Club Hopping in Kuching
Friday was the last night with the gang from the Sarawak-part of the trip, and after the farewell dinner, five of us decided to check out Kuching's nightlife. We had a great night out, with plenty of rather expensive beer (50SEK/5EUR per pint), and to my surprise the DJs actually pulled a couple of nice beats now and then. They still seem to have a way to go before they reach European standards, but we had some nice, rhythmical, Techno/DnB to dance to. We even tried to get the locals to dance with us, but they seemed to prefer dancing around their tables. Strange.
Architecture and Soul
Having now visited a few cities in Malaysian Borneo, Kuching feels like the most modern of them all. It has probably benefited greatly from the oil industry, and seems to have a significant influx of tourists too. It's architecture is nothing less than stunning, with skyscrapers interspersed with traditional Chinese shops and temples, Malay kampongs, long houses, colonial buildings and mosques. The city was taken by the Japanese in 1941, and liberated by the Australians in 1945, but in contrast to Kota Kinabalu, it was never burnt or bombed. It is no wonder, then, that you can see architecture spanning over several cultures and a few centuries. As with most cities in Borneo, Kuching seems to be under a boost of modernization. There are cranes and new buildings all over the town, and a few of the older buildings are being torn down. I just hope that its soul does not disappear in the process; that it remains a cultural melting-pot.
Museums
On Saturday, I visited the Sarawak Cultural Village, which sports traditional housing of the different indigenous people of Sarawak. These types of museums always feel a little contrived, but nevertheless it is expertly constructed, it feels very professional. The houses are, where possible, built using traditional construction techniques, and are a treat to visit. They are possibly of a higher standard than the original buildings would've been, but that doesn't lessen the experience. There were many displays of craft making, and the interior of the houses contained traditional crafts, arts and utensils. The village also has a cultural show, and me being generally skeptical about cultural shows was pleasantly surprised at, again, how professional and good it was. The Iban - or if he was supposed to be Penan - hunter, with his blowpipe/spear, shield, loincloth and bird feather decorations, who was dancing around looking grim and shooting balloons with his darts, was definitely the peak of the show!
Today, I visited the Sarawak State Museum, established by the second White Rajah Charles Brooke. It was a very nice introduction to Sarawak's history, culture and nature. While I think it might have been more fitting at the beginning of the trip, I could now quickly browse much of the material, nodding in recognition to things I already knew, and delving deeper into new knowledge. The natural history section, which displays much of Sarawak's wildlife, could do with a bit of restoration, but was still impressive. The most interesting exhibition was that of the excavation of Gua Niah, and other important pre-historic sites. I also wanted to visit the Police Museum, located at Fort Margherita, but it had sadly been shut down. Lovely building, and excellent views over the city, though!
Frogs?
'Try everything once' is one of those great sayings which is good in essence, but which you shouldn't take literally. I had set my mind on some Indian food tonight, but the restaurant was closed and I ended up in a food court instead. Naively asking for a recommended meal, I was offered frog... Very well, it should at least be interesting, I thought to myself. So I was served sweet and sour fried frog, with rice and mixed vegetables. It tasted pretty much like chicken, mixed with fish or seafood, but with a fattier texture, and it was a nicer experience than I had feared. It was fairly complicated to eat, since it consisted mostly of bones, and I'd describe the eating process as a combination of chicken wings and crayfish.
Tomorrow I'm off to Kuala Lumpur for the last leg of my trip, and I find it funny how in one of the most modern cities in south east Asia, neither hotels nor camera shops have homepages.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Friday, April 3, 2009
Butterflies & Thunderstorms
Gunung Mulu National Park
We headed out from Miri in the early morning to catch a speedboat to Marudi. This speedboat was a catepillar-like thing, doing on average 23 knots upstream. The inside was cramped, but it was possible to sit on the roof and watch the crocodiles while getting a nice tan. At Marudi we had lunch, bought mosquito nets and changed to a considerably slower boat. We traveled the river for several hours, watching more crocodiles and huge barges loaded with timber. For the last leg of the trip, we were picked up by a couple of long boats from the national park. These boats are constructed so that you sit at water level, and they have sides which are only 10-20 cm above the water level. This last part proved to be very interesting; the boats felt unstable, the current was quite strong at places, and for the last hour we rode in complete darkness under heavy downpour and a considerable amount of thunder and lightning. Sometimes you just have to put your fate in someone else's hands. Eventually we arrived safely at the park headquarters, which was an impressive facility filled with excellent information about the park, the caves, the wildlife and the rainforest.
The following day we visited the Cave of the Winds and the Clearwater Cave, had lunch and bathed in the pool emerging from the Clearwater Cave. The Clearwater cave system is the 8th longest cave in the world, at 176km - unfortunately we didn't have time to explore all of it. For those wanting to know more about the caves of Mulu, I can recommend visiting The Mulu Caves Project's homepage, or watch episode 4 of Planet Earth, which features the Deer Cave, which I'll tell you more about later. After caves, lunch and bathing, we set off on an 8km trek through the jungle. Walking was easy, and there were only a few leeches. However, with 2km to go, the daily downpour was upon us mercilessly. Half running to cover the last bit proved quite fruitless; when we arrived at Camp 5 at the base of Gunung Api, everything we wore was completely soaked, including boots. I was very glad for my waterproof Vaude backpack then. At Camp 5, there were about 10 other tourists in addition to our group of 8, which resulted in a calm and pleasant stay.
The Pinnacles
After a night on thin cots under mosquito nets, we started our hike to The Pinnacles at 6.30 am. Knowing we had to reach the first ladder before 11am to be allowed to continue to the top, I was in a bit of a hurry, but we made good progress and reached the first ladder well before the appointed time. The climb to the pinnacles is 2.4km in distance and 1200m in elevation, which means an average incline of 30-45 degrees. The last 400m, which consisted of 16 ladders and several parts with ropes and steel bars to walk on, this hike would probably be better labeled as a via ferrata. Fun, but not entirely safe. We reached the pinnacles and were awarded with an amazing view over a landscape of razorsharp limestone rocks, some of them reaching as high as 50m. (I will publish some pictures of these when I get home.) After a lunch consisting mainly of sugar, we started the descent. Carefully traversing the part with the ladders, making sure of always having three points of contact, we made our way down steadily. Once we'd get past the ladders, I told myself, it'd be a much easier descent. Boy, did I fool myself. The ladders we had to descend slowly and carefully, but it was at least quite fun, and somewhat challenging. The last 2km of the walk consisted of slippery limestone rock, slippery leaves and slippery roots, always at a 30-40 degree incline. It went something like this: take one step, make sure of your footing, shift your weight, slip 5-10cm since the sure footing you found wasn't sure enough, curse silently to yourself, slap yourself for not bringing more water, grab hold of a small tree or vine, and repeat. I definitely don't regret doing it, but I would not for anything in this world do it again - there are more fun ways to break your neck or smash your face. Eventually, we all descended safely, and spent a long time soaking in the wonderful clearwater river just nearby. Dinner and a few beers were consumed on the veranda of Camp 5, while our conversations with the other climbers were drowned out in the deafening smattering from the daily thunderstorm.
