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February 28, 2009
After an all night flight we find ourselves back in Kuala Lumpur at the same hotel we stayed at during our “flee” from Cambodia. Our original continuing flight to Tawau got cancelled so we had to rebook a flight to Tawau tomorrow. We got a little bit better room this time. Having done previous recon we knew where the iron was and how to easily get to a good restaurant (and of course RD knew where to get a massage). When we checked our e-mail we found a message from the park department (at Mt. Kinabalu) that our credit card gave them a message of “error call”…whatever that means…we used the same card to check in to the hotel today so there is nothing wrong with the card, it must be something on their end. I asked them to try again.
March 1, 2009
After a leisurely breakfast we headed back over to the airport for our 3 hour flight. Upon landing RD collected our luggage while I went outside and rounded up a taxi driver for our 1 hour ride to Semporna. Instead of the huge expanses of rice fields we usually see on our Asian-Pacific adventures, here, their big cash crop is palm oil and all you can see for miles in all directions is row upon row of palm trees. Along with the rows and rows of palm tree’s come tanker trucks full of palm oil! Semporna is the port from which we will leave on our dive portion of the trip on 3l10 and we got permission to leave our dive gear at the main office so we don’t have to carry an extra 20+kg thru the jungles of Borneo. Our room was 50RM ($13.76) and actually had AC and hot water! Can’t think of anything else good to say about it but for the price it was fine. We walked to a little Chinese restaurant for dinner (I’m not a big fan of Malaysian food) and then tracked down a “taksi” to take us someplace for a massage. 50RM ($13.76) and 1 hour later we were each feeling much more relaxed after all of our traveling.
March 2, 2009
We awoke this AM to find that I had read the travel guide wrong. I thought it was about an hour to Sandakan (our next stop) and it turns out it is 5 hours…and the only bus left at 7:30 …which means we have a 400RM/5 hour taxi ride ahead of us. The front desk found us a “taksi” and I went in search of something to eat (ended up with a “branch” of little tiny (3”) banana’s for 2 RM (or 58¢). RD of course needed some kind of bread so he went out and come back with a “pizza” danish (don’t ask…it had sliced mystery meat and chopped carrots on it), about the time he got back our driver arrived and off we went. First stop was the dive shop to drop off our gear and then we were really off. RD sat in the front seat (for the extra leg room) and the driver, who spoke very little English took it as an invitation to talk. As you can imagine with RD’s hearing limitations I was doing lot’s of “translating” from the back seat. (Our driver is 45, his name is Sufian; he has 6 kids, 2 boys and 4 girls). He asked where we were from and when RD said USA the first thing out of his mouth was “Obama”. He gave a thumbs-up and then pointed to his dark skin and smiled. This was not the first time we have heard this. We hear it from every dark skinned Muslim we talk to…Obama may say he’s not Muslim but the rest of the world thinks he is.
As we drove along I was struck by the greenness of the country (in stark contrast to the deadness of Qatar). The tree trunks are covered with a variety of ferns, and there is a green, vine-like plant that wants to cover everything including telephone poles and wires, fences and up the stilts under the houses. You get the feeling that with-in a very short period of time the country side could be reverted to it’s previous jungle state…(However, it has been stripped of all indigenous flora and what would grow back would surely be weeds not the lush tropical rainforest that has been lost)...I even saw a monkey in a front yard! Everywhere you look there is something growing…coconut, banana and papaya tree’s line the roads. Many of the stands on the side of the road had bananas, coconuts, watermelon, chico fruit and piles of durian which explains a lot when it comes to Malaysian food. It is my belief that any society that grows and eats Durian (a fruit that smells like a week old garbage can…) has such warped taste buds that they can’t possibly distinguish good food from bad. If you have never tried it I suggest you do, merely as a “life experience”, i.e. something you do once on a dare…
First things first, once we arrived at the hotel we checked in then went down for lunch…my little baby banana’s were long gone. On the way down to the restaurant I noticed an office offering adventure tours so after lunch I popped in to see if they could help us with the mountain dilemma…it turns out the only day available to climb the mountain is the 8th and that would mean coming back down on the 9th (all other days are fully booked…who knew hauling your butt to the top of a mountain would be so popular). Unfortunately we are flying out of Kota Kinabalu on the 9th. So after a bunch of back and forth and asking questions we ended up adding a short trip to a turtle sanctuary and a day trip to the base of the mountain (for some low land jungle trekking) along with air transfer to Kota Kinabalu (instead of another 5 hour car trip). After all that was done we both went for a massage before heading down for dinner.
