Blogs from Kinabatangan, Sabah, Malaysia, Asia - page 5

As soon as I walked into our jungle hut (as it were), I noticed a small spider perched on the wire mesh of the window in front of my mattress. This wasn't a particularly big spider, but did have a lot of stripes and paterns on his body. I have learned that it is not necessarily the big bugs that do the most damage, but the wee little ornate looking ones that can pack the punch. I stood for a while in front of him seeing if he would make the first move. I had my knife ready to go, although thinking back on it, I'm not sure a knife would have done better than a rolled up magazine. We watched each other for a minute or two before I decided to let him live. He ... read more

I think I’m probably going to make myself unpopular amongst people who have been there and loved it, but I found the Kinabatangan River to be distinctly underwhelming. For anybody who’d just arrived in Borneo and been nowhere else it must seem magical but for me, having been lucky enough to have probably been spoiled by travel, it was a big disappointment. Partly it was my fault due to a poor choice of accommodation, partly it was because I hate organised tours and activities, and partly it was because its just really not that great. My two main reasons for going were to see the Bornean “pigmy” elephant and the rare Storm’s stork, both of which I did see so that was the objective fulfilled, but apart for those and a few other good sightings I ... read more

¡Buenos días del 25 de julio! Hoy no espera unos de los "highlights" del viaje: el tour en barca por Sungai Kinabatangan. Kinabatangan significa "regalo para la Tierra" y es un pantanoso río de 560 kilómetros desde su nacimiento en el sudeste de Borneo hasta desembocar en el mar Zulú, cerca de Filipinas. Cualquier documental de naturaleza que hayáis visto en el que se viaja en barca por un río de aguas marrón claro atravesando la jungla no debe andar muy lejos de Kinabatangan :) Desayunamos en el albergue y esperamos hasta que el 4x4 del tour nos viene a buscar. La primera mala noticia es que no podremos realizar la excursión suplementaria a las cuevas de Gomantong, infestadas de pájaros, cucarachas y murciélagos (¡y aun así muy interesante!). Resulta que ahora no es la época ... read more

Back in the Jungle - Part 1... read more

Goodbye to "Mr Fantastic!" AJ and I arrived back in KK, and a day later we left each other. His two month sojourn in South East Asia had come to an end and he had to get back to Hanoi to catch his return flight to ye olde Europa. It was the end of something special...a good travel companion, if not maybe my best friend, definitely someone I can trust and rely on. Oh, and laughter, lots of biting acerbic wit and laughter. Ha! "This is fantastic!" As I left the hostel at 5.30 in the morning for my bus to Semporna he even got out of bed (his second fave place) and gave me a farewell hug. It was akin to me putting listening to his pregnant baby - the bloody giant Dutchman. Bus journey ... read more