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Published: July 19th 2008
Hello everyone from the isle of Borneo,
Before anyone gets confused Borneo is an island of which half is Malaysian owned and half is Indonesian owned (we will ignore Brunei for ease!). The Malaysian part is split into southern Sarahwak and northern Sabah i.e. where we are now, get it? Got it? Good!
We arrived in Tawau pretty late at night and needed sleep after the night before in Hanoi!! Thanks Aled and Lia! The town seemed dead but we found a little place to stay in the book before planning to bus it to Sandakan the next day. In the end we decided not to spend any time in Tawau because of the FCO's advice about Sipidan and to avoid going offshore and diving etc :-( Never mind, we have been told that the diving is just as good off the East Coast of mainland Malaysia so we will save it for there. If only we had known!
More travelling the next day, we are starting to get used to long bus journeys again. Sandakan (about 5 hrs north) is a good stop off point for Sepilok one of THE sights in Borneo, but the town itself
has little to offer. Both towns seem to consist of concrete block buildings (see pic) going along grid like roads..... Dean is happy because there is loads of Indian food again including freshly grilled rotis, dhal etc. Think keeping healthy could be a bit of a problem here, everything seems to be deep fried and it is a mission to find fruit and vegetables, so far anyway!..... If you like KFC you would be fine out here, they seem to be on every street corner. Malaysian people are really friendly, people stare but when you smile back at them all you see are teeth after that.....
Our experience at the Orangutan Rehab Centre was as amazing as I hoped it would be. They are such amazing animals. We were lucky enough to time it right as two orangatans were walking along the boardwalks through the jungle on the way to the feeding platforms. Look at the pics :-) There was a really sweet younger orangutan just staring at us, it was just us two and the ginger fuzzy haired creature with big brown eyes... I wasn't sure what to do when she grabbed my hand, her hand was amazing,
huge and smooth, more like a bendy foot wrapping around my fingers. It was unbelievable to see how human like they really are and feel. Then she started to lift her other arm trying to get a cuddle. Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to cuddle her though and had to shake her hand away. She looked really sad, stared for a while and then went swinging off through the trees ready for feeding time at the platform. As part of their integration back into the wild they shouldn't be touched by visitors. I feel so privileged and lucky, no-one else was asked for a cuddle :-) As you can imagine we were both amazed and extremely chuffed it happened. Dean managed to grab a quick picture (it's the one with my hand in the corner as she reached out for me). He didn't know at the time she was grabbing me. We couldn't believe how close they were to us, we saw seven in total, all of them within touching distance at one time or another..... There was one slightly hair raising moment though, one of the huge males came up behind the seating and tried to grab the hat off
a little girl. Unfortunately the hat was tied on and the girl was startled when the male was pulling at it. The orangutan then also got a bit upset and one of the workers had to sort it all out.
We also saw loads of Macques with babies in tow. They came along to the feeding platform to get a free feed. They are so cheeky! Pinching all the food and squabbling, very funny though. There was one perched between a womans legs, when she eventually realized she just froze. It was really funny watching them watch the other tourists without them knowing, like the other way around. All in all it was amazing to see the orangutans in their natural jungle surroundings. An my cuddle encounter (wow!) I don't think I will ever be lucky enough to experience anything like that ever again. Clare we also saw a fluorescent yellow little snake on the way back....arrrr. But hey I saw a rat the other day after eating dinner, in the same cafe type place! All in all a good day out, shame we didn't have time and boots to walk the marked trails through the jungle.
Next
day we got the seven hour bus to Kota Kinabalu (KK), we were a bit unlucky to get seats next to the smelly toilet which wasn't very nice! The journey had some amazing mountainous scenery though and the bus hairpinned it's way through the national park area. Seeing all this made us want to go up Mount Kinabalu even more.
STOP PRESS! Time for another one of Dean's eco-rants! Pay attention at the back!!!