The last day in Mulu, we trekked back to the park headquarters, went on a nice canopy walk and then visited Deer Cave, which is the largest cave passage in the world. The Deer Cave opens up into the Garden of Eden; a closed valley which is probably the remains of a huge collapsed underground chamber. We were not allowed out into the Garden of Eden, but the view from the cave opening was very suggestive. Finally we visited Lang's Cave, which is nothing short of beautiful with its creative and fantastic stalactites, stalagmites and helectites. I wouldn't mind going back there with a better lens and a monopod.
There's much much more to discover in Mulu, and I don't doubt that you could easily spend a couple of weeks there without ever getting bored. Our park guide John, who is of the Penan tribe, was knowledgeable and helpful, as was the rest of the staff that we met. For those who want an authentic, if yet quite comfortable, rainforest experience, I can truly recommend Mulu. There is something unforgettable about sitting in a longboat, at water level, lazily crusing upriver enclosed by unpenetrable and unbelievably green rainforest.
The Iban
After Mulu we flew to Kuching via Miri and spent one night at a hotel, having a proper dinner and doing laundry before setting out for our last destination: the Iban longhouse Skandis. The Iban make up about 1/3 of the population in Sarawak, and while many have been incorporated in modern society, there are also many who continue to live by their old ways. The Skandis longhouse is situated about one hour upriver from the nearest road, and has no telephone, and only electricity through a generator. Our tour operator, Intrepid, has been visiting the longhouse about every three weeks for the last 15 years, and the inhabitants claimed to be pleased with the incursion by western tourists. The Iban at Skandis seem to have retained much of their traditional way of life, but are struggling to make a living. Youths go away to the bigger cities for work and only visit during holidays. However, as they get older, many move back into the longhouse. There were some 10 families of about 80 people living at Skandis, all of them sharing only two toilets.
Our activities during the stay included drinking rice wine, or Tuak, with the head man and the other inhabitants, sleeping on the veranda, with thin cots and bamboo mats as mattresses, and doing an 'easy' trek through the forest to a small waterfall, only to trek back through the river. We also joined them in waiting for their favourite representative in the upcoming by-election, who was supposed to visit by helicopter, but who never showed up. This caused a lot of disappointment, anger and an uninhibited consumption of tuak and rice liquor. We also had a chance of surveying and buying some of their crafts, which may not have been the best of their kind, but were authentic enough. Another night was spent on hard wooden floors, with 100-or-so roosters going off simultaneously and continuously from 3 am and onward, and after that I think most of us were quite relieved to be on our way back to civilization.
The Final Days
Tonight we're having a goodbye dinner for the group, and I'm spending two more days in Kuching to explore the cultural village, the Sarawak Museum, and perhaps visiting a beach for some R&R. After these days I'm off to a short exploration of KL, and then on my way home. I've had nothing but a fantastic trip, but I'm ready to go back home.
We headed out from Miri in the early morning to catch a speedboat to Marudi. This speedboat was a catepillar-like thing, doing on average 23 knots upstream. The inside was cramped, but it was possible to sit on the roof and watch the crocodiles while getting a nice tan. At Marudi we had lunch, bought mosquito nets and changed to a considerably slower boat. We traveled the river for several hours, watching more crocodiles and huge barges loaded with timber. For the last leg of the trip, we were picked up by a couple of long boats from the national park. These boats are constructed so that you sit at water level, and they have sides which are only 10-20 cm above the water level. This last part proved to be very interesting; the boats felt unstable, the current was quite strong at places, and for the last hour we rode in complete darkness under heavy downpour and a considerable amount of thunder and lightning. Sometimes you just have to put your fate in someone else's hands. Eventually we arrived safely at the park headquarters, which was an impressive facility filled with excellent information about the park, the caves, the wildlife and the rainforest.
The following day we visited the Cave of the Winds and the Clearwater Cave, had lunch and bathed in the pool emerging from the Clearwater Cave. The Clearwater cave system is the 8th longest cave in the world, at 176km - unfortunately we didn't have time to explore all of it. For those wanting to know more about the caves of Mulu, I can recommend visiting The Mulu Caves Project's homepage, or watch episode 4 of Planet Earth, which features the Deer Cave, which I'll tell you more about later. After caves, lunch and bathing, we set off on an 8km trek through the jungle. Walking was easy, and there were only a few leeches. However, with 2km to go, the daily downpour was upon us mercilessly. Half running to cover the last bit proved quite fruitless; when we arrived at Camp 5 at the base of Gunung Api, everything we wore was completely soaked, including boots. I was very glad for my waterproof Vaude backpack then. At Camp 5, there were about 10 other tourists in addition to our group of 8, which resulted in a calm and pleasant stay.
The Pinnacles
After a night on thin cots under mosquito nets, we started our hike to The Pinnacles at 6.30 am. Knowing we had to reach the first ladder before 11am to be allowed to continue to the top, I was in a bit of a hurry, but we made good progress and reached the first ladder well before the appointed time. The climb to the pinnacles is 2.4km in distance and 1200m in elevation, which means an average incline of 30-45 degrees. The last 400m, which consisted of 16 ladders and several parts with ropes and steel bars to walk on, this hike would probably be better labeled as a via ferrata. Fun, but not entirely safe. We reached the pinnacles and were awarded with an amazing view over a landscape of razorsharp limestone rocks, some of them reaching as high as 50m. (I will publish some pictures of these when I get home.) After a lunch consisting mainly of sugar, we started the descent. Carefully traversing the part with the ladders, making sure of always having three points of contact, we made our way down steadily. Once we'd get past the ladders, I told myself, it'd be a much easier descent. Boy, did I fool myself. The ladders we had to descend slowly and carefully, but it was at least quite fun, and somewhat challenging. The last 2km of the walk consisted of slippery limestone rock, slippery leaves and slippery roots, always at a 30-40 degree incline. It went something like this: take one step, make sure of your footing, shift your weight, slip 5-10cm since the sure footing you found wasn't sure enough, curse silently to yourself, slap yourself for not bringing more water, grab hold of a small tree or vine, and repeat. I definitely don't regret doing it, but I would not for anything in this world do it again - there are more fun ways to break your neck or smash your face. Eventually, we all descended safely, and spent a long time soaking in the wonderful clearwater river just nearby. Dinner and a few beers were consumed on the veranda of Camp 5, while our conversations with the other climbers were drowned out in the deafening smattering from the daily thunderstorm.
The last day in Mulu, we trekked back to the park headquarters, went on a nice canopy walk and then visited Deer Cave, which is the largest cave passage in the world. The Deer Cave opens up into the Garden of Eden; a closed valley which is probably the remains of a huge collapsed underground chamber. We were not allowed out into the Garden of Eden, but the view from the cave opening was very suggestive. Finally we visited Lang's Cave, which is nothing short of beautiful with its creative and fantastic stalactites, stalagmites and helectites. I wouldn't mind going back there with a better lens and a monopod.
There's much much more to discover in Mulu, and I don't doubt that you could easily spend a couple of weeks there without ever getting bored. Our park guide John, who is of the Penan tribe, was knowledgeable and helpful, as was the rest of the staff that we met. For those who want an authentic, if yet quite comfortable, rainforest experience, I can truly recommend Mulu. There is something unforgettable about sitting in a longboat, at water level, lazily crusing upriver enclosed by unpenetrable and unbelievably green rainforest.
