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Published: March 7th 2007
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Our time in Borneo was with the tour group Intrepid. We were booked on 2 separate tours, Sabah and then Sarawak. Our Sabah trip consisted of 12 people in the group - Ian, Stig & Michael (2 big Danes), Mardi & Ezra, Paul and Tracey (all Melbourne), Dennis (Canada), John (65 year old from Scotland), Sheena (Ireland), our Aussie leader George and myself.
We arrived in Kota Kinabalu on Saturday and headed straight for the beach. As the beach was a bit dirty and smelly, we sneaked into the grounds of a 5 star hotel where we sunbathed on their loungers by their nice, clean private beach. That evening we had a meeting at our hotel where we met the rest of our group and our leader. We all went for dinner together before a few of us headed to a sports bar to watch Liverpool beat Chelsea. On Sunday morning, we took a minibus and then a 4x4 to get to a Dasun village called Keow. We arrived at our church lodgings and were treated to a traditional dance show before we had a go at dancing and playing the instruments. In the evening, we had dinner at a
local home and we drank rice wine with many of the local's until the early hours of the morning. A few hours later, we were in the same house for breakfast before being shown around the local village. We got a first glimpse of Mount Kinabalu, which we were to start climbing the following day. On Monday afternoon we drove to our lodgings at the base of the mountain. The evening was spent relaxing in preparation for an early start. After breakfast on Tuesday, we began our climb to Laban Rata (our lodgings on the mountain for the night). Our group soon split up and Ian, Michael and I were the first of the group to reach Laban Rata after just over 3 hours. The rest of the group followed between 2-4 hours later. After having the coldest shower ever, the rest of the day was spent relaxing before going to bed at 9pm. We woke at 2am and after breakfast we began our climb to the summit. The climb took around 2 and a half hours and the view of the stars was amazing (including shooting stars). Ian, Michael and I reached the summit well before sunrise so we
had to wait 45 minutes in the freezing cold (well worth it though). The descent back to Laban Rata was a lot more enjoyable with stunning views that we could now see in the daylight. After a short break, we spent the next 4 hours descending back to our lodgings at the base. It took longer and was a lot tougher coming down the mountain as opposed to climbing up. I managed to escape with just one blister and sore knees. After a group lunch, we took a minibus to Poring Hot Springs. A couple of beers with dinner and then bed at 9pm for a well needed 11 hour sleep. In the morning, I walked around the complex at Hot Springs before having a 1-hour session in the hot tub. In the afternoon, we saw Jackie the orangutan come down from the forest for her daily feed. Then we went to see a Raffleasia (one of the worlds largest flower). The group met for dinner at a very good (and very cheap) curry house but with evrything closing at 9pm, it was another early night. On Friday morning we set off on a 5 hour drive to join a
MESCOT group in Kinabatang. On arrival, the MESCOT leader briefed us on the local area and on the rare species that habitat the local forests and rivers. Our planned jungle camp was cancelled due to flooding so instead we took an evening cruise along the river to spot different birds and monkeys in the trees. Then the group was split into pairs and each pair was assigned a local home to stay at for the next 2 nights. Our bedroom consisted of 2 thin mattresses on the floor with roosters and loud frogs directly outside. The shower was just outside behind the kitchen and was just a small dark room with a large basin of water (rain) and a small scoop for pouring the water. The shower was extremely smelly and it was only afterwards when we were having dinner with the daughter (the only family member who could speak any English) that she said the cats use the shower as a toilet. Dinner was a few whole fish which they had caught earlier in the day. We went to bed at 9pm as we couldn't talk to our hosts but sleeping proved difficult with all the animal noises coming
from outside. We were picked up early the next morning to go on another boat trip along the river. This time, we even got to see a couple of orangutans in the wild (one with her baby). We also saw proboscis monkeys, macaques, hornbills, eagles, a kingfisher but luckily no crocodiles. The MESCOT leader then gave us a demonstration on how they catch fish. We were in the kitchen next as we were all assigned a cooking task for the days lunch. I prepared and cooked the beef with garlic, ginger, chilli's, pepper and onion. After eating our lunch, we were treated to traditional dancing from the local people. After our own poor attempt at dancing, we walked to the volleyball court where we played with the locals for a couple of hours. Then we were driven back to our homestay where, once again, we went straight to bed after dinner (minus a cat poo shower). On Sunday morning, we drove for 5 hours to Sandakan. The afternoon was spent on the internet (our first access for 9 days - how did we cope?). A group dinner at the English Tea House included an exciting game of croquet. Then we
sat on the street outside a karaoke bar drinking bottles of Tiger into the early hours. An early start on Monday as we took a boat ride to Turtle Island. Unfortunately, there was heavy rain all day which made for a bumpy boat ride and limited the activities on the island. We did walk around the island on the beach but that only took 20 minutes. In the evening, we sat for dinner in anticipation of seeing a turtle come ashore and lay eggs. We were soon called by a ranger who had located a turtle. We all rushed to that part of the beach where we found a giant turtle in a pit that it had dug in the sand. It was amazing to see how quickly the eggs (82 in this case) were layed considering their size. The rangers actually collect the eggs and bury them in a hatchery where they wait 60 days for them to hatch. After watching this, the rangers released some new hatchlings onto the beach and we watched as they made their way to the water. Another very bumpy boat ride on Tuesday morning was followed by a 1-hour drive to the orangutan
sanctuary at Sepilok. At 10am, the orangutans come down through the trees for feeding. You could watch them all day but they were finished after an hour. A few of us then took a taxi back into Sandakan to play some snooker and go to the cinema. In the evening, our B&B provided a huge BBQ feast (the best food and as much as we could eat). On Wednesday, we all flew back to Kota Kinabalu where we stayed at the Seaside Inn (a very chilled out place on the beach) for our final night together. Ian and I went horseriding along the beach for sunset. I was on a big 17 year old called Sundowner. As it was my first time on a horse, Ian thought it was funny to keep kicking the back of my horse and encouraging it to gallop. One minute I'm asking how to canter and the next I'm galloping down the beach. In the evening, we had our farewell dinner and sat up drinking well into the night. On Thursday, Ian and I flew to Sarawak where we were to start our new Intrepid tour.
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