Up very early and packed, had breakfast, and headed down to the jetty for our ferry trip to My Nature Resort. Again very fast and, at one point, we thought we were being kidnapped as we headed out to sea LOL.

We arrived at SIM SIM Water Village and was met by Tyson our driver who took us to the My Nature resort. We checked in and confirmed the activities for the day.

We then went to our spacious room to settle in. Again needing sticks for the monkeys! It was very very hot and felt like I was cooking from the inside out…completely melting…. Was very grateful for good air conditioning!

We had a lovely lunch in their open air restaurant – no menu selections this time – just a plate of food delivered which was excellent. All the lodges had been very careful to check for allergies and I had put down seafood (although prawns are OK) as Richard has an aversion to bottom feeding molluscs more generally….

After a very nice lunch – where we chatted to some fellow guests who were heading up the river taking the normal south to north route (which we had done in reverse) – and took off along with our companions (two older Dutch women) and first stop was the Sun Bear Conversation Centre. Very interesting but still felt like a bit of a zoo as the bears were fenced – although in huge natural areas – and saw one sitting in the tree near the boardwalk and one pacing below us. It is a relatively recently-introduced law that keeping sun bears for pets or the disgusting bile trade has been outlawed with huge fines and prison sentences. So this was where they were moved to when recovering from their previous captivity. Sun bears all have unique light coloured marks on their chests which is unique to them – so like a bear fingerprint.

There were a few macaques about – including the very aggressive pigtails – who snarled at us and showed us huge teeth as we swept by. One smaller one decided to come at me from behind….and was clearly after the flannel that I was carrying to wipe down as we walked along. Luckily Richard saw him coming from behind so was able to warn me…

Moving on we headed next to the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre. Having seen many documentaries about this place we had very high expectations, particularly of seeing the babies. Well, the baby nursery (where they start their rehab journey) is not open to the public sadly. But never mind there is an outside nursery where they play and we were able to see some mucking around….from an air conditioned environment. Fabulous! In this slightly older aged group nursery they are paired on a buddy system so they learn how to be wild orangutans from each other with minimal human contact. Must be difficult for those who had been reared as pets…a common problem…but there is a lot of hope for the wild population to recover as a result of this intervention.

We then walked along the boardwalk to the feeding platform. We were told that they deliberately feed them boring food (same each day) as, at this point, they are living in an open environment and only come down if they are hungry….as there is lots of natural food for them to forage in the jungle. We saw a couple of them hanging around (literally) waiting for the food to arrive…very interesting how they interact with each other…and then the food was delivered and they headed straight to it. ANothing separating us and them this time apart from a few rangers to ensure they didn’t come into the viewing area. The older one (you can tell by his flattened face…) was very funny and the younger of the two was cheeky – he blocked the rope bridge and when the older one tried to pass above him, he grabbed him by his balls LOL Absolutely amazing…this was something on my bucket list ticked off!

Afterwards we headed back to the hotel and got showered…and had some canapes whilst we waited for the dark to descend. This was to watch the flying squirrels who had taken up residence in the trees near the main restaurant area. And, then suddenly, one leapt and another popped his/her little head out of it’s nest….

Afterwards….it was time for a night walk. After an exhausting day in the heat I declined and waited in the restaurant for Richard to come back. Not much to see apart from bugs etc again but he enjoyed the experience anyway although found the route relatively demanding.

Whilst waiting I enjoyed a lovely chilled glass of wine and on Richard’s return we had a great dinner – another buffet – and, as the chicken was cooked in oyster sauce (with their real concern over allergies), they brought a freshly grilled chicken breast to our table as an additional item….great service…and was delicious!

This lodge was very comfortable although the bed was a little low for my liking…and to compound that…on returning from the loo in the night I actually slipped and fell over as I totally misjudged the height. Oh well, nothing hurt or broken, so was very lucky!

Sunday morning we were up very early and packed our bags in readiness for our departure. Shame we didn’t stay here another night – as I would have liked to return to Sepilok for another orangutan fix!