The Iban
After Mulu we flew to Kuching via Miri and spent one night at a hotel, having a proper dinner and doing laundry before setting out for our last destination: the Iban longhouse Skandis. The Iban make up about 1/3 of the population in Sarawak, and while many have been incorporated in modern society, there are also many who continue to live by their old ways. The Skandis longhouse is situated about one hour upriver from the nearest road, and has no telephone, and only electricity through a generator. Our tour operator, Intrepid, has been visiting the longhouse about every three weeks for the last 15 years, and the inhabitants claimed to be pleased with the incursion by western tourists. The Iban at Skandis seem to have retained much of their traditional way of life, but are struggling to make a living. Youths go away to the bigger cities for work and only visit during holidays. However, as they get older, many move back into the longhouse. There were some 10 families of about 80 people living at Skandis, all of them sharing only two toilets.
Our activities during the stay included drinking rice wine, or Tuak, with the head man and the other inhabitants, sleeping on the veranda, with thin cots and bamboo mats as mattresses, and doing an 'easy' trek through the forest to a small waterfall, only to trek back through the river. We also joined them in waiting for their favourite representative in the upcoming by-election, who was supposed to visit by helicopter, but who never showed up. This caused a lot of disappointment, anger and an uninhibited consumption of tuak and rice liquor. We also had a chance of surveying and buying some of their crafts, which may not have been the best of their kind, but were authentic enough. Another night was spent on hard wooden floors, with 100-or-so roosters going off simultaneously and continuously from 3 am and onward, and after that I think most of us were quite relieved to be on our way back to civilization.
The Final Days
Tonight we're having a goodbye dinner for the group, and I'm spending two more days in Kuching to explore the cultural village, the Sarawak Museum, and perhaps visiting a beach for some R&R. After these days I'm off to a short exploration of KL, and then on my way home. I've had nothing but a fantastic trip, but I'm ready to go back home.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Salt Purification
Turtle Islands National Park
This is where we go to
Turtle Islands, Sandakan, Sabah
to the blue of the ocean
Approximately 30 guests per night
On the 30 westbound
A long and entirely undisturbed beach
to the diamond water
Snorkling gear for 25RM
Lost out in the white waves
Wet
salt purification
Spit
Bright eyes and breathless
Clean
this is how Love feels
Head down into the water, back towards the sun
Wash away the black stuff,
All sound is muted
wash away the road-dirt
There is only the water,
In the thrill of the wipe-out,
the corals
feel it pulling you under
and the fish
This is where it saved your life
Parrot fish of many colours
in the days of the new beginning
Lovely angel fish, standing in formation
All the sweet redemption lines
Sea cucumber and anemones
that you wrote and told a thousand times
and a big grouper
This is where we go to
A leaking mask
to the blue of the ocean
Salt water in nose and lungs
On the 30 westbound
Lips sore from salt, and knee burning from a coral sting
to the diamond water
Back burnt by the sun
On the back-lanes down to the sea
Down again
we pulled to the side of the road
Sea snake
Danced together in the headlights beam
Stingray
to the songs on the radio cheek to cheek...
And little Nemo's nesting in an anemone
Lost out in the white waves
Turtles mating out at sea
salt purification
Turquoise water,
Bright eyes and breathless
white sand
this is how Love feels
and new worlds to explore
(I'll probably be going for a diver's certificate when I get back home.)
Sepilok Orang-utan Rehabilitation Centre
After having gotten up at 6am, and taken the speedboat back to Sandakan, we spent a full day at Sepilok Orang-utan Rehabilitation centre, and went to both feedings; at 10am and at 3pm. Between that we went on a short jungle trek, mainly to examine Sepilok's abundant amount of leeches. Yuck. I thought I was pretty safe, pulling my thick woolly socks over my trousers. One little bastard managed to sneak in under my socks, but it didn't stick when he bit me, so I managed to pull it out before it did any damage. Sneaky little buggers.
Back to Kota Kinabalu and onto Miri
After Sepilok - and after we had said a sad goodbye to Pete and Alex, who were heading to Sepidan for some first class diving - we headed back to Kota Kinabalu for a peaceful night at the Seaside Traveller's Inn. A quite nice place, for those who are looking to go to Kota Kinabalu, but it's a little off from the town proper, and the airport. The next day, which is today, it was time to say farewell to the rest of our steadily shrinking group. There was hugging all around, and promises of reunions, which I actually think may come to pass. Left were only me and three Aussies. In Miri, we met up with four new people to join our group for the next part of the trip; Sarawak - The Headhunter's Trail. At 6am tomorrow, we begin our 10h long boat trip to Gunung Mulu National Park. Visting caves, trekking, and climbing Gunung Api for a view of The Pinnacles. Search flickr.com for pretty pictures! I'll report back after that.
This is where we go to
Turtle Islands, Sandakan, Sabah
to the blue of the ocean
Approximately 30 guests per night
On the 30 westbound
A long and entirely undisturbed beach
to the diamond water
Snorkling gear for 25RM
Lost out in the white waves
Wet
salt purification
Spit
Bright eyes and breathless
Clean
this is how Love feels
Head down into the water, back towards the sun
Wash away the black stuff,
All sound is muted
wash away the road-dirt
There is only the water,
In the thrill of the wipe-out,
the corals
feel it pulling you under
and the fish
This is where it saved your life
Parrot fish of many colours
in the days of the new beginning
Lovely angel fish, standing in formation
All the sweet redemption lines
Sea cucumber and anemones
that you wrote and told a thousand times
and a big grouper
This is where we go to
A leaking mask
to the blue of the ocean
Salt water in nose and lungs
On the 30 westbound
Lips sore from salt, and knee burning from a coral sting
to the diamond water
Back burnt by the sun
On the back-lanes down to the sea
Down again
we pulled to the side of the road
Sea snake
Danced together in the headlights beam
Stingray
to the songs on the radio cheek to cheek...
And little Nemo's nesting in an anemone
Lost out in the white waves
Turtles mating out at sea
salt purification
Turquoise water,
Bright eyes and breathless
white sand
this is how Love feels
and new worlds to explore
(I'll probably be going for a diver's certificate when I get back home.)
Sepilok Orang-utan Rehabilitation Centre
After having gotten up at 6am, and taken the speedboat back to Sandakan, we spent a full day at Sepilok Orang-utan Rehabilitation centre, and went to both feedings; at 10am and at 3pm. Between that we went on a short jungle trek, mainly to examine Sepilok's abundant amount of leeches. Yuck. I thought I was pretty safe, pulling my thick woolly socks over my trousers. One little bastard managed to sneak in under my socks, but it didn't stick when he bit me, so I managed to pull it out before it did any damage. Sneaky little buggers.