March 3, 2009
The 6:00 wake-up call came awful early (at least for me) but we had to be packed, have eaten breakfast and checked out by 7:45. A van picked us up and took us to pick –up 7 other people and then we were off to Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre. After a quick intro we walked out on elevated boardwalks to a feeding area. We were there 45 minutes early but the smaller Macaques started showing up right away. We were warned to not let them climb on us because if you did not have food for them they would either pee on your head or bite your ear off! Only 3 Orang Utans showed up (at 10:00 on the dot) but one of them was carrying a baby so that was fun to see. RD got some really good pictures because they would walk right down the railing of the boardwalk just inches away from you. We learned that the massive turn over from jungle to palm oil farms has dropped the population from 180,000 just 5 years ago to 30,000 now! They’re DNA is over 96% identical to humans…Orang Utan actually means “forest people”.
We then took a speed boat up the muddy Kinabattangan River, a total of 87 KM from Sandakan to Sukau. Mostly we were on the look-out for Proboscis monkeys but we actually saw a wild Orang Utan, 3 families of Proboscis Monkeys, 2 crocodiles, Oriental Pied Hornbills, and loads of Egrets before stopping for lunch and then traveling on to the River Lodge we are staying at. After a short break we took a smaller boat up the Menanggul River that is renowned for being a proboscis monkey sanctuary…they were everywhere at dusk. They live in groups of one dominant male with a harem of females…the males have an erection 24 hours a day…God’s honest truth! The Japanese even came to study them to see if it was something they were eating…turns out it is, but it is poisonous to humans. We also saw Monitor Lizards, a black and yellow snake (mildly poisonous) and loads of birds and Macaques.
Once back at the lodge we were all instructed to wear the sarongs provided on our beds to dinner or we would not be served. Our tour guide even gave a little demonstration on the different ways it can be worn. Everyone looked festive in the brightly patterned cloth.
Bedtime was early as we are back in a boat at 6:30 AM to watch the jungle wake to a new day.
March 4, 2009
Everything looked very eerie at 6:30 with a heavy fog obscuring the river bank 40 meters away. As we went along it slowly cleared as the sun rose higher in the sky. This time whenever we came upon monkeys they were waking up and scurrying back into the forest to forage for food. We saw primarily birds and one snake. Back at the lodge at 9:30 we had a quick breakfast and took a nap until lunch. We both had trouble sleeping last night, the sounds of the jungle are a constant buzzing with an occasional unidentified (at least by me) screech, not very restful.
After lunch they took us to Gomantong Birdnest Caves. This is where they get the nests for the famous Chinese bird nest soup. They harvest the nests 3 times a year, each time getting 10,000 KG of nests (which are made entirely of bird spit), 1 KG of nests sells for 5,000RM ($1380!)…that’s a lot for bird spit! Why anyone would want to eat soup made from bird spit is beyond me but it has something to do with keeping your lungs healthy and like everything else weird in Chinese medicine…virility.
