An epic pilgrimage

Excited to find the Rafflesia

Today was nothing short of a pilgrimage! I went to the Sunday Market in Gaya Street but there wasn't much I wanted - well there was a cat I would have liked to take home but not sure how Quarantine would feel about that. I remembered there was a Sunday market in Kota Belud, so I went back and used my new knowledge to get in a nice air-conditioned taxi cheaply. Oops! There weren't any so I was stuck with a van. My legs are too long to fit in the seats so I spent an hour and a half basically sitting on the woman next to me, hotter than Hades and wondering what on earth I was thinking! (Silly woman could have swapped seats with me but ignored me when I suggested it... her loss!) About ten minutes into the trip I remembered that an English man I met yesterday had seen a Rafflesia near Poring, and I thought "damn, I should have gone to Ranau!" I got out at Kota Belud and went to the market. Picked up a couple of things, then spent about 15 minutes walking around town. I felt like a circus freak, everyone was staring at me! In Lahad Datu I was a celebrity, here I was just plain strange.

The big smelly flower!!!

There wasn't much happening so I went back to the bus depot hoping to find a bus to Ranau. Of course, there IS no bus to Ranau from Kota Belud so I had to get a taxi. I'm starting to see the dollar signs add up at this point, but they put me in a share taxi and then dropped me at a random place near Tuaran so I could get on a bus. I hadn't even sat down before a huge coach came by with "Sandakan" on the front. It was the right direction so I flagged it down and got on board. To my surprise it was extremely comfortable and there was a movie playing. It took around an hour and a half to get to Ranau and I was starting to wonder how (whether!) I would get home, and perhaps I should have brought a few more things or worn proper shoes. I decided I was prepared to stay a night there if I had to, even if I didn't have my stuff with me. The bus dropped me off at a suitably empty stretch of road, but a troupe of young men gave me a clue that civilisation wasn't far away. I walked towards some shops, saw a transportation booth and walked over, just in time to watch her close it for the day. It was only about 2:30. I asked in my best Malay where the bus was and she pointed (with her thumb, as they all do here) in a direction, so I started walking, jalung jalung. Walked straight through a game of hackeysack that had the entire town watching (oops) and down to where I could see Unsers (the nice airconditioned share taxis).

Cacao tree

Here followed a conversation involving koalas and various offers for taxis to take me to Poring, none of which were within a bull's roar of what I was willing to pay. Finally I found a van that would take me, wait for me then bring me back. When we got underway he asked how long I wanted to stay at the hot springs. I explained that I didn't care two hoots for the hot springs, all I wanted was to see a Rafflesia. He was happy (and a bit relieved) then because he knew where one was. We drove straight there, a family had a sign on the side of the road saying "blooming Rafflesia". By now I knew to ask how many days old it was, since they only last 9 days then die and smell like rotting meat. I was glad to hear that this was a "tiga hari Rafflesia" (3 days), and happily handed over my 20 ringgit. A young boy led me along a track and up a short jungle path for about 5 minutes, and there, under a shade tent, was a blooming Rafflesia about 60cm across. Fantastic!!! I took plenty of photos, and then we left! On the way back he showed me Cacao trees, one with ripe pods. I got back in the van, muddy but very happy. Back to Ranau, and I was in great luck because the last Unser for the day was just about to leave. I got in and enjoyed the air-conditioned 2 hour drive back to KK.

The day, however, did not end there. I got dropped at Warisan Square, where there are about a billion massage places but one in particular which has a fish spa. Having done this in Singapore, I was excited to have all the dead skin eaten off my feet by small hungry fish. It took me 10 minutes to convince them that I didn't want to take up their "special promotion" and only wanted the fish spa. 4 cups of different herbal teas, 5 mins foot scrub, 15 minutes in a fish spa and 25 ringgit later, I walked down to the fish market with a spring in my step. Navigating the seafood sellers, I ordered tiga rasa fish and watermelon juice, and happily chatted away to the Filipino chef (who offered to take me to the Philippines and on a "special" tour of KK...) He said he had just moved into the staff quarters and so didn't have to pay rent anymore. The rent was ridiculous, he said, it was 200 ringgit a month. I thought to myself, well I just spent 150 ringgit to go and see a bloody flower today. How different our lives are.