Scuba Dooby Doo

After time well spent in KK, we were ready to hit the road again and make our way down to the East coast of Malaysian Borneo.
Our first stop Sandakan is the second largest city in Sabah. We used it only as a stopover to the south however Sandakan is the main port of entry to the Turtle Island and the Kinabatangan River. We decided not to explore them as we have either already done similar things or we are going to in the near future. Being on a budget means we cannot afford too much repetition of the same activities.
Sandakan doesn't offer much as a city but a couple of temples, a nice market, lively waterfront and an english teahouse overlooking the city where we ended up sharing a very welcome banana split (in 32c heat you dont have much time to savour it before it turns into a banana melt). A bit of western food to change from the rice and noodles.

After a few nights in Sandakan we made the last leg of our journey to Semporna, gateway to the diving islands. Semporna is used by tourists either as a base for diving on day trips (its coast is scattered wth 25 different islands) or longer stays on one of the larger islands. We opted for the latter and booked a 3 days/2 nights trip including a dicover scuba diving package on the island of Mabul. The island is located an hour away by boat from Semporna.

An impromptu backache for Geraldine the morning of our departure for Mabul island, forced us to postpone our trip with Scuba Junkie. They were however really helpful and aloud us to be completely flexible with our trip. After a day in bed with little movement, we decided to go to the island and just see how things go, not being sure whether Geraldine would be able to dive or not, but maybe do some snorkelling. We left Semporna and arrived on the island under the rain but that was to be it for the rest of our trip, only blue sky fortunately. People come to the island either to snorkel or dive therefore the pier and lodge are always bursting with people coming and going.

We decided to snorkel for our first two days. It was a very rewarding experience as we saw plenty of different fish, all very colourful: trigger, trumpet, angel, squid, clown (as well as half the cast from Nemo)... and some giant green turtles.

After a few snorkelling trips, we were ready to do the Discover Scuba Diving and make the most of our last day. The backache luckily had now relatively eased itself and didn't affect any of the snorkelling or diving.
For our diving we had our own instructor and assistant which was reassuring.  After a quick brief on the  rules, we put our gear on and were ready to go.

Going underwater was not easy first time round and a few attempts were needed but once in the water everything went ok.  Its certainly a surreal feeling that you are exploring somewhere that physically you shouldn't be able to.  Some calm nerves and steady breathing are required the first time you fully submerge yourself and start breathing underwater. We started with some safety exercises in the shallow water to give us some confidence.  We were then ready to go deeper and start exploring around the depths and even a shipwreck. We recognised a few fish we saw previously when snorkelling plus a few others and had the chance to watch a turtle eating some squid right in front of us. On our dives we went as deep as 14m.

After a quick break we started our second dive this time around the corals, therefore a bit more precaution to be taken not to kick any.  After two dives of around an hour, we were hooked so went for another dive in the afternoon, this time off of a boat.  The backwards roll needed to enter the water with your equipment is fun. We explored the reef from the bottom up allowing the current to guide us.  We saw a few turtles swimming with us then stopped to watch two humongeous turtles resting on the ocean floor, at around 2m in length they are really impressive to observe in their natural habitat, esspecially from so close. For us it was a moment of sheer excitement, a large intake of breath at spotting these creatures has you ascending, whilst a steady exhale of breathe is required to keep you from floating upwards and away.  We also saw a seahorse, conger eels, and some tiny shrimp who run up your fingers if you hold them still.

First time diving was a fantastic experience for both of us and we are really keen on doing some more on our travels.  It offers a truley unique way to observe the goings on under the surface of the water.

It was time to go back to Semporna and hit the road the following morning back to Kota Kinabalu, a long 10h bus journey plus a few mini buses ahead of us.  Just a few days left in Borneo before flying to Singapore on Friday to meet some friends.

