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.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
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... :)
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Pack list for Borneo
Done packing! I ended up with a meager 15kg, and half the space left in my backpacks. I must've done a too good job sorting out what to bring. On the other hand, now I can fit my small (32l) backpack inside the large one (70l), which was kind of the point from the start. I can't wait to see if I've packed too little or too much. Exciting!My method when packing has been to write down the pack list as a simple text file, using my favourite editor. Innocent bystanders are watching over the process.
Here's how it looked before; and I'm sorry for the extremely sucky layout, but blame blogger. No way to adjust alignment after upload? No way to add a caption? Come on! Also, I'm sorry for the crappy quality; I accidentally left the camera on ISO1600, and now it's stowed away.
Gear
Clothing
Essentials
Boots made for walking
And the final result
Here's the pack list in all its glory:
CONTAINERS
- McKinley 70l sack
- Waterproof sack cover
- Vaude Tec Rock 32l
- Waterproof packing bag
- Packing bags
- Plastic bags
- Meindl Island Pro trekking boots
- McKinley sandals
- Tierra GoreTex XCR shell jacket
- North Face Paramount Convertible trekking trousers
- Fjällräven G1000 Barents trekking trousers
- Haglöfs micro fleece jacket (for Mt Kinabalu)
- Craft functional underwear
- Craft functional outer sweater
- Trekking socks (5)
- Polyester t-shirts (3)
- Cotton shirt
- Bathing shorts
- Cotton shawl
- Tough mittens
- Ski gloves (for Mt Kinabalu)
- Arc'Teryx cap (for Mt Kinabalu)
- Bandana (instead of a sun hat)
- Microfibre towel
- Travel sheet
- Travel pillow
- Travel wallet
- Head lamp
- Mini LED lamp
- Foam sheet for sitting
- Whistle
- Alarm clock
- Drinking cup
- SPORK!
- Water bottle
- AA and AAA batteries
- Low-temp washing powder
- Sunglasses
- Notebook and pencil
- MP3 player (running on AAA batteries)
- Camelback
- Shoe wax
- Leatherman Skeletool
- Nikon D80
- Nikkor DX 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6
- Nikkor VR 70-300 f/4-5.6
- SB-600 flash (?)
- UV filter
- 0x0F GB memory cards
- Battery pack
- AA battery insert
- Charger
- Lens pen
- Bellows
- Sony GPS-CS1
- Footprint Borneo guide book
- Malay Made Easy hand book (Thanks J!)
- The Difference Engine (because I should've read it 15 years ago)
- Passport
- Insurance document (multiple copies)
- Travel documents (multiple copies)
- Tour plan
- Ioperamid (a must have!)
- Antihistamines
- Ibuprofen
- Water purifier
- Sunscreen (30 and 60)
- Disinfectant hand gel
- Insect repellent
- Talc
- Malaria prophylaxis
- Fluid replacement
- First Aid-kit
- Medical tape
- Toothbrush
Weather forecast for Kota Kinabalu about the time I arrive: 28° C, 80% risk of precipitation, thunder storms. Lovely! You can follow Kota Kinabalu weather here, and I will try to post new links as I move around.
If you're interested in trip details, they can be found here, but only in swedish.
I almost forgot; my theme song for the trip is New Model Army - Wipeout. It is unfortunately not available either on YouTube or through Spotify, but here's a piece of the lyrics:
Lost out in the white waves - salt purification
Bright eyes and breathless - this is how Love feels
Wash away the black stuff, wash away the road-dirt
In the thrill of the wipe-out, feel it pulling you under
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