Borneo Tom: Stories and Sketches of Love, Travel and Jungle Family in Tropical Asia - Softcover

Science Teacher Tom McLaughlin battled a rare neurological disease to a stand still, packed up his life and moved to Malaysian Borneo from a Washington D.C. suburb. Landing in Kuching, he quickly learned the Malay language and involved himself in projects which includes orangutan rehabilitation and research about the famed naturalist, Alfred Wallace, whose thunder was stolen by Charles Darwin. These actions prompted respect from international scholars. The advent of cheap air travel to many destinations in Southeast Asia transported him to many adventures. From dancing naked in an earthquake in Sumatra, to getting lost in a warren of World War II Japanese caves to walking the rim of a volcano with poisonous gas, he has jumped with foolhardiness into everything wild and wonderful, all related in his book Borneo Tom. Reuniting with his Peace Corps family of thirty five years ago, sharing adventures with one daughter, then reconciling with another after a divorce, marriage with full kampung ceremony and then taking both daughters on his honeymoon to Bali are a few of the highlights of his remarkable personal life. Oh, did I forget? his vasectomy coupled with a wife diagnosed as barren has, reproduced a son, Dzul Patrick, now a few months old. Tom has postponed travels until his son gets older and teaches at the Lodge International School in Kuching, Malaysian Borneo