Mt. Kinabalu, July 27-29

Mt. Kinabalu

On Monday we flew from Miri to Kota Kinabalu, the capital of the northern state of Boneo, Sarawak. The airports here are a breeze as it took us 15 minutes to check in, go through security and immigration. I've been very grateful to fly around Borneo as the bus rides can be horrendous. A 45 minute flight, as was the one from Miri to KK, can take 22 hours on a bus and the flight only cost $30 -- so it was well worth the airtime. We arrived in KK in the morning and checked in to our hostel, Sensi backpackers, which has been one of the nicest hostels yet. We met a bunch of people there and all went out for a food stall dinner and some drinks with the locals.

The next afternoon Kevin and I got on a bus at 2pm heading to Mt. Kinabalu for two nights. It's only 80km to Mt. Kinabalu, but the drive is a hell of an adventure through steep mountains and winding roads. We arrived at Mt. Kinabalu around 4pm to a deserted town (there's literally nothing except a guest house, two restaurants and the park headquarters). The first night we just hung around the hostel and had some great curry Laksa for dinner and enjoyed the cool, non-humid air (the base of the mountain is approximately 3,000 feet above sea level).

On Wednesday we woke up around 9:30 to hike a few of the trails around the base of the mountain. We took the shitty trail map and headed for the Linguwi trail, which was the parks longest trail and would take about 4-5 hours to hike. Along the way we came to numerous forks in the road that were unmarked and were not on the trail map (the map was essentially a hand drawn map with a few lines and some markings -- basically a photo copied back of the envelope sketch). We got lost a few times and at one point made a complete circle back to our original trail. We gave up on the Linguwi trail and headed for a view point trail that took us up another thousand feet with some nice views and through the thick clouds. Luckily it didn't rain and the weather was very comfortable. All in all we wound up hiking about 10km and at some points continuously re-tracing our steps. Nonetheless, the hike was beautiful as Mt. Kinabalu and its surroundings are  among the most important biological sites in the world, with over 4500 species of plant, 326 species of birds, and 100 mammalian species identified.

Once we got back to park headquarters I signed up for the Monday day hike summit of Mt. Kinabalu. There are two options of doing the hike, a two day one night trip where the first day you hike 5 hours then the next day you summit for sunrise; however this trip was all booked so I had no choice but to sign up for the day hike: 16km, 10,000 feet and 10 hour climb. In order to accomplish this there were a few stipulations I had to sign off on: 1) a guide is required, 2) I must reach the halfway point by 10am (by the way the climb starts at 7am), 3) I must be at the summit by 1pm, 4) I must be back at the park headquarters by 5pm, and 5) if at any point it rains the climb is off. I'm not sure my legs will function after this but I am mentally preparing for what is going to be one of the most arduous days of my life. To see more about Mt. Kinabalu and what I am trying to accomplish on Monday, click here: Mt. Kinabalu.

Kevin and I took the bus back to Kota Kinabalu on Thursday, where I will be until Sunday when I return to Mt. Kinabalu. Unfortuantely, on Saturday Kevin will be traveling to China for his newest adventures.

View from Hostel

Mt. Kinabalu Town

8.72km to the top -- what I will accomplish Monday

Niah Caves, July 25-26

Niah Caves
Today was another early day as we were hitting the Niah Caves for a quick day trip. The caves are a few hours away so we had to get a car to drive us out there, leaving around 8:30am. The trek was pretty easy, since even though it was dense jungle there was a clear path and was only about 8km round trip. The first cave we came to was the traders cave which  in the mid 20th century was where locals would come to collect bat guano and nests to sell along trading routes. This cave wasn't too spectacular so we moved along to the Great Cave, which covers 10 hectares and is over 75 meters tall from top to bottom. Human remains dating back to 40,000 years ago have been excavated here, making for the oldest recorded human settlement in east Malaysia. It was a fun hike through the Great Cave with flashlights in hand as it was very dark inside. At one point we turned off our flashlights and it was pitch black. I couldn't even see my hand that was right in front of me! It was about a 30 minute hike through the cave in total darkness if it wasn't for the flashlights. From there we went on to the Painted Cave which has rock painting dating back 1,200 years ago (although as you can imagine they were quite faded).