Back to Kota Kinabalu and onto Miri
After Sepilok - and after we had said a sad goodbye to Pete and Alex, who were heading to Sepidan for some first class diving - we headed back to Kota Kinabalu for a peaceful night at the Seaside Traveller's Inn. A quite nice place, for those who are looking to go to Kota Kinabalu, but it's a little off from the town proper, and the airport. The next day, which is today, it was time to say farewell to the rest of our steadily shrinking group. There was hugging all around, and promises of reunions, which I actually think may come to pass. Left were only me and three Aussies. In Miri, we met up with four new people to join our group for the next part of the trip; Sarawak - The Headhunter's Trail. At 6am tomorrow, we begin our 10h long boat trip to Gunung Mulu National Park. Visting caves, trekking, and climbing Gunung Api for a view of The Pinnacles. Search flickr.com for pretty pictures! I'll report back after that.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Hornbills, leeches and wait-a-while
Poring Hot Springs
The day after we climbed Mt. Kinabalu we spent at Poring Hot Springs; an open-air bath with hot water coming from a nearby spring with hot , sulphuric water. Apparently, the bath was first built by the japanese when they invaded Borneo during WWII. Feeling quite rested, albeit with sore thigh muscles, I endeavoured a trek to Air Terjun Langanan - a 120m high waterfall in the middle of the jungle. The walk took about 90 minutes, was mostly uphill, and very pleasant. It was hot and humid, but the canopy of the jungle acted an effective shield towards the intense sun. There was not much in the way of wildlife - much of the wildlife in Borneo are very shy to humans - but I saw some magnificent trees, with massive trunks and bases of up to 8-10m including the ridged roots.
Being alone in the jungle, even if walking on a well made path, was very intimidating. Not knowing what might come at you out from the undergrowth, and hardly recognizing any of the sounds of the forest was an exciting experience. The waterfall was nice, and the temperature cool, but it was the lone walk that made the trek worth it. Later, we soaked in the hot waters from the springs, which was nice but nothing extraordinary. However, as we walked from the bath in the early evening, the Cikadas were playing so loud I thought I'd hurt my ears. A truly marvellous performance, and something everyone should listen to at least once.
At poring we also saw a half-dead Rafflesia, the world's thickest bamboo, with straws as thick as my thigh or a malaysian girl's waist, and lots and lots of bugs; some as big as your fist.
Kinabatangan River and the Jungle
The night after Poring it was time for our defining moment; one night in the jungle along Sungai Kinabatangan, going for a wildlife spotting night walk and sleeping in hammocks. We started out with a leasurily cruise along the river, and spotted several types of monkeys and birds. Among them were the quite common long tailed and pig tailed macaques, red- and silverleaf monkeys and also the rarer funny-looking proboscis monkey. The birdlife consisted of egrets, hornbills, herons and eagles, but sadly no kingfisher. The elephants who sometimes visit the river had unfortunately left at the end of the flooding season a few weeks earlier, and we saw no wild orang-utans either.
After dinner, which was still lovely even though served from a couple of plastic containers and quite cold, we went wildlife spotting with our head torches in the dark. Just so we're clear: when it's dark in the jungle, it's pitch black. Looking for light reflected in eyes out in the jungle was exhilirating, and even though most of the spots turned out to be spider eyes - creepy! - I managed to spot a couple of eyes high up in a tree.
There was much excitement amongst our guides as they realised it was a western tarsier. It was quite far away, but I think everyone got a good look at it, and I have some photos to show later. Unfortunately, the only photo where my flash really hit the target, without being shielded by leaves or other tree trunks was the one where the tarsier looked away in order to flee. I think I might be able to do some magic with the other photos too, though. It was really a too-cute-for-words animal, and I'm very happy to have spotted it.
The rest of the walk was mostly looking for leeches, jumping over fire ant trails and getting stuck in vines that the aussies called Wait-a-While. A lovely name, just as Forget-me-not, but which is wrong since the Wait-a-While is endemic to Australia.
After having spent a sweaty night in the hammocks, we went for a morning walk to look for birds. The fire ants were all asleep, but we still had leeches to worry about, as we were looking for birdlife in the jungle and around the nearby oxbow lake. This proved to be the lake that I wrote about on facebook earlier, which has been under restoration by MESCOT/KOPEL. Sitting at the lake at dawn, looking at the birdlife and the fish in the water, it became very clear why they considered it necessary to remove the infectuous Salival weed from this lake. Just sitting there for a couple of minutes, we got to see eagles, hornbills and other birds. Afterwards, when taking down my hammock, I noticed blood on my shirt, and realised I had got bitten by a leech and not even noticed it. A much nicer experience than I had expected, as I never got to see the thing.
On the way back to the MESCOT HQ, we took a detour by their eco camp, which is currently under construction, but to be completed soon. The eco camp is built by locals and volunteers, and funded through MESCOT/KOPEL, and it should be a real treat to visit once it's ready. Situated just by above mentioned oxbow lake, and inside real wetland forest, it should provide a comfortable way to experience wildlife. I would highly recommend anyone going to Sabah to check it out. While there, we also finally managed to see a couple of lovely kingfishers, and the wildlife spotting was nearly complete.
Miso Walai Homestay and Orang Sungai culture
Our accomodation for this night was with a malaysian family with limited knowledge in english. They were exremely hospitable, and the language barrier was not much of an obstacle. The particular family me and my roommate John stayed with had two wonderful kids of 6 and 2 years. The 6 year old girl was very curious, and touched every button on every gadget I was carrying. Even though cutlery was available, I ate my lunch with my right hand, just as my hosts. It was an interesting experience, as I found that eating with your hand gives yet another sensation - touch, in addition to taste and smell - to eating. Highly recommended! Unfortunately, we only stayed with this family, who lived in a very basic but charming house built on stilts, for one night. I think a week or two would've been necessary in order to feel really at home, and not just as intruders.
During the evening we had a packed schedule at the MESCOT HQ. We were shown how to use their fishing gear, and we had a cooking lesson. I can't remember the names of all the dishes, but I have a picture of the whiteboard which I'll provide later. As far as I can remember, the dishes were deep fried chicken, fried weed with egg and some sort of gourd curry with carrots and tomato. As my guide now knows I'm a big fan of chili and spicy food in general, he set us up with doing a local sambal, consisting of prawn paste (belacan), red onions, lime juice and most importantly malaysian chili. The malaysian chili is similar to Piri Piri, but smaller and hotter. I tried one (raw) the size of a grain of rice, and was sweating for half an hour.
Update: What I didn't have time to say last time was that at the end of the evening we got to experience a culture show. Normally I'm not very keen on such things, but this one actually proved to be very authentic. We saw malaysian dancing and a short show of silat - the malaysian martial art. At the end we even got to join the dancing, and I quickly realised that I did not have that rhythm in my blood. It may have looked easy, and I actually tried to remember some of the dancer's movements, but I still failed miserably. Much fun was had, though!
The day after we climbed Mt. Kinabalu we spent at Poring Hot Springs; an open-air bath with hot water coming from a nearby spring with hot , sulphuric water. Apparently, the bath was first built by the japanese when they invaded Borneo during WWII. Feeling quite rested, albeit with sore thigh muscles, I endeavoured a trek to Air Terjun Langanan - a 120m high waterfall in the middle of the jungle. The walk took about 90 minutes, was mostly uphill, and very pleasant. It was hot and humid, but the canopy of the jungle acted an effective shield towards the intense sun. There was not much in the way of wildlife - much of the wildlife in Borneo are very shy to humans - but I saw some magnificent trees, with massive trunks and bases of up to 8-10m including the ridged roots.
Being alone in the jungle, even if walking on a well made path, was very intimidating. Not knowing what might come at you out from the undergrowth, and hardly recognizing any of the sounds of the forest was an exciting experience. The waterfall was nice, and the temperature cool, but it was the lone walk that made the trek worth it. Later, we soaked in the hot waters from the springs, which was nice but nothing extraordinary. However, as we walked from the bath in the early evening, the Cikadas were playing so loud I thought I'd hurt my ears. A truly marvellous performance, and something everyone should listen to at least once.