Well yes palm oil. The bus journey was for me a real eye opener. The main road traverses an area of Borneo that was once pristine rainforest. No longer. This whole swathe of the country has been turned over to the mono culture of palm oil production. The problem here is the scale. I kid you not the largest area we passed through lasted for 157 pages of the book I was reading (nearly 2 hrs @ 60mph!). Palm oil is the principle vegetable oil in circulation today. So its in absolutely everything! From margarine to shampoo. The trouble is that places like Borneo have the ideal climate for growing the stuff and so the rainforests here and Indonesia are being flattened at an
incomprehensible rate. Palm oil is good for poor countries and gives us a great cheap source of oil, but growing it in place of rainforest is bad for everyone in the long term. A lot of pressure needs to be put on the UK food industry to improve transparency so that a) you know if a product contains palm oil and more importantly b) that the palm oil has been sourced from sustainable eco friendly ventures more like those in Africa. Contrary to what you see on the telly, bio fuel is not the evil here. All UK biofuel has to be certified as not coming from deforested land, the food industry giants are under no such obligation. Besides bio fuel accounts for a mere 2% of Palm Oil usage. So my advice steer clear of bio fuels (though they aren't the main culprit) but more importantly, read the label on your goods. If it doesn't tell you what the oil is and how its sources, ask why not!!! See http://www.born-to-be-wild.org/html/palm_oil.html to convince you further!
Aaaanyway...
When we finally arrived into KK, like all the other places here you have to get another bus into the centre, luckily
we found one straight away which was lucky because it was getting quite late. We didn't have any accommodation booked because the book suggested there were loads of cheapies to look around. The book was wrong and because we got in late on a Friday night no-where had any rooms left. In the end Dean left me and the rucksacks in in Pizza Hut, yep they have even managed to set one up here, and then went off on the hunt for a room for the night. It's becomes a bit of nightmare going up and down stairs with the rucksacks! In the end we went to a hostel that had a six bed bunk type room but we were the only two in there so it was ok.... until the rat! The bathrooms were shared but I didn't think we would have to share them with a big disgusting rat. It had eaten it's way through the lid of the plastic rubbish bin and as I was going for a shower it ran out right in front of me. Needless to say we left the next day in search for rat free accommodation. We are now staying in Akinabalu
hostel which is really good, we have our own room and the shared bathroom is kept very clean, and it's rat free 😊
On the Saturday we went on the search for a cheap package to Mount Kinabalu. We had already looked around in Sandakan and found a good package but after weighing up how much money we had left and me still being ill we thought we should leave it and see what happens here. In the end we decided to make it cheaper and make it on our own and just booked the accommodation and meals in advance because you have to before going there. The only trouble was there was only availability the next day, Sunday. Argh! We went rushing around KK trying to find the things we needed like boots for both of us, something warm to wear for the top, gloves, daysacks, headtorches etc. It turned out to be a pretty hard task due to there only being huge sized feet people over here, no where had a size four for me so I ended up having to fork out loads for a pair of Timberland trailer shoes which turned out to be well
worth the money. Dean on the other hand found a pair of extremely cheap (9 quid!) walking boots, needless to say the quality was a bit questionable (look at pics!). It was really hard to buy warm clothing in such a hot country as its never cold here, Dean couldn't find a coat to fit and decided to try and hire one and I ended up purchasing an extra large pink puffer child's jacket. I'v since become quite attached to it! After we some how managed to find everything we felt much more prepared and went back to pack up ready for our adventure the next day.
Sunday started off again a bit rushed. The cash machine wouldn't let us withdraw any money and we thought that Nationwide had frozen the card due to our spending spree. After buying a phone card and trying to get through and failing we ended up trying my Natwest card and the same message came up. In the end we tried loads of cash machines and had luck just as we were about to give up and try cashing travellers cheques. What a relief! But why don't banks just work when you need
them too! We found a mini van going our way and finally we were off on the winding road to the mountain. Unfortunately I was ill again (twice in a row, so unfair) but this time it was a bad belly. We kept our fingers crossed for everything to be OK.
When we arrived at Kinabalu Park HQ we payed up what we owed in entrance fees, permits etc and arranged for a guide to meet us early the next morning. This is also the first time we got a good look at what we had to climb and descend over the next two days! Our first night we stayed at Rock Hostel in the park grounds. Surprisingly our six bed room turned out to be pretty good and the other people (2 couples) we shared with were nice and friendly. We had time for a quick walk on one of the trails to see what the grounds were like and to see what I was like (being ill/well wise). Turned out the park was amazing and it would be good just to have time to walk the many trails, but I was feeling not so good so we
went to the cafe nice and early ready for our first all you can eat buffet feed! The food was amazing and we filled up on loads of different foods, including all the ones we have been craving, and of course lots of carbs! Dean of course took full advantage of being able to help himself to as much as he could scoff and managed to put away a good few platefuls. After taking a few different pills and a good feed I was trying to get better quick for the two days ahead. It was a bit of shame at shower time though as the girls only seemed to get cold water, Dean let me know that he had a lovely hot shower, so hot that he had to stand away and be hit by the steam. Hmmmm not fair! Sleeping on the top bunk in the middle of a room was a bit weird too, I kept thinking I was going to fall out splat on the floor in the middle of the night. My bed also had springs sticking out everywhere not matter what position I tried to sleep, again Dean came out rosy and had a
much better nights sleep then me - it's not fair is it? :-) I'll stop winging now.