Had a lovely breakfast – where the chef cooked my eggs perfectly – and then returned to our room and packed our hand luggage, emptying the safe of our valuables. Our cases were picked up and, stick in hand again just in case, we walked to reception. At some point – about 15 minutes after the scheduled collection/departure time – we were told that our driver had had a medical emergency so an alternative vehicle was on its way to us.

We arrived at Sandakan airport for our short domestic flight to Kota Kinabalu (the capital of Sabah state) and went to the check in desks. At this point we were redirected to the x-ray machines to get our luggage scanned….pushing them along I managed to get the wheel caught in the floor and promptly the bag was over with me on top of it! Richard was seriously not impressed by my clumsiness and, luckily, some locals saw what happened and helped me up. Again no injuries apart from some hurt pride LOL.

Luggage scanned and now checked in and dropped off we headed to the departure gate – and waited for our flight to board. Was only a 30 minute trip and on arrival we had to do the whole customs and immigration check which seemed a bit strange for a domestic flight within the state but at least we knew about it in advance…..

On arrival, having collected our bags, our driver was waiting for us and took us to our hotel the Shangri La Rasa Ria. We chose this hotel because they are next to the rainforest and have orangutan orphans – or they used to have at least! On their resort map it still shows them near the rainforest. Sadly they have all been relocated to Sepilok to continue their education…so no longer here. Was very disappointed when I found out as I had hoped to see the babies….

We headed to the Ocean Wing reception (there are two wings with separate receptions) and checked in and left our suitcases. Sadly our room was not ready so we were told to return at 3pm. We walked around and checked out the restaurants and facilities along the way. We returned as requested and were checked in, went to our room, and found a lovely surprise as they had decorated our bed with roses, supplied a cake and some wine – to celebrate our upcoming 29th wedding anniversary.

And finally we were staying somewhere more than one or two nights so unpacked – the first time properly in the whole trip so far – yay! We chilled out for a while before getting showed and ready for dinner. OMG what an amazing shower. Bliss!

At the beach bar we waited for the cultural show to start – singing / dancing and a fireshow.

Afterwards we headed to the buffet restaurant for dinner (an Indian-inspired menu this time). Huge selection of Indian foods and the mutton was the most tender meat I had ever tasted – made a real change from beef curry LOL. We even had poppadoms (although they were similar to prawn crackers) pus some naan bread. Delicious although it was pricey and we definitely didn’t make the most of the buffet selection with some families just gorging for hours.

Lots of kids were there too – staying in the Garden Wing thankfully – so screens and headphones were the order of the day to keep them quiet…. Although Japanese kids racing around on skate trainers were somewhat annoying LOL. We saw very little parental interaction, discipline or even straight forward attention being paid to many of the (largely western) kids.

Oh yes, and as we left the restaurant we were chased up the stairs by one of the waiters as we hadn’t paid….well we had pre-booked and the cost of the dinner was on our hotel bill… Luckily Richard kept the receipt for our wine so we were able to prove that we were not running off….. Still a bit annoying as it was embarrassing in front of other guests….

We headed to the bar in the Garden Wing lobby for a pontoonie before returning to our room for the night….had been a long day.

Monday morning we went to the al la carte restaurant for breakfast – lovely – and definitely quieter as this part of the hotel is relatively child free. Luckily we got a seat inside as the heavens opened and those enjoying their breakfast on the patio had to race for alternative tables.

After breakfast we went back to our room and sorted out some laundry. We told customer services and were told to put it outside the room…five minutes later it was collected. Great service! To avoid the rain we sat on our very spacious balcony (which came with a huge bath tub) and lazed around reading books (enjoying our complimentary mini bar contents) on our huge day bed which was very comfy. By lunchtime the rain had cleared so we walked the beach – it was still a little wet – and then went to Tepi Laut for a drink. Back to the room which had been serviced by now although the fridge had not been restocked. So made a call and, within 10 minutes, the guy turned up to restock. Fantastic – thank you!