At poring we also saw a half-dead Rafflesia, the world's thickest bamboo, with straws as thick as my thigh or a malaysian girl's waist, and lots and lots of bugs; some as big as your fist.
Kinabatangan River and the Jungle
The night after Poring it was time for our defining moment; one night in the jungle along Sungai Kinabatangan, going for a wildlife spotting night walk and sleeping in hammocks. We started out with a leasurily cruise along the river, and spotted several types of monkeys and birds. Among them were the quite common long tailed and pig tailed macaques, red- and silverleaf monkeys and also the rarer funny-looking proboscis monkey. The birdlife consisted of egrets, hornbills, herons and eagles, but sadly no kingfisher. The elephants who sometimes visit the river had unfortunately left at the end of the flooding season a few weeks earlier, and we saw no wild orang-utans either.
After dinner, which was still lovely even though served from a couple of plastic containers and quite cold, we went wildlife spotting with our head torches in the dark. Just so we're clear: when it's dark in the jungle, it's pitch black. Looking for light reflected in eyes out in the jungle was exhilirating, and even though most of the spots turned out to be spider eyes - creepy! - I managed to spot a couple of eyes high up in a tree.
There was much excitement amongst our guides as they realised it was a western tarsier. It was quite far away, but I think everyone got a good look at it, and I have some photos to show later. Unfortunately, the only photo where my flash really hit the target, without being shielded by leaves or other tree trunks was the one where the tarsier looked away in order to flee. I think I might be able to do some magic with the other photos too, though. It was really a too-cute-for-words animal, and I'm very happy to have spotted it.
The rest of the walk was mostly looking for leeches, jumping over fire ant trails and getting stuck in vines that the aussies called Wait-a-While. A lovely name, just as Forget-me-not, but which is wrong since the Wait-a-While is endemic to Australia.
After having spent a sweaty night in the hammocks, we went for a morning walk to look for birds. The fire ants were all asleep, but we still had leeches to worry about, as we were looking for birdlife in the jungle and around the nearby oxbow lake. This proved to be the lake that I wrote about on facebook earlier, which has been under restoration by MESCOT/KOPEL. Sitting at the lake at dawn, looking at the birdlife and the fish in the water, it became very clear why they considered it necessary to remove the infectuous Salival weed from this lake. Just sitting there for a couple of minutes, we got to see eagles, hornbills and other birds. Afterwards, when taking down my hammock, I noticed blood on my shirt, and realised I had got bitten by a leech and not even noticed it. A much nicer experience than I had expected, as I never got to see the thing.
On the way back to the MESCOT HQ, we took a detour by their eco camp, which is currently under construction, but to be completed soon. The eco camp is built by locals and volunteers, and funded through MESCOT/KOPEL, and it should be a real treat to visit once it's ready. Situated just by above mentioned oxbow lake, and inside real wetland forest, it should provide a comfortable way to experience wildlife. I would highly recommend anyone going to Sabah to check it out. While there, we also finally managed to see a couple of lovely kingfishers, and the wildlife spotting was nearly complete.
Miso Walai Homestay and Orang Sungai culture
Our accomodation for this night was with a malaysian family with limited knowledge in english. They were exremely hospitable, and the language barrier was not much of an obstacle. The particular family me and my roommate John stayed with had two wonderful kids of 6 and 2 years. The 6 year old girl was very curious, and touched every button on every gadget I was carrying. Even though cutlery was available, I ate my lunch with my right hand, just as my hosts. It was an interesting experience, as I found that eating with your hand gives yet another sensation - touch, in addition to taste and smell - to eating. Highly recommended! Unfortunately, we only stayed with this family, who lived in a very basic but charming house built on stilts, for one night. I think a week or two would've been necessary in order to feel really at home, and not just as intruders.
During the evening we had a packed schedule at the MESCOT HQ. We were shown how to use their fishing gear, and we had a cooking lesson. I can't remember the names of all the dishes, but I have a picture of the whiteboard which I'll provide later. As far as I can remember, the dishes were deep fried chicken, fried weed with egg and some sort of gourd curry with carrots and tomato. As my guide now knows I'm a big fan of chili and spicy food in general, he set us up with doing a local sambal, consisting of prawn paste (belacan), red onions, lime juice and most importantly malaysian chili. The malaysian chili is similar to Piri Piri, but smaller and hotter. I tried one (raw) the size of a grain of rice, and was sweating for half an hour.
Update: What I didn't have time to say last time was that at the end of the evening we got to experience a culture show. Normally I'm not very keen on such things, but this one actually proved to be very authentic. We saw malaysian dancing and a short show of silat - the malaysian martial art. At the end we even got to join the dancing, and I quickly realised that I did not have that rhythm in my blood. It may have looked easy, and I actually tried to remember some of the dancer's movements, but I still failed miserably. Much fun was had, though!
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Sunrise at 4095m
Here comes a belated and shorter-than-I'd-like update. It might also lack somewhat in coherence, as I'm on limited time and don't have time to do any editing. I'll try to write more once we arrive at Sandakan on sunday.
The Dusun village of Kuai
Second day we traveled by minivan and truck to the semi-remote village of Kuai, home to some ten families (75 people, draw your own conclusions) of the Dusun people. We had been told about their generosity and hospitality beforehand, and after having had a dinner in one of their homes, they brought out the rice wine and became true to their reputation. We could've stayed there drinking rice wine all night, as the locals - including our guide and our two mountain guides did - but being neither athletic nor used to high altitude, we decided to go to bed fairly early. I woke up a couple of hours before dawn; a consequence of jet lag combined with humidity and temperature and went out to take some low-light photos of our mountain, while enjoying the loneliness and strangeness of everything. We ate breakfast at the same home that we had dinner, and were rather surprised to see that the rice wine party was still going on. I got the impression that many of the men might very well be alcoholics, but apparently their drunkeness never turned into arguments or fights, and, in the end, who am I to judge? After breakfast we went on a short trip through the surroundings of the village, which gave us a little taste of what was to come. The village is beautifully situated amongst the valleys and ridges at the base of Mt. Kinabalu, and slopes are steep and a plenty. According to our guide, the village - which is actually inside the Gungun Kinabalu national park - were given some land from the government a few decades ago, on account of them having lived there since before it's installment. The houses of the village were basic wooden houses built on stilts (for ventilation). They seemed to be fairly self-sustaining, growing their own rice and also fruit - mainly pineapples, which our guide claimed were the best in the world, but sadly we never got the chance to try.
Ridges, ridges, ridges
We arrived at Gungun Kinabalu national park in the afternoon, and had just about time for dinner and stocking up on supplies and boiling water before it was time to go to bed. We started our first day's trek up the mountain at about 10am. It was a meagre 6km walk, but one with 1.4km of elevation. The trail was generally very good, and there were signs at every 500m telling you how slow you were going. A lot of high steps comprised much of the trail, since the incline would've torn all the dirt away otherwise. There weren't much in the way of wildlife or flowers to look at, which was probably just as good, seeing as we were mainly staring down at our own boots, concentrating on taking just the next one or two steps. It was a hard but good climb, and it took just under 6 hours, during which I consumed no less than 3l of water and fluid replacement. The altitude was very noticeable, mainly through heightened blood pressure and my heart trying to beat a path out through my chest. I had no major problems however, and didn't have to suffer from altitude sickness.
