Blogs from Sabah, Malaysia, Asia - page 127

The Kilabantan The longest widest crocodile infestedest wildlifest junglest river. I guess I had to go. 11 July I woke in Sangatan to find power restored to the city and had a leisurely morning before catching the bus to Mile Sixteen, where Uncle Tan’s guesthouse and office is. I met the other dozen or so backpackers who would be joining me on the trip, paid my money, and jumped onto the bus for the three hour drive to the Kinabatangan River. Amongst my fellow travelers were Mark from Singapore who also amused himself by taking photos with his digital SLR, three French girls, Crystal, Christine, and Natalie, with whom I would be sleeping (or, more accurately, with whom I would be sharing a hut and keeping awake with my snoring), and three Dutch guys who had ... read more

Sipadan and Mabul One of the "ten best dive spots in the world" according to the literature. Certainly some of the best diving I've done. 14 July Heading to the oil rig I met my dive buddy, Juliana, for the fourth time at the pick up point for the Seaquest drilling platform. This time we recognized each other. The previous two times on Mt Kinabalu and at the Karaoke bar we were familiar but it didn’t click into place. A one hour high speed boat ride from Semporna took us to the island of …. and the converted drilling rig about 400m to the north. The drilling rig, the only one of its type, according to the literature, stands 6-8m above the sea in 15-17m of water, depending on the tides (they have big tides here). ... read more

The night spent on the floor of the Jakarta Airport was soon to be rewarded with a very fun, rewarding week. After a short layover in Kuala Lumpur, we flew to Kota Kinabalu. It is a very nice little city. Not a small town, the way I love, but an extremely homey city. We caught a cab towards the downtown area to find a hostel. After looking around for a bit we found the friendly Borneo Backpackers. My brother Robert was a bit frustrated after we found out that it would not be as easy as he thought to see the Rafflesias (the giant bornean flowers). We walked around for a bit to see the surroundings. We decided to check out the islands in the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park. I tried to stay up for ... read more

Mt Kinabalu Mt Kinabalu, at 4200m, is the highest mountain in South East Asia, hugely spectacular, and a bloody hard climb. 5 July 2006 I was picked up at the ungodly hour of 0630 (I get up late in cities) in Kota Kinabalu for the two hour ride up to 1800m where we would begin the climb. Climbing with me was Vong, a Scot of Chinese descent, and a Malaysian-Singaporean couple who weren’t destined to make it to the top. We stopped to get registered at the ranger HQ and hotel where I devoured a cheese cake and most of the biggest mountain of fake cream I have seen in my life. I felt a bit nauseous but was glad of the sugar ahead of the supposedly three hour climb to our mountain lodgings at 3200m. ... read more

At the end of a 3 week holiday in Sabah, climbing the fantastic Mount Kinabalu, seeing the orangutans and other wildlife we took a few days to go diving round the islands of mabul and sipadan. We stayed on Mabul island, and on approach we could not believe how clear the water was and how lucky we were with the accomodation and being on the beach. The company we dived with were very good and all the food was excellent buffet style. First dive just off mabul was incredible enough, turtles on our first dive, cuttlefish and thousands of small colourful fish. Unfortunately the camera did not do much justice to them. After we didnt think it would get that much better, Sipadan was fantastic, I was so elated under water with the coral, sharks, turtles ... read more

My god what a long journey.we are staying at a hotel near the sanctuary which is gorgeous the room looking over beautiful gardens and a river, fish and turtles everywhere (cool) .then onto the sanctuary after lunch. Sepilok Rehabilitation Centre in the Malaysian Sabah District of North Borneo was founded in 1964, to rehabilitate orphan orang utans. The site is 43 sq km of protected land at the edge of Kabili Sepilok Forest Reserve. Today around 60 to 80 orang utans are living free in the reserve. When Sabah became an independent state in Malaysia in 1963, a Game Branch was created in the Forest Department for the conservation of wild animals in the region. Consequently, 43 sq km of protected land at the edge of Kabili Sepilok Forest Reserve was turned into a rehabilitation site ... read more