We returned to Miri after visiting the Niah Caves and prepared for our flight the next day to Kota Kinabalu.

Traders' Cave

Inside the Great Cave

Stairs to nowhere

Rock art

Inside Great Cave

Miri, Borneo, July 24

Miri, Borneo

I was up early again to make my 9:00am flight to Miri. It was only an hour journey, but a beautiful one right over the dense jungle of Borneo. We got to our hostel around 11ish where we met a Filipino guy who's been staying at the hostel for 11 months!! The three of us went out to lunch and walked around the city a bit. It was extremely hot today so we mostly just took it easy. In the evening we went to the Weekend Market that had some of the best street vendor food yet. Since there's not much to report today, I'm going to make today my "food" post day. Enjoy the mouth watering photos:

Apam Balik

FIIISH!

 

 

 

 

 

Anything grilled

Chicken Satay with Sambal sauce...my absolute favorite

Craziest colored cake, ever.

Semenggoh, Borneo, July 23 ORANGUTANS!!!

Semenggoh, Borneo

Today was another early rising day, 7:45am, but again for a great reason. After my first day in Borneo I didn't think it could get any better, but I am in Borneo so of course it did. I was up early to get a ride to Semenggoh where there is an orangutan rehabilitation center. Being in Borneo and seeing the orangutans has been a dream of mine since I was a little kid and apparently it showed on my face on the drive over there (the driver said "b/c you have had a smile the entire drive you will see them" and he was right on point). I was like a kid in a candy store and I couldn't hide it. By the way, Orangutan means people of the forest and are named that since 99% of their DNA is similar to humans.

The organutans in Borneo are one of only two places in the world you can see them in the wild (the other place being Sumatra) so I felt quite fortunate to be here. The center feed the orangutans twice a day but since the orangutans are wild there is no guarantee they will come. All the visitors were instructed to stand at this one platform which has the best views to see the orangutans should they come for the bananas, which were resting on a feeding platform approximatelty 10 meters from us. It's set up that guests can only be there for one hour -- 9 to 10 -- so as not to disturb the natural habitat. 9:20 rolled around and no sign of any orangutans but I was certainly keeping my fingers crossed. A few minutes later you could hear branches breaking, trees violently shaking and in the distance about four orangutans coming towards the food.

The first ones to arrive were a mother and two younger ones (unfortunately no baby sightings). After watching them play around in the trees the dominant male strolled onto the platform for what was an absolutely amazing site. He has an arm span over 7ft. wide and weighs over 310 pounds. Seeing him in the wild was one of the greatest and most memorable experiences ever!!!!All in all we were able to see about 8 different orangutans, from young ones to the dominant male, for about 35 minutes -- of course I was the last one to leave. Anyways, I'll let the photos tell the story....

That was certainly the highlight of the day today. Tomorrow Kevin and I fly to Miri to go to the Niah Caves until Monday.

Younger brother who swang around

the trees non stop

Dominant male

That's a lot of hair

He doesn't look real!

Mother

Bananas in the mouth, mango in

the foot

Bako National Park, Kuching, Borneo, July 22

Bako National Park

Ahhhh where do I even begin!! I've been here one day and I already think Borneo is one of the greatest place known to man (you'd agree with me if you're as nerdy as I am about ecology and the environment). Let me first take a step back...