We then headed to the Ocean Wing pool – some kids around but not really supposed to be in this pool – and it was very quiet. We enjoyed a nice bob in the pool and then into the jacuzzi (with wine LOL) before returning to our room.

By now the laundry was back OMG – in a lovely wicker basket – what fab presentation. Only 15 items for £15 which was a pleasant surprise for a five star hotel. We washed through our smalls and put them on the balcony airer to dry – having come armed with pegs from home!

We showered, relaxed and headed out again to Tepi Laut for dinner. It was on the schedule to be open but had been closed because of the rain (it is largely out in the open)… Very disappointed by this… So ended up in the fancy Japanese restaurant watching the Chefs do their thing. Food was great but some explanation could have helped on the menu – I ordered garlic chips expecting fries and received roasted garlic chips. Not for me thanks! And because everything is cooked in front of you courses are delivered when ready – so our dinner was not delivered at the same time. A bit strange but we accepted this although got some strange looks that we weren’t tucking in straight away as we were waiting on the outstanding dishes……

After dinner we headed to the Garden Wing lobby for a drink in the bar and had a couple of pontoonies…and then walked back to our room and turned in. Had been a great day!

That finishes this part of our Malaysian adventure – come back soon to read more. Bye for now.

Jan

We chatted to the manager on arrival whilst we had a cold drink to recover. He explained that we would be introduced to our guide around 2.45 pm. So we made ourselves comfortable and enjoyed the views up and down the river. Later on Abdul turned up and explained the itinerary for the day….4pm time for tea and then 4.30 pm boat trip followed by 7.30 pm dinner and an after dinner night walk. In the meantime he took us to check out the vipers which were sitting in the bushes we had just walked past. Eek…hadn’t spotted them at all!

All went to plan until we got down the river to see the fireflies – they had just started sparkling when thunder clouds built and the lightning started. So back to the lodge and we had a couple of Tiger beers while waiting for dinner to be served.

We had a lovely beef curry – definitely the softest meat so far – along with veggies and jasmine rice. Delicious! Then the heavens opened…and the torrential rain meant that our night walk was cancelled. Oh well, never mind. We were back in our room by 9pm but as we had a 6.30 am start in the morning we weren’t bothered…

After a reasonable night’s sleep we were up early Friday and headed down to the jetty to pick up our boat for the next river trip. There were lots of probiscus monkeys again and a few spectacles. Oh and much bigger crocodiles here!!!

We also came across a rope bridge which had been strung between two islets. This is for the orangutans…the other monkeys can all swim and the probiscus make huge leaps across and, if they fall in, they hope not to become dinner for the crocs as they swim to the shore!

During the trip we asked Abdul about the negative publicity re palm oil plantations endangering the orangutan habitat as the primary forest has been cut down. He had a different view…. He confirmed that this area used to be rainforest but had actually been felled after WW2 to supply the timber for rebuilding the towns which had been completely flattened by bombing raids. Malaysia suffered significantly at the hands of the Japanese invasion. So yes it was sad that palm oil had taken over but he said for hard workers it was a reasonable crop to make a living. And it wasn’t all big plantations and large businesses – many were smallholders. However, he was very supportive of the Government’s push to preserve the rainforest and that, now after a number of years, there were miles of the river edged by forest rather than plantations (which resided behind). An interesting perspective from someone who makes their living out of tourism and the animals that inhabit the area.

We went back to the resort and headed around the boardwalk into the jungle for our breakfast which was cooked and served. There was a guy manning the toaster and he offered me some white sliced warm bread…so I asked for it to be put through again…and he was shocked. When he saw that we liked it quite brown he said that was burnt and ruined LOL.

After lunch we rested up for a while and then reconvened at 12.30 pm – again we were going to a local village for lunch. So we piled into the boat to head over there…we met the old lady (who was the grandmother of one of the lodge’s waiters)…and settled down to eat. Again another buffet…and again I chose beef curry…can’t get too much of a good thing LOL. Funnily enough this village was clearly more Islamic than the previous one we had visited. This was a Friday so the call to prayers was very loud and actually not that melodious! Guess you can’t always guarantee that your Iman has a good voice?!?

