Long journey home

Sadly, my last view of Borneo was rain. But I guess that's what happens when you travel in the monsoon season! I was pretty lucky that it held off for over 4 weeks. I left for the airport at 10am to meet my 11:35 flight. At 12:15 and again at 12:45 they told us that due to technical difficulties there would be a delay and futher information would be available later. At about 1pm they asked us all to go to the restaurant where they gave us lunch. I started wondering whether there would be any more flights out and whether I'd make my flight to Australia at 9:30pm from KL, so I asked at the desk. They knew exactly who I was and were about to re-route me through KK, but then decided to take the whole plane instead and cancel the KK flight! I felt sorry for the passengers on that flight. At about 3:30 we finally took off, only 4 hours late. In KL I wandered round the airport for 2 hours and got on my plane for a safe and uneventful journey home.

It's been an awesome 5 weeks, and even though I've seen so much, there are many gaps that I would like to go back and fill. Three that come to mind are Danum Valley, Kudat (the tip of Borneo) and Long Pasia. Not to mention Bario in northern Sarawak, if I can brave going back there. Borneo 2011?

Sandakan

The monsoon hit this morning! Although the hotel's weather sign said "no rain all day", it rained on and off all day. Seriously - I would have taken the notice down in embarrassment by lunchtime...

Pavilion at the Teahouse

I started with breakfast on the waterfront, and then asked at the desk for a map and directions to Agnes Keith House. They looked at me in horror and said "oh no, you should get a cab. It's not safe." I looked on the map and it was only a short distance, albeit uphill. Ignoring their advice (remembering that Malaysian girls have thus far proven to be unadventurous, especially the girl next to me on the bus yesterday who was too scared to go get a seat on her own even though there were loads available), I set off down the street. Expecting to be mugged at every corner, I instead found that I was on the Sandakan Heritage Trail. Not safe indeed... perhaps a little slippery on the historical 100 steps but otherwise safe as houses (as Nan would say).

Very colonial!

It wasn't that hot but the humidity was about 800% so I arrived at the house bathed in sweat and silently thanked whoever had thought to install air conditioning. Agnes Keith was a writer who wrote "Land Below The Wind" (about Sabah) among other books, and she was quite the Borneo pioneer I think. I bought the book in KK but won't read it until I get home. Next door to the house is an English Teahouse, where I sat in my own pavilion and had scones and tea and enjoyed the great view of the harbour. Looking around I found a big cage and to my surprise it held a huge peacock. After seeing the freedom enjoyed by the peacocks at the Melbourne Zoo, I felt a little sorry for it!

Walking back into town I quickly discovered that Old Sandakan is the poor part of town. Most of the shops sell rubbish, some have gold and textiles but most sell the kind of stuff that the Reject Shop would reject. I wanted to go to the Australian War Memorial so, feeling very proud of myself, I found a minibus and paid my 2 ringgit fare. Pretty quickly I realised that the memorial park was in the middle of nowhere, and I became very thankful for Google Maps on my iPhone.

The memorial is extremely sad and I can't believe how awful the POW camp in Sandakan was. I've (purposely) avoided knowledge of the POW camps so I don't know whether it's better or worse than others, but the soldiers were all forced to march over 250km to Ranau on three trips later named the "Death Marches". Of the 2500 who went, six survived. Their anecdotes are heartbreaking.

I caught a bus to a shopping area, then back to the hotel. The second bus driver was extremely excited to have me on his bus (?) and got me to sit up front with him, much to the amusement of the other passengers. I got into it and went the whole ocker Aussie on him, thumbs up & G'day's all round. In the end I had to pull out ol' faithful, my alcoholic husband who is always waiting for me in the hotel. Sometimes he's looking after the kids but mostly he's sleeping because he had too many beers last night. Next time - I'm wearing a ring on the trip!

Rafi, Jeffrey and Nazmi and our meal

Nazmi, Rafi and their mate Jeffrey picked me up for dinner again and took me to Ikan Bakar Mama Resepi (Mama's recipe grilled fish) where we had another veritable feast. I ordered "sunburn fish", which I have Googled and found no reference to so I have no idea what it was. Apart from delicious. The boys made me eat Malay-style... with my hands. It was fairly amusing I think - if you don't believe me, try eating rice and fish and sauce with your fingers. See how you go.

