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Published: April 6th 2007
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We were met at KK airport by Vincent, the hostel owner, who spoke faster than he drove all the way into town. He was very welcoming and promised to arrange our whole trip for us the next morning. It was roasting even though it was night when we arrived and we had the room without a/c! Next morning we weren't able to book ourselves onto the dive trip we fancied as it was full so went out for a walk in to baking heat to think about our options. People in Borneo just seem to volunteer their help which was great. Not only did we find a great restaurant (pizza and pasta, yum), our waiter pointed us in the right direction to go off and sort out our trip by ourselves. One dive trip and island stay booked later we wandered back to the hostel via the supermarket where we loaded up on supplies for the island getaway! Unfortunately Vincent wasn't too impressed with our initiative and we felt we got the cold shoulder from him for booking our own stuff for the rest of our stay!
Next morning we were up early for a look at the local tribal
market where we bought some tacky fridge magnets for our collection (been so slack at this) and avoided the temptation to free all the kittens, puppies and rabbits squashed into cages for sale. Then we were off the the peir to catch a boat to Palau Manukan for a couple of nights. Again we were met with helpfulness above and beyond. The tickets sellers bent over backwards for us which was lovely, and they carried my bag for me which was lovelier!
We couldn't check in for a couple of hours when we arrived so we headed off on a wander round the island. While it was a lovely stetting, we were a bit disappointed with the condition of the facilities. The pool loked like it had been stunning and we would have fair enjoyed sitting at the in-pool bar with some cocktails but it was empty and had been for a few years. The tennis courts had weeds poking through the surface and the volleyball court looked equally tired. The beaches were quite narrow and fairly littered. Such a shame. We still couldn't get in so we braved the heat and took a walk to sunset point, through
the jungle. We saw loads of lizards basking in the sun and scurrying off on our approach, huge butterflies fluttering about and even a small snake disappearing into the undergrowth. The noise was incredible, nothing beats the noise of a jungle! We scrambled through the trees to the beach at Sunset point where we saw some weird creatures sunbathing on the rock. They were like small fish / lizards who could use their front fins to propel themselves forward. As soon as they saw us they all jumped into the water. They were a bit like the creatures at the end of the Guiness advert which goes back in time (starts with a man taking his first sip of a pint of Guiness in a pub and then traces evolution back to the swamp???). They really looked like the first creatures to crawl out of the swamp after the big bang!
We finally got into our cottage and it was well worth the wait. We had a whole house to ourselves!! Such luxury with a backpack! The bathroom was a bit rank (renovations due to start asap which is why we got to hire it cheaply - couldn't have
afforded such luxury at the usual prices!) but otherwise it was lush, 3 balconies, lounge and a even dressing room. I unpacked and refused to move for the whole time we were there. Lived off Pot noodles (the restaurant didn't look inspiring enough to leave for it and with previous encounters with veggie food in Malaysia I thought pot noodles would be the tasty option) and the snacks we brought with us.
Mark managed to drag me out for a walk down to the pier (we had just discovered that the tv didn't have any movie channels so we couldn't watch the James Bond we had been looking forward to!) one night. The water was so clear we were able to see loads of sweet fish just with the light of the moon. We saw some quite big long fish which we could only guess were Barracuda but they were in quite shallow water and kept dodging into the shadows before we could get a good look at them. It was stunning, so peaceful just lying on the pier watching what the fish get up to at night (pretty much the same as the day time - they swim
about looking for food). It made us think that maybe a night dive would be a great experience (can't help thinking that diving in the dark would be quite scary), we'll put it on the to-do list for our next trip.
Our stay came to an end all too soon (only there 2 nights) and we had to head back to the mainland dragging our bags behind us. It was a lovely 'holiday' even though, as mentioned, the island could do with some tlc and the tv could do with some movie channels (I know we didn't come away to watch tv, but when there's one there it's nice to take advantage of it, at the very least it gives us something new to talk about!).
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