This particular village was very boggy underfoot so we had to balance on planks that had been laid down to get around. Abdul explained that this village was at threat of becoming an island as the water levels continue to rise. But everything is built on stilts so they weren’t overly worried although I had some concerns over crocodiles invading the village green LOL and eating the kids!

Back at the lodge we rested up as we were going to reconvene at 3.30 pm – an hour earlier than usual – as we were heading back up the river towards Sukau as there had been some pygmy elephants seen in the area. We boarded our boat and took off very fast – full of anticipation about seeing the elephants. They are small because of the area they reside in – full-sized elephants would not be able to get through the dense forest…

En route my stomach started rebelling…all that beef curry LOL…and I asked Abdul if he could find a place for me to go to the toilet. Hopefully not in the bush with the monkeys and critters! As we continued we spotted a site on the river where guys were working on their boats – this river is the main road in the area and lots of barges etc move things around between areas….

Luckily there was a dunny on the pier…we pulled alongside…and Abdul got permission for me to use the facility. Well, a shack over the river with a hole in the floor is better than nothing, so I was very grateful to him…. Whilst I was in the dunny the heavens opened and, when I came out, everyone was soaked through! Luckily we had ponchos with us – first time of using – so were suitably kitted out for this…. Very sweaty but at least they kept the rain out….

We then headed into a small river stream and there were lots of boats around – from every lodge and camp along the river – so lots of tourists too. Abdul got the information from the others and, yes, elephants were around. Sadly they were not on the river but they were in a plantation which was being felled…they clear old trees and let the elephants play in the area…

Sadly this meant climbing out of the boat – up a steep muddy slope – and onto the flat land above. And, of course, this has to be the day we had travelled in sandals rather than our hiking boots! Suddenly, we saw them – OMG – a far distance away but at least we had glimpsed them, along with every other tourist visiting the area it would seem! This was a real treat! Everyone was pretty excited at this point….

On the way back – much slower than on the way – and enjoyed more monkey antics. Back at the lodge we had showers and changed for dinner. After dinner we headed along the boardwalk for a night walk – the humidity in the forest was a killer – and we were sopping wet in seconds! We saw lots of little beasties / critters and a slow lorus. Back to the bar – we had a beer – and then to bed.

Saturday we were up very early, packed, had breakfast in the jungle again – alone this time as all our fellow guests had gone off for their early morning boat safari – and we were back on the dock for the 9am small ferry departure.

Next stop was My Nature Resort in Sandakan. Come back to read all about it soon – bye for now.

Jan

We arrived at Sukau, checked in and were shown to our wooden chalet on stilts (we were luckily to get AC at the time of booking, most of them don’t). We were surprised by the size – we reckon you could have housed six beds at least LOL – with two bathrooms. Fantastic! We were also given sticks to carry with us at all times – to threaten the macaques if they come close – but not to hit them as they are family groups and a physical confrontation would encourage the whole group to attack. Richard was not too keen to carry this stick around….but I persuaded him….why give it to us if not needed?!?

At lunch we met our allocated guide and the rest of the group who would make up the passengers in our boat. This was the same group throughout our stay. He also explained that the sarongs we had found on our bed were to be worn at dinner by everybody and then demonstrated 50 ways how to wear it LOL!

This particular lodge is all about boat trips to see the wildlife that reside near or on the Kinabatangan River….so at 4.30 pm we headed to the jetty and climbed on board. We motored off into the brown muddy coloured water with binoculars and cameras at the ready. Hopes were very high…

Very quickly we came across a group of probiscus monkeys…OMG they could have been designed by a comic book artist…such funny looking things. Apparently the bigger the nose the more attractive they are to the females…. They leap from branch to branch and, although they seem to be ultra brave and jump high into the air, we did see some retreat back onto the branch having clearly decided that particular jump just wasn’t for them at that moment in time LOL. They seemed completely unbothered by our close proximity to them and some of them just sat and posed for us… One did try to show off and did this huge leap onto a branch which promptly broke and he ended up tumbling onto the floor. Luckily he appeared unhurt as he quickly climbed the tree again….looking very nervously around for predators…of which there are two – the crocodiles and the clouded leopard (which are a pretty rare sight). Fantastic first experience – what a treat!

