Kota Kinabulu & Kudat, Borneo, Malaysia – 7/3/14 - 10/3/14

One deserted beach

Got to KK late in the evening, and managed to wangle a free lift from the bus station to town with the Chinese couple from Uncle Tans, who had got chatting to another Chinese fella who was getting his uncle to pick him up. Lucky too as I got in a row with a cabbie who refused to budge on his price despite saying a cheaper price first to the Chinese, and then saying that he wanted to charge more when he saw we were white, and of course all of his cabbie mates all around saw this and weren’t going to go with the decent price, they wanted to rip off the giant white bloke too. I bloody hate taxi drivers. I have only met one in my life who wasn’t a conning, lazy gobshite. Anyway, I digress…

Another deserted beach

We got to the hostel, got a noodlepot, then went to sleep. Got up next morning, packed our bags, had the Malaysian standard free breakfast of toast with jam, and then dumped our big backpacks with the other hostel we would be staying in when we returned to KK in a few days time.

Not a bad way to spend a Sunday

We wandered to the bus station, and had to get a share taxi to Kudat as there are only two buses per day, and sometimes not even that many. Problem was we were passengers 4 and 5, so we had to wait for two more people to join us. After almost two hours, Jo was climbing the walls (having a ‘western’ day – where you just want western promptness and adherence to timetables) and we finally left KK.

Due to a) an old lady forcing the driver to take a detour to drop her off at her door in the arse-end of nowhere, and b) the driver lying to me, we rocked up to Kudat almost an hour later than expected, and late for our pickup to take us to Tampat Do Aman, a guesthouse at the tip of Borneo run by an Englishman called Howard. Luckily Jo had had some email correspondence with Howard that morning, so he knew we were coming and to hang on for us.

Nice place to sit and read

Howard took us to where we would be staying, on the fringes of the forest in a longhouse which had loads of rooms, and is very rustic, but with comfortable mattress and decent mozzie net. We sealed and hung up our little bag of food we’d brought with us as I expected the grub to be a bit expensive, and got taken the 2km down to the beach and the other arm of Tampat Do Aman which is the restaurant right on the beach. The beach has a few local huts on the fringes, and that’s about it else on it. Very quiet, and stunning. We had a drink, then wandered the couple of km along the beach up to the very Northernmost tip of Borneo.

Tip of Borneo

Took some photos, had another drink and took in the view, watched the sun set, then headed back to the room to shower and discovered a tiny kitten and cat walk out from under our door. Opened the door to find the mummy cat had smelt and fancied our food, and had knocked it down and got in. We ate the remaining food (the cat wouldn’t eat what she’d got into anyway, it was baked cheese rolls).

Jo played with the kitten, totally besotted, and I read for a bit, then we turned off the lights and drifted off to the jungle soundtrack all around us.

The 'busy' beach... 3 people on it

Next morning we got up and got a lift straight down for breakfast. We then started to walk along the road/track to look for all the different beaches. We were given the instruction that “any track going off to the right will take you to a beach”. I was a bit eager and took us down what looked loke a track, straight into jungle. We carried on, and stumbled across a huge deserted building which could have made a lovely holiday destination. We carried on just past it into a garden. We were a little worried that we may get shot at or something, but as we had just stumbled out of jungle, we were clearly lost. A snotty Englishwoman came out all flustered and told us “this is private”. We said we were lost and just come down a jungle track, to which she just told us everything is “private”. We just retreated the way we’d come as this upitty woman obviously wasn’t letting us out the front gate, probably for fear that her holiday wouldn’t appear quite as “private” as she’d been bragging to the girls at bingo.

Jo is famous

We carried on going and found a proper track, and got onto the first beach. Far too busy for us though; there were three people on it (locals shore fishing), so we carried on around some rocks to another stretch of beach about 300m long, with not a soul on it, beautiful clear (if cold) water, and white sand. Sunbathed for a bit, then headed out to the track to go further along. Found our way along between jungle and palm oil plantation to another beach. When we arrived, pretty pooped from the heat, we got chatting with a local woman. She and her two toddlers and two brothers asked to have their photo taken with us, and then invited us over to her house to see her animals. We were then a little surprised as we were expecting a couple of chickens or a goat, but this lady had a deer. A young, judging by the antlers, but full sized male deer in a pen. God knows what was in store for the poor fella, but can’t be good!

