Welcome
Welcome to my homepage! If you share a keen interest in photography, travel, adventure and living life, I hope through this website and blog, I can share my life journeys with you. Being a keen outdoor adventurer, I love photography, the great outdoor, classic cars, mountain biking, camping, trekking and offroad expeditions. JOHN KONG
Life is a journey, not a destination” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Overlanding as the name suggests, describes undertaking a journey over land whether with your own vehicle or on your own two feet or in an overland truck with other people. The essence of overlanding, no matter what your mode of transport, is that the journey is what is important, not the destination.
The beauty of overland travel is that you get to see and experience parts of a country or continent that would be very difficult to access, if not impossible without a vehicle. You get the opportunity in meeting new people, or simply after an affordable way to travel from one stunning location to another, an overland trip will cover the best highlights, national parks and adventure travel activities that the location has to offer.
But overall, overlanding is more about your attitude. You need all the usual attributes to enjoy travel. You need an open mind, to be tolerant of other people, a sense of humour and you must relish the idea of foreign places and unusual situations. By nature there is a lot of camping involved which makes it a cost-effective way to travel. If you enjoy camping in the open, sitting around a campfire, looking out of the window at different scene every day, and don’t mind skipping a shower every now and then, overlanding is for you.
Once you have completed building your dream overland 4WD, the next question is how do you bring your vehicle to Malaysia? The first is to drive it through the Thailand border in Peninsular Malaysia or Singapore and the other is by shipping your vehicle first into Malaysia by sea. All shipments into Malaysia will need to be shipped to Port Kelang in Peninsular Malaysia before a transhipment to other ports. So bringing your vehicle to Sabah means you have to ship your vehicle to Port Kelang and later a transhipment to Port of Kota Kinabalu. Read More
Paid a visit today to YM Dato’ Seri Tengku Dr. Zainal Adlin, Chairman of Sabah Parks Board of Trustees to hand him the latest print of Mount Kinabalu after the Sabah quake. Also wish to thank YM Dato’ Seri for his acceptance to become the Organising Chairman and Patron of The Borneo Expedition, a 4WD event to retrace the Camel Trophy 1993 route to be held from November 29 to December 6th this year.
The concept of The Borneo Expedition is to develop, document and promote sustainable overland routes in the Borneo Island. Each expedition is designed to provide exhilarating experience to participants with breathtaking views of Borneo’s geological, ecological, historical landscapes and cultures has to offer to the world! Convoy size will also be kept less than 30 vehicles to enhance convoy team spirit and most importantly to preserve the environment through sustainable green lane practices. The mission is to promote Borneo as an EXOTIC OVERLANDING TOURISM DESTINATION in the global market.
RETRACING THE 1993 CAMEL’S TRAIL
To get the inaugural project rolling, what better way than to roll back in time to retrace the most legendary 4WD event of the century, the Camel Trophy. The Camel Trophy was held in the island of Borneo for 3 editions; the Borneo edition in 1986, the Sabah-Malaysia edition in 1993 and the Kalimantan edition again in 1996. The Camel Trophy has in fact inspired many offroading events in this region. To make this inaugural event more meaningful, former Camel Trophy participants and 4WD legends whom has been part of this legendary event in Borneo are invited to join us on this first edition of The Borneo Expedition themed “Retracing the 1993 Camel’s Trail”.
To recapture the true spirit of the Camel Trophy and as a tribute to the Land Rover Defender, schedule to end in production this year, this first edition of this event is exclusively for Land Rovers vehicles. At least 3 units of Camel Trophy replicas owned by passionate Camel Trophy enthusiast will be joining the expedition. Participants are also most welcomed to dress their Land Rover for the occasion. A full sand glow yellow coloured convoy of Land Rovers will be a dream come true!! To add in the fun, an exclusive line of expedition attires, convoy vehicle decals and adventure gears will also be designed for participants.
This year’s route and itinerary will cover the best locations Sabah has to offer covering jungle trekking to the lost world to visit the former Camel Trophy camp (built by the Camel Trophy team in 1993), river cruise in search of wildlife, paddle the Padas River, trek to the best waterfalls, take the most nostalgic train ride (only train line in Borneo which remained very much the same since 1993), join a charity event at a remote village and get to know the ancestral guardian of the caves!
PUBLICATION OF A COFFEE TABLE BOOK
After the event, a coffee table book of each expedition will be published detailing the beautiful destinations that were visited, the crew, the vehicles, the participants and detailed route maps, permits, entrance fees for overland enthusiasts who wish to revisit the routes in the future. Each participant will get a copy of the beautifully illustrated coffee table book to keep for memories and more importantly, this book will be distributed worldwide to promote overland tourism for the island of Borneo.
Wish to welcome and thank YM Dato’ Seri Tengku’s generous support toward The Borneo Expedition!
Please visit our website at: www.theborneoexpedition.com more complete information.
GREETINGS FROM THE BORNEO EXPEDITION!
Let’s start by introducing myself. From the humble beginnings of working as a creative director, to photographer, to photojournalist, to publisher during the last 15 years, my passion for 4WD expedition has started only 6 years ago by an invitation to join Borneo Safari as an event photographer in 2009/2010. I was engaged as Borneo Safari’s event promoter for the years 2011 to 2014 and it has propelled Borneo Safari to become one of the biggest offroading event in South East Asia in recent years.
