Stuck on you

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Ok, so we wanted to book our flights out of Sandakan for the following Friday, which happened to be Good Friday. After everything we had been through we were ready to leave. The tour agents in Sandakan were generally unhelpful, one could only offer us flights at around 700-800MYR per person (6.4 = £1) for the flight to KL, while the other said that there were no flights. We needed to get to Singapore ultimately, and the only way to fly directly there was to head back to KK - not an option that we wanted. It seemed again that Borneo was not any easy place to get around. However, after an hour or so on the net we found cheap flights to KL and then an overnight train ticket to Singapore, all on a public holiday, and all for around £90 for both of us. Perfect. Well, except for the fact that the flights were with Air Asia and we said we would never fly with them again. We needed to get out of Borneo somehow and it was the only option. It seemed a bit odd that a Muslim country took public holidays over the Easter break, especially as they also had a public holiday the day before for the Prophet Mohammad’s birthday! Any excuse for an extra day off eh?.... Good job Lisa doesn’t work here, she would never be in work!

However, we still had an exciting few days planned before we left.

The island of Borneo consists of the Indonesian part in the south, which also happens to be the biggest, probably the least visited by tourists and the most dangerous (rumours of cannibalism and so on). The northern part contains the tiny state of Brunei and the Malaysian part. The Malaysian part is divided into Sabah and Sarawak and a few other lesser known states. Sarawak is less developed and again has fewer visitors, and in fact, a separate visa is required for entry. Most people will visit Sabah, as we did. The main attractions are Mount Kinabalu, the Sepilok Sanctuary, Sipidan and Turtle Islands. Sipidan has been noted to be one of the best dive sites in the world. However, like everything else in Borneo you can only visit if you are willing to pay over inflated prices to tour agents and follow a strict itinerary. Either way we didn’t fancy it and it wasn’t in the scope of our budget. Turtle Island, again rumoured to be beautiful, but only has large resorts on it, made it inaccessible for us. (No offence Mum, but we didn’t feel we needed to see any more creatures with shells either). The orang-utans at Sepilok were definitely on our list of must dos.

We had booked ourselves into the Sepilok Jungle Resort, which sounds grand don’t you think? At a bargain price of £8 a night, we didn’t hope for too much but we were very glad to be leaving the city. We left without any tearful goodbyes from Karl and the Hotel Ramai. We caught a taxi for the 45 min journey to Sepilok. The resort was set in beautiful tropical gardens and it was situated a short walk from the entrance to the Sanctuary. When it came to the rooms, it was clearly budget accommodation. Again we had critters living in the mattress, which meant the mossie net was useless, as we had more bugs in than out. The bathroom had long since seen better days with mould murals. The big gaps in the window mesh and doors did little to keep the jungle creatures out at night. The food was over priced and average and the staff generally had no idea what was going on, all except for the guy who ran the café, who was Malaysia’s version of Julian Clary. We weren’t complaining though, we wanted a jungle experience and by now we were used to it.

I have to mention the heat, as it was a feature of our time in Sepilok. During our travels it has been almost unbearably hot in many places, usually the cities. This was different. The sun wasn’t out much as it was tropical and it rained a lot. But the humidity was suffocating. Even sat at breakfast at 7 or 8am, not actually moving at all, in the shade, the sweat would pour from both of us. We gave up showering! Actually, come to think of it, I don’t think Stu ever started showering.

Anyway, that afternoon we checked out the Sanctuary and what the deal was with seeing the orang-utans. On our way there we found ourselves surrounded by huge groups of long tail macaques. Other than the small family we saw in Ton Sai it was our first monkey experience. We found such a close up encounter exciting. (Since then of course we have found macaques can be a pest). We discovered that the orang-utans were fed twice daily, and sightings were usual but not guaranteed. The Sanctuary rescues orphan orang-utans and rehabilitates them back into the wild. To make sure this process works the public are unable to see the really small animals, but rather you see the adolescents that have been released, that still come back to a feeding platform if they wish until they are fully independent. Fully grown adults tend not to return, although some do with their young. We planned to go the next day.

The next day we paid our fee and walked along the boardwalk into the jungle. Not forgetting the rules, no food, no bags, no sunglasses etc... (Anything that could be stolen by a monkey.) The viewing platform was crowded but we got a good position. The keepers appeared with bananas and milk and banged the trays. At first they had to chase away the macaques. After what seemed like ages, with a hush and then a whisper in the crowd the first orange haired monkey arrived swinging through the trees and sat on the platform lapping up the treats. Then later, maybe 6 or 7 more. It was fascinating and wonderful to have such a close up view. Our photos aren’t the best but I hope they give you some idea of what it was like. We went again in the afternoon (feeding is twice daily), only 3 or 4 appeared this time, but one of them actually climbed onto the spectators platform right beside me! It kind of took me by surprise as it silently appeared behind me. It was amazing!

