Blogs from Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia, Asia - page 7

Day 7 Monday, January 19, 2009 We arose at 5:30 a.m. to pack and prepare for our departure. The van was scheduled to pick us up at 6:30. The morning was perfectly picturesque. The air was cool. The water and skies were calm. Monkeys frolicked in the trees next to the B&B while a Pig Tailed Macaque tormented a dog at the house next door. We drank coffee and snacked on fried onion bread while Jamal, the middle aged Muslim owner/operator, cheerfully sang ‘Get Low’ upstairs. Oh, yeah, you heard me right: “Shawty had them Apple Bottom Jeans Boots with the fur The whole club was lookin at her She hit the flo Next thing you know Shawty got low low low low low low low low” Oh, Sukau, how I miss thee. The van picked ... read more

Vi er nu paa Borneo. Der er helt klart point for den flotte natur og det rige dyreliv, men maden kan altsaa ikke maale sig med Thailand. Tilmed er det et overvejende muslimsk land, hvilket til Cartsens store fortrydelse betyder, at man mange steder ikke kan faa alkohol. Efter Borneo rejser vi til den malaysiske oestkyst taet paa den thailandske graense, hvor de er mere troende og alkohol derfor efter sigende er svaert at opdrive. Vi har derfor koebt noedhjaelp i form af en flaske gin!! Vi lagde ud i Kota Kinabalu. Vi havde hoert at byen ikke havde saa meget at byde paa, hvilket viste sig at holde stik. Det gjorde dog ikke saa meget, da isaer boernene havde mest behov for afslapning (laes: pool og strand) efter flere uger, hvor kulturen havde vaeret i ... read more

Polly: We woke up early on the Sunday morning, had a last speedy full English breakfast, then hightailed it up the hill in Semporna to the bus station. Our bus left at 8am and took about five hours to reach Sandakan. The bus drive was fairly uneventful apart from having the Chuckle Brothers sat up the front distracting the driver and snorting with laughter the whole journey. The bus station in Sandakan is a couple of miles out of the main town so we shared a taxi with another traveller and got dropped off in the centre. Apart from the weekend market, Sandakan was a bit of a ghost-town, with every shop shut for the day. We found a room easily at the Winho hostel, which was basic but clean, and included unlimited free toast, butter ... read more

The bus pulled in and the driver told us this was our destination. I could see a sign for the ‘rose cabin’ (our hostel of choice) and so we jumped off. The bus slowly chugged round the corner and I looked at the sign again ‘Rose Cabin - 2 kilometres’. Damn. The bus had dropped us off at the Mount Kinabalu national park, rather than the hostel we’d asked the driver to stop at. There followed another walk in the midday sun and with our full backpacks on. You might be wondering at this point why, when the reason we were up here was to see the national park, we’d opted to stay 2 kilometres away? Well, let me have a little rant… We spoke to a Dutch couple when we arrived at the hostel and ... read more

Hej folkens Saa er dykningen overstaaet i denne omgang.. Vi kom desvaerre aldrig til Sipadan, som er kronjuvelen i Tun Sakaran Marine Park, men tog derimod til en oe kaldet Mantabuan. Den viste sig bestemt ikke at skuffe.. Vi havde til lejligheden laant et undervandskamera af dykkershoppen som skulle bruges til de 3 dyk dagen boed paa.. Resultatet af dette kan i se ved at gaa ind paa galleri-sektionen paa vores blog. Det er en haandfuld af de mange billeder vi tog. Haaber i synes om dem. Udover nogle fremragende undervandsbilleder, blev der ligeledes knipset loes over vandet. Det var nemlig en rigtig rigtig flot dag med en frokost i utrolig flotte omgivelser. Vi kunne desvaerre ikke komme ind paa selve Mantubuan oen, da der var lavvande. Det viste sig dog ikke at goere det store, ... read more