The next day we woke very early, about 5.30am to get a good breakfast in us before our first part of the climb. Again it was a help yourself affair so we both tried to eat as many carby things as we could. Later in the morning we met our guide Wilfred at the reception centre and the three of us set of in a jeep for the start of the trail some 4k away. Our first day was to climb to Laban Rata at 3,272m or 10,734ft where we would spend the night before waking at 2am for the summit climb, yuck. Spending the night there would also help us to acclimatise as most people suffer to some degree with altitude sickness, we really really hoped that this wouldn't be a problem for us. The climb was pretty much uphill the whole way and it was very steep in places, I sometimes wish I had longer legs, or wings! Apparently there are more then 2500 endless steps, just try and picture it, all this just to Laban Rata! My legs are
twinging as I write! Truthfully though the first day turned out not to be that bad, as we were taking it nice and slowly, the key to making it up there. We both really enjoyed every step even though we were exhausted towards the end and were both determined we were going to make it to the top the following morning. Wilfred said that people who suffer with asthma (I'm suffering with asthma a bit again since we have been in Asia thanks to the pollution) don't normally go to the summit as it's pretty horrible due to not being able to breath etc.
The first day climb though made me feel better if anything and I had ventalin inhalers to help, which did help a lot. We didn't stop much as we wanted to keep plodding on, some people overtook us but then we ended up overtaking them, we found overall that we reached Laban Rata at the same time because we didn't stop at every one of the pondoks (a rest shelter with toilets, water etc). Along the trail there were also signboards showing your progress with markers every 500m, that encouraged us towards the end. In
all the climb to Laban Rata took us about six hours with a good long stop for lunch and a few little stops for water. The trail was really diverse we were walking through jungle / rainforest with dense vegetation at first and then we were out on an open ridge which exposed views of the valley below and the peeks above us which we would be attempting to climb the following day. We also saw wild orchids, pitcher plants, weird squirrels and even tried a weird wild raspberry off a strange looking shrub. Who would of thought they grew all the way up there?!
We checked into Laban Rata mid afternoon but unfortunately our climb didn't stop there that day! Due to us booking at the last minute we were staying at 'Gunting Lagadan Hut' 100m above the reception at Laban Rata, just to rub our faces in it! I know it doesn't sound much but it was a very steep 100m. We also had to make another return trip to have our dinner at Laban Rata. There was a beautiful sunset though as we were walking back up to our beds after trying to force down more
food for the 2am start. At this point we were both suffering a bit from the altitude, we got away with just feeling a bit sick and having headaches. Dean the first aider was prepared though and we had bought some anti-nausea tablets and slow release paracetamol the day before. I really felt sorry for one girl, she was so ill and you could hear her throwing up all night. Such a shame to make it all that way and not be able to continue.
We were sharing our room with a freindly Swedish couple who luckily wanted to get to bed early like us because we were afraid we wouldn't be ready to make our 2.30am climb. After waiting ages for the hope of some hot water for a shower we just had to brave a quick wash in the end. It was so cold up there and it didn't help that our hut didn't have any heating, thank the lord that it didn't rain on the way up. We got into our freezing bunks and I could see the sun setting out of the window over the mountains looked really amazing. There was no way we could
miss sunrise at the summit.
The trail gets a lot tougher after Laban Rata, especially at 2.30am! We were told by Wilfred that it was a one hour climb to the check point hut, Sayat-Sayat, before the final climb to the summit. This first climb involved crossing the sheer Panar Laban rock face. It was pretty tough in parts there was a rope in places where you have to haul yourself up the steep granite sheets. All I was wondering is how on earth are we going to get down? 😊 There was a rope leading all the way up to the top but you only needed to use it in the parts I mentioned above, the rest of the time it was better just to keep your balance and grab onto some rock or something if you needed to. It did get very steep in places but the book describes it in a funnier way then me as 'near vertical fields of slippery granite, ending with a scramble up a long pile of rocks, every step can be a struggle as you gasp for breath in the thin air'. Clare & Mum you can imagine my face when
I read that before going up!
