On the Ground in Borneo

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Hello and selamat pagi from the Malaysian province of Sabah on the island of Borneo! I've been here for about a week now, had the opportunity to do some snorkeling at a couple of the islands just off of Kota Kinabalu (on the north coast) and some mountain trekking to Kinabalu National Partk, including Low's Peak (13,400-ft). Since then I've hoofed it over to the east coast and the city of Sandakan, although I really don't think I'll be staying here very long. I'll get into that later.

First, a few words about Borneo. It's the second largest island in the world, I recently learned, and is split between the sovereign nations of Indonesia (to the south) and Malaysia (in the north). There's also a tiny little country called Brunei which is about the size of Greater Miami & Dade County Florida and sandwiched in between the two Malaysian provinces. The Malaysian part was last held as British property until WWII when the Japanese swept through just about all of Southeast Asia in 1942 before being ousted by the allied forces in the summer of 1945. Malaysian Borneo, as well as the rest of Malaysia was established as an independent country shortly thereafter. There is a lot of history regarding the japanese occupation including accounts of brutal treatment towards POW captives (mostly Aussies and Brits) as well as soem especially brutal treatment towards Chinese, Malaysians, and other Asians who resided in Borneo during the war. There is a POW memorial in Sandakan that I visited during my stay here that pays tribute to the over 2500 POWs forced to build runways and other stuff for their captors before all but 6 of them - the POWs that is - were eventually killed or died of starvation and disease. Pretty sobering stuff. Okay, enough history, the majority of which is probably incorrect. What exists today is a very stable country (at least what I can see of it) with a very strong economy. Construction in the urban centers - it's kind of odd to think og Borneo with urban areas - booms. If the world's economy is supposed to be in the toilet, then I don't think that Malaysia got the memo.

Well, the first few days I spent in the small city of Kota Kinabalu (pop. 130,000) and explored the surounding areas. i made it out to a couple of the smaller islands only a few miles offshore to do some snorkeling and just some lounging in the sun. I read in Lonely Planet that there was a very nice snorkeling spot on the island of Pulau Mamutik, just a 10 minute walk over the hill and through the woods from the main boat dock along a well marked path. This sounded like a good prospect, so I decided to take the boat out to the island, a quick 20-minute transit, where I was met at the dockside ranger station by a smug, young guy who kind of looked like a squirrel. His job was to make sure that anyone who stepped foot on the island paid the 10 ringgit ($3.35 US) park fee, and offer no additional information otherwise. I asked him some kind of question, like when the last boat back to the mainland leaves, and he gave me some kind of smartass answer, I forget exactly what he said, but I just remember wondering where he would land and how big of a splash he'd make if I were to fling him off the dock by his ankles. Anyway, I hit the trail, with mask and snorkel in hand to this supposedly nice snorkeling spot. I was about 5 minutes along the trail when, to my horror, I saw a long, slithery thing slip its way across the path directly ahead of me. Now I knew that there are a lot of different kinds of snakes in Borneo, some of them pretty dangerous, but knew that if I just stayed clear and let him pass, there would be no problem. That's about the time that I realized that it wasn't a snake at all but the tail of a 6-7 foot long monitor lizard. Remember the ones from Komodo Island... the ones that eat buffalo?This one looked no different. Although it took me about 5 minutes to walk to that point along the trail, I think I made the return journey to my original starting point in about 19 seconds. I was met by, you guessed it, the same smug ranger guy. Once I regained my breath and let my eyes recede back into my head, I politely asked the guy if anyone had aver been attacked by one of the monotors. I have to admit that although his answer wasn't particularly comforting, I found it kind of funny, "No, but if you'd like to make history, be my guest."

The real horror of the day, however, came at lunchtime when I stumbled across a beachside barbecue being offered by a resort hotel that set up shop on the island. The food looked awfully good, and I was extremely hungry (running from lizards earlier that morning) and asked the usual particulars from the BBQ staff: How much, all you can eat, etc. I hear the guy whom I was talking with say nineteen ringgits. Doing math in my head, I determined that 19 is approximately $5.50 US; not a bad deal. However, while polishing off my third plate of beef sate and grilled chicken curry, I was presented a bill for ninety ringgits; about $27 US. I briefly remember a white hot light seering across my brain as I feverishly turned the paper billet upside down, thinking that it had been presented to me upside down in the first place, and that a simple 180-degree rotation would reveal the real price of 19 ringgits, or at least something a little more believable than 90. Well, Luckily I had that kind of cash on me. Let's just say that I've learned to pay closer attention. As for that particular meal, the once delicious food kind of lost its flavor and appeal after I saw that bill, but it didn't stop me from making sure that I ate my money's worth. This next part will sound like a put-on, but it's absolutely true: It began to rain, not hard, but just enough to make things uncomfortable and cause people to seek shelter. The BBQ chefs were starting to pack up when I returned to the grill and politely asked for seconds, or perhaps to be more accurate, fourths. Incredulously, they kind of laughed a little bit as I stood there unassumingly with my empty plate held towards them, rain water forming a pool within its coamings, but to their credit, they held up their end of the bargain. I returned once more for a couple of crab legs until even I realized that it was enough.