When we arrived at the Laban Rata guest house, situated at 3272m, we had a buffet dinner waiting. After wolfing down several portions, it was time to go over the gear, kill some time and then go to sleep. I fell asleep at 6pm, thinking that I should listen to some music while taking a short nap. It was just as well that I did fall asleep, which will be made clear shortly.
To the Summit!
I woke up at about 1.30am, and it was almost time to rise and shine to cover the last 2.7km to the summit. This time I only brought my camel back (2l), my warm clothes and my camera, leaving at least some of the weight behind at the guest house. It was pitch black for most of the climb up to the summit, and we all made good use of our head torches. The first part consisted of what we had already gone through the day before - a good, solid trail - but this time with even more steps. After about a kilometer the climb started to become more interesting. For the rest we walked and climbed on bare rock, often helped by ropes lying across the surface. Often you didn't need the ropes, but they were good to have. If only the other tourists could've understand a couple of things, it would've been a complete blast: 1) don't climb close behind someone else on a rope, because everything you do might make him lose his balance, and 2) don't look directly at someone while wearing a head torch which is pointing straight ahead. (Morons.)
The altitude was definitely becoming a real issue, and walking and climbing was extremely slow and exhausting. Still no sign of real altitude sickness, I trudged on. One of my companions on this trip - Pete - had the day before claimed that pills that help with altitude sickness try to increase your rate of breathing. I took this idea to heart, and for the whole climb tried to breathe deep, at a fast pace and very distinctively. I really believe that it helped, because as soon as I stopped doing that, dizziness was upon me. It was a very interesting experience.
We arrived at the summit around 5.30am, well in time before dawn. Gathered around us were about 100 other people. After having gone the rounds and taking our pictures with the top sign, we sat down and waited for the sun to rise. This part was, I must say, a bit of a disappointment, because even though it was clear, about 5C and only slightly windy, the sun arose behind a huge cloud. No pretty pictures there. This didn't really lessen the experience though, because walking down again in broad daylight, we got a great view of the beautiful granite massif. I can't really wrap my head around the view at this time, and much less describe it, so you'll just have to take my word for it and look at the pictures later (as if those could make it justice.) One thing is worth mentioning; as we were climbing in the dark, we had no clue as to what was more than 10m from the rope we were following. In broad daylight, I could see that the rope passed just about 50m from a precipice, dropping some 100m down into a deep gully. This gully is called 'Gully of the Lost', or something along those lines, after a troop of british soldiers became lost there some decades ago. It was absolutely stunning.
Onwards and food
I will have to stop here, and continue with describing today's jungle trek and tomorrow's river cruise and night walk in the jungle when I arrive at Sandakan. I'll only mention that my appreciation of the malaysian food continues to grow. The food we had at and around Mt. Kinabalu was touristy and boring, and only made slightly better by Han (our guide) fixing chili sauce for me. That chili sauce is readily available in all cheap local restaurants, and goes with almost everything. Neither did those expensive restaurants have proper kopi. It is the local restaurants that continue to impress; you can have as lovely a meal as in almost any restaurant at home for a bargain price. Yesterday I had a lovely fish curry, at lunch I had fried wet noodles with seafood, and for dinner sambal udong (prawns with prawn paste). I've also managed to try the infamous durian fruit, which smelled less than I'd thought, and had a quite weird oniony taste, which I think would grow on me. I've also tried some rambutan, which have just come in season, and lovely mangosteen - much better than the ones I had at KK. Mangosteen is definitely my favourite so far.
There's much more to tell, but it's time to have a beer and go to bed. To anyone who's in doubt, I
ll just state that I'm having a marvellous time, and I don't want to go home - yet.
The Dusun village of Kuai
Second day we traveled by minivan and truck to the semi-remote village of Kuai, home to some ten families (75 people, draw your own conclusions) of the Dusun people. We had been told about their generosity and hospitality beforehand, and after having had a dinner in one of their homes, they brought out the rice wine and became true to their reputation. We could've stayed there drinking rice wine all night, as the locals - including our guide and our two mountain guides did - but being neither athletic nor used to high altitude, we decided to go to bed fairly early. I woke up a couple of hours before dawn; a consequence of jet lag combined with humidity and temperature and went out to take some low-light photos of our mountain, while enjoying the loneliness and strangeness of everything. We ate breakfast at the same home that we had dinner, and were rather surprised to see that the rice wine party was still going on. I got the impression that many of the men might very well be alcoholics, but apparently their drunkeness never turned into arguments or fights, and, in the end, who am I to judge? After breakfast we went on a short trip through the surroundings of the village, which gave us a little taste of what was to come. The village is beautifully situated amongst the valleys and ridges at the base of Mt. Kinabalu, and slopes are steep and a plenty. According to our guide, the village - which is actually inside the Gungun Kinabalu national park - were given some land from the government a few decades ago, on account of them having lived there since before it's installment. The houses of the village were basic wooden houses built on stilts (for ventilation). They seemed to be fairly self-sustaining, growing their own rice and also fruit - mainly pineapples, which our guide claimed were the best in the world, but sadly we never got the chance to try.
Ridges, ridges, ridges
We arrived at Gungun Kinabalu national park in the afternoon, and had just about time for dinner and stocking up on supplies and boiling water before it was time to go to bed. We started our first day's trek up the mountain at about 10am. It was a meagre 6km walk, but one with 1.4km of elevation. The trail was generally very good, and there were signs at every 500m telling you how slow you were going. A lot of high steps comprised much of the trail, since the incline would've torn all the dirt away otherwise. There weren't much in the way of wildlife or flowers to look at, which was probably just as good, seeing as we were mainly staring down at our own boots, concentrating on taking just the next one or two steps. It was a hard but good climb, and it took just under 6 hours, during which I consumed no less than 3l of water and fluid replacement. The altitude was very noticeable, mainly through heightened blood pressure and my heart trying to beat a path out through my chest. I had no major problems however, and didn't have to suffer from altitude sickness.
When we arrived at the Laban Rata guest house, situated at 3272m, we had a buffet dinner waiting. After wolfing down several portions, it was time to go over the gear, kill some time and then go to sleep. I fell asleep at 6pm, thinking that I should listen to some music while taking a short nap. It was just as well that I did fall asleep, which will be made clear shortly.
To the Summit!
I woke up at about 1.30am, and it was almost time to rise and shine to cover the last 2.7km to the summit. This time I only brought my camel back (2l), my warm clothes and my camera, leaving at least some of the weight behind at the guest house. It was pitch black for most of the climb up to the summit, and we all made good use of our head torches. The first part consisted of what we had already gone through the day before - a good, solid trail - but this time with even more steps. After about a kilometer the climb started to become more interesting. For the rest we walked and climbed on bare rock, often helped by ropes lying across the surface. Often you didn't need the ropes, but they were good to have. If only the other tourists could've understand a couple of things, it would've been a complete blast: 1) don't climb close behind someone else on a rope, because everything you do might make him lose his balance, and 2) don't look directly at someone while wearing a head torch which is pointing straight ahead. (Morons.)