Last night I flew from Johor Bahru into Kuching, the capital of Sarawak -- the largest state in Malaysia. I got in around 8pm and met Kevin at our hostel (121 Lodge, which for anyone planning to come here should stay at). After hanging around the hostel for a bit we headed out for some dinner to Top Spot which came highly recommended by the hostel staff. It was about a 20 minute walk through a heavy downpour, but was certainly worth it. The food was fantastic. I had delicious sweet and sour prawns (me eating them is a testament to how good they are) and a side of Midin with garlic sauce, which is a famous local dish. Midin grows like a mushroom in the sense that it doesn't have to be planted and after heavy rains grows right out of the ground in the forest. I've had it with every meal thus far and it's nice to have some plain ole' veggies.

We woke up around 6am in order to catch the first local bus out to Bako National Park. From the bus stop we had to take a 20 minute river cruise to the park entrance. As soon as we got off the boat we came across the elusive Proboscis Monkey which is endemic to Borneo. At that instant I thought to myself, "wow I just got here and I can't believe I'm seeing this monkey that can't be seen anywhere else in the world!" We joined the two girls we met on the bus on their hike to Telok Pandan Kecil Beach (about a 2.5km hike). The trail was wet and muddy b/c of the rains last night and at times quite steep, but who cared we were in the jungles of Borneo!! The hike to Kecil Beach took about 1.5 hours and went through dense jungle to sandy/desert vegetation before going back into the jungle upon descending to the beach. The cliff before the beach had some spectacular views!! Kevin and I hung around the beach for about an hour before deciding to go for another long hike before having to catch the 3 o'clock boat to the bus.

After returning the way we came, we headed for the Telok Delima trail for another shot at seeing proboscis monkeys. Only 10 minutes into this hike we heard loud shuffling in the trees above and above us were about 7 or 8 proboscis. We stood there watching the monkeys for a solid hour (at least) seeing them climb, jump, and howl from tree to tree. They make a strange noise, almost like a goat but is certainly hard to imitate. I probably could've watched the monkeys for hours but unfortunately we had to get back to the jetty.

This was my first full day in Borneo and I can certainly say the jungle here is one of the most amazing ecosystems I've ever seen and has countless endemic species. I can't wait to go back!

Once back into Kuching we relaxed in the evening before heading out to dinner and drinks with the girls we met on the bus to Bako.

Proboscis Monkey

It's leg looks like a human's!

The trail we took...

Telok Pandan Kecil Beach

River flowing to the ocean

Beach part of the hike

Kevin and I at the trailhead

This plant is HUGE!!!!

They look like salamanders but not sure...
Probably the first animal that moved from
ocean to land.

Mersing and Johor Bahru, Malaysia, July 20-21

Mersing and Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Kevin and I left Tioman Island on Monday morning heading for Mersing. I decided to stay in Mersing for one night while Kevin went to Singapore for a day and a half. I honestly would've gone to Singapore with him, however, because of slight visa issues I decided it would be best not to leave Malaysia and then try to re-enter into Malaysian Borneo. Essentially, the problem is that b/c I don't have a ticket yet that shows I am leaving Malaysia (I plan to take the ferry into Indonesia) immigration would be hesitant to let me into Malaysia. When I was leaving South Africa I almost wasn't allowed on the plane to Malaysia b/c I didn't have a ticket showing my departure (thankfully my 1 year visa into Indonesia saved me). I didn't want to take this risk again so decided I would stay in Mersing one night and then take a bus to Johor Bahru for the next night and fly out of JB to Borneo.

There's really not much going on in either Mersing or JB. These two days I've been preparing for Borneo, which I am super excited about!! Borneo is one of those places I've always wanted to go to so I can't wait to get there. In Mersing I caught up on a lot of emails and took care of other errands, while in JB I actually saw a movie -- Inception -- the first movie I've seen since Cambodia. It was pretty good, almost like Matrix meets James Bond type of movie. Perhaps it was just the novelty of seeing a movie that made it good.

Since neither Mersing or JB is photogenic I've included a couple photos of signs or random funny things...

Off to Borneo!!!!!!!!!!!!

Crap is one of the most expensive
items on the menu!!!