We then went to the Old City restaurant (believe it or not, New City restaurant is right next door) and had cold drinks. It's nice going out with Muslim boys as there is no alcohol involved!! I'd much prefer an iced lychee drink.

The wheels on the bus go round and round and round...

Yvonne and I!

Yvonne has been complaining about not being in my blog anymore so here is a picture of the two of us!

Having forgotten to book my flight from KK to Sandakan, I suffered from a false sense of economy and failed to remember that RM 180 is still only about $60 and well worth it to avoid a seven-hour bus ride. So I got in the taxi to the bus station at 9:30, where I was berated by the driver for not getting up earlier. I told him to shove it (in a very polite manner of course) as it was too late for advice now! I also knew that buses leave for Sandakan so often that they may as well be Bourke Street trams. Getting out of the taxi I had one of the most horrible experiences of the trip. I had the door wrenched out of my hands as ten hawkers tried to sell me tickets, shouting at the top of their lungs 20cm from my face. It was quite a shock since this hasn't happened anywhere else in my whole trip, even the KK ferries the people were at least standing behind counters. Luckily my taxi driver came to help and told them all to buzz off, telling me to go with one particular guy. I didn't care if he got commission as it was only 30 ringgit which is cheaper than I thought it was and the others went away. The bus was air conditioned and very comfortable. We stopped at Ranau (about 3 hours into the journey) for a rest stop at a revolting place. There was not only no paper in the toilet (no worries, I come prepared nowadays) but no water anywhere at all to wash your hands or flush the toilet. You can imagine the mess. I reassessed my need to eat at this point and got a carton of Milo and some pre-packaged fruit cake instead, even then I waited until I was on the bus to eat it.

My fabulous steamboat hosts

Four hours later I arrived, another taxi to the hotel and finally it was over. Nazmi, who we met in Lahad Datu, is in town for a meeting and had left a message at the hotel (my phone won't work) so we organised to meet for dinner. He and his friend arrived at 7:30 and took me to a fabulous steamboat restaurant up on the hill with a view over Sandakan. I was unfamiliar with the steamboat concept; you choose a soup base (the boys chose Tom Yum) and then you go to the buffet and collect all manner of uncooked delicacies like meat and fish balls, vegies, and even whole fish and prawns. You toss it into the soup and cook it, then scoop some out and eat. Repeat until full! I was quietly congratulating my choice to not eat lunch, especially when I discovered Nazmi shares my love of ice-cream and it was also part of the buffet :)

Then I got a great tour of Sandakan. They drove me to Agnes Keith House (which was closed as it was night, but there is a great view), around the waterfront, and to a market where we picked up something for (second) dessert. This stuff was fabulous, and a heart attack waiting to happen. It was a long deep-fried sugar donut cut in half, spread with butter, spread thickly with kaya (coconut egg jam) and then closed up and covered in kaya. Delicacies such as this, and the fact that every drink is drowned in sugar, make you understand why diabetes incidence in Malaysia is skyrocketing. We took it back to my hotel and sat outside with some juice and enjoyed the evening.

An expensive surprise!

Stone fish - not my first choice for dinner.

Today was my girly day. I went for a walk to collect my laundry and went shopping, then went back to the backpackers. The English boys from last night were there and so we went to get some lunch. Basically they were the worst example of backpackers I have found so far - shagging their way around the world and not really seeing any local culture. They didn't want to see anything, they just wanted to crash a hotel pool somewhere. This was the case everywhere they went. They're coming to Melbourne soon so hotel pools, look out. Unfortunately I must have forgotten to give them my phone number... Anyway lunch was interesting as was their description of what they were going to be doing after lunch (couldn't possible write it here though). I went off afterwards by myself, feeling like I needed to find some soap! I got a haircut and though I was very nervous about how it would turn out, he actually did a good job. After that it was time for the manicure and pedicure, which looked great. Of course it was dark in the spa and when I got out I found the colour made me look like a cheap... well, cheap. This was easily remedied of course and they look great. It's amazing how good your nails get when you don't have to wash the dishes!