The altitude was definitely becoming a real issue, and walking and climbing was extremely slow and exhausting. Still no sign of real altitude sickness, I trudged on. One of my companions on this trip - Pete - had the day before claimed that pills that help with altitude sickness try to increase your rate of breathing. I took this idea to heart, and for the whole climb tried to breathe deep, at a fast pace and very distinctively. I really believe that it helped, because as soon as I stopped doing that, dizziness was upon me. It was a very interesting experience.
We arrived at the summit around 5.30am, well in time before dawn. Gathered around us were about 100 other people. After having gone the rounds and taking our pictures with the top sign, we sat down and waited for the sun to rise. This part was, I must say, a bit of a disappointment, because even though it was clear, about 5C and only slightly windy, the sun arose behind a huge cloud. No pretty pictures there. This didn't really lessen the experience though, because walking down again in broad daylight, we got a great view of the beautiful granite massif. I can't really wrap my head around the view at this time, and much less describe it, so you'll just have to take my word for it and look at the pictures later (as if those could make it justice.) One thing is worth mentioning; as we were climbing in the dark, we had no clue as to what was more than 10m from the rope we were following. In broad daylight, I could see that the rope passed just about 50m from a precipice, dropping some 100m down into a deep gully. This gully is called 'Gully of the Lost', or something along those lines, after a troop of british soldiers became lost there some decades ago. It was absolutely stunning.
Onwards and food
I will have to stop here, and continue with describing today's jungle trek and tomorrow's river cruise and night walk in the jungle when I arrive at Sandakan. I'll only mention that my appreciation of the malaysian food continues to grow. The food we had at and around Mt. Kinabalu was touristy and boring, and only made slightly better by Han (our guide) fixing chili sauce for me. That chili sauce is readily available in all cheap local restaurants, and goes with almost everything. Neither did those expensive restaurants have proper kopi. It is the local restaurants that continue to impress; you can have as lovely a meal as in almost any restaurant at home for a bargain price. Yesterday I had a lovely fish curry, at lunch I had fried wet noodles with seafood, and for dinner sambal udong (prawns with prawn paste). I've also managed to try the infamous durian fruit, which smelled less than I'd thought, and had a quite weird oniony taste, which I think would grow on me. I've also tried some rambutan, which have just come in season, and lovely mangosteen - much better than the ones I had at KK. Mangosteen is definitely my favourite so far.
There's much more to tell, but it's time to have a beer and go to bed. To anyone who's in doubt, I
ll just state that I'm having a marvellous time, and I don't want to go home - yet.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Kota Kinabalu
I'm sitting at an internet cafe in the Central Point building in Kota Kinabalu. Around me are hundreds of young people playing computer games, and the noise is deafening. It's cool inside, which is a relief, because outside it's about 28C, sunny and extremely humid. Walking is best done at a slow pace.
Arrival
I arrived at KK yesterday eveneing, and had a safe and easy cab ride into town. Warm rain was pouring down, and the streets flooded with water. Once I had unpacked and repacked my gear, however, the rain had stopped, and I could go out for some food.
First Impressions
It's always strange to arrive in a new country when you're jet lagged and so sleep deprived that the whole world is rocking. The culture clash can quite easily become overwhelming, and a very special kind of loneliness digs its fingers into you. Arriving here has probably been one of the easiest cultural transits I've made.
The KK inhabitants seem very friendly and polite. Hawkers don't bother you until you come close, and even then a simple 'no thank you' is enough to ward them off. You can even add a smile to that, and you'll be reciprocated, even though you refused them.
The only thing I'm a little suspicious of are women greeting me a little too friendlily. It's yet a bit difficult for me to tell those who are just being friendly and polite, from those who are proposing something indecent. I'm sure this will be easier to judge with time.
Food, food, food
Before arriving here, I had received glowing recommendations about malaysian food, so naturally I was very expectant. Yesterday I raved about the noodles of Hong Kong airport, but I must say that they have nothing on those I ate for breakfast this morning. This must indeed be where noodles go when they die, and I feel sorry for those who believe that the concept of noodles is limited to what students eat when they've spent too much money on partying. I had plain ramen, with some lettuce, some leek and something made out of fish. To this, I was served a small plate of chili and a miniature lime fruit. Everything tasted extremely fresh and the spiciness was of just the right kind. I also tried out the local coffee, which I think should be enjoyed with (condensed) milk and sugar. It had a strong, sweet and full taste. All this for about 15SEK/1.5EUR.
Yesterday I tried 'mee goreng' with 'ayam', which was served with a fresh, salsa-like chili sauce. Not quite as near heaven as the noodles I had for breakfast, but quite close - a fresh and full taste. I might have made a mistake in not asking for water without ice, but so far so good. 20SEK/2EUR.
I've also sampled some of the fruit. Small, sweet and juicy mango, which tasted precisely like mango should, and which made my hands quite sticky. I tried some mangosteen too, but either it wasn't the right season or I did a bad job at picking out good ones. They were good, but not excellent.
Upwards and onwards
It's time to wrap this up for now, and this will probably be the last I write for at least a few days. Ahead of me I have climbing Mt Kinabalu, whose temperature I'm looking forward to, but whose altitude I'm a bit intimidated by. After that I'll spend a couple of days out in the jungle, at a so called home stay run by the MESCOT project, and after that it's on to Sandakan for the Sepilok Orangutan Reserve and Turtle Islands National Park. With some luck, I'll be able to write more from Sandakan. Maybe I'll even be able to post some pictures.
Arrival
I arrived at KK yesterday eveneing, and had a safe and easy cab ride into town. Warm rain was pouring down, and the streets flooded with water. Once I had unpacked and repacked my gear, however, the rain had stopped, and I could go out for some food.
First Impressions
It's always strange to arrive in a new country when you're jet lagged and so sleep deprived that the whole world is rocking. The culture clash can quite easily become overwhelming, and a very special kind of loneliness digs its fingers into you. Arriving here has probably been one of the easiest cultural transits I've made.
The KK inhabitants seem very friendly and polite. Hawkers don't bother you until you come close, and even then a simple 'no thank you' is enough to ward them off. You can even add a smile to that, and you'll be reciprocated, even though you refused them.
The only thing I'm a little suspicious of are women greeting me a little too friendlily. It's yet a bit difficult for me to tell those who are just being friendly and polite, from those who are proposing something indecent. I'm sure this will be easier to judge with time.
Food, food, food
Before arriving here, I had received glowing recommendations about malaysian food, so naturally I was very expectant. Yesterday I raved about the noodles of Hong Kong airport, but I must say that they have nothing on those I ate for breakfast this morning. This must indeed be where noodles go when they die, and I feel sorry for those who believe that the concept of noodles is limited to what students eat when they've spent too much money on partying. I had plain ramen, with some lettuce, some leek and something made out of fish. To this, I was served a small plate of chili and a miniature lime fruit. Everything tasted extremely fresh and the spiciness was of just the right kind. I also tried out the local coffee, which I think should be enjoyed with (condensed) milk and sugar. It had a strong, sweet and full taste. All this for about 15SEK/1.5EUR.
Yesterday I tried 'mee goreng' with 'ayam', which was served with a fresh, salsa-like chili sauce. Not quite as near heaven as the noodles I had for breakfast, but quite close - a fresh and full taste. I might have made a mistake in not asking for water without ice, but so far so good. 20SEK/2EUR.
