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Published: March 10th 2010
Su and I both got up early to buy the fast boat ticket to Banggi, our hotel is just 2 minutes from the pier, we walked there and there's a trickle of people already sat at the waiting shed, I asked around where to buy the ticket as there seems to be no booth, I was told at 7:30am someone will appear to sell them, we noticed the locals have their IDs ready so we went back to the hotel and took our passports. Going back there we saw a lady setting up a table we followed what the locals do, they handed in our passports on the table, she picked it up and registered us in the book then we pay 15 ringgits each, sorted.
Then we walked away and had breakfast at the Chinese restaurant across the street from Sunrise hotel where we are staying. Then collected our things, I had time for a shower and said our goodbyes to the nice Filipina caretaker of the hotel.
People we boarding when we arrived at the pier, we got on the boat, a boy was sat in one of our seat so i told him to get lost, well
he wont budge when Su tried so i told him to scoot out and he got scared of me I think cause he left. The boat was full, we are in economy, 1st class 18 ringgits, it's only 1 1/2 hours to the island of Banggi, themovie playing is the Scorpion ,we both fell asleep quickly, I got a tap on my shoulder later, it's the woman ticket seller, she is collecting the tickets, so i woke up Su who has them. We arrived in Banggi, everyone is trying to be the 1st out, we're not even fully stopped yet, so we waited for it to clear, the pier walkway is long and we have no idea where to go, we saw 2 white people with backpacks ahead of us, I asked for directions for a GH or resort at the cafeteria and we were directed to the right, the Danish couple followed us, we ended up in the school grounds and someone directed us to the Banggi resorts, a woman named Deng told us there are no rooms for us, the Danish couple had reservations, but if we follow her she will take us to the GH, there was
no one there we waited for 15 minutes until a woman showed up she is the owner and she showed us a couple of rooms, we picked the one with double beds, for 40 ringgits only total, it's on stilts and is nice and breezy, the toilet is outside our room but is for our own use only, really nice place though the woman barely speaks a word in English she just smiles, Deng helped us sort it out with payments and all, the place is called Sri Maliangin Homestead.
I asked her for excursions and things to do here, there is a waterfall to hike to but is 150 ringgits cause it's far and a place to snorkel but boat is 100 ringgits. We walked around to find lunch and found behind the mosque some eateries though not much to chose from, the Danish couple were there too and we agreed to snorkel tomorrow as a group to save money. The lunch included fried cold noodles and some banana fritters, nothing else to chose from. It wasnt bad really, while I was paying a man in a skull cap approached me and asked me where I am from,
American I said, then he asked my ethnicity, Filipino I said and everyone was delighted! They are mostly Filipinos here apparently, they came from the south of the Philippines, Tausugs, Bajau different tribes. They thought I was Malaysian, good thing they spoke Tagalog as I dont understand their dialect, they offered us boat trips which we promised to keep in mind should we decide to do it, we look for them. People here are very friendly, we walked back to our place and people greet us. we took a siesta and we woke up to the sound of noisy of kids outside, we investigated what is going on they were jumping and playing in the water from the walkway, we went outside and took fotos of them, they seem surprised at first and quite shy but quickly got used to us, they did some acrobatics for us, the only thing is the water is not that clean here, our toilet crap comes out straight in the water! I guess they are used to it, Su was laughing so hard when I reminded him if we do number 2 now it will swim with the kids as it will float about
the water! Another interesting thing Su asked me tonight is why do white people read books when they are on vacation? I could not really answer that as i myself am not a big reader.
