Our local public library is a treasure trove of books for travel planning. It was instrumental in us choosing Borneo as our trip destination. I visited my branch early in December for books on travel to Thailand. We thinking about possibly going to Thailand since the airfare was low. I also checked out the “Lonely Planet Guide to Borneo” on a whim. Who would have thought that is where we would end up going.

We have been able to find all the travel guides for Borneo at the library. There are only one or two guidebooks that specifically focus on travel in Borneo. You can find a lot of information in the guides to Malaysia. We have decided to take the Lonely Planet and Rough Guide to Malaysia. Here are the guidebooks we found to be the most helpful for planning.

• Lonely Planet Guide to Borneo
• Rough Guide to Malaysia
• Footprint Guide to Borneo
  Eyewitness Guide to Malaysia

• Cadogen Guide to Malaysia

We also found several good books beyond the basic travel guides. G was looking for some tapes on Malay language. He is great with languages and plans on learning a few phrases before our trip. Not only was I able to find a set of language tapes but I also found several great guides to the national parks and wildlife of Malaysia.

• Wild Borneo
• Wild Malaysia
• Wildlife Guide Malaysia

Over the years, I’ve read several travel journals on trips to Borneo. They have all involved travel into the jungle of Sawarak. They are tales of trekking through the jungle, meeting the indigenous tribes and wild nights in longhouses. We will not be going into the jungle on Sawarak but we do hope to visit the Sawarak Cultural Village outside of Kuching. Here are several fun travel journals on Borneo.

• Into the Heart of Borneo by Redmond O’Hanlon
• Stranger in the Forest by Eric Hansen
• Orchid Fever by Eric Hansen
• Shooting the Boh – by Tracy Johnston
• Land Below the Wind by Agnes Newton Keith (out of print)

I was also able to find a cd of Malaysian music published by the Rough Guide. The music is very interesting. It sounds a lot like music from Bollywood films along with accordion. I’m also going to look for CDs on music from the surrounding countries to create a playlist.