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Published: April 28th 2005
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Bex with the 'Old Man'
This old turtle hangs out around Mabul and is thought to be around 150 years old (much like my old man!). From head to tail he is around 1.5m long! Kuala Lumpur is a great place to start a trip around Malaysia. You get to top up your fast food and shopping levels, chill out in air conditioned cafes and use the cheapest post rates, we have found so far, to send home the next lot of accumulated junk. Besides our trip to the Petronas Towers (the building used in the film 'Entrapment') our time in the capitol was fairly relaxed and uneventful, exactly what we needed before flying to Sabah (northern Borneo) where relaxation didn't even come into the equation!
Never on our original list of destinations, Sabah is one of those places which is a hot topic of conversation on the current travellers grape vine. A must for anyone thinking of going to Malaysia, it has everything from the oldest virgin rainforests in the world, endangered animals, the highest peak in Malaysia and one of the top 3 dive sites in the world! So after purchasing yet more cheap air tickets from 'Airasia', we were off to Kota Kinabalu (KK) to start what has to be one of the most eventful three weeks of our trip so far.
In KK we spent a couple of days chilling
at 'Lucy's Homestay' trying to plan out our route. It was here that we met Bet, Dan and Saran who we ended up bumping into on numerous occations along the way and who made our trip all the better for it.
Our first stop was Sandakan which we soon realised had absolutely nothing going for it, so we packed up and headed to Sepilok where we checked into the 'Sepilok Jungle Resort' (dorm side of things)' which would have been a lovely place if it wasn't for the unbelievably rude staff in the restaraunt, please dont anyone waste there money there as there are much better options in the area (We forgot to write complaint in the guestbook so we thought we would make up for it here!). It was at the resort that we bumped into Saran again, who recommended that we go to 'Uncle Tans' and Beth and Dan who had just climbed the mountain (both sporting the trademark stiff legs). Together we headed out to Sepiloks main attraction, the Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre. The centre was set up to give orphaned Orang Utans a second chance in the wild. It is here that the apes can
be viewed at a feeding platform in the jungle. Its really rare to get so close to these animals in the wild so it was a great experience. It was also the first time we had entered a rain forest area and didn't our pores know about it! Our sweating reached new found levels, even our glasses were steaming up.
If the humidity at the rehabilitation centre wasn't enough we (along with Dan and Beth) decided to put ourselves through three days in the jungle at 'Uncle Tan's Wildlife Camp'. The camp gives you the chance to experiece living and sleeping alongside the jungle's residents, some of which are not found anywhere else in the world like the strange looking Proboscis Monkey and the unique Pigmy Elephants. We were lucky enough to see both of these species during our stay and even a huge male Orang Utan up in the trees. By the end of the three days Rich had become a real David Bailey, even following adult male elephants into the jungle to get the right shot! I even managed to eyeball a huge spider (a jungle huntsman) without screaming and running for cover (maybe this exposure thing
is working!?). Night and day boat trips, jungle walks and knowledgable guides bring you closer than you could ever imagine to a huge variety of birds, mamals, insects and reptiles. A highly recommended excursion.
After making it out of the jungle and back to civilisation, well a tarmac road! We caught yet another bus down to Semporna on the southern end of the east coast. The town itself is a smelly, dirty, rat infested hole, but is the gateway to arguably one of the best dive sites in the world.
Sipadan is a small island, about an hours boat ride into the South China Sea. What makes the site here so special is that the island is not connected to the continental shelf. A small dome of land connected to the seabed by a giant solid stalk, its cross-section resembles a mushroom. So just a few metres from the shoreline, past the aquamarine shallows, is the most magnificent 'drop off'. Estimatated to be around 2000m at its maximum, it is this spectacular setting and the chance of viewing some 'Big Fish' that brings diving enthusiasts from all over the world.
We headed through the town with our
packs and headed to the docks in hope of finding somewhere to stay and someone who could help us out with some diving. It was here that we stumbled across the 'Scuba Junkie' dive shop and within an half an hour we had been charmed into Rich going for his advanced diving certification and me (rather hesitantly) agreeing to put my fears aside to do my 'Open Water'. Besides the diving we also go info on where to eat, sleep, drink and party, Brice was the one stop shop for everything you ever needed to know about the town. It was this friendly reception and the other wonderful staff that turned 'Scuba Junkie' into our home from home for the next eight days.
I wasn't allowed to dive Sipadan until I was qualified, so Rich got the first experience of the drop off while I was learning off another island, Mabul. It was like having to stay in the 'baby pool' while everyone else was having fun in the deep end of the 'big pool'! At the end of the first day Rich was raving about his dives after seeing White Tip reef sharks, Green Turtles and a whole
Little bat
We found this little guy asleep wrapped up in a leaf! host of other fish which gave me the push to finish my course and get out there with him. After passing my 'Open Water' and experiencing Sipadan for myself I realised that the 18m that my certification allowed me to dive to was not enough so with Rich and Saran's support and a huge portion of dutch courage I went on to do my Advanced. This course included a night dive which pushed both Rich and my fear levels to the max, there is nothing quite as scary as being attacted by a black bin liner at 12m in the dark to make you warm your wetsuit! Now we are qualified to the same level Rich and I can buddy eachother to 30m which if you are lucky you get to see some really big stuff.
Over our days diving at Sipadan and Mabul we saw some awesome things, so for all you fish spotters out there here is a taster of some of the best:
Green and Hawsbill Turtles, White Tip and Grey Reef Sharks, Baracuda, Bumphead and Nepoleon Wrase, Blue Spotted Rays, Moray Eels, Frog Fish, Crocodile Fish, Nudibranches, Pipe Fish and so on......
Along
with the Supperb diving we were lucky enough to meet some great people and have a fantastic time in and out of the water.
Our next stop, Mount Kinabalu!
for Scuba Junkies website please use the link below.
Scuba Junkie
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anonymous
non-member comment
hello
nice one guys! Congrats on both being AOW divers! How are the legs, hope you made it up the mountain ok. I arrived in bangkok during new year celebrations, which is basically a water and talc fight for 3 days. Due to pain in legs was unable to move quickly, and was therefore drenched and soaked everytime I left hotel. Now in Cambodia, and loving it. Looking forward to reading your next installment, lol, saran xx - saran