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Archive for December, 2008

On a sunny 30degree day we decided to visit the Museum of Sabah in Kota Kinabalu. After trying to negotiate a taxi ride to the museum (they wanted to charge 15rm – about 3pounds) we decided to head to the bus stop and try and work out the hectic bus system! After talking to several people we finally found we needed bus number 13 and paid them 1rm (about 50p) for the trip.

We arrived at the museum and walked through the main building exploring the history of Borneo. There was lots of information of how Borneo had evolved from British rule to the current region of Sabah.

Outside was the main reason we came to the museum, we wanted to see a traditional ‘Long House’ – an early hut style building. There were lots of examples on show and it gave us an insight on how early settlers lived.

More images available in the gallery HERE

After a day of snorkelling Mabul we went to the Scuba Junkie bar for a ‘traditional’ Christmas dinner. We met up with some friends and enjoyed a few drinks before the meal. The turkey soon arrived with a good attempt at all the trimmings…the potato salad was an interesting addition though! The main challenge to the meal was the cutlery as Malaysian’s use spoons instead of knives – It made eating the turkey interesting!

As the meal, wine and pudding were dealt with the entertainment began. A local band took to the stage and played some great cover songs, as well as a few ‘jazzed up’ Christmas carols!

More images available in the gallery HERE

Christmas day started early with a snorkelling trip to the island of Mabul – a short boat ride from Semporna. We arrived at the Scuba Junkies base about 8am to sort out our kit before boarding the speedboat. The trip to the island took about 1 hour but it gave us an opportunity to see the Borneo coastline. It was a mixture of shacks and unfinished buildings, with the occasional high quality building – There were even stilted shacks in the middle of the sea!

Mabul is the last island still on the Borneo shelf before the ocean floor drops to some 800m. It features hundreds of jetties leading to the local’s huts and shacks. In between the locals were the tourist hotel and backpacker lodges. The water around the island was full of canoes and fishing boats with the dive boats trying to negotiate the smaller boats.

Our first dive site was at the rear of the island near the 800m ocean shelf. We spent an hour snorkelling along the top of the shelf. With the low tide we were fortunate to swim approximately 1 metre above the coral! The fish swam all around us as we negotiated the strong ocean currents.

After the first dive we headed around to the front of the island and moored on the jetty. The coral extended right up to the beach at this location and so this would be our second dive site. We swam around the jetties and out to sea looking at the coral from every angle. We managed to avoid the poisonous spikey creatures that lurked on the ocean floor and even saw a sea snake!

Lunch time came at about 1pm so we lounged out on the jetty in gorgeous sunshine eating a chicken curry! A short distance from our jetty was the hotel for the island with a beach front bar. We walked along the beach front for an ice cream which seemed appropriate for the 32 degree heat we were having!

After lunch we went to our third dive site at the top of the island. This was a larger coral reef but with strong currents it made the swimming tricky. Once back on the boat we visited some of the local fishing boats in the area. One boat had just caught a huge Barricuda fish (the only catch in their nets!) but it would be enough of a catch to pay the crew a weeks wages!

The ride home was a great end to Christmas as the sun set over the ocean – now it was time to get ready for our Christmas dinner…

More images available in the gallery HERE

Semporna is at the southern tip of Sabah and was about 10hours bus ride from Kota Kinabalu.  We didn’t spend long here as, other than diving, there really was nothing to do in this town!

The highlight of a normal day was probably seeing a large lizard walk down the high street!

We made a few friends in the Scuba Junkies bar though and this became our local for a couple of days!

There are a few photos online of the town HERE

We visited Sandakan for a few days, mainly using it as a base to enter the jungle and visit the Sepilok Orangutans.

We mainly made use of the Mayfair hotel as it offered comfortable queen sized beds with large flat screen tv’s and use of the owners massive dvd collection all for 45 ringits (less than 9 pounds!).

There are a few photos online of the town HERE

We arrived at Sepilok on the local bus from Sandakan at about 9.15am.  Our trip to the rehabilitation centre would allow us to see orangutans up closer – compared to the distant view of a wild orangutan spotted on our jungle safari.  The centre was certainly a highlight for many Borneo tourists as seen by the number of coaches and the inflated admission charge for non-Malayasian adults (They even charged per camera admitted!)

