The Grey Haired Nomads go to Borneo

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Kuala Lumpur. Heading for the Jungle. Sabah, Borneo
9th September 2008

The grey-haired-nomads are on the move once again. In search of new adventures, heading for Kuala Lumpur, a twelve hour flight from London Heathrow, en route to other places you have doubtless never heard of; Sabah, for example.

Everyone can travel to Sabah these days. It's possible to organise an itinerary to include: internal flights (essential for 'getting around' as the few roads there are are mostly unmettled and potholed), river transport, dawn and night river safaris, lodges on the Kinabatangan River, elephant hunting, hiking up to your ears in mud and thorns, bats in caves and bird's nest soup, birding walks shared with hungry bloodsucking leeches and a host of other wildlife things to add to the excitement - with but an hour or two on the internet.

By now you will have guessed that we're doing what we like doing best; immersed in wildlife and learning something about the culture in Malaysia, linked to Britain and Queen Elizabeth II by the Commonwealth, born of independence way back in 1957 as the last vestages of the British Empire disintegrated after the last World War.

A high speed Mercedes taxi whisked us, on the left-hand side of the road, to our hotel in Kuala Lumpur's golden triangle in a little under an hour, into the vast, tidy, sprawling city, past smart new suburban developments and appartment blocks in varying degrees of splendour and decay. At it's centre, this multicultural city comes close to the renowned standards of Singapore to the south; with clean wide streets, a monorail system, beautiful modern buildings, the iconic Petronas Twin Towers, flamboyant mosques, landmarks of Malaysia's colonial past and all the trademarks of vibrant success emblazened across the shops, Gucci, Boss, Coach, Prada, Calvin Klein, Armani, Ralph Lauren..... Within a stone's throw, beside the Chinese quarter and the ornate Sri Mahamariamman Temple, market stalls sell all the 'genuine copies' at a fraction of the price. Nobody seems to care: Man U shirts, Gucci handbags and Rolex watches at knock-down prices! With petrol and diesel fixed at 2.55 Malaysian Ringetts per litre (around £0.45p in real money) and our first meal for 13.80MR (a little over £2.00 for the two of us), this is clearly not a bad place to be lost in.

Unlike the UK, talk here is rarely of the weather. There's not much to say; it's either very hot and very wet or very hot and very dry throughout the year. The temperature remains constant, around 28C - 30C. Then what on earth do they find to talk about? Yes, you guessed it; Man United of course! We did find one young Liverpool supporter, jubilant of last week's thrashing of United! But more of Kuala Lumpur, later. We will be passing through the city once or twice more during the coming three months.

Our prime destination was Malaysia's State of Sabah, that little bit of Malaysia on the northeastern tip of Borneo, a huge island two and a half hours by air to the east, flying directly into the town of Sandakan where we arrived at nightfall, around 6pm, for an overnight stop. Within minutes of checking in we were strutting the town, a stark contrast with Kuala Lumpur, dingy streets and shuttered shops, the wailing call to prayer from the golden icon atop the hill on this eleventh day of Ramadan, a few cars on the road, noisy motorcycles, cracked pavements with gaping manhole covers and, beyond the harbour, the night market where we dined in the open-air at long plastic-covered tables with the locals: boys and girls, families, and elderly couples. It was Friday night, obviously the night to be seen out in Sandakan. Neither of us are quite sure what we ate. My char-grilled fish (the young hawkers shrugged their shoulders and giggled when I asked what sort), was delicious, so who cares? I could get used to taking her ladyship out to dinner at £1 each including a drink! On our return to Sandakan in daylight a few days later, we discovered the central part of the town to be lively and attractive by day.

The following morning we set off for the commendable but zoo-like experience of feeding-time at the Sepilok Orang-utan rehab centre. Many of you will have seen this on UK TV in recent times.The objective is to return orphaned and displaced primates to the wild. It's a while since either of us had seen these delightful cuddly animals, but as yet we had still to find them in the wild. That was to be the challenge and one of our many objectives over the coming days. Rest assured, we had no plans to discover the native head-hunters - or encounter their poison darts!

There is little Rain Forest left in Sabah post-logging, and subsequent to that, palm oil (huge multi-national estates dominate the landscape here), cocoa, rubber and tea, that have all helped to denude this land of its valuable heritage, but hopefully that's history now and lessons have been learnt. Sabah was about to share with us some of that which remains. The brown Kinabatangan River was to be our 'highway' over the following few days, based at the Sukau Rainforest Lodge, another 2 1/2 hours by fast open boat from Sandakan. Up with the sun past tiny fishing seetlements, we scoured the banks for wildlife in narrow battery powered boats, searching out spectacular birds and wildlife: huge Hornbills, tiny Kingfishers, bright coloured snakes many of them venemous, comic Proboscis monkeys crashing through the trees, Gibbons, Silver-backed Langurs, Pig-tailed and Long-tailed Macaques - and leading the hunt for pygmy elephants following a reported sighting, without success. It's hot and humid in Sabah all year. We showered three times each day between treks and safaris, soaking our clothes with perspiration at the slightest exertion.

After three days we left Sakau for the vast Gomantong Caves, towering several hundred feet above us and infested with scurrying cockroaches, to witness two million bats swirling overhead at frightening speed and up to one million swiftlets nesting high up in the roof of the cave. The swiftlet's seemingly inaccessible nests are harvested by local people using precarious rattan ladders and bamboo poles -some 50 metres above the guano-covered floor, with not a hint of health and safety regulations! These valuable nests are sold to the Chinese for the much prized 'birds'nest soup'. Imagine our delight when an Orang-utan made a guest appearance just outside the cave entrance, feeding from the fruit trees before us! We were en route to the rainforest Tabin Wildlife Reserve some two hours away, the final hour by 4X4 on pitted unmade roads through mile after mile of palm plantations in the rolling hills, joining another group of adventurers: a couple from Singapore, two Japanese, two Germans, five Danes and an American lad, Jonathan, from Wisconsin, who took to eating with us.

