More Malaysia

---

Kota Bharu

After the Perhentian Islands we took a boat back to the mainland then a quick taxi ride to Khota Bharu where we stayed two nights before heading to Kuching.
In Kota Bharu itself there isn't much to do or see so on our first day we arrived around lunch time and headed to a Chinese restaurant recommended in our guide book that sold cheap beer.

As usual we were only intending to go for a couple of drinks but then we met a couple of middle aged guys from Germany and started chatting to them (I thought they were a bit strange but Jack seemed to get on with them well!). Then we met an even older guy from England who was an artist living in Thailand so we had some more "interesting" conversations with him. Hence we didn't actually get home until about 11pm feeling a bit worse for wear after starting at 2pm!

The following day as you can guess we weren't feeling so great so we spent most of the day in our air conditioned room reading and chilling out.

Kuching

We then flew to the city of Kuching on Borneo for four nights . We booked into the Mandarin Hotel as in our book it said they had televisions which sold it to us as we were feeling a bit deprived of rubbish by that point. Although when we turned it on it was all local channels playing desperately bad soaps, it made for good entertainment for all of 5 minutes!

We decided one day to find the cinema that was listed in the Rough Guide, so we went off on our walk which seemed like miles and miles only to find like a lot of places recommended in the book it had shut down! So we took a slow wander back only to find there was a bloody cinema right at the end of our road!!
We were a bit annoyed but glad that we could finally fill out minds full of rubbish again so we went a watched Harry Potter, there's only one word we can used for it RUBBISH!!!!!!!! There are actually other words for it but they're not really suitable for publishing.

The following day we took the public bus to the orangutan sanctuary for the afternoon feeding time. It was amazing, the orangutans are not kept in cages but have been rehabilitated and released, most of them still come back for feeding time but a number of them have integrated back into the wild. We got to see twelve orangutans including really small babies. We were lucky as the keepers said that at the morning feeding there were only two.

On our third day in Kuching we went to the tourist information centre to book our trip to Bako National Park. When we arrived there were lots of other westerners doing the same thing. We told the receptionist that we wanted to go the following day and spend four nights there but they said it was fully booked and the next available date was for the 1st August which was a week away and only for three nights!
This was somewhere where we really wanted to go so we booked it worried one of the other westerners would snap it up if we went away to think about it.

So we were a bit stumped as to what to do next to occupy our time. Kuching is a strange place. There isn't anything actually to do there, everything they recommend to see is always out of town and has to be arranged through tour companies for lots of cash hence we couldn't actually afford to do any of it.
So we ended up staying one more night in Kuching and went to the cinema again, at only 1 pound each you can't go wrong!

Santabong

The next day we decided to go to Santabong along the coast for a few days. We turned up at the bus depot and were approached by a guy to find out where we wanted to go, he told us that he could take us in a mini bus there and then, just the two of us for RM40 (7 pounds) so we agreed as we thought it wasn't too bad.
The journey only took 40 minutes and we asked the driver to stop at the only place which was within our budget or so the bloody book said. When we asked at reception the cheapest room they had was RM250 (43 pounds)!!!! We couldn't believe it, that's a day and a half's budget for us and the trusty book said it was RM60 (10 pounds) a night. We decided at this point the Rough Guide is truly shit, let us down yet again.
We ended up having to walk around in the 40 degree heat looking for somewhere to stay but we found it was all expensive resorts. We thought we would try our luck with one of them and they said their cheapest room was RM300 (52 pounds!!) We said that we could only go up to RM140 (24 pounds) maximum, we shouldn't have even been going up to that but we said we would use some of our individual money.

We were just about to leave when one of the receptionists said there was another resort about 5 minutes drive away where the room prices were at what we could afford. The man actually phoned them for us and booked us a room, he also got his shuttle service to drive us down there which was really nice of him. I think he could see we were exhausted by this point and very very sweaty and probably felt sorry for us!!