Field repairs

When I got back, Klara and I decided to go and treat ourselves to a seafood meal. I thought I was getting the hang of this game and we ordered grilled fish and prawns, and Sabah vegies, and fresh juice. It really was delicious. Then we got the bill and a big shock - it came to 300 ringgit!! ($100) This isn't much for a meal like that in Australia but we quickly realised they saw us coming. We hadn't watched them actually weigh the fish (which must have been 4kg by my calculations...) but of course you can't prove anything after you've eaten it! Giggling and feeling thankful that $50 each was not going to break us, we went in search of a beer. My jeans button came off though and so I was faced with the choice of returning to the backpackers or getting it fixed. We walked down to the Philippine Market where I knew there were a lot of guys with sewing machines (it's so cool, they all use those old-school black Singer machines). I found one who looked nice and managed to convey the message that I needed the button fixed. "No problem," he said, so I played my next card - "So.... do you think you can fix them... while I'm still wearing them?" He looked at me like he hadn't quite heard right, and his friend fell about laughing. It was very funny, he agreed to try and half the market was watching while this white girl knelt down as he hammered the button in. Klara was laughing and taking photos and I'm sure the friend wet himself a little bit. In the end he charged me 2 ringgit (60c) and I said don't be ridiculous and gave him 5. He said "I've been here 20 years and I have never had anyone ask me to repair their jeans while they're still wearing them!" I asked if perhaps he could iron them as well.

Diving KK

On Clem's Reef

Anyone who says the diving in Kota Kinabalu is bad, has way too high expectations. It was great! Sure, it's monsoon season and the visibility isn't as high as it could be but the coral is so healthy and plentiful. Mark (from Diverse Borneo) picked me up at 8:15 and took me down to the jetty where I met my Aussie dive guide. The only two other people were doing their Open Water course with another instructor so I had Dan all to myself. The first dive was on Gaya Island at Police Bay. The water was 30ºC and though the top layer was murky (probably fresh water runoff), down past the first few metres it was fine.

Pipefish

The second dive was a site at Sapi Island, and then we went to the island to have lunch at the cafe, the same one I ate at yesterday. It wasn't quite as nice weather as yesterday, it was a bit overcast and threatened to rain (although it never actually did). I was glad I did the snorkelling on the sunny day.

The lizards and I enjoyed a plate of mee goreng and an iced Milo, and then it was back to the boat for dive 3. The other two had bailed so it was just Dan and I now. We went to Clem's reef which was on the outside, but the swell wasn't too bad. I still couldn't believe how healthy the corals were, this one was full of huge table corals.

Lizard and his noodles

Mark picked me up again and took me back to the backpackers, where I was met by Klara who'd organised for a bunch of us to go for drinks in half an hour. I promptly fell asleep. She woke me up and we went to BB bar where it was 12 ringgit ($4) for 3 cans of Skol beer, which is cheap anywhere but especially in Malaysia where alcohol is expensive. 5 beers later I was starting to feel pretty shady so I left them and came back home to bed.

Mamutik and Sapi Islands

My boat crew

In a world first I actually did what I planned to do today! I walked down to the Jesselton Port where 20 people hissed and kissed and called out to me trying to sell me their boat tickets. The whole process was ridiculous, having to go different places to pay extra jetty fees, park entrance fees, etc etc. But in the end it was a grand total of around $13 to visit two islands in the Tunku Abdul Rahman marine park off Kota Kinabalu. The ride out took about 20 minutes and after insisting twice that I be taken to the islands I'd paid for and not just the closest ones, I finally got to Mamutik Island. Stepping off the boat was like walking onto a little piece of paradise, with a clearly laid-out snorkelling area, a beautiful beach, and a little store & cafe. I promptly dumped my bag with the lifeguard saying "Saya satu orang!!" (I'm by myself) and he was only too happy to help. I repaid him by removing rubbish as I snorkelled. On this island were the biggest clown fish I have ever seen! Seriously they were enormous, bigger than my outstretched hand.