Once you enter the cave you are walking on an elevated boardwalk because not only is the cave home to swiflets it is full of bats…the floor is deep with bat guano. The boardwalk itself is quite slippery with the stuff and crawling with cockroaches (amazingly I don’t recall Lonely Planet mentioning the cockroaches but maybe I just blocked that part out). When you take a step it is a combination of slippery and crunchy…you do not want to fall down. (Aren’t I the master of understatement…it reminded me of a scene in an Indiana Jones movie). They use rope and bamboo ladder contraptions, 90 meters up, to collect the nests. Inside the cave there are two huts with beds for the guards to sleep. As valuable as the stuff is they actually have people sneaking in and trying to crawl up the walls “like Spiderman” as our guide said.
Once back at the Lodge we got changed and went out for another ride on the river. We actually spotted another Orang Utan which our guide told us was really lucky, they usually only see one every two to three months and we’ve seen two in two days! The only thing we haven’t seen are the Pygmy Elephants…he said he would send them a text message to let them know we would be on the river on our way out tomorrow…
Another early morning tomorrow, breakfast at 7:00 and off to Sandakan at 7:30…let’s see if I can get some sleep tonight…I pulled out the ear plugs in hopes of blocking the noises of the jungle.
March 5, 2009
On the way out we saw 3 more Orang Utan and several crocodiles! Once back in Sandakan we had a quick lunch then went to relax by the pool. Our afternoon consisted of reading and napping. Has anyone else ever noticed that sometimes you just need to take a break from your vacation!
March 6, 2009
At 8:15 we were picked up for our trip to Selingan or “turtle island” to watch the big sea turtles come up and lay their eggs in the sand. I had a screaming headache all day so was a bit cranky. We did get to do some snorkeling this afternoon (saw a spotted ray, a turtle (duh), lot’s of parrot fish, Moorish idols, a lobster, giant clams, barracuda…all-in-all a nice little dip in the ocean), which helped my disposition but did nothing for my headache. At least the room we are staying in has A/C.
At 6:30 we met for a pre-dinner briefing and video and then after dinner we were told to stay near the cafeteria because as soon as the first turtle was spotted we would all go down and watch…they wouldn’t have time to go round us up from our individual rooms. I lasted about 10 minutes and told our guide that I had a headache and went back to the room to lie down hoping that RD would have time to find out where the first turtle was and come get me. Luckily the first turtle showed up at about 8:45 (last night it was 11:00!). RD came and got me and we joined the crowd at the beach to watch a 40+ year old green turtle lay 135 eggs! After she was done we walked back to the hatchery and watched the ranger bury the eggs and label the spot with a marker. The best part was when we all followed him down to the beach to watch him release the 42 hatchlings that had come out today. They were about 7cm long…hard to believe that if they survive they grow to 100+cm! Only 10% survive to maturity.
March 7, 2009
What’s with all these early mornings!!! Breakfast was at 6:30 and by 7:00 we were on a boat back to the “mainland”. We found out that last night 20 turtles came ashore during the night (it’s too hot for them during the day) and laid 1855 eggs! After a lot of sitting around we took a quick flight to Kota Kinabalu and checked into our hotel. We had to wait about a half hour to check in so they sent us to the adjoining mall to kill time. I needed to use the restroom and for the first time I actually chose the hole in the floor over the regular toilet. Why you ask? Apparently the locals are so used to squatting over the hole in the floor they don’t know how to use a regular toilet so they climb up on to the toilets and leave muddy footprints on the toilet seat! After we finally checked in we had lunch by the pool, a massage, blah, blah, blah…you get the picture. Tomorrow we make the trip out to the mountain so RD can see what he didn’t get to climb. (There were two 21 year olds out at turtle island who had hiked the mountain 4 days previously and they said their legs still hurt…I’m kind of glad our credit card said “error call” because I think it would have been a total “error” for me to try and climb that mountain…)
March 8, 2009
They picked us up in a full size bus today and there were only 4 other people on it! You would think that when they realize that the numbers are down they would switch to a mini-van! The mountain was just barely visible as we drove up, mostly shrouded in clouds but from the little bit I saw it looked like a laborious climb. We did a short trail hike and took some pictures of local flora (they have over a thousand indigenous orchids, unfortunately their primary blooming season is in July), had a decent lunch, saw a video and came back to the hotel. Rather anti-climactic when we had been talking about climbing to the summit.