We left and went for a walk along the beach, then found a tiny hut with an open front that was a shop which doubled as someones front room. We got a drink and carried on our walking. We’d made it less than a kilometre on the track back when a man in a little minibus pulled over and offered us a lift – saved us a very long walk back! No-one spoke any English, but they just said “Tampat Do Aman?” so we gratefully hopped in.

Jo's "babies"

We freshened up and Jo played with the, what was now, three kittens for ages, coming up with names for them. We wandered down to the restaurant for some dinner and few drinks, played some cards, then called it a night.

Another stunning beach

We were off back to KK the next morning. Up and had breakfast, settled the bill, and Howard took us into Kudat to get the shared taxi back to KK. Pretty uneventful, and we got back in good time.

We got some lunch and bought some bits we would need for the Perhentians (suncream etc). Spent the evening in the hostel sorting our bags out, then out for a last look around KK and bite to eat before bed, and early rise following morning for taxi to take us to the airport. Our Borneo adventure finally at an end. Very sad, but had an incredible time, and cannot believe how much we saw, and how friendly people are and different to peninsular Malaysia it feels.

Uncle Tans, Sepiloc, Borneo, Malaysia - 4/3/14 - 7/3/14

Big ol' praying mantis

Up at the unearthly hour of 4am for a ride to the airport in Kuching, and landed safely in Kota Kinabalu less than two hours later. We proceeded to get the first bus into the city, then another bus to the bus station, where as soon as we disembarked two other backpackers were spilling out of a tiny car, and we were quickly herded onto a coach we were told was leaving imminently bound for Sandakan. Naturally we sat there for about ten minutes before leaving, and we discovered the other backpackers were Nick, a Kiwi, and Allie, a Scotswoman. Found out the tiny car was actually a taxi, which is silly as I don’t think there was even enough space for the four letters to fit on it!

The boatride! Me, Allie, Jo, and Nick

We bumped our way along and around Mt Kinabalu, until we four were kicked off the bus at a roundabout on a long empty road. Optimistic we wandered off down one of the roads, and shortly came across Uncle Tans guesthouse (despite a cab driver stopping to offer services and affirming it was “very far”). We made the most of the coffee, tea, biscuits and latterly dinner while we sat around chatting.

Next day was to be the start of our trip to Uncle Tans Jungle Camp, but not till later. The others went off to see Orangutans at a sanctuary, which we declined after doing the same in Kuching. We dossed about, and I found a huge praying mantis on the window – well chuffed, we weren’t even in the jungle yet!

After lunch, we had a briefing, then were packed into vans and taken to the river. We got into the little boats to speed the 1 ½ hour journey to the camp, getting more and more remote as we went. En route we saw two orangutans in the trees right beside the river, and a few big monitor lizards strutting their stuff on the bank.

Sunrise safari

Arrived at the camp and met everyone, had some more tea and biscuits, and then given itinerary for the next couple of days and shown to our beds. The beds were in shed-like huts, raised off the ground on stilts with no windows or door, just apertures. Three mattresses per room had their own individual mozzie nets, and a bucket with a lid outside to put anything that may smell good to rats or other animals in. Basic, but ample for our needs.

Borneo gibbon

Had some dinner, then it was time for night river safari. We were taken to the boats, then we chugged out slowly with one guide per boat with a big floodlight scanning here and there for wildlife, but mostly in the dark. We saw a crocs eyes and snout about 20 feet from the boat, but he slunk away. Kept going and saw some sleeping kingfishers and some other bits, then made our way back.

I got papped

Up at 6 for the morning river safari, and once again loaded into the boats as sun was about to rise. Much more successful trip, seeing a load of hornbills, Borneo gibbons, monitor lizards, a few eagles, and a crocodile chilling on the bank.