When we arrived at the hotel it was great. We checked into the room it was beautiful, and huge with a balcony looking over the swimming pool, yes swimming pool! It was great. We decided to stay two days here as we couldn't really afford it. The prices in the restaurant were a lot too. Luckily we got breakfast included in the price, it was a buffet so we ended up taking a little too many pastries and saving some to have at lunch with our pot noodle bought from the shop!
Sad we know but when you're on a budget these things have to be done. But we did eat dinner there which was very nice!

We had an excellent time there, we just spent the two days swimming and reading by the pool. Lovely!
We then returned back to Kuching. We booked a taxi through the hotel and this time it only cost RM10 so we found out we were ripped off on the way to Santabong.
We only stayed a night back in Kuching as like I said before there isn't a lot to do there apart from go to the cinema.

Lundu

We decided to head to a place called Lundu which is slightly inland but you can get a bus or a taxi to the beach which isn't far.
Our first day we arrived around lunch time and just decided to have a bite to eat and a few drinks. So we chilled out in the town for the day.

The following day we got a taxi to drive us down to the beach called Pandan. The taxi driver dropped us off and we arranged for him to pick us up again in the afternoon.
The beach was deserted when we arrived and basically stayed that way all day which was lovely. It was lucky we took our own food and water too as there wasn't anywhere to buy any. So we caught a bit of sun and relaxed.
The time came and went for the taxi man to pick us up and we were a bit worried as there were no other taxis around. Anyway he had given us his number incase we wanted to change the time so we called and he was on another job so we had to wait for him, we didn't mind too much as a little cafe had opened by this point and we managed to have a beer while we waited watching the sun set.

Bako National Park

The following day we got the 8am bus back to Kuching then asked one of the mini bus drivers at the bus terminal (which coincidentally turned out to be the same driver who ripped us off when we went to Santabong) how much it cost to go to Bako National Park and again he said RM40 to go there in a bus on our own even though there was already one there waiting for a couple more people to fill it up. But it seems that they only do this for the locals and only charge them RM4 and think because we are tourists they can charge us ten times as much! We fell for it the first time but not the second time!

So we decided to wait for the public bus which turned out to only cost RM2 each, not even 50p which was excellent! The journey wasn't too bad until one of the guys that was on there threw up all over the floor and his mate kept dropping lit cigarettes on the floor so we were worried the whole time about our bags getting burnt and covered in sick which wasn't very nice!

When we arrived at the jetty we were told the cost of the boat over to the park which was quite expensive. They can fit 5 people on it so we decided to wait for the next bus to arrive to see if there would be anyone else to share the cost with. While we were waiting we noticed a sign at the jetty which said 'beware of crocodiles' which filled us with joy as we had to basically climb down into the little boat and could have fallen in at any time! When the next bus arrived there was a guy called Israel from New Zealand who was going across too. It obviously didn't make much difference just one person but every little helps as Tesco's say!

When we arrived at Bako and were checking in we were told that there was a water shortage due to it being the dry season which meant the showers and toilets didn't always work! This was the last thing we wanted to hear after travelling most of the day in 40 degree heat and we were well in need of a shower at that point!
So we got to our dorm (the first time we have had to stay in one out of 8 months and that was only because there were no other rooms available!, not bad going hay?) The dorm slept four people but there was no one else there at that time so we managed to settle in ok. We then tried out the showers but neither of them were working, great!!!
But then I remembered what Jack and I call the 'bum hose' which is a tap in the toilet with a hose attached to it which the locals use for their bums instead of toilet paper, lovely! I turned it on and it worked, well a dribble but it would do. So we proceeded to have a shower with this. We had to basically sit on the floor but we were grateful just to get the sweat off and it was better than nothing!

As we arrived quite late that afternoon we just decided to go for a bit of a wander to where the trails start which is about a kilometer away from the base.
On our way there we saw loads of probiscus monkeys, macaques and some other ones which were silver but we can't remember the name of! There were whole families of them which was amazing. We have seen quite a few monkeys on our travels but never this many in such a short amount of time.