With the advancement of the digital age, the world is getting smaller, the environment is getting more vulnerable, friendships and families ties are getting closer, borders are no longer limits, communication is just a finger touch away, the construction of the new Pan Borneo highway linking the west coast of Borneo and the new ferry terminal linking Sabah and Pahlawan Island of the Philippines are all new milestones for the Borneo Island. The opportunity to discover the true beauty of the Borneo Island through overlanding has really inspired me to start this project.
The core value of The Borneo Expedition is to develop, document and promote sustainable overland routes in the Borneo island. Each expedition comprises of an exhilarating experience designed to promote key destinations of significant geological, ecological, cultural and historical importance. An online overlanding website, tourism brochures and a special coffee table book of each expedition will be published detailing the beautiful destinations that were visited, the crew, the vehicles, the participants and detailed route maps for overland enthusiasts who wish to revisit the routes in the future. Each participant will get a copy of the beautifully illustrated coffee table book to keep for memories and more importantly, this book will be distributed worldwide to promote overland tourism for the island of Borneo.
The Borneo Expedition covers different types of off-road activities but do not rule out the occasional Grade 3 mud crossings or Grade 4 extreme hardcore winching and river crossings which are the core of 4WD driving fun! Routes are developed not to destroy your vehicles or the environment but rather to enable you to really enjoy driving within a safety margin for the participants. Participants will be treated with breathtaking views of Borneo’s geological, ecological, historical landscapes and cultures has to offer to the world! Convoy size will also be kept less than 30 vehicles to enhance convoy team spirit and most importantly to preserve the environment through sustainable green lane practices.
To get the inaugural project rolling, the first edition of the expedition is to explore the best of Sabah, Malaysia’s overland destinations. Borneo is famous for being home to legendary 4WD events such as the Camel Trophy, Trans Borneo Expedition and Borneo Safari. This year’s route and itinerary will cover the best locations Sabah has to offer covering jungle trekking to the lost world, river cruise in search of wildlife, paddle the Padas River, trek to the best waterfalls, take the most nostalgic train ride (only train line in Borneo which remained very much the same since 1993), join a charity event at a remote village and get to know the ancestral guardian of the caves! To add in the fun, an exclusive line of expedition attires, convoy vehicle decals and adventure gears will also be designed for participants. Are you ready for an adventure?
Corporate companies, government agencies and NGOs partners who wished to join us on this promotional campaign are most welcomed! To achieve our goals, your organisation’s support & sponsorship are highly needed for the success of our event to promote Borneo as an EXOTIC OVERLANDING TOURISM DESTINATION in the global market. As always, we are very excited to work with your organisation for branding partnerships and with our experience, you can be rest assured that your brand values will be well elevated.
Come join us on this fun filled occasion to document and experience the best overlanding expedition Sabah has to offer!
Thank you.
JOHN KONG
EVENT DIRECTOR
Please visit our event website at: www.theborneoexpedition.com for complete information.
Today John paid an official visit to YB Datuk Seri Panglima Haji Masidi Manjun, the Minister of Tourism, Culture & Environment Sabah today to present him the Best of Kinabalu Park Book which the Minister has written a wonderful foreword:-
Picture: From Left, Ms Hana Harun (Marketing & Communications Manager, Sabah Tourism Board), Pn Mariam Omar Matusin (Deputy Permanent Secretary, MOTCE), Mr. Ginun Yangus (Permanent Secretary, MOTCE), YB Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun, John Kong and Cassandra Chin (Sales Manager, EBiz Design & Communications)
“There have been publications on Kinabalu Park from easy-to-read brochures to everyday guide books and massive coffee table books. This condensed version of a pictorial guide and travel book is an excellent endeavor to highlight the best of Kinabalu Park through stunning images and candid descriptions.
I would like to express my thanks to the photographer and publisher of “The Best of Kinabalu Park” for taking this initiative to show not only the best but also the unexplored and rarely seen images of this amazing nature reserve and its stand out feature, Mount Kinabalu.
Tourism has always been a mainstay of Sabah’s economy and it is important to keep it fresh and exciting to encourage more visitors with the diverse interests to come here. Photography is one aspect that we can take advantage of as Sabah is blessed with an abundance of captivating features such as its geographical landscape, biodiversity, people and cultures.
With 160 pages of high-quality photographs, this book is a fantastic resources to appreciate the splendour of Kinabalu Park and its natural features. It would also be a much valued gift to inspire the inner photographer and traveller in you.”
John also presented to the Minister a 5 feet wide print personally selected by YB Datuk Masidi of the Mesilau River which was captured before the earthquake on June 5th this year. John also briefed the Tourism Minister of his current projects which included the documentation of the changed landscapes of Mount Kinabalu after the June 5th earthquake.
To find out more about the book please visit: http://www.johnlkong.com/books-publications/
The Borneenis Gallery is located at the Institute of Biological Tropical and Conservation Institute of Universiti Malaysia Sabah. As a centre of excellence and a significant research institute in Borneo, ITBC contribute in engaging research towards the conservation of wildlife and supports conservation initiatives particularly in the state Sabah.
Our company, Ebiz Design & Communications was engaged to design and built the gallery from concept design, 3D rendering and construction. We wish to thank Universiti Malaysia Sabah for entrusting us with the project and we are so happy that it turned out so good! Based on modern contemporary design, the gallery has the centre feature of a tropical tree with surrounding colours of the forest and wood.
Our company has also built more than 10 galleries around Sabah over the last 10 years from Sukau Kinabatangan Wildlife Centre, Gomantong Visitor Centre, Kinabalu World Heritage Gallery, UMS Gallery, UMS Museum, UMS Palepas Gallery, Rafflesia Centre Tambunan, Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre, Mesilau Nature Centre Gallery and Likas Wetlands.
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