Borneo Lou Lou! Borneo!

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We felt like we were really getting off the beaten track when we arrived in Borneo, flying into the capital of Sarawak - Kuching. We welcomed back the staring and incredulous looks from locals who don't see many pale skinned people.

Borneo conjures up images of thick jungle, ancient tribes cut off from civilization and murky rivers snaking into forestry teeming with flora, fauna and an abundance of animal life. Much was our surprise when we landed to find that Kuching was quite a busy, modern city.

Borneo's history is an interesting one. A British guy called James Brooke, after leaving the army with a tidy sum, set sail with a crew and a boat armed to it's teeth and landed in Borneo, claiming the land from what was mostly Bruneian. He took advantage of the Sultanate that was struggling to maintain power over the island, striking a deal that allowed him to quell a rebellion and become the first 'white raj' of Borneo. Amazingly this rule actually lasted into the 20th century.

Malaysian Borneo is split up into two states - Sarawak and Sabah. It was the former of these that we began exploring, beginning with the state capital Kuching. Kuching literally translates as 'cat' and is the undisputed tribal artifact capital of Borneo with every other shop selling wooden tribal shields, masks or bows and arrows. The city is set against an idyllic slow moving river which curves lazily round a Chinatown (naturally) and newer parts of the city where Starbucks and McDonald's have moved in. The town itself is a pleasant place to wander, and awash with colour, with each area being distinctly different. The highlight is a fantastic modern mosque, originally called Kuching Mosque.

One of the top sights to see near Kuching is a national park called Bako. The words 'jungle trekking' in about 35 degrees heat and 98% humidity is enough to strike fear into anyone but is unfortunately something that is essential in order to see the fantastic scenery and wildlife Borneo has to offer. Victoria was very ill when we arrived in Borneo with a touch of food poisoning (first time in seven months isn't bad) and so wasn't able to do the trek. She was therefore nursed up in the hostel whilst I trekked and sweat so profusely I could have opened a small salt factory.

Getting to Bako National Park was not that straightforward in the first instance. A bone-rattling bus first took me to a pier far out of town where I had to then catch a connecting long boat. A long boat is essentially a thin wooden boat with a jet engine hanging off the back. OK not a jet engine, but it felt like one. The cost of these are quite outrageous when you consider the relative prices of everything else in Borneo. I had just come quite some distance on a bus for about 20p and now a boat driver wanted about ten pounds for a journey of not more than 10 minutes! I had to become chummy with some of the locals who were going the same way to share some of the cost.

Bako National Park is separate from the mainland, ensuring the large area of 2,750 hectares remains a secluded eco-sanctuary. The island was beautiful in the morning mist with a rich sandy shore leading to trees sprouting beyond marshlands and swamps. Beyond that lay large green rolling hills, thick with a tremendous variety of foliage.

There are a variety of different treks and routes for people wanting to plunge themselves into the jungle, fortunately I had packed my sense of adventure, and naivety. However the lure of pounding through this beautiful reserve filled with an incredible array of animal life including various species of monkeys was too great to ignore.

I began my trek after checking in the with park HQ. The trails start with nice wooden pathways leading into the jungle, which lured me into thinking it was literally and figuratively going to be a walk in the park. The paths soon stopped and my sandals (yes, sandals - with socks no less - I had nothing else) fell into the sloppy leafy floor of the jungle. Now, hiking up hills and steep trails in cold weather is taxing enough. When doing it in high heat and humidity with mosquitoes and other biting insects mistaking you for breakfast, it becomes quite something beyond this. I strode on, determined that the magnificent views and animal sightings would make it all worthwhile. For quite some time all I could see were immense columns of ants crawling about 10 rows deep around leafs, rocks and up trees.

Despite the horrible mosquitos and my squelching sandals I was thankful there were no leeches, as the guidebook had threatened. Secondly, the walk was incredibly beautiful - it felt so natural and raw but also very exotic. I felt I should have been dressed all in khaki and wearing one of those silly hats traipsing behind my native guide in search for a hidden, obscure temple. The thick jungle growth slowly began to clear and give way to large sandstone areas littered with dry bush land. Large pools of yellow water (literally - piss yellow, I was sure a group of tourists had relived themselves nearby) had collected at many places and ran into a stream that crossed through certain paths of the route.