Sticky

Our group

We got up close to him but he soon didn’t like that and got back into the water and waded away. Got back after two hours on the boat, and had an amazing breakfast of eggs, French toast, fresh fruit, and pancakes. After refreshed and refuelled, we went out on a trek. To be honest, it wasn’t much of a trek. The boat ride was almost an hour long as we came across loads of hornbills, kingfisher, cranes and eagles and stopped to watch them. We then went on the trek which was only 1km at most, taking us round showing lots of flora and fauna and explaining their uses. These guides were fantastic; they knew this stuff from living out here all their lives, not because they were taught it to tell tourists. We were all stood around a tree putting bits of leaves in our waterbottles (natural Viagra apparently, so we had to give it a go) when I felt something tickle my ankle. I looked down to find a massive stick insect clambering up my shoe and up my leg. Nick picked him up, then the speedy little sod was up my neck and onto my head. We put him among some fellow stick insects (or sticks, couldn’t really tell) and headed back to camp.

Jos catch

We then had some time spare, in which we could do the additional trip of fishing. We had nowhere near enough money on us, and no way of getting more, but Nick very kindly offered to pay for us if we wanted to go. I was happy to lounge in the jungle in a hammock for an hour or two, but Jo wanted to try, so off they went. After a snooze, a very excited Jo comes back professing that fishing is her new favourite hobby! What a changed woman!

River safari. Note the high tide marks on the trees

Our happy-go-lucky guide

Went out at dusk to look for monkeys and found bloody loads of proboscis monkeys (one load having a fight in the tree above us) and as always, loads of macaques playing on the bank and in the lower trees. As the sun went down, thousands of flying foxes flew overhead from their homes to fruit trees. We tried to get an estimate on the number, but exceeding a hundred every 30 seconds, and a continuous wave that didn’t seem to let up, we couldn’t manage it.

Centipede (the safe kind)

We headed back to camp in the dark for dinner, including the catches of the day being served up. Jo’s four catfish and single eel were barbequed along with the others’ haul. Although not much meat at all, they were tasty.

Sat down after dinner something tiny which resembled dust in the wind was on Allies arm, which she blew onto the table. Upon closer inspection it was a perfectly proportioned but absolutely minute praying mantis. So small that it was almost transparent. We didn’t know you could get them that small!

Naughty macaques

Proboscis monkey

Went out for a short night hike, so we put on sleeves and trousers and headed out. We saw a couple of wolfspiders (they were nothing new to us, there was a huge one living on the ceiling above one of the toilets!), huntsman spiders, a scorpion, and then once again I felt something tickle my ankle. This time I was a little apprehensive of lifting my trouserleg as we’d been told to beware of fire-ants, and to wear wellies. I spurned this information and just put trainers on. Regretting my trivial rebellion, I lifted the trouserleg to find a frog on the edge of my shoe, but it was tiny. Like the praying mantis, it was perfectly proportioned to a normal size frog, but it was tiny; less than half the size of my little fingernail. After a load of flashing cameras which he duly posed for, he hopped away, and we continued our trek. After seeing a few more creepy-crawlies, we saw a massive butterfly asleep on a tree branch, showing it’s menacing livery to ward off bats and the like.

Sat around chatting for a bit, and I wandered off to take some pictures of the innumerable stars, then hit the hay.

Tiny frog

Following morning, we were up at 6 again for our last excursion, a river safari again. This time we found an orangutan, so we hopped out of the boats and watched her above us for a while.

Back at camp we ate our hearty breakfast once more, then cleaned ourselves up, packed gear away and headed back to the jetty in the boats. En route saw a couple more monitor lizards.

Had to say very swift farewells to Nick and Allie as they were both heading East to Semporna to go diving whereas we were going West. (I would have loved to go to Semporna, but every time we read up on it, you had naff all to do if you weren’t diving, which seemed pretty unfair to impose on Jo).

