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Published: August 27th 2013
Borneo Sabah Sandaken
Leaving Geelong and the rain drizzles down like the Aussie dollar and the wind blusters on like the election campaign. The Tulla terminal corrals us into impatient queues until the Air Asia midnight flight departs at 1am.
On the road once more.
Waiting in airports! Four hours to kill in Kuala Limpur where the local time is two hours behind my circadian rhythm. The iPad tries to iron time flat with diversions.
The Starbucks coffee is its usual awful self, but at least I can get a wifi signal. Brightly coloured hi jabs float about us and AirAsia charges 20ringit to issue our boarding passes and I know I am back in Malaysia. Eventually we board out onward flight.
Sandakan is unusually hot at 36 degrees and humid. As I load my case into brother inlaws ute I see slashing down each side. At the family house we see the only missing items are my old thongs and several of Lizs bras. We deduce that the thief is a durian dealer using my thongs to pick up the heavy prickly fruit and Lizs generous bras to carry them.
Most SEAsians
love durian, including Liz. For me the smell and taste are not yet acquired having a raw sewerage stench so overpowering it is often banned from indoor venues and elevators.
My favourite fruit of all grows only in Borneo. It is called "talop" and is the same size as durian but without the vicious spikes and smell. The thick skin is eased back to reveal white grape like fruits. Each is so sweet, creamy and delicate it is identical to mothers milk.
Sandakan is renowned for its seafood. A new modern restaurant with wifi serves steamed whole fish and crabs with a soft shell which are devoured completely.
But the greatest attraction in Sandakan, apart from Lizs family, is the Orang Utan rehabilitation centre at Sepilok. Some of the orphans are from the wild where their mothers have been killed by humans, and some are recovered from an illegal pet trade. When I first visited 27 years ago, the Orang Utans outnumbered the humans, but now there are great crowds to see just a few Orang Utan. This may indicate fewer Orangs needing rehabilitation, but it also means fewer Orangs in the wild.
After rehabilitation at Sepilok, the Orangs are moved to a larger national park. That area has lately been the scene of a war between Filipinos who regard Sabah as their homeland, and Malaysian army using bombs and tanks.
Oil palm plantations are taking over the whole of Malaysia, including Sabah. Lizs brother, William, runs a small plantation but is concerned over falling prices. As with all plantation crops grown in the past, coffee, cocoa, coconut, they start out with high prices so land is cleared around the tropical world to produce more. Then there comes a glut often engineered by the large corporations, and so the prices drop and the producers suffer. William hopes that the current glut of palm oil will be offset by biodiesel. Meanwhile the native wildlife lose their habitat.
Sandakan is no longer the country town I knew 27 years ago. Large residential and commercial developments have mushroomed as well as seaside shanty towns. The median price of a modern terrace house is about A$100'ooo. A shanty is about A$600.
The. Native majority in Sabah are Kudazan and other tribal groups. They are mainly Christian farmers. The next group
are tha Chinese who are Hakka and arrived in Sabah in the late 1800's. The Malays arrived as immigrants from West Malaya on federation of Malaysia in 1963. Finally come Indonesians and Filipinos seeking work on plantations. Many of these people are truly 'illegals' with the police constantly harassing them for permits or bribes.
Eastern Sabah is currently experiencing a 'war' with Sulu Philipinos who have historical claims to the area. A fierce battle recently with the Malaysian Army using tanks and bombing aircraft killed hundreds. Many of these Suluese have lived in Sabah for generations, others have recently arrived as refugees and their leaders, including the Sultan, sail in from nearby islands. Rumour has it that Sandaken itself will be attacked by a Suluese force on August 31st.
Usually we travel across Sabah on a six hour bus journey to the capital Kota Kinabalu. We can see the replacement of the native forests and fruit trees with great oceans of oil palm stretching to the horizon. This time we save ourselves the agony by taking a 35 minute flight where are met by Lizs sister Helen and her long term partner Yap. Both
women are keen to take me for coffee as they know I am an addict.
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Fran Murdoch
non-member comment
hi from Sunny Lennox
Dear Liz and Bruce, Throughly enjoyed your travel blog. I will look forward to the next one. Safe and enjoyable travels. I usually shun all products with palm oil or palm sugar in them because of the displacement of animals and the local people losing their homes. Love from Fran