Borneo

After 3 weeks in Perth, a few days in Singapore and a week in KL we were feeling pretty bored with city life so we booked a cheap flight to Malaysian Borneo to trek the jungle! For us the name Borneo conjured up images of endless jungle and wild men with blow-pipes and although both exist here in Borneo, Sabah (the northern state) is also suprisingly well populated. However we didn't fly out here to see another city so we straight away booked on a wildlife river cruise.

As we drove 2 hours through the heavy tropical rain towards the boat quay we got a good tour of Borneo. The towns and villages are slightly more rural than peninsular Malaysia and the houses sit on stilts but like the mainland there is very little poverty here. As we jumped on the boat the rain stopped and we headed up the river in search of the freaky looking Proboscus monkeys and fireflies. We were quickly treated to an up close look at the big nosed fellows alongside the river. After spotting many groups of monkeys it got dark and we were treated to a display of fireflies on the river bank. The trees lit up like christmas trees, cool!


We decided to hire a car the next day and set off up to Mount Kinabalu (the highest mountain in SE Asia). After getting majorly lost we didn't arrive at the national park until early afternoon by which time the mandatory afternoon rain was gathering and the mountain was invisible. The 2 day climb to the top was fully booked for months in advance but, we decided to do a 2 hour trail even though the clouds were coming in. After getting dropped half way up the mountain by a mini bus. We headed into the jungle at which point the heavens opened and soaked us within seconds. We slid and sogged our way down the hill and eventually after embracing the wetness we started to enjoy being out of the city! 20kms further on we visited Poring hot springs where we soaked our aching muscles and watched football in a nice guest house.



Next day we drove all the way across Borneo to Sandakan where we spent the night and then the next morning headed to an Orangutang sanctuary. The morning feeding was really cool. Wild and re-habilitated orangutangs come swinging out of the jungle to get milk and bananas and generally show off to the tourists. Afterwards we drove off in search of a big cave where they climb high ladders to collect birds-nests for soup. Again we got thoroughly lost on unsealed roads, trashed the hire car suspension and nearly got conned by the guy that opens the gate but eventually we got to the caves. The nests were out of season but the 100m high ladders were still strung around the cave. A quick self guided walk around through the stench of guava and teeming cockroaches and we were out of there.


On the way back across to Borneo's East coast we stopped again at the Kinabalu national park where this time we were lucky and early enough to see the beautiful mountain out of it's cloak of clouds. This time we did a longer and majorly challenging trek down a jungle valley. The rain held off this time and we arrived back at the base camp tired but happy.



Unfortunately on our last day Holland was unable to move for a hellish flu, so we couldn't do our visit to the local snorkelling islands, but we weren't too bothered as we knew our planned week with our friends on Tioman island would make up for it!