The absolute highlight was near the end, perhaps a mile from reaching the park HQ. Walking along a path I suddenly heard a squeal on my left hand side. The jungle was very thick at this point and as a result the area was very dark. However, on my left, on a fallen branch which was leaning against a large rock was a grey coloured monkey, staring curiously at me. All of a sudden two others and a baby one were descending on trees around me onto the jungle floor, just sitting around. They posed for a few pictures and then wandered up the track and climbed another tree disappearing back into the jungle. It was incredible, they all looked hilarious, like a family on an afternoon stroll.

Still feeling under the weather, Victoria and I made our way from Kuching to Miri further up the coast of Sarawak. There was not much to see in this small town, but it was a suitable place to spend the night before we made our way to the oil-rich nation of Brunei.

We caught an international ferry from Brunei and into the northern state of Malaysian Borneo - Sabah. We arrived in its state capital - Kota Kinabalu via the island port of Pulau Labuan where we got our visas for Malaysia renewed. Kota Kinabalu is a larger town than Kuching and is located down the coast from the states number 1 attraction, Mount Kinabalu National Park. KK is a town on the move and is being well developed in the face of a blossoming tourist industry. New shopping malls are springing up next to traditional food markets.

As mentioned, the principle attraction of this area is the modest climb up Mount Kinabalu and the surrounding park land around the base of the mountain. We caught a share taxi to the park, which is about a 2 hour drive outside the city and requires a steep climb affording excellent views. The climate up here is refreshingly cool as it is about 1500m above sea level. Unfortunately we only caught glimpses of the mountain on our way up to the park, for most of the morning and rest of the day the summit was shrouded in blankets of cloud.

We did not attempt to climb the mountain, which is meant to be one of the easiest climbs in the world, but we did explore the surrounding park land, enjoying the cool climate. The mountain, despite being rather small, around 4,000m to the peak, is the highest peak east of the Himalayas. We hadn't seen anything as large since our Nepal trek so it was nice to see a majestic mountain again. Rich forestry, hot springs and flora including the huge Rafflesia flower are among the sights to see here.

Getting back into town proved more difficult than our ride to the park. Taxi's were hanging around the exit of the park demanding exorbitant sums to take us back into town, playing on our fear of being stranded. Buses are quite irregular and are no more than mini-vans carrying 9 people at a maximum. Many that are on their way to town are full of locals, with it being the cheapest way back into town.

Whilst we were waiting for the mini van the taxi touts taunted us and even began laughing when rain began to fall. We held our ground though at the bus stop, which was no more than a muddy recess in the road. After around a 2 hour wait we did finally manage to get into a mini-bus and pay our 30 ringit fare into town. The taxi drivers wanted 150! We made sure we gave them our best cheshire grins and an eye brow dance when we departed. Victory!

One of our final highlights of KK, and Borneo was the amazing restaurants in the city. They are all open front cafe's and each one seems to specialise in different food depending on which community it was located in. Some were halal specialists, some chinese and some ethnic malay. We frequented a chinese establishment which did a fantastic sweet and sour pork and tom yam soup (spicy, big prawns). The first time we went here we did not realise quite how good value it was and, with those low expectations, ordered far too much. We ordered two chinese sausage fried rices, sweet and sour pork and the tom yam soup with drinks. We barely managed to eat half of it, but it still only cost about 4 pound!

We left Borneo wanting more, it is a blissfully beautiful place that we could have quite easily spent another couple of weeks exploring. However to be left wanting is a good time to leave somewhere, ensuring that some day we will return. Even if that is just to buy some furniture! Air Asia whisked us back to KL from where we made our way south to Melaka.

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Photos

Locals
Wanted their picture taken in Kota Kinabalu - Sabah.

View from the Shore
Kota Kinabalu and the South China Sea

Amazing Restaurant
in Kota Kinabalu

Comments

[Linda Baker]

Mum, Dad and boys
It was so good to see we were all on the same wavelength as we have teased LouLou about this since we knew you were going to Borneo. Borneo Lou Lou Borneo is definitely widely used in the Baker household. I have found Borneo amazing and not the jungle I expected. Bako National Park sounds amazing although I think I would have worn something other than sandals but I do take your point that you had nothing else after all you were travelling light. Sorry about this comment being late but I like to read blogs twice before commenting and have had no time to read the second time but ejoyed it all again even after all this time. Yes Michael i can imagine the 'eyebrow' grin.