We had one other objective in the jungle, to travel up river, deeper in and see pygmy elephants and proboscis monkeys in the wild - although we wanted to try and avoid guided tours, we figured this one needed a guide. We were going to travel further into the forest along the Kingabatan River and stay overnight.

The Kingabatan river cruise tour was run through our resort. It was a basic deal. We were taken by minivan with our group 2-3 hours into the jungle where we would take a small boat to our lodge for the night. Due to all the rain the river had recently flooded the banks. Our lodge was set on stilts in this river, unfortunately, the lower floor was full of water and the level was high enough to lap around your feet when walking on the boardwalks between the rooms and eating area. Leeches and mosquitoes were a big problem.


Now, I should mention the other people in our group. Back at the meeting point, our resort café, we met Ken + Maureen. A well travelled couple in their late 60s from Stoke. Now Stu went to Uni in Stoke and has informed me that there is a particular type of character that you will meet in the area and they are commonly known as ‘Stokies’. Well these people were Stokies (maybe related to Snapey?) We had, after all, only just met so started up a conversation during lunch. It didn’t start well as the supplied lunch was fried noodles or fried rice (both of which we had eaten extensively over the past 3-4 days in an effort to save some cash), so when Ken + Mo, had the choice of anything on the menu I was a tad offended, and my stomach didn’t like it. So I asked the waitress why they had preferential treatment when we had all paid the same. It turns out it was a big mistake, the waitress got it wrong, and the manager had to be called, and they tried charging the Stokies for the extras they had ordered, then the waitress cried when they started kicking off…..it was all a mess, I felt quite bad…..Well not that bad…..

During the 2 hour journey they sat behind us on the bus, now that they were our new BFs, and literally burnt our ears all the way. They had been there, done that, did it better, had it bigger, you know the type? And were generally very un-PC about the local people. They went on and on, and Ken, bless him, went into great detail about ‘a nice bit o’ ham’ that he bought recently and made sandwiches. Really was I interested???.......Anyhew…this continued the whole trip. They talked, generally over anyone else and listened to no one. This was a shame because all the other guys were lovely. We met Stefan who was a scientist for Astra Zeneca from Sweden, a lovely guy from London whose girlfriend Grace was from HK. And a fun German couple Milko and Katriana, (if you are reading…I hope I spelt your names right?)

Rant over and back to the river cruise. In the early evening we all got into a tiny boat and headed down river with our guide Nelson. Remember Jackie Chan? Well he was almost as good - not quite, but he certainly had a knack for spotting the animals. We saw many strange and wonderful looking birds the names of which I cannot remember. We spotted more macaques, and the elusive proboscis monkey! A few mangrove snakes loitered in the trees. Sadly, no pygmy elephants.

After dinner we had the option of an exciting night safari - on foot. Yes, we would do it why not? We were warned to cover up and wear mud proof shoes. Well, it was hot and sticky and slimy and very very muddy. Unfortunately, the noise of our group passing Chinese whispers down the line didn’t really make for stealth mode. We were hoping to spot civet cats and tarsiers…..no such luck. We saw spiders, poisonous scorpions, and many, many mossies. As we had head torches they would literally dive bomb your face. Squelching through the mud was unpleasant enough anyway (in 30deg + humidity), but the worst discovery was that the mud was full of blood sucking leeches who could climb into the slightest gap in your clothes. As we were walking through the jungle, thick with trees and bushes, they would drop off leaves and land in your hair and on your neck. As a group we turned into a bunch of squealing school girls. Nelson coolly walked away saying he needed a moment, and lit a cigarette and ignored us, I’m sure I could hear the hamlet tune playing somewhere….He soon return and like a hero quickly decontaminated us without fuss, removing all the little vampire critters from each of us individually. The walk continued, but now none of us cared about any wildlife other than leeches.

When we returned to our lodge, we were advised to remove all our clothes, no he is was not interested in our underwear, but he saw it. Each of us stripped down, not caring in the slightest as we all found yet more of the sticky creatures on our stomachs, backs, necks, and plenty on our feet. I’m sure we looked a right sight dancing up and down in despair. Anyhow, leeches all gone, a quick beer and bed to the noises of the jungle. Mossie nets firmly tucked in. 5.30am was the scheduled start time. I woke up to the Stokies banging furiously on Nelson’s door as he was not up yet? Can you believe it? We set off again at around 6am, back in our boat and up river this time. It was a beautiful morning; we saw much the same as the day before. But it was still a good trip. Stu and I, and the German couple were heading back to Sepilok after breakfast. The others all had another night on the trip. Phew! It was certainly fun and an experience, but we had a new adventure ahead. We were leaving for Singapore the following day.

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Comments

[Welshy]

Ems, surely the blood sucking leeches didn't bother you as much as everyone else? Rumour has it they have a lot in common with Stu's kissing technique!!!