Not all of my meals were traumatizing experiences. In fact most have been pretty good. Arguably the best meals that I've had since leaving Puerto Rico have been down at the Filipino Night Market where stall after stall of BBQ fish stands serve up the freshest, tastiest fish that you can get anywhere in Kota Kinabalu, and probably all of Borneo. The fish are grilled up and put on display, whole, where they don't last long. You just choose the one you want and they throw it back on the grill for a few more seconds to make sure it's hot, and voila! Best of all, it's dirt cheap. The dining areas are simple affairs of long picnic tables where you find yourself striking up conversations with the folks around you. From what I could tell, the Night Market was a big favorite among locals. I ate there a few times and each time had a great experience. Afterwards I'd wander over to the produce end of the market and buy a slab of watermelon or a sliced pineapple. Just a nice eating experience.

Okay, the big adventure event so far in Borneo has been the trek and climb of Mt. Kinabalu, about 2-hrs inland from Kota Kinabalu. It was a 2-day trek culminating in the sunrise summitting of the mountain peak at 13,400-ft (4100m). Needless to say, it was a great experience and really wasn't that taxing. In fact, I felt that Rinjani, at only 3700m was far more difficult to get to the top of. Anyway, I got to see the sunrise from the top and then immediately began my descent as it was very, very cold up there, and I knew breakfast was only 2-hrs away at the hikers' lodge 1300 meters below. I'll just post some photos so you see what I'm talking about.

Yesterday, I took a bus to the city of Sandakan (pop. 330,000). I had intended to stay a few days and see some of the outlying attractions: the orangutan rahab center, the sea turtle nesting areas, some jungle trekking, etc. But he problem is that Sandakan is an absolute dump. The Lonely Planet tries to describe this city by dancing around this point. I wish they would just call it what it is: a dump that smells like untreated sewage. The hotel room that I stayed at was a particularly awful place. At 45 ringgits ($15 US) the hallways smell of urine, the room itself displayed a spectacular aray of turgid smells and generally reminded me of the type of place that drunk and penniless drifters usually spend the last days of their regrettable lives. Needless to say, I packed up and got out of there the following morning, this morning, actually. Since the next bus out of here in the direction I want to head doesn't leave until tomorrow morning, I'm consigned to spend another night in this cultural landfill. I have, thankfully, found a much nicer place to lay my head tonight at the same price as the other cockroach conservatory. I didn't come half way around the world for that!

Basically, my take on Malaysia is that it's a decent country, from what little I've seen of it. People are generally fairly friendly, although probably not so much as in Indonesia, and the country has some decent tourist draws. I'm not sure if I'd recommend it on anyone's travel itinerary though. Frankly, I was a little surprised at how commercialized and heavily regulated everything is. I mean, if you want to go for a simple afternoon trek in the jungle, you yst hire a guide and pssibly porters. This all adds up to shellign out some real cash! I remember as a kid and then again as an adult going hiking in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and not having to deal with any of this nonsense; you just sign in at the ranger station and try not to get yourself into too much trouble. In Borneo, going off on your own is simply not an option, and it's not that there's a significantly higher risk of getting hurt (although that's the reason they use for throwing in the administrative and monetary barriers). It's just a revenue generating scheme forcing you to hire a guide who's usually pretty useless, and greasing back other bureaucrats, who have nothing to add to your experience, and it's all on your dime. So in short, I'd say Malaysian Borneo definitely has worthwhile sights to see, but I would caution anyone from thinking that it's some kind of untamed wilderness (although pockets do still exist) that you can just set off into. I'm glad I came here, but I really don't think I'll ever consider this part of my trip the highlight of it. Although, perhaps I'm just getting anxious because in about 2 weeks, I'll be in Nepal where the fun will really begin.

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Photos

Sun's First Rays
Peaking across the eastern ridge of Mt. Kinabalu, the sun making its first presence known. I didn't edit or doctor this photo at all, this is exactly as it appeared at about 6:00 that morning. I was already on my way down the mountain at this point.

Sunrise on Kinabalu
Nice shot of the sun's first impact on the red rocks of Kinabalu's western peak.

Sunrise on Kinabalu Too!
I arrived at the top at 4:45 am, waited as long as I could stand (it was very cold) took this picture and didn't look back. I knew that pancakes and eggs were waiting for me back at the hikers' lodge.

Mountain Lodge
At about 1000m below the summit (that's not it in the background) this was the resting point for the night before the trip to the top. With a full service lodge with beds, and a full service cafeteria, everything here gets hauled up 6 km and 1400m vertical by porters. Tough work!

Classy Joint!
This was posted at a restaurant I ate at recently. As you can see, I frequent some pretty classy places.

Not the Best... But Pretty Good!
I thought this was kind of funny.

World's Worst Volleyball Court
This has got to be the world's least appealing volleyball court. Or maybe it's a tennis court - ?

Comments

[Rich Molloy]

good reads....
Ken, It really sounds like you are a world away from inspecting tankships and wondering what to put on the next HSSC agenda. I have enjoyed reading about your travels and seeing the pictures. How does someone like Christina last in a place like Indonesia? Keep up the blog entries. Rich