Sapi Island

I spent 2 hours in the water and then got back on the boat for island number 2. Again he tried to convince me to go to a closer island but I just kept saying "Sapi? Sapi?" with an innocent look on my face. His son laughed so I expect the badgering normally works on tourists. Anyway we arrived at Sapi and he said there was a beautiful coral area just around the side so the driver took me there and said "tirty minute - then jetty!" I finally worked out that he was dropping me off in the water so I could snorkel and was then going to take me to the jetty. That was pretty nice of him! I jumped in and swam around and while I was looking at a crown of thorns, another face popped up beside me. He'd decided he was going to have a swim too. He was very enthusiastic, showing me mushroom corals and sea cucumbers etc but unfortunately his enthusiasm was scaring away all the wildlife! He did love having his photo taken underwater so he posed for a bit and then he dropped me off on the island.

Taking the snake out for a swim

I walked around to the first snorkelling area and was amazed to see a man in the shallows swimming with a snake. What was even more amazing was that on closer inspection it turned out to be a land snake. I took photos and thought he was saying it was "frightened", but it turns out it was a "python". He said "Is ok! Can pick up!" He asked if I wanted to hold it, I said yes of course (see picture...) Still thinking it was wild, I asked whether I should put it in a tree. He looked a bit shocked and I realised it was his pet snake, and he was just taking it for a swim! I have seen many things in my life but never have I seen anyone out taking their pet snake for a swim. The snorkelling in that area was far less exciting than the snake so I headed up to the cafe for some fried rice, waited the obligatory 45 seconds after eating, and got straight back in the water.

The cuttlefish

One of the lifeguards told me where to swim so I would "see everything" and to my delight I found a huge cuttlefish (Eliza - thought of you!) which I followed around for a bit. I called over a pair of extremely unenthused Japanese snorkelers who were just a tiny bit impressed after the 3 minutes it took for them to actually see it. It was camouflaged quite well but come on it was the size of two footballs! I swam around a bit further, got bitten by some fish that were obviously used to being fed (though it's not allowed) and went back to the jetty to meet my boat. After my 3rd degree sunburn from Kuching I was smart enough to wear a rash vest, but unfortunately I still wasn't smart enough to put sunscreen on my legs, so now I resemble a pair of candy canes without the white stripes.

On the way back from Jesselton port I stopped in at a dive shop, and it didn't take long to convince me to sign up for tomorrow's dives. It's $75. For return transfers from the backpackers, three boat dives, lunch and gear hire. Wow....

Shortest flight ever...

When I went to meet my airport transfer this morning I found out the hotel hadn't bothered to actually book it, so the maintenance man drove me to the airport. Made it in good time and proceeded through check-in with no worries. Luggage 18.5kg... normally I wouldn't care but since I was losing my Air Asia-ity today I was a bit nervous about tipping over the 20kgs I'd paid for. Got on the plane to find that they sure do the seating strangely on Air Asia. I was seated in the middle, next to a man in the window seat, but with nobody in the aisle, and with spare rows all over the place. Of course I moved. Guess I didn't look at the flight schedule, because I was expecting a much longer flight. It takes 8 hours to go from Bandar Seri Begawan to Kota Kinabalu, and you have to do six border crossings (apparently? Perhaps it's 3 but with a stamp from both countries each time?) However the flight takes around 25 minutes, and no sooner had I reclined my seat to read the fresh December magazine than the hostess told me to put it back up and prepare for landing. What the...?

Evidently there is a low cost terminal in KK, because it certainly wasn't the terminal I flew into the first time. For about two minutes I was genuinely wondering whether I had flown into the right city, but sure enough there were KK maps everywhere. It looked more like a bus station than an airport, with bazaar stands everywhere selling food and magazines, not like the plush surroundings of the Malaysia Airlines terminal. Also nowhere to change my money. I found another couple and shared a taxi into town with them, with the intention of going to Tenom. One thing led to another and eventually that became too hard so I decided to stay in KK for the night. I went off in search of food (cari makan) and wandered around town for a while. Headed back to the backpackers then and read my book! I think I might go snorkelling tomorrow.