As we walked down the boardwalk to the feeding platforms we found that an orangutan was taking the same route herself.  ‘Brit’ the female orangutan had recently given birth to ‘Britina’ who was being carried by her mother.  We were really fortunate to get this close to an orangutan, let alone a mother and baby.  As we followed them down the boardwalk “Brit’ kept pausing to make sure we were keeping our distance.  One guy decided to run past to get more photos but ‘Brit’ made sure he knew this was a bad idea by screaming and waving her arms at him.  As we followed her closer to the platform she left us to find her own way through the jungle.

As we reached the viewing area for the viewing platform we finally saw where all the tourists were.  It was packed with over 200 people, all wanting a glimpse of the orangutans.  The feeding platform was about 50 meters away and already had 2 male orangutans waiting on it.  Another swung his way onto the platform along a series of connecting ropes.  Finally ‘Brit’ and ‘Britina’ joined them just as the food was brought out.

It was an amazing sight to see semi-wild orangutans feeding although we were really glad to have seen ‘Brit’ and ‘Britina’ up close on the boardwalk.

More images available in the gallery HERE

Uncle Tan’s 3 day Jungle Safari

We arrived at Uncle Tan’s operations base near Sepilok at about 1pm. After checking in and sorting out all the paperwork we sat down to an excellent buffet lunch. We ha an initial briefing about what to expect on our jungle trip before sorting out our kit ready for the journey to the jungle base. With our bags packed and loaded onto the truck we boarded a minibus to travel an hour down the road to the old jetty on the Sungai Kinabatangan river.

After loading the supplies and bags onto one boat, we boarded another to take us up the river to the jungle base. The wide and mud clotted Sungai Kinabatangan is Sabah’s longest river. As we travelled up river you could visibly see the devastation to the jungle caused by logging and the clearing of jungle for palm oil plantations. Thankfully the further up river we travelled the more of Sabah’s jungle came into view.

Our first encounter with the jungle wildlife was with the cheeky Macaque monkeys who were playing on the banks of the river. Further along we spotted a baby crocodile on a sand bank but the highlight of the first boatride was seeing a small group of elusive Proboscis monkeys. These monkeys are native to Borneo and have large hooked noses which are the main feature of their faces.

After an hour on the boat, zig zagging from bank to bank, we arrived at the jungle base. Climbing up the steps of the bank we were introduced to the local mosquitoes so had to stock up with a covering of repellent as quickly as possible! From the landing point on the river we had to walk about 800 meters to the actual jungle camp. Being rainy season the path was a difficult mud trail which was extremely slippery to negotiate!

We finally arrived at camp at about 6pm just as i started to get dark. Our hut was located along a raised boardwalk and was about 1 metre above the ground. Inside the hut was a mattress on the floor with a mosquito net suspended above. The hut itself was open sided with wire mesh on all the windows and doors to prevent large animals gaining entry!

Further along the boardwalk were the communal areas and kitchens. The toilets, actually smelly holes in the ground, were located a short walk from the sleeping huts. We settled down in the communal area for a rest before our buffet tea.

At about 9pm we trekked through the muddy path back to the jetty for our night-time boat ride alongside the jungle. While one guide steered the boat, another sat at the front with a powerful spotting torch! As we cruised up and down the river we spotted various wildlife – from mini-crocodiles and snakes, to frogs and sleeping birds! After an hour of cruising the river and star gazing we returned to camp for our first night in the jungle. The loud sounds coming out of the trees made sleeping tricky!

The morning of day 2 saw us woken up at 6am to go on a morning boat cruise. So after the quick cup of tea we headed off back to the jetty and onto the boat. On the short trip up the river we got to see various monitor lizards, kingfishers, hornbills as well as more macaque monkeys! Breakfast was ready on our return and was a mixture of fried bananas/potatoes served with rice, eggs, French toast and fruit.