At the park they had a small canteen/shop which mainly sold stone cold food. In the evening we got a couple of cans of beer and just chilled out ready for our trekking the following day.
When we arrived back to our room that evening we had our dorm buddies there. There was a guy from Spain and another guy from Malaysia who was actually one of the tour guides.
We stayed up for a while chatting and got an early night although it was quite difficult to get much sleep as it doesn't feel quite right sleeping in the same room as two strangers, and whenever anyone moved around it woke the others up!

The next morning we got up early and headed to the canteen for some breakfast but it seemed to only serve noodles and rice which isn't that great for breakfast but it had to do. We also took some as take out to eat while we were on our trek. So after a horrible breakfast we set off.

You don't need to hire guides to do any of the treks at Bako as all of the routes are colour coded on trees or rocks so its easy to find you way around. They also have markers to tell you how far you have walked. We decided to do a trek that was 2.75 kilometers each way to a waterfall which said it takes 2 1/2 hours each way. It was really hard going at the beginning as it is up, up, up to the top of the mountain and we had to go on all fours a few times!
Once we reached the top of the mountain it was quite flat which was a relief and you are basically walking through the top and it was nice and open with great views.
We reached the marker that said that we had walked 2.75 kilometers but there was no waterfall. We then realised that it doesn't include the 1 kilometer walk from the base to the start of the trails so it turned out that the waterfall was 3.75 kilometers so we kept going.
It doesn't sound like a lot 3.75 kilometers but when you have to go up down, up down, tripping over tree roots along the way at the temperature approaching 40 degrees it's hard work. But when we reached the waterfall it had only taken us 1 1/2 hours instead of the 2 1/2 hours they stated so we were feeling pretty good with ourselves.

After cooling down a bit in the waterfall we decided as we had got there so quickly we would carry on to the beach which was an extra 1 kilometer each way. But I am not sure that was the right decision as it was really really hard work. The route was basically a straight down drop with a few steps carved into the mud, a few ladders which looked and felt like they were going to break at any moment. We also had to use a rope to get down the last part!!
Once we got down there though it was worth it as we cooled down in the sea which was a welcome relief.
After chilling at the beach for a while we realised (which made our hearts drop a little) that we had to do it all again to get back, but we made it just about!

That first day we walked 9 1/2 kilometers in 6 hours which apparently isn't bad going considering how hard it was so we felt pretty good with ourselves and after having our shower with the 'bum hose' we decided we needed a couple of beers. So very tiredly we had a couple of drinks and had another chilled night!

The next morning we decided to do a walk which goes around in a loop which was 5.8 kilometers. We thought this sounded easier and not as far as the day before as our legs were feeling it a bit. We started at the opposite end as the day before as we didn't think it would be as hard but we were wrong. It was even harder than the day before as it was going up hundreds of steps and with our legs hurting anyway it was rather painful!!
But we reached the top and the views again were magnificent!!! We rested there for a while and just took it all in. We then carried on again tripping over every available tree root and reached a rest stop. They have maps at each one and we realised we had again done it well within time so we decided to go off on another trail which leads to a beach and was another 2.6 kilometers. We got to the point where you can look down onto the beach and it was beautiful but then you have to get down to it which was again really hard going as it's a vertical drop and more of those rickety ladders!

When we got down there it was lovely, we found a spot in the shade and munched our lunch then went for a swim in the clear blue water!
There was a man there with a boat and I contemplated asking how much it would be to take us back but Jack said in our book it said it cost a fortune so we didn't bother. We then started feeling really tired and thought we better head back as it was a long way. When we were just about to go a lady came up to us and said they were looking for people to share the cost of a boat back with and the boat turned out to be a lot cheaper than we originally thought so we jumped at the chance as by that point I think I counted 10 blisters on my feet!!!
The boat ride back was great as the driver stopped and showed us some of the famous rocks.
We worked out on that second day we walked 8 kilometers which again is not bad going!

The following day we got the boat and a bus back to Kuching for our last day/night. We spent the afternoon watching a well earned film and relaxing. Then the next day we caught the plane to Singapore to stay with Jack's sister (Esther) and her husband (Stathis) but more about Singapore on Jack's next entry!!

Lots of Love

Jack & Vickie

---

Photos

Kota Bharu
Packing again