Advertisement
Published: March 2nd 2008
Edit Blog Post
Thursday 28th February I got the plane from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu, where Collette's family live. I managed to get myself a malaysian sim card for my phone and it's been a god send! Collette's mum phoned me (Auntie Olivia) and kindly offered to pick me up from the airport with Collette's neice Natalie. We drove about 5 minutes to this stunning beach and had a tasty dinner by a coconut tree. I was enthralled by the lovely scenery. It quickly got dark and we left, before the mosquitos started biting. By then I was on my second day of malaria tablets (the most expensive kind with the least amount of side effects - thanks to Mike's father Eric for that bit of advice), but didn't fancy turning into dinner. So we drove around Kota Kinabalu town, which is very nicely lit up at night and quite big. But Auntie Olivia said she'd preferred it before they started doing lots of building, as there were more picturesque rice fields a few years ago. We arrived at Auntie Helen's house and I met most of the family there and had a few nibbles. Everyone is very friendly and kind and welcoming.
Having dinner at the Beach
Auntie Olivia (Collette's mum), Natalie (Collette's neice) and I I managed to deliver all 2.2 kilos of Collette's presents to her family (thanks to Mike and the portable luggage scales, which have saved me some money in excess baggage)! Collette's cousin Ursula discussed itinerary ideas and then booked two trips for me. Trip to Kota Kinabalu park the next day (Friday 29th Feb) and Poring Hot Springs, as well as the 2 1/2 day nature trip on Monday 3rd March to go see orang-utans, proboscis monkeys etc - hurrah! So everything was organised after several phone calls from Ursula, brilliant! I slept soundly, happily sharing my room with a small lizard.
Friday 29th February, cousin Cyril gave me a lift into town and I was picked up by Ursula's friend Janet. Janet is a very helpful and informative guide and very nice of her to fit me in at the last minute. Firstly we drove about 3 hours to get to Poring Hot Springs, where we walked past the baths and went to the canopy walk. Just as well I didn't really understand what I was letting myself in for! We climbed up the hill and then I realised the canopy walk involved walking down 5 suspended bridges,
Fish ready to bbq
This one's for my mum! about 40 metres up, tethered to trees, very Indiana Jones, or 'I'm a celebrity, get me out of here'. Anyway, after a few deep breaths and I made it across 3 of them, to see stunning views of Kota Kinabalu park. Got to the 4th and it looked longer, more rickety and the ropes to grab onto were noticeably wider apart. Anyway, I was going to totally wimp out (I've seen a lot of disaster films and have an overactive imagination) but there wasn't any other way down, thought I could go back the way we had come, but it started to rain just to make matters worse. Anyway, with Janet taking my mind off things by singing a rousing rendition of 'Morning has broken' I'm relieved to say I made it across the 4th and 5th bridges. We celebrated with a chinese lunch. Janet then drove us back towards Kota Kinabalu and we stopped off at the botanical gardens. Lovely orchids and very interesting plant life, lots of which can only be found only in Malaysia. That evening, I went out for dinner with the family and had 'chicken claypot', smokey but nice.
Saturday 1st March, Ursula came
Meeting the Family
Adam (Ursula's son), Auntie Rose, Auntie Helen, Cyril and I to pick me up, with her son Adam and we went about a 20 minute drive away, to meet Ursula's friend Audrey and then go fishing. We went to the river, and sat very comfortably in the shade on the side of the bank and they showed me how to cast a rod. Ursula tried to catch crabs in a net, but no luck. Audrey found some underwear in the river! Collette's brother Lloyd, turned up a bit later and Adam caught a fish! It was very relaxing, with coffee break thrown in. We saw a monitor lizard crossing the river! Then Lloyd kindly drove me into town where I tried about 4 different banks with ATM machines to get cash out and my cards kept coming up 'temporary transaction problem'. Anyway, cut a long story short, I tried again with Ursula and same problem! In the middle of a financial crisis! Not funny, and thought I might have to cancel the trip to see the orang-utans. In the middle of this was an enourmous storm and it was pouring down! Anyway, everyone was very supportive and eventually I cheered up. Counted 250 ringets in my purse (about 40 pounds,
Meeting the Family 2
Cyril, Ursula and Adam which would tie me over a couple of days (hotel first night 95 ringets,with air-con about 15 pounds- great isn't it, such good value), 6 british pounds which would also go a fair way and thought I could change up the aussie travellers cheques later on and pay for the trip that way, if I couldn't get into a bank. 40 pounds wouldn't get me though a day's holiday in the UK let alone 3 days! Also I was with some really nice people and things could have been a whole lot worse.
Sunday 2nd March (Happy Mother's Day everyone), Ursula and Adam picked me up early morning and we drove into town and tried the atm machines again, still didn't work! Then we went to the market, which was totally fascinating. Lots of stalls selling everything, and a band singing and playing guitars. Great atmosphere. Then we drove to Kota Kinabula airport where I was due to get my flight to Sandakan and Adam spotted a bank in there. Anyway, I handed over my card and passport and it went through, hurrah! Cash at last. I got the flight, arrived in Sandakan about 40 minutes later, got a
taxi from the airport with a very pleasant old chinese driver (people are very nice here) and am now typing this blog from the stunning Sepilok Jungle Resort that Ursula booked. I've got my own room with air-con and it's very beautiful with a ponds full of turtles and fish. A small snake slithered towards me on the footpath! The orang-utans are 5 minutes away, am booked to see them tomorrow morning, pick up 8am.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.057s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 9; qc: 23; dbt: 0.0319s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Wilks
non-member comment
Green Eyed Monster
Mandy, Really like your photos, I'm so jealous!