Kota Kinabalu

Setting out from Miri to Kota Kinabalu was a tedious bus journey taking near fourteen hours and requiring ten passport stamps.  The reason for this is the small matter of Brunei which more or less splits the Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah, not once, but twice.  This coupled with the fact you need to be stamped to change state in Malaysia had us on the following itinerary;  Sarawak - Brunei - Sarawak - Brunei - Sarawak - Sabah.  With exit and entry stamps completed ten times it was a welcome relief to arrive in Kota Kinabalu, known more commonly in these parts simply as KK.

In KK we set up in the heart of Chinatown, Jalan Gaya.  This gave us a great location to check out most of KK's attractions.  The promenade along the riverfront, the many markets, including the night market where you can choose your fish or seafood from the market and they cook it up right there in front of you.

 
KK also coincided with the start of Euro 2012 and the crunch game between England and France.  Luckily it was a midnight kick off (and not 2.45am) so we found a sports bar to watch it in.  Despite being relatively quiet, approximately ten people trying to watch the game the 'sports bar' proceeded with a Malaysian Cabaret act belting out the likes of 'Greece Lightning' and 'Mustang Sally' throughout the first half.  This must have proved distracting enough as 15 minutes into the game we realised we hadn't seen any football and the bar had FanCam on instead.  Luckily (or unluckily) they managed to find the right channel just in time for us to see Milner miss a sitter.  In the end though a favourable result for both of us so neither can hold any bragging rights over the other.

We left the stifling heat of the city for some R&R further along the coast near the small fishing town of Kinarut.  We didn't see anything of the town however.  We spent three days by the pool, overlooking the beach or watching the sunset behind the islands.

 
A great place to be when its 35c outside, at least for a couple of days to allow some recovery time after ten lines of immigration.

Gunung Mulu

Heading East along the Malaysian coast of Borneo we undertook a labourious 14 hour overnight bus journey. The level of comfort is a far cry from the buses in South America, and the chances of getting any sleep on it are pretty slim. It did however serves its purpose, just, and delivered us safely to our next destination, Miri.

The 1st of June marks the Gawai Dayak or harvest festival, and for lucky Malaysians meant a four day public holiday. For us it meant the town was a bit on the sleepy side (for sleepy read hungover on rice wine). Still we had ample time to check out the local markets and hawker stands. It's been over two weeks now in Malaysia and this is the longest we've gone without cooking, the closest we come is putting bread in the toaster in the morning. We've been randomly working our way through the local dishes; Laksa, Rendang, Tom Yam, Nasi Lemak, Mee Goreng, Nasi Soto, Kampungs and Belacans. All in all a lot of different types of rice and noodle dishes. So far we haven't come across anything we don't like, but we definitely have some favourites.

With the city asleep we made our way to the star attraction. As seen on BBCs Planet Earth, Gunung Mulu National Park, home to the worlds largest cave system. Buried so far into the rainforest a 30 minute flight is required, or a two day river crawl... we opted for the flight.

Return flights are only 290 MYR, that's less than £60, but that equates to 50 odd meals here. In a bid to recoup a bit of cash we spent our three nights at Mulu outside of the park at a homestay with a local family.  Very basic accommodation, but we had a room with a couple of beds, cold shower and electricity for three hours a day, what more could you ask for.

We were here for the caves, and there's a whole heap of relational facts they can throw around.... x number of football pitches, x number of jumbo jets, even a St Pauls Cathedral can fit inside these cave systems.... the largest single cave system, the largest underground river system, the largest natural chamber, none of this really matters, these caves are just B-I-G BIG!  We started with the Deer Cave, one of the biggest, but also home to between two to three million bats.  They all come flooding out just after dark in a snake like procession so you just need to take their word on the number of them.  It takes about ten minutes for the bats to exit the cave and is quite an extraordinary site as they corkscrew out in batches for a bit, before a five minute constant stream comes pouring out in what can only be described as a well executed synchronised display.  They are of course going off to feed, and the stats say that each bat consumes 10 grams of insects a night, doing the math that's upwards of 20 tonnes a night.... that equates to a big mess on the cave floor each morning.

