Borneo Part ONE - (Jan3-Jan19)

Borneo Road Trip
Lianna

Along our travels we talk to and meet many other travellers and tourists and locals. We hear about their journeys and experiences and we question them for information about where we are or other places we could go. I met a Chinese Malay woman on the plane on the way from Phenom Phen to Kuala Lumpur, Shirley. Her children, around the same age as ours, also did scuba diving. One place she mentioned having visited and thoroughly enjoyed was Borneo.

Along the way there were other mentions of Borneo. A woman we met in Trawanagan, Indonesia who was from Calgary, mentioned she was heading for Kota Kinabalu, Borneo. She rattled off all sorts of amazing things she was planning to do in Borneo. She left a few days before us and at that point jokingly we said “See you in Borneo”. Little did we know.

A few days later we landed in Kota Kinabalu, Borneo. Love that name. Kota Kinabalu, Kina kina balu, yeah yeah. We make up rythms or songs about many of the places we visit. How can you not with the fantastic name of KOTA KINABALU.

We were expecting R-E-M-O-T-E, remnants of head hunters (which they are famous for), intense jungle, wild animals, massive poisonous insects. There was evidence of all this eventually but Koto Kinabalu is surprisingly a modern city. Our first meal consisted of a bowl of Tom Yam Soup and Kafka with noodles. Both dishes were absolutely delicious. We ended up going to this restaurant many times and eventually met the daughter of the owners who we found out were professional ballroom dancers at night (we thought something was different about how they dressed and looked, the mother with her died blond hair, high heels and confident presence) and operaters of this famous Chinese restaurant (which only served a few specialty dishes) during the day. The place opened at 7:00am and closed around 4:30. It was always packed.
Enjoying Tom Yam Soup

To see Borneo at our own leisure, we rented a small car and spent the next few weeks driving around the northern part of Borneo, Sabah.

A stop along the way, Mark takes a shower in the waterfall

An incredible Butterfly and Insect observatory was our first stop out of town. Hesitant to enter because of the general “Yuk its not the wild, its an observatory…”. But we were all more than surprised by the information it offered and with the help from an amazing guide, we had our first introduction to the insects and plants of Borneo. This helped immensesly with the rest of the trip as we were able to identify and search out what we had learned.Caterpillar cocoon

Carniverous plants

Orang Utan Rehabilitaion Centre


These primates only exist in 2 areas on the face of this earth, Borneo and Sumatra. They are amazing creatures, so similar to us one had to wonder how they could have possibly been destroyed so rampantly. We attended a feeding of the Orang Utans. This occurs twice a day. Food is placed on a platform built around a tree in the jungle. Orang Utans are then let free from the rehabilitation centre through a series of ropes in the trees.



Not more than 25 m away is a platform that tourists can view these amazing animals. One female had come down to the walkway for guests. She sat quietly observing the people as they observed her. We were able to get less than ¼ of a meter away.

Jungle Cruise on the Kitabantangan River
After a long drive through endless km of Palm Oil groves (much of the land on Sabah has been clearcut for the Palm Oil industry) we finally arrived at an area that was left untouched. The Kitabantangan River flowed through a parcel of pristine jungle.. One can stay along the river in either very high end jungle resort accommodation or like us find a nice little local B&B. The attraction is taking a small speed boat, along the river to view wildlife.

We enjoyed the first excursiouns so much that we indulged 4 times, one time was a night cruise. It was FABULOUS!

Next stop Sempurna – diving excursion to Semolock – well known for sharks.
Very Muslim area

Only Caleb and Mark went as Artemis is not yet 12 and therefore not eligible to swim below 12m where the dive was to take place.

I snorkelled which was very interesting. The waters were really rough one day as I jumped into the water. I wore a life jacket that day, mainly to keep warm, but as I looked around at the 2m swells, the boat far in the distance, me swimming in this rough water just to see fish, I was amazed at myself.

We spent a few nights on an island called Mabul. The guest house was on stilts in the water as is most of the village.
Little shack of a place in Mabul

This place really pushed the boundaries for me. The rooms were just thrown together wood shacks, the water in the bathroom stayed on the floor as there was no proper drainage and the worse of it was that all the sewage and everything else from the village went straight into the ocean. It was disgusting to say the least.
Phillipino gypsies living on the water just outside the motel

Artemis and Caleb found some kitty friends

We made it through 2 nights and I was very happy to leave. We would have moved residences but there wasn’t anything else. The choices being the bungalow we were in or very high end resort which cost a few hundred dollars per person.

Stayed one last night on the mainland and then headed back for a full days trip to Kota Kinabalu.

Hotel on stilts in Semporna

Upon arriving in Kota Kinabalu our health and energy level was low, Caleb and Artemis the worse, Mark smashed his foot and I, as well as everyone, had the revenge. Must have been Mabul, or maybe we were nervous about going to India next, or maybe we were just tired out from all the travelling and moving from day to day. Anyway we crashed in Kota Kinabalu for 3 days, not leaving the hotel much except to eat, oh one excursion to see an exhibit about the “Head Hunters” – a definite high light of the trip and luckily our hotel was just across the street from the best Tom Yam Soup in Borneo.
We all danced with the troupe

Trying our luck at shooting a spear


Lianna