, but whatever.

Comparatively more serious was loosing my wallet at the Park Royale Hotel during the Asian Mycological Conference. Word to the wise, don’t wear cheap ass shorts from Target with shallow pockets, stuff them with an oversized designer wallet then sit down on a over-stuffed lobby chair. It’s going to squirt out of that pocket like you’re stepping on a tube of toothpaste. I didn’t know I had lost it until 2 hours later. Luckily the myco-gods were smiling on me since some kind person turned it in to the reception desk. Perhaps that person has some sort of Jeckle and Hyde complex, because someone also happened to withdraw about $160 from my checking account (about all that was in there at the time) within the 2 hour time span that the wallet was gone.

Despite these minor (in retrospect) bumps, this trip has been awesome. My enthusiasm for this part of my Malaysian adventure is definitely mushroom inspired. I know the mycologists and non-mycologists are reading that last sentence two entirely different ways. Regardless, the collecting in Sabah with Brian and Cathie was great. On the Sunday after the AMC, we flew into Kota Kinabalu and checked into the Casuarina Hotel. An OK hotel near the airport, but suited us just fine with the beachside bar/restaurant just down the block. Nice cold Carlsberg to welcome us to Borneo. I also got off this cool picture of Cathie. Both Brian and I thought it worked well with the Singapore Sling in the foreground and the islands and Casuarina trees in the background. I told her she would get a lot of grad students applying to her program if she put it up on here faculty profile page.

My friend Mark from KK met us later that day. Mark is great! He basically volunteered to chauffer us around KK and even up the mountain to Mt. Kinabalu National Park where he also arranged accommodations for us. The place we stayed at had a gorgeous view of Mt. Kinabalu as seen from the included picture.

In exchange for his generosity, he got the opportunity to observe mycologists at work on the mountain and see what we do collecting mushrooms. Unfortunately, I think he was a little disappointed. One could easily imagine that if 3 people traveled half-way around the world to collect fungus, then they should be collecting something mind-blowing and earth shattering. Something that might have a profound effect on humanity...

Nope...

We made no long treck into dense uninhabitable jungle.
We didn’t collect giant charasmatic megafauna (nor megamycota as the case is).

We just collected lots of numerous, small, and in my opinion, gorgeous fungi that were simply waiting for us to marvel at them. Actually, we didn’t get more than 10 meters along the path and into the forest before we started going "ohhh" and "awww" and all the neat little fungi we were finding. Not the adventure Mark was hoping for it seemed. Towards the end though, I think he was getting a little more into it. In retrospect, mycology only manages to capture the attention of scant few individuals. A bit disappointing considering how incredibly important these things are. Perhaps we mycoprophets will someday be recognized for the gospel we preach...

My apologies to you atheists for that analogy.

Regardless, even though Mark’s experience was questionable, ours was great! First off, I was very glad to meet up with Ahmad and the other FRC crew, Rusli, Nurdin and Musuari. I had previously copied his cell phone number down incorrectlyand I had no way of getting in contact with him. I’m glad I had made arrangements to meet up with him at the entrance to the park because there he was, awaiting the arrival of my jolly little band of mycogeeks.

The fruiting on Mt. Kinabalu was great for the Mycenas. Brian I think was quite happy. I was happy to again find Calostoma fruiting, but I still didn’t find the C. insignis that Taylor Lockwood photographed. Cathie also found a Calostoma, but it wasn’t either Taylor’s C. insignis nor the species I had collected, but something else entirely. I asked Cathie to take me to it the next day. We ended up going the wrong direction in terms of finding Cathie’s Calostoma, but the right direction in finding Calostoma in general. I found two more 1st time collections. One I believe to be C. brookei and the other C. retisporium, which I think is also the species I had collected 7 months ago on this mountain. However, this population was on a different trail and consisted of around 60-70 fruiting bodies. I spent nearly 30 minutes photographing, collecting soil samples, and gathering the fruiting bodies around this one tree. Ahmad found another 5-6 fruiting a few feet away. I left those there. Then, after walking further up the trial, Brian and I noticed yet another population that was spread on the forest floor among the rattans and consisted of perhaps 50 fruitings. I figure that if I am going to continue ecological studies of Calostoma, this will definitely have to be a study site.

Anyway, we bid adieu to Mark along with Pete and Erin from the Field Museum who met up with us on the mountain, and headed on down the south side to Sepilok and the FRC. The facilities at the FRC are ideal for field mycology. I think even Brian and Cathie were a bit impressed. The plant pathology lab has large ovens that can be used as dryers, microscopes, and even facilities for culturing such as a sterile hood and autoclave (thought their operational status is unknown).

At this point I hit the next big bump in this trip. The plan was to return to the FRC, spend the night at the Sepilok B and B, then head out the next day for Danum Valley. Danum Valley is a conservation area that has one of the largest areas of undisturbed Dipterocarp forests in Sabah. I think there was some confusion about permission. Ahmad called to let them know we were coming and was visibly disappointed when telling me that the said we couldn’t go. However, we were able to make lemons out of lemonade (sorry for the bad analogy), because we decided to go collecting in the Orangutan sanctuary. Yep, you heard right. And the mushrooms there were fruiting like mad! Marasmius galore! Brian also found some great bioluminescent Mycenas. One night he brought a couple home and put them on the stand between us. I swear they glowed as bright as the green light glows on my digital watch.

There weren’t many mycorrhizal fungi fruiting. It was pretty much all saprotrophic stuff, but it was everywhere. Anyway, after about 4 days of pretty intensive collecting, I think we were spent. Our last Friday was spent wrapping up specimens and seeing to shipping details. Brian and Cathie took in the Orangutan feeding at the Sanctuary. It was the first they saw of the primates even though we had collected in their living room. That night, the three of us finished off the last of the Black Label, and 18 year old Chivas that I got from Duty Free. All of it during a terrific tropical rainstorm.

That’s pretty much it for this part of my trip. Hope you enjoyed my ranting about mushrooms though most of you might only recognize them when they’re on your pizza.

I want to give big ups to Mark and the folks at FRC (Ahmad, Rusli, Nurdin, and Masuari). You helped Cathie, Brian and myself have a wonderful trip!

Peace out y’all
andy...