We also took a boat downstream to the Clearwater and Wind Caves.  Clearwater is stunning and as the name suggests has an almost magical charm with a clear water river running through it.  It is another monster of a cave in terms of size and walking around inside can be a bit disorientating but the sheer size of it and the sight of the lush green rainforest when looking out is sight to remember.  The Wind Cave as you can probably guess took its name from the wind blowing through it, however didn't seem particularly windy to us.  All the caves did however offer a nice cool respite from the heat and humidity of the jungle outside.  Of course there was also the obligitary 'jungle trek', this time we were lucky enough to pass right under a viper snake who had made himself at home above the trail.

The caves are of course full of hundreds of beautiful rock formations that have been formed over millions of years.  Stalactites, stalagmites, even a face that resembles Abrham Lincoln, however its the sheer unimaginable size of these caves that sticks in the mind.

Living the Longhouse

In search of 'the real Malaysian Borneo we left the bright lights and market vendors of Kuching to head
into the Borneo rainforest, one of the oldest in the world.

Our destination was the small Bidayuh village of Annah Rais, where the 500 or so villagers live in a traditional longhouse. A longhouse is like a small collection of huts or houses raised above the ground and connected together by a bamboo floor which acts like a walkway and a 'drying board'. The use of bamboo doesn't stop here as it is used in almost all forms of activity and is the single most valuable natural resource here.

Not being quite sure what to expect we were a little surprised that we were the only visitors staying in the village of 500 plus or so. It was a great way to get off the beaten track and meet with the locals (those that could speak English anyway). It was however a bit alarming when we learnt that this village was one of the most notorious of the old Borneo Head Hunter tribes and proceeded to show us some of the skulls they had collected. Assurances were given that they no longer behave in this way now!

On arrival we were greeted with a fried rice breakfast and met with our guide, local villager, Tony. Tony is one of these old and wise jungle types and was very much at home leading us through the jungle as he'd hack a path out with his machete. Collecting plants and leafs as he went Tony led us to a waterfall where we could cool off. What could of been perceived as mindless hacking and slashing soon became clear as 'harvesting' as Tony proceeded to cook us up a lunch of chicken in Bamboo with wild ginger and fern, and rice served in the leaf.

The following day there was more machete based jungle trekking. This time we made our way through the jungle resulting in quite possibly the most sweat released in a single hour possible. A sharp turn of the head would result in an Ali v Foreman style sweat fountain. In a vain effort to cool down (and due to the fact it was the only way to go) the shoes came off and we had to wade waist deep in the river to make our way upstream.

The reward however was just. Tony built an 18 foot long bamboo raft and took us on an hour long cruise down the river Venitian Gondola style. Of course he had to stop a few times to teach any low hanging branches a lesson or two with his machete. We also had to get off and guide it over some rocks a couple of times. Despite this it was one the most relaxing ways of seeing the jungle, gently meandering down stream whilst lying back and enjoying the view.

In the evening we were treated to some fantastic and humungous portions, usually six or seven different foods for dinner plus soup. We had the traditional rice in bamboo, chicken in bamboo, fish in bamboo, and of course roasted bamboo shoots. Seriously, the use of bamboo is everywhere and they have nine different varieties here each with it's own specific use. We also tucked into some river fish, including catfish, and some river snails we had collected during our rafting. We also had a bottle of the local tipple, rice wine, or tuak as it's known. We're going to put this one down as an acquired taste.

On our final day we visited the nearby hot springs. These are natural hot springs and as such the temperatures are not regulated. These pools however were hot enough to boil an egg in so we choose to stay clear and take a dip in the river instead. On the way back to Kuching we stopped off at an Oran Utan rehabilitation centre where we got to see plenty of wild Oran Utans come swinging through the jungle.

They're so human in movement that when they're down on the ground look like humans in costume. In Malay, Oran Utan means 'people of the forest' and it's easy to see where the name comes from.