In the eve we met Gajir again, the kind Filipino man who talked to us earlier in the food market, he is setting up our trip to Maliangin island tomorrow, for 4 people 200 ringgits. He told us we could buy food to grill in the beach tomorrow, the Danish couple wanted some chicken so they can buy at the grocery store, Su and I wanted fresh fish, apparently the fish market comes alive around 8pm when the catch arrives from the fishing trip out to sea, we had dinner first of grilled fish, we bought some kalamansi(lemon) and salt, there is no cooked rice to buy, we brought the fish back in our room and we feasted on it, quite delicious, a big fish we devoured in minutes, we are still hungry so we went back to the market and bought chicken wings, the vendors I thought were Filipino so I talked to them in Tagalog but they just laughed at me, I
am having difficulty discerning which is which so to play it safe I will talk to them in English or get laughed at, mind you their English is also almost non existent unlike the mainland. Anyway we met the Danish couple again we ate together on the street as the food market is almost shut at 7pm! We were told by Gajir to meet him at the fish market at 8pm, we were there but no sign of him and no fish either, we walked to the pier on a place that looks like a restaurant, and it was with some military people milling around, at least tomorrow we now know where to eat!
We went back to the GH cause we got tired of waiting for the catch to come in, we sat on the walkway and watched the moon and the stars for a bit then I turned in to bed, Su was still out experimenting with his Nikon D90. I slept pretty well, the sound of the water lapping against the shore lulled me to sleep, aside from toilet break 2 times I had a great sleep.
Come morning Su woke up early for sunrise i
was envious when he showed me his fotos. Up for breakfast at the restaurant we found last night, i tried to tell them I want fried eggs, they just stared at me and laughed, so I tried Tagalog, "itlog" and they understood, but I have to come to the kitchen and demonstrate how it should be cook, quite funny. After breakfast we headed to the fish market next door, we found some fish, a cuttlefish, a porcupine fish or two, then we met the vendor Bilong from the Philippines, we bought from him a kilo of assorted fish for grilling for only 10 ringgits! we found one crab! We wanted more but no more so he promised in the afternoon we come back he will save 6 big ones for us for dinner!
We met the Danes at the food market and Gajir was there too, we took the boat to Maliangin, a speed boat, about 20 minute trip the island was pretty we went on the other side where the beach is nice. We set up quickly at a picnic table next to a tree. The guys headed to snorkel, as they all have their own I have
to wait my turn to borrow Su's. meanwhile I went for a swim with Abdul, Gajir's little kid. We got stung by jelly fish! we came ashore again and we started the fire to cook our fish and the chicken. First the rice, to be sure it gets cooked pretty well, Gajir put salt on top of the lid, a superstition that he can't explain the reason for it but it works apparently. We grilled the fish next, oh Alexander the Dane caught a small octopus while out walking near the rocks and we cooked it, it was good but they won't eat it. The fish got cooked and the chicken as well and we had a feast, We struggled to finish the fish we had and ended up feeding the rest to the emaciated, malnourished dogs in the island. After the meal they all went back to snorkel, Gajir lied on the hammock and I chatted with him, suddenly he got startled by something, he asked me to take a look atop the tree amongst the branches if i think it was a snake, I looked and it was, I squirmed! it's brown like the branches, well camouflaged, it
is also quite long curled up we can see it was big but we cant find the head, it was there all along while we ate lunch, yuck! Gajir got scared and refused to go back in the hammock, he made excuse that he will be going to pray now and went to the house nearby. there are a few houses here but we hardly saw people.
I tried to stay away from the picnic table so i went out for a swim and got stung by jelly fish 3 times so I got out of the water and had a nap in the shade of a dead tree. We all got stung by jelly fish but did not deter the Danes and Su from snorkelling, they said it was excellent, they saw lots of corals and variety of fish, I was too lazy to put on my contacts, because it means going back to the picnic table and grab it from Su's bag, i don't want to see the snake even if it's sleeping, The Danes came back and saw the snake too, Alex was like me he is terrified of them too so we distanced ourselves from
it. I had a nap and come 4pm we got picked up, we all got wet coming back, the waves are bigger, Su's d90 got wet in the process but it was ok after a quick drying. We got back to our GH and washed our wet clothes and just chill. While I was in the shower Su played with the little kids who lives next door.We headed back to the pier for dinner where we met the Danes, then went to bed, power outtage suddenly hit but did not matter the cool breeze from the ocean lulled us to sleep, the Danes suffered in their room, they have no ventilation other than a/c.