The last stretch of the summit ascent was of course the hardest bit of the climb. The altitude hit Dean hard and his pulse rate kept going really high and apparently his heart felt like it was smashing against his rib cage. Luckily it passed and we both went back to just feeling rough. After an hour it was starting to get really tough to lift each foot but we soon arrived at the final checkpoint at Sayat-Sayat. A welcome water and chocolate break ensued. We were both very pleased with our two pound head torches from KK which meant we could keep our hands free for better balance on the climb towards the summit (if you do the climb make sure you bring one with you). It took us two hours to make it to the top just before sunrise. An heady 4095m or 13,435ft to the old school. At times we both felt like we wouldn't make it and there were a lot of people falling by the wayside towards the end. People just falling on their knees and being sick on the granite, most though picked themselves up and carried
on. We timed it just right luckily and it was awe inspiringly beautiful up there, by far the most magical scenery either of us had ever seen. We both sat there with tears in our eyes as with me being ill we had built it up so much, with weeks of indecision, the relief was incredible. The pictures Dean managed to take with cold hands and wobbly legs probably explain it better than I can so I won't go on too much, the photos will take you long enough!
So yes, now it was time for the long descent back down! This is the bit we were not looking looking forward to but who cares after seeing the top, it was well worth it! The climb down to Laban Rata took us quite a while, probably about 2 hours which I think would be much longer then most people climbing back down. Here we had a big breakfast and then set off down the mountain trail. The second part of the descent took us a further 4 or 5 hours. The steps were just so steep, jolting all your leg joints with each step. The pouring rain did not
help either as it made us cold and the trail became slippery. We saw so many people going down too fast and slipping or falling, luckily nothing serious happened. Although one guy when we were in the beginning of the descent was going way to quick and fell over about 6ft short of a cliff edge! Due to the rain we stopped a couple of times at the pondoks to take shelter but in the end we just had to carry on and get soaked, our 1 pound ponchos were not up to the task. I felt sorry for the people climbing up, especially if they were staying in our hut without being able to get anything dry or have hot shower.
By the time we finally got down we had some buffet vouchers left and went to get our last fill in the cafe. Before this though we made sure to collect our certificates 😊 Yep, we even got a lovely colour one each because we made it to the summit so I expect we will be framing them at some point! We had to wait around on the road to get a bus back, we ended up
hitching a van/taxi that went via a weird town and then we had to change taxis but we got back in the end extremely tired and in desperate need of a hot shower. We ached but it felt great to have been to the top finally.
Over the last couple of days we haven't done that much apart from have a look around KK which is a much larger city then we first thought. And to be honest I think we earnt our first break in a while! We are staying back at the Akinabalu Hostel but they managed to end up double booking our room the night we got back from our climb which was the last thing we needed. It all got sorted out in the end with some true Brit style "well I'm not moving until you sort this out!" conversation. We are now trying to decide what to do during our two weeks in Indonesia. Its a tough job!
Sabah has been an incredibly eventful two weeks but we feel as though we've only scratched the surface. Like Sri Lanka it is an ideal holiday destination and probably better suited to this than backpacking
as much of the rain forest is accessible only on comparatively pricey packages. Not to mention the fact that the huge caves from Planet Earth are here too. Dean was gutted we couldn't mix them into our time here but two weeks and 20 quid a day just didn't stretch! Definitely somewhere we would recommend to nature lovers!
Time is really flying now! Home in 7 weeks and 6 days, can you belive it! Miss you all loads and loads but will be seeing you very soon!
All our love, Sar and Dean xxxxxxxxx
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Brenda
non-member comment
Kinabalu - wow!
Dear Dean and Sarah, Came across your blog - I was fascinated to follow it, as my daughter was leading a group of 16 year olds from a Welsh school up there about the same time - July 20th to 21st - and as she clearly hasn't got time to text and email on a 4 week trip looking after them, I got a wonderful idea of how the climb was and the views from your blog. I am a geography teacher, so it was interesting from all points of view. Hope you are feeling better now. Best of luck for rest of trip! Brenda - Harrow, UK.