Sunset on the river

Got back to camp, had lunch, then boarded a bus back to KK!

(I apologise for the lack of animal photos, but in truth, I didn’t really try. My camera is good, but it hasn’t got a telephoto lens or any of that kit, and most of the time I just wanted to see the animals in the flesh, not piss around with my camera trying to get a half decent shot. If you want to see a photo of one of the animals I listed, tap it into google, there’ll be millions on there.)

Kuching, Borneo, Malaysia - 26/2/14 - 4/3/14

Got to Kuching airport nice and early, and as there are no buses servicing the airport, a cab to our guesthouse door, which was lovely after our obscene walk in KL a few hours prior.

Guesthouse was lovely, and we had a huge room, so stuck to the pattern, and dumped our bags and went out walking. We walked along the river, then arranged some accommodation for Baku national park. Found the coffee shop The Swedes recommended, and had a really good coffee and watched the world go by. We got some lunch and headed back to the room to relax for a bit…. 3 hours later I awoke. Feeling a bit like a zombie, we wandered out along the waterfront again for a chicken kebab al fresco.

We planned to go to the early morning feed at the orangutan sanctuary, but failed miserably due to the incredibly comfortable bed. Knowing we had a few hours until the lunchtime feed, we ate the standard free breakfast of toast, tea and coffee and went out to suss the buses. Bought some snacking things to take to Baku from a little Chinese man who gave us loads of free samples.

Orangutan family

Got the bus to the orangutan sanctuary, and walked the 1.3km to the feeding platforms, and were subjected to a load of crap from an Australian man who tried telling us that the minimum wage in Oz was $6, they were making 100,000 redundancies a week, and that rent is $800 per week for a room. Knowing better than to try and tell the native any different about his home country, I was first polite and then just ignored him. Dick Dundee then started gobbing off loudly asking where the orangutans were when we got to the feeding platforms despite the signs all around us telling us where they were and we wouldn’t see them until feeding time, and the most common sign telling you to be silent.

Geckos hunting

Got lead up a track by a the guide to a clearing and a feeding platform in front of us. Pretty soon, a big daddy orangutan was bounding through the canopy. He slowly dropped himself down, and hung by one foot and one hand from a rope, munching on fruit. After a few minutes, the coast was obviously clear, and mummy and kiddy orangutan followed. They all played and ate together, and we took millions of pictures. As we wandered back, we overheard Dick Dundee complain to whoever would listen that there were only three, and “there’s hundreds in the zoo back home”. Maybe the irony that may be the reason there’s so few left in the wild and that they are protected might not have quite struck the mark.

Jo loving hiking

We got back to our lovely big room, booked our flights for the Perhentian islands, then went across the road to a little outdoor restauran for chicken curry, fried rice, Heineken and ice coffee for three quid.

Up good and early, and wandered down to get a bus to Bako National Park boat station. When there we hunted down another couple who were also staying one night, and arranged to share the boat there and back with them. They were an older and Danish, and the guy was incredibly passionate about Borneo, and when we told him we were going up to Sabah, he gave us some tips, and told us we have to go to Uncle Tans, a jungle camp.

Proboscis monkey

Eventually, we were packed into the boats and started to make our way to the national park. We were a little dubious of the explanation of the delay being that all the boats were waiting for high tide when the river seemed fine, but after 10 minutes, we were out in the open sea, and chugging along pretty slowly as we felt the bottom scrape the boat. A few boats with only two people in them sped past, and we noticed that they had stopped. We then looked further out and noticed Jesus fishing. We assumed it was him, as he appeared to be walking on water. After a few minutes, we were stuck too, and after a bit of trying to push us along with a stick, our boat driver got out and pushed, which looked very funny as we were a few hundred metres out from the coast. Finally we found deeper water, and in order to keep higher in the water, our guy motored as fast as possible through the water that couldn’t have been more than a couple of feet deep.