Straight after our meal we got ready for our first jungle trek. We knew this could get muddy as we would be walking on swamp land near the river so we donned big welly boots for this trip. We set off on the 2 hour round trip walking through mosquito infested jungle spotting various poisonous spiders, scorpions millipedes, frogs and a couple of tiger leeches! We could have attracted more leeches halfway through the walk as we had to cross a swamp with water up to our knees and over our welly boots! Luckily the swamp didn’t get any deeper and the leeches weren’t interested in us this time!

We returned to camp for a quick buffet lunch before crashing out in the huts. It was perfect timing as within 10 minutes a torrential storm hit the camp with rain falling for over 3 hours. We finally woke after the storm had passed to find a couple of fallen trees and a semi flooded camp. A group of bearded pigs had moved in though and were playing in the puddles near the boardwalk.

Our early evening snack was made interesting when a group of macaque monkeys started to run all over the roof of the kitchen. When we weren’t near by they would make sneak attacks to steal cans of coke or toast.

The last trip of the day was an evening boat cruise down the river. Although we didn’t see much wildlife on this trip it was great to watch the sunset over the jungle.

Our final morning in the jungle meant a 6.30am boat cruise. Luck must have been with us that morning as we spotted a rare, wild orangutan eating fruit from a nearby tree. We spent most of the trip observing the orangutan before heading back to camp to have our last breakfast and pack our bags.

After saying goodbye to our guides we set off on our final boat ride back home. We stopped off for another look at the orangutan . Just as we were about to leave to continue down the river our guide spotted a fully grown crocodile, this really was a great end to a fantastic trip!

More images available in the gallery HERE

With a good nights rest behind us we awoke with the prospect of a 6hour bus ride to Sandakan.  We wanted to catch the 10am bus but when we arrived at what we thought was the bus station, just across from the hostel, we were told we needed to take a taxi to another bus station.  It was slightly confusing being in a new country and not speaking the language but people seemed helpful and convincing!

After about a 20 minute taxi ride through the back streets of K.K we finally arrived at a bus station.  We were greeted on mass by about 5 ticket touts all trying to sell us tickets.  But, unlike in most countries, they were really helpful in getting us to the ticket office and onto the right bus.

The bus journey was fairly comfortable with air-con and nice reclining seats.  We stopped for a break half way through at a small roadside cafe.  It was an interesting journey giving us a snapshot of how people live out of the city – from bathing in the river to selling goods on the side of the road to the multitude of stray dogs on the side of the road.

We arrived in Sandakan about 4pm and had to catch another taxi into town.  After a quick rest in the hostel we explored the local area and had our first meal in Borneo.

Tomorrow we set off on the 3 day jungle safari…

After a canceled flight to Brunei the previous night we arrived back at the airport, this time to catch a Malyasian airlines flight, via Kuala Lumpur, to Kota Kinabalau.  Check in took a while to sort out as there was only one attendant who could process airline transfers.  We eventually got on the flight and took off on the 10 hour trip to Kuala Lumpur.  We thought Air New Zealand was good but the food on this flight was fantastic!  After watching about 4 films we arrived in K.L. at 8pm local time.

We then had a frantic hour to re-check in for the next flight to K.K.  After a train ride from the satellite terminal to the main terminal building we reached the transfer desk but found that Royal Brunei had not booked us onto the next flight!  With the flight full we had an annoying 30 minute wait to see if we could get on it as standby passengers.  With the time running out to board the plane we finally got some tickets and ran through security and onto the plane.

The flight from K.L. to K.K was a domestic flight on a much smaller plane.  After a couple of hours flight we arrived in K.K just after midnight.  The airport is about 10km out of the city so we took a taxi to our hostel.  We checked in just after 1am and then promptly collapsed  in bed!

We arrived at Auckland airport at midnight last night to get ready for our 3am check in only to find the departure board showing the flight was cancelled!

After frantically trying to find the Royal Brunei airlines office I managed to find a really helpful lady who managed to get us onto another flight.

We now fly this afternoon to Kuala Lumpur then direct onto Kota Kinabalu.  This flight is perfect for us as we needed to get a boat from Brunei to Kota Kinabalu anyway so it now saves us the hastle!

Time to re-pack and head off back to the airport…