Good fortune followed us into the rainforest at Tabin, for it was here we chanced to meet Chris, a Liverpudlian birding guide for NatureTrek, who happened to be there on holiday between locations. Chris took us out with him along the track by the mud volcano one afternoon, delighting us with his specialist knowledge of the birds of the area. Lady luck still rides with us! Butterflies, in a vast range of stunning colours, are the size of saucers here - and the birds, the size of aeroplanes (a Rhinocerous Hornbill is 120cm from beak to tail!) At 7.30 that evening Chris joined us for dinner and we looked around for our young American friend, Jonathan, unsure whether or not he had departed for other shores. An hour later we discovered he was reported missing, having taken it into his head to 'go for a walk on his own' without telling anyone where he was headed. 4X4 search parties were sent out in all directions as darkness engulfed the rainforest but he had not been found when we finally went to bed with thoughts of him at the bottom of the rocks with a broken leg - or worse!.

English is spoken in this part of Borneo alongside Malay and Chinese, but we did experience the occasional hiccup in communications. Our briefing before our first jungle walk commenced with our guide demanding that we wear willies and trusses. Both of these are essentials in this part of Borneo as you might be aware, principally to avoid the distressing experience of bloodsucking leech bites and malaria infested mosquitos. We both suffered the dripping-blood concequences of the nasty little leeches during the trip - with no ill-effects I might add, despite our 'wellies and trousers' - and leech socks!

Jonathan turned up at breakfast the following morning, nonchalant as ever, to tell us his tale of woe. He had evidently been unsure of the track some way off and was then unable to find his way back. As darkness approached he traced the river both up and down with no evident sign of his tracks, and finally, in desperation, lay down to rest. Within minutes he was covered in fire-ants and started to yell for help! Lady luck was with Jonathan that night too. By chance he was heard - and rescued late into the night. He's a lucky lad this time. Hopefully he will have learned something from the experience.

The jewel in the crown was saved till the sun fell below the tree-tops and the cicadas began their ear-piercing nightly song on our final day. An orang-utan settled down for the night with her baby in her hand-crafted nest way up above our heads and four noisy Rhinocerous Hornbills sounded the final chorus before us; leavng us wide-eyed and grinning from ear to ear with joy. Fabulous - absolutely fabulous! We've sweated a lot and bled a bit but our lives are full to the brim with thrills and fond memories of Borneo. We would come again.

Thrilled by our 'jungle' experience, we were eventually packed off, back along the bumpy road in a rattling minibus for the airport at Lahad Datu, near the Indonesian border. Faced with a four -hour wait at the airport, we asked Mamal, our driver, to drop us off in the town, planning to return to the airport a little later. He chose to take us on a tour of Lahad Datu: to the markets, the water village, to the New Town a mile further along the coast, and to visit his uncle and aunt at his home. Uncle, in his late 60's we guessed, midst cutting a customer's hair in the shop, directed us up the near vertical rickety staircase to the floor above, where his lovely wife was tidying the living room in preparation for our arrival. We were treated to a glass of Coke which we shared with uncle and Mamal. Soon we were joined by Mamal's mother and we chatted about culture, education and the Japanese occupation in 1942 with Uncle translating, whilst mother and aunt smiled and nodded in appreciation. They were particularly interested to know how old we both were, presumably having noticed my white hair - or what's left of it. This was the second time this question had been raised on this visit to Malaysia. 'You both look so young for your age', they told us. 'Here, we age so much more quickly'. Perhaps it's true, though they all looked fine to us. Perhaps it's something to do with diet, or climate - or just expectations. This was a truly memorable experience for us - such gracious hospitality and such delightful people. Thank you, Mamal.

Three generations of the family waved us off when we finally left for the airport for our flight to Kota Kinabalu and onward to Kuala Lumpur, to find the plane only half full - but with numerous Dignitaries, VIPs and representatives of the Press for the inaugural flight of a new MASwings (Malaysia Airlines) ATR72 - 500 Series turbo prop, smelling like a new car, of fresh leather and carpets and electric anticipation. We lived in hope that it was not built on a Friday! In common with our other flights in Malaysia, both take off and landing were ahead of schedule.

Should you get to read this missive sometime in the near future, think of us poor souls as we venture into the unknown once again, travelling around New Zealand's North and South Islands by motorhome on the second leg of our journey. We expect to be back in Malaysia, heading up into the Cameron Highlands, on our way home in early December.



David and Janice. The grey-haired-nomads
And Todd came too - of course!

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Photos

Malaysia
Petronas Towers KL

Malaysia
Hindu Temple KL

Malaysia
Eating with the locals Sandakan

Malaysia
Along the Kinabatangan River

Malaysia
Gomantong Caves

Malaysia
Our first Orang Utan in the wild!

Malaysia
Rhinocerous Hornbill

Malaysia
Kingfisher

Malaysia
Leech attack!

Malaysia
Mamal's family

Malaysia
the NEW Turbo prop

Malaysia
Fairy bluebird

Malaysia
The intrepid grey haired nomads

Comments

[Linda]

bashing on forever
Hey y'all-- It was fun to read your latest. As much as we are all traveling these days, we may eventually end up together again, by accident. Jo Parilla, for example, must have just missed you: she was in Borneo this year too. Jean-Pierre and I have been doing tamer stuff (national parks, with French relatives: but hey! we saw a condor along our trail in Zion Park, after vainly searching for them for years in the more conventional places). Carry on! and looking forward to being on the same continent with you again one of these days. Linda