Mangroves

On the beach

We arrived at the park HQ and got a map, left our bags in a storage room and headed off on a hike. It started along boardwalk through mangroves, then suddenly it all stopped and you had to ascend through jungle. On the boardwalk alone we saw a few snakes and a load of macaque monkeys (trying to break into a park admin building). We followed three different routes, through jungle, arid jungle, bush and scrubland. Made it to a few cliffs, and down to a couple of deserted beaches swarmed in driftwood. It was incredibly hot, and there was no escaping the heat and humidity, and we quickly burned through our water, so after a few hours we started heading back. As soon as we hit the boardwalk again, we immediately saw a young monitor lizard cooling off in the water, and then a big proboscis monkey, relaxing in a tree right next to the path. We were now absolutely pooped, so we relaxed for a bit, then had some dinner, and went on the organised nightwalk. Jo was in two minds whether to do it as she’s not great with bugs or spiders, but she put on a brave face and off we went. We followed a flying lemur jumping between a few trees, some bats, spiders and catfish. When we returned to camp, Jo and I wandered off to the mangroves to watch the fireflies and take some shots of the stars.

Sky shot at night

After a very deep sleep, we woke to the rain hammering down outside. We went and got something to eat, then I went on a short walk for an hour, but it seemed other than the leeches which I kept finding on my legs and one sad looking monkey up a tree, all the animals were taking shelter, so I went back to camp, and we got the boat back to the bus stop (no pushing required this time!)

We got back to our lovely little guesthouse, and spent all evening drinking coffee and watching Breaking Bad! Repeated a budget dinner of curry and Heineken!

Awoke to yet more rain streaming down our big window, so we didn’t venture out until lunch, when Jo dragged me round lots of statues of cats (Kuching means ‘cat’). Stumbled across a little Chinese place doing loads of dumplings for lunch, and just walked around all the bits of Kuching we hadn’t seen yet.

Cats...

More cats....

Jo wanted to do some more hiking (I’m sure this isn’t the same woman who was like a 5 year old I had to basically drag up Tiger Leaping Gorge less than two years ago), so we went to another national park the next day. The bus dropped us and a German guy (who was confusingly called ‘Manuel’) off outside Kubah national park as the heavens started to open, but fully prepared for the weather, we trod on up to the visitors centre. The guy working there was really enthusiastic, and gave us loads of tips on where to go, what to look out for etc, and off we went. Kubah doesn’t have a lot of wildlife, and is actually the best place to see frogs, but as they’re bloody nocturnal, I found none as I stalked around the frogpond.

Waterfall

We carried on for an hour or so until we reached the waterfalls. Immediately shedding shoes, I ploughed into the water and up to the falls which were lovely and fresh. I was also dead chuffed to at last find a frog! We carried on the hike, and said goodbye to Manuel who was heading back the way we came. Spent a few cheerful hours, climbing and falling through the jungle, spotting a few lizards, and getting a face full of cobwebs every few minutes. We made our way back, and the guy at the visitors desk told us that the next bus wasn’t for two and a half hours. With no other options we went and sat at the bus stop, until the guy pulled into the bus stop in his little car. He was off to the bank close to the city and could drop us off a lot closer so we could get another bus. We hopped in and Dominic (that was his name) told us all about the area, and that we should return to Borneo again soon as the way the corruption in politics is, the reclassification of an area from national park to jungle is done readily for a backhander, and allows developers to flatten vast swathes of jungle to make way for palm oil plantations.

A lizard of some kind!

Back in Kuching, we ventured out to get some suntan lotion and a late dinner. Feeling lazy, and because most local places were closed due to it being Sunday, we decided to go to Pizza Hut. We were then told what we wanted (cheapest pizza they did) had run out, and as this is Asia and not the West, you don’t get offered an alternative, you’re just told “finished”. So we left and went to KFC…. And they’d run out of chicken…. KFC couldn’t provide the very name of their company! This obviously wasn’t meant to be, so home we went.

A few hours later at the stupid hour of 4am, the guy running our guesthouse took us to the airport for our flight to Kota Kinabalu in Sabah, the Northernmost area of Borneo!