We met the Danes for breakfast and then I met Mr. Bulong who sells fish in the market, he saved 6 huge pieces of crabs for us, the size of them claws were enormous! I was happy. He told us he also run a restaurant at the pier and if we just got to his place later called Sri Bulong he will have the crabs ready to eat. the Danes bought shrimps, huge ones too. We met Gajir and he found 2 guys to lead
us to the waterfalls. the fee is the same as yesterday, 200 ringgits for the 4 of us plus a small tip for the guides. We took a truck to get to the other side of the island, it was 30kms far and the guy drives very slow, we saw villages whose houses were like built on stilts minus the water, they live in the interior but adapted the same style.
It was paved road at first and when we hit the rough roads it got tighter, dump trucks were on the path as well delivering supplies to the road being built up ahead, we got a flat tire! We have to wait for them to change tires and when we did, turns out the guides don't know where we are going! We have to ask around where the trail is, it took awhile and we are all getting annoyed, finally we ended up in this house where the trail actually starts, before we headed out we had some fresh coconut juice and we scooped out the meat from the inside, quite tasty.
The walk from the house took only 30 minutes, the walk was nice, the river is
not full at the moment as it is dry season but you can see the deep gorge it carved over the years and it can be really torrential here in the rainy season we were told. We saw crayfish, small fish and small crabs in the water and a snake! god damn snakes it always shows up where we go. Alex the Dane broke his flip flops and had to walk bare feet for awhile, when we took a break Gajir fixed it for him with the bracelet i have made of synthetic fiber given to me by the Swiss girl in Argentina, i didn't want to give it to him but I felt bad as the Dane was in pain walking shoeless. We made it up to the foot of the small waterfall but there is a nice swimming hole there, and another level up and another! but then it is quite far to get to the source so we gave up after following our guides scrambling on rocks slippery and craggy. We started jumping in the deep water holes, cold water refreshing!
We stayed there for a good 2 hours, the young guides only spoke Malay but they
understood most of my tagalog words so we were able to communicate somehow. Gajir was not happy about the guides not knowing their way, he thought this guides are experts, but we made it anyway just took longer.Alex and I were apalled how the locals have no complete regard of the environment, Gajir and the young guides would smoke and throw their butts in the water! And when we had snacks they just throw the plastic and wrappers wherever they want, it is very hard to educate them about the importance of cleanliness they saw us pick up their thrash and put it away in a plastic bag which we brought back with us, hopefully that'll take root. if not they're screwed, they ruin their environment with the amount of garbage they throw out carelessly.
More people came just as we were leaving, all locals, we went back slowly, I slipped and wet my boots good thing it was only a 30 minute walk. Arriving at the house where we started, we waited more than an hour before we got picked up again by the pick up truck. We were so hungry we went straight to Sri Bulong restaurant
and asked them to cook our food quickly, the daughter of Bulong the fish monger was there and was giggling as I try to explain what to do with the prawns and the crabs, i think she understood me when we left she seems to know how to prepare them, well we just have to see. We got back and have a shower, we were back in the restaurant first and while waiting for the Danes, this guy with a bucket full of small lobsters opened up a crack in the walkway(the restaurant is on stilts at the pier)and threw them down the hole in a net, it's a small fishpen, with small fish as well, they will grow them before selling it. When food came it was glorious, we gorged the crabs like there is no tomorrow, and the claws I saved for later. The Danes were very tired so they left before us and we sorted out payment.
WIKI INFO:
Banggi Island is located within the Kudat Division of Sabah in Malaysia. With an area of 440.7 square kilometres it is the largest island in Malaysia followed by Betruit Island, Langkawi Island and Penang Island.
It is located off the northern coast of Sabah, near Marudu Bay. The highest elevation of the island is a hill with the height of 529 meters. In 2003 it has an estimated population of 20,000.
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framichele
Bruder Michael
Pulau Maliangin
Is Maliangin only for a day trip - or also for overnight? Was the snorkeling there good (corals, fishes...). How did you cure after the case of the jellyfish?