Back at the hotel RD had spotted a wine shop so we got a bottle of wine along with some crackers and salami to take to Mabul (the island we will be staying on for the next week)…something special for RD’s birthday.
March 9, 2009
After a leisurely morning (for a change) we caught a 45 minute flight back to Tawau. Coming into Tawau there was a huge thunder storm and the first approach was aborted. The pilot made a big loop waiting for the storm to pass and then landed from the other direction…it was a bit of a nail biter.
Once there I went out to the taxi counter (so nice to have been in an airport before and know your way around) while RD grabbed our luggage. Here, you pay a set amount based on where you are going and then give a receipt to the driver (apparently he must turn them all in at the end of the day to get paid). We ended up with the same driver who took us to Semporna over a week ago…what are the odd’s of that happening!
The hotel we are staying at (suggested by the travel agency we worked through) is a little hole-in-the-wall, the room is so tiny you can barely walk around the bed! Let’s hope this is not an indication of what the resort on the island is going to be like…
We were the only ones in the hotel restaurant for dinner and we are pretty sure that we saw them go out and get take-out from across the street right after we ordered…I have a feeling there was no one in the kitchen.
March 10, 2009
Our pick-up this morning was at 7:00 so breakfast was at the crack of dawn. We sat down at the same table we sat at last night and our used toothpicks were still lying on the table at our respective places…how convenient…
Once in Semporna we collected our dive gear and boarded a boat to take us out to Mabul, the island we will be staying on for the next week. The ride was very enjoyable. We went past islands that were not inhabitable because of 40 ft pythons and another island that had 5 coconut palms and 30 people living on it (no electricity, no water, seaweed farmers…now that’s living off-the-grid).
The resort is a nicely kept collection of little cabins with a pool, several bars and a common building where breakfast, lunch and dinner is served. After a welcome briefing to tell us where everything was we had lunch and then went down to the pier/jetty where the dive operation is located. They had us do a “check-out” dive which amounted to a short dive, in relatively shallow water so a divemaster could see if you knew how to control your buoyancy (they are serious here about preserving their corals). Even though our two dives today were a “check-out” and another dive in only 14 meters I saw things I have never seen before! Like a Decorator Spider Crab and a pipefish about 2 cm long! This is going to be a great week!
They have a huge group of travel agents here and it is their last night so tonight they had a big bar-b-q on the beach and traditional dancing for entertainment. RD was late because the first thing he did when he got here was schedule a massage…imagine that…(he’s whining because it was about $50…he’s used to $8 in Thailand). We got to meet a few of the travel agents and they are mostly from the states…it was so nice to talk to Americans! No accents; from places we recognized and we could understand them! How refreshing! I didn’t realize how much I missed that.
March 11, 2009
This morning we had to be on the boat at 8:00 for the trip over to Sipidan Island. It is highly controlled with a military force stationed on the island. They use what remains of the resort where the tourists were kidnapped by Philippine pirates about 9 years ago. They closed the resort after that (can’t imagine why…business must have been down). Now they only allow 120 people a day to dive the island. When you get there you have to go ashore (there is a dock and about 100m of beach that are open to the public, you cannot walk around the island at all) and sign in, then they tell you where you can dive. It is mostly drift diving on walls that drop several hundred meters. Lot’s of sharks, turtles, school’s of Jacks, and a school of about 50 Bumphead Parrotfish. It was absolutely pouring today, with thunder and lightening crashing all around us. I hesitate to say it was cold on the ride back (considering it’s 2°F in Clancy, MT today) but we definitely had goose bumps!
After a hot shower and lunch we both took a nap then went out for an afternoon dive under a converted oil rig that is now a resort just off the island of Mabul. Visibility was not optimal but we saw amazing stuff; 4 or 5 different types of eels, lionfish, a black frog fish, an Ornate Ghost Pipefish (first one I’ve ever seen), a Cockatoo Waspfish (only the second one I’ve ever seen), and 2 huge Flathead Crocodilefish.