I wonder what they serve at
this restuarant

Trafficking cigarettes = death penalty

Tioman Islands, Malaysia, July 16-19

Tioman Island, Malaysia

I know I've skipped a few days in these posts, but for two days Kevin and I were in Cherating and there was absolutely nothing there so I'm not going to write about it. Onto Tioman Islands...

The trip from Cherating to Tioman was, as my good Irish friend Kevin describes a "saga." The day before leaving, we purchased our bus tickets from the local tourist shop in Cherating. The guy who sold us the tickets was very helpful and suggested we take the local bus at 6:20am to get to Kuantan for the 10:00am bus to Mersing. From there we would hop on the 4:00pm ferry to Tioman. Despite the early start we figured this was a good plan and prepared ourselves for a long journey the following day.

We got up at 5:45am and walked ten minutes to the local "bus stop" to catch the 6:20 bus. It was still dark at that time, but around 6:30 we saw a bus coming our way which we attempted to get on. Unfortunately, the bus decided not to stop for us. We waited another hour and another until about 8:30 when we were nervous that we wouldn't make the 1.5 hour ride to Kuantan in time for our 10:00am bus. Luckily, two British guys were also waiting for the bus so the four of us were able to split a cab which wound up only being $3/person for what turned out to be a half hour ride. We then jumped on our 10am three hour bus to Mersing. Once there it was a measly 10 minute walk to the jetty.

The boat was supposed to leave at 4:30 but was a bit delayed due to the uncertainty of the tides and level of water (there's no real set times for the ferries as it varies based on season and tidal schedule). While we were waiting for the ferry, we met two Dutch girls who were going to the same place but were on a different ferry (apparently the ferry decided to use two boats instead of one, each with about 75 ppl on it so their wouldn't be a weight issue with the low tide and all...they proved to be wrong). The ferry left at 5pm chugging through very shallow water and about 30 minutes into the ride the inevitable happened and we heard the boat hit the bottom and stopped completely. The captain came running downstairs and yelled for everyone to quickly run to the front of the boat. Amazingly enough this worked and the boat was unstuck, however, we all had to stay at the front of the boat to avoid ruining the engines on the sea floor. In our journey we wound up passing the other ferry that the two Dutch girls were on. It turned out that they also hit bottom and one of the engines broke so they essentially had to zig-zag all the way to Tioman.

We got to Tioman around 7pm in what turned out to be a 13 hour journey, including a taxi ride, bus ride and ferry (certainly a saga).

***

Tioman Island is a quiet island regarded as better for what's under the water then above. Since it's high season and we were there over a weekend, it was pretty busy especially with vacationing Malaysians. The first full day there, Kevin and I went for a hike to Monkey Bay. Although only 45 minutes it was a steep hike through dense jungle. We encountered two different species of monkeys and tons of birds and lizards. On the way over one lone monkey was certainly unhappy with us; as we tried to pass he went into an almost pouncing position and howled with his fangs out. We stopped in our tracks and went the other direction with him coming after us. We finally completely stopped and luckily he decided to turn around and walk the other direction. Monkey Bay was a secluded beach with pristine water and as the name suggests full of Monkeys (tame ones though). We spent most of the day there.

On the second day I went diving again since I couldn't resist the craving. It was me and a bunch of Malaysians which turned out to be a lot of fun. The diving was good, not as good as The Perhentians, but a solid B+. The highlight was most definitely seeing a banded snake eel; a poisonous sea snake and the first one I've ever seen.

We found a great restaurant that served delicious prawns in Sambal sauce (local chili type sauce) that also played movies every night. We wound up seeing the Karate Kid (the new one with Jackie Chan) which was bad. On our last full day, Sunday, it rained all afternoon so we watched a bunch of shows on Kevin's laptop. The best was by far "The Inbetweeners" a British show that is absolutely hilarious. On Monday morning we left for Mersing to plan our trip to Borneo on Wednesday!!!!!

Tioman Island

Hike to Monkey Bay

They're good friends...

Our friends at Monkey Bay