I've also sampled some of the fruit. Small, sweet and juicy mango, which tasted precisely like mango should, and which made my hands quite sticky. I tried some mangosteen too, but either it wasn't the right season or I did a bad job at picking out good ones. They were good, but not excellent.
Upwards and onwards
It's time to wrap this up for now, and this will probably be the last I write for at least a few days. Ahead of me I have climbing Mt Kinabalu, whose temperature I'm looking forward to, but whose altitude I'm a bit intimidated by. After that I'll spend a couple of days out in the jungle, at a so called home stay run by the MESCOT project, and after that it's on to Sandakan for the Sepilok Orangutan Reserve and Turtle Islands National Park. With some luck, I'll be able to write more from Sandakan. Maybe I'll even be able to post some pictures.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Stranded in Hong Kong
Heathrow
It's always nice to arrive in London. The british accent feels very familiar, and so does the exaggerated politeness, and even driving on the left. I immediately enter into saying 'sorry' whenever standing in someone's way, or almost bumping into someone. It's also very easy to slip into the british accent, and british sayings that you wouldn't use otherwise. The transfer at Heathrow was painless, and I even had time for a triangle sandwich and some Walker's Salt & Vinegar crisps!
Cathay
The 12h flight to Hong Kong was serviced by Cathay Pacific. The plane was a fairly old, but proven in combat, Boeing 747. I was surprised to notice that the quality of the in-flight entertainment has risen considerably since I last made a similar trip. No more two or three channels, two or three films per channel crap, with a lot of dead time in between. No, Cathay's plane sported full-featured on-demand entertainment, containing at least 50 movies (of which a considerable amount were watcheable; I had to pick and choose!) and a few episodes each of some of the larger TV shows. The best thing: whenever I got too tired to continue watching, I could just pause the movie for an hour or two while catching some well deserved sleep. So, about the movies; The Day the Earth Stood Still pretty much sucked, but Jennifer Connelly is always enjoyable. Slumdog Millionaire was a lot better than I had hoped, especially in the beginning, before it turns into a happy-ending-romantic movie. There was also a large selection of Asian movies, from which I selected the Hong Kong made The Beast Stalker, which I can also recommend.
Hong Kong
So, Cathay was nice, and served noodles as a snack, but they arrived in Hong Kong 30m late, and I had only 1h5m to transfer. I didn't have much chance of making the connecting flight to Kota Kinabalu, so I'm currently a little stranded. I say 'a little', because I've already been rerouted to another flight, while I enjoy the relative coolnes of Hong Kong International Airport - if you can consider 23C and about 80% humidity (indoors) cool. As a small reimbursement for my inconvenience, I was offered a shop voucher, which I immediately spent on ramen and japanese dumplings. I'm amazed at how something which, at an airport nonetheless, costs about the same as a swedish lunch, takes about 2 minutes to prepare and tastes wonderfully. Why do we not have noodle restaurants in Sweden? Very uncivilized.
Hong Kong airport feels very civilized, in that everyone speeks english, and quite well at that. Judging by my brief encounter, it feels a little like lightweight Tokyo. In essence, you can get excellent ramen, while not having to use sign language.
To Kota Kinabalu
I'll remain here for another 5h or so, and then I should again be safely on my way to Kota Kinabalu. Hopefully there will still be some cheap hotel rooms available when I arrive. I had planned on spending this time sleeping, since it's now about 4am in Sweden, but I guess I'll get to sleep eventually. When I get back, if none the sooner.
Update
I lay down on a double seated couch, thinking I'll never be able to fall asleep like this. My balance told me everything was rocking, like when you've spent too much time on a boat. However, thanks to my cheap ass MP3 player and noise-blocking earphones, I managed to catch an hour's power nap. Waking up, my head was spinning, like when you wake up after having fallen asleep on the sofa after a long day, and and you wonder what just happened. In any case, I'm now checked in for Kota Kinabalu at 15.30 Hong Kong time, arriving at my destination at 18.30. Hopefully, the temperature has cooled down 'til then. Thinking about what to do with the rest of my time at HKG, I wonder if I shouldn't maybe see if I can find some more nice food... :)
It's always nice to arrive in London. The british accent feels very familiar, and so does the exaggerated politeness, and even driving on the left. I immediately enter into saying 'sorry' whenever standing in someone's way, or almost bumping into someone. It's also very easy to slip into the british accent, and british sayings that you wouldn't use otherwise. The transfer at Heathrow was painless, and I even had time for a triangle sandwich and some Walker's Salt & Vinegar crisps!
Cathay
The 12h flight to Hong Kong was serviced by Cathay Pacific. The plane was a fairly old, but proven in combat, Boeing 747. I was surprised to notice that the quality of the in-flight entertainment has risen considerably since I last made a similar trip. No more two or three channels, two or three films per channel crap, with a lot of dead time in between. No, Cathay's plane sported full-featured on-demand entertainment, containing at least 50 movies (of which a considerable amount were watcheable; I had to pick and choose!) and a few episodes each of some of the larger TV shows. The best thing: whenever I got too tired to continue watching, I could just pause the movie for an hour or two while catching some well deserved sleep. So, about the movies; The Day the Earth Stood Still pretty much sucked, but Jennifer Connelly is always enjoyable. Slumdog Millionaire was a lot better than I had hoped, especially in the beginning, before it turns into a happy-ending-romantic movie. There was also a large selection of Asian movies, from which I selected the Hong Kong made The Beast Stalker, which I can also recommend.
Hong Kong
So, Cathay was nice, and served noodles as a snack, but they arrived in Hong Kong 30m late, and I had only 1h5m to transfer. I didn't have much chance of making the connecting flight to Kota Kinabalu, so I'm currently a little stranded. I say 'a little', because I've already been rerouted to another flight, while I enjoy the relative coolnes of Hong Kong International Airport - if you can consider 23C and about 80% humidity (indoors) cool. As a small reimbursement for my inconvenience, I was offered a shop voucher, which I immediately spent on ramen and japanese dumplings. I'm amazed at how something which, at an airport nonetheless, costs about the same as a swedish lunch, takes about 2 minutes to prepare and tastes wonderfully. Why do we not have noodle restaurants in Sweden? Very uncivilized.
Hong Kong airport feels very civilized, in that everyone speeks english, and quite well at that. Judging by my brief encounter, it feels a little like lightweight Tokyo. In essence, you can get excellent ramen, while not having to use sign language.
To Kota Kinabalu
I'll remain here for another 5h or so, and then I should again be safely on my way to Kota Kinabalu. Hopefully there will still be some cheap hotel rooms available when I arrive. I had planned on spending this time sleeping, since it's now about 4am in Sweden, but I guess I'll get to sleep eventually. When I get back, if none the sooner.
Update
I lay down on a double seated couch, thinking I'll never be able to fall asleep like this. My balance told me everything was rocking, like when you've spent too much time on a boat. However, thanks to my cheap ass MP3 player and noise-blocking earphones, I managed to catch an hour's power nap. Waking up, my head was spinning, like when you wake up after having fallen asleep on the sofa after a long day, and and you wonder what just happened. In any case, I'm now checked in for Kota Kinabalu at 15.30 Hong Kong time, arriving at my destination at 18.30. Hopefully, the temperature has cooled down 'til then. Thinking about what to do with the rest of my time at HKG, I wonder if I shouldn't maybe see if I can find some more nice food... :)
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