Another warm shower and we relaxed in the room (it’s still pouring rain) and snacked on crackers, salami and wine until it was time for dinner…not surprisingly we weren’t terribly hungry.
March 12, 2009
Today we have 4 dives over on the island of Sipidan. Two dives in the morning, two in the afternoon. During the breaks between the two morning dives and the two afternoon dives they had hot tea and coffee as well as fruit and “biscuits” (as the British call them) for us to snack on and at lunch time they had a hot lunch of rice, green beans, sweet and sour chicken, and fried chicken wings. The dives were great with huge schools of jack’s, barracuda’s, loads of turtles (I think I saw 100 turtles on one dive!) and sharks patrolling back and forth just off the wall. I even found a huge lobster!
It was one of those perfect days…not too hot, no rain, and fabulous diving.
As usual for us it is one of those tiny island destinations with no roads and no motorized vehicles of any kind. RD took a jog after we got back and estimates that the island is about 1 Km around. I had a cocktail and relaxed…
March 13, 2009
Today we stayed on Mabul for our diving. The first dive we saw a “Flamboyant Cuttlefish”, only about 8-10 cm long…just fabulous…not unjustly named. The second dive was out at Seaventure Resort, like we did the other day, but today the current was ripping! I used up most of my air which is not the normal for me. After lunch our third dive was a self guided dive of the jetty. I saw my first Stonefish which is reported to be the most deadly fish in the ocean. Apparently the sting is so painful your heart will stop before the venom gets you!
March 14, 2009
Happy Birthday RD! We had 4 dives at Sipidan today. Sipidan is all about the “big” stuff, loads of turtles and sharks, Travallies, Napoleon Wrasses and Sweetlips, but recently I really find that I am into the little stuff.
At dinner tonight the staff brought out a birthday cake with 3 candles and sang “Happy Birthday” to RD…he turned and looked at me…”did you do this?” Duh. We sat at dinner and dove today with a really nice couple from the UK, Dana and Colin. They may find us on their doorstep someday when we decide to visit Europe
March 15, 2009
Today we stayed again on Mabul and dove again with Dana and Colin. I saw so many different nudibranchs I lost track of the colors! I bought a book on Malaysian marine life and have been trying to keep track of everything that I see.
They had another big bar-b-q tonight because they had a group of PADI course directors come in following a local class. I got dragged up on stage to attempt a traditional dance…I was abysmal.
March 16, 2009
Our last day of diving ended up being 4 dives over off Sipidan. The original reason I wanted to come here was to dive Sipidan but having been here I like diving Mabul better! Mabul is famous for what’s called “muck-diving”, I’m guessing it’s because it is usually on a sandy bottom and if your buoyancy isn’t good you stir up sand and lose visibility, but it’s a really horrible name for diving that is so great. The focus is on exotic small marine life so it’s all about going slow and looking closely at everything...some of the shrimps and crabs are only 1-2 cm!
We did have some great dives today though. The first two were a little slow but the third dive we saw a school of 19 white tip reef sharks! That was just a highlight of a dive with 100+ sharks, 30+ turtles, a school of barracuda and a school of jacks. At the end of the dive we saw a Giant Mantis Shrimp…totally cool! The fourth dive was just a relaxed dive on a pristine reef with millions of beautiful reef fish…a nice way to end a wonderful week of diving.
March 17, 2009
The last day of a diving trip is always the hardest. Since you can’t dive for 24 hours before flying you have to sit around and watch everyone else going out while you are stuck on land. I went snorkeling, even saw a turtle, but it’s just not the same.
We left Tawau at 5:20PM and arrived in Doha at 5:20 AM (6 hour layover in Kuala Lumpur and a 5 hour time change) on the 18th. We were through customs and baggage claim in 5 minutes!