On our way back to the lodge we saw some baby crocodiles, about six hornbills and a wild orangutan building a nest on top of a tree. We didn’t know why we had stopped to watch a tree until the guide explained that she was up there building and, once settled into her new home for a couple of days, she would have a quick look around… And she did! Wow… Too far away for really good photos but so excited – I borrowed this image from Sukau’s online photo album. Oh yes and we heard lots of birdsong – being played through speakers to attract Swiftlets into a concrete housing where they will build nests (which are then harvested and used for bird nest soup – a very valuable commodity in this part of the world).

Back at the lodge we collected our stick and, luckily we did, as there were a couple of macaques waiting for us on the walkway. Another guest – who had also decided against carrying the stick – quickly ran up to us and asked for protection LOL. The monkeys didn’t seem that bothered or threatening and lovely to see them up close and personal.

At dinner we all wore our traditional sarongs and enjoyed a lovely meal. And so to bed…

Wednesday morning we were up early for a 6.30 am boat excursion to Oxbow Lake. But it was too shallow for us to get into and the tide was retreating…so after running aground a couple of times….the captain decided to abort. Again we saw lots of different types of monkeys and a diverse range of birds including a gorgeous kingfisher, more Hornbills and an eagle soaring high above us.

On return we had our breakfast on the dock which had been set up specially before chilling in our room for a while.

At 12.30 pm we were back on the dock and were taken across the river to the local village where we were having lunch. On arrival after a couple of minutes crossing the river we got off the boat and wandered into the village where all the kids were shouting ‘hello’ at us from the local school. Surprisingly there were security guards at the school – not quite sure why they were needed – but the kids were definitely not encouraged to visit with us.

At the local house – adorned by plants galore – we enjoyed lunch on the owner’s outside balcony which sat just above the river in the breeze. I had beef curry, rice, spring rolls and a variety of vegetables. Was absolutely delicious.

After lunch we returned to the lodge and had a cold beer on the dock before returning to our room again. There was a pool at this lodge and some nice beds / seats on the dock so we could have relaxed outside – but the humidity was an absolute killer…

At 4pm we headed back to the dock and took off up the river – again lots of monkeys and different birds and probably the largest crocodile we had seen so far. Not on the scale of the Australian ones but pretty threatening, particularly in a low-sided small boat. Our favourites? Difficult to say but would have to be the probiscus (despite my lifelong love of orangutans) followed closely by the spectacle monkeys (more on them in later blogs). The most aggressive was the pig tailed macaque although there were some real posers amongst them. There was also some evidence of inter breeding between species with the variety of colours from grey to orange tints and even some albinos.

Back at the lodge we got cleaned up and headed to dinner – we spent the evening with Alessandro and Irene from Italy. It was Alessandro’s birthday so we even got to eat some cake! At the end of the evening we settled our bill as we were checking out in the morning so were in bed by 10pm. Had been a great part of the trip and we thoroughly enjoyed Sukau.

Thursday we were up early, packed and headed down to breakfast on the jetty at 7am. By 7.30 am we were on the small ferry boat to travel down to the river to our next lodge, Abai Jungle Lodge. The boat ride was fast and furious – spinning around all over the place watching out for shallow spots (which is an assumption) and large logs floating down the river. Was pretty exciting although I did think he got a bit carried away at times, maybe frightening tourists is his favourite part of the job LOL. Other guests on board were in an established tour group so there was little interaction with us. It all felt a bit awkward….

After about an hour we arrived, checked in, and got organised. This was another lodge on stilts…surrounded by a boardwalk… We heard that orangutans had been spotted in the grounds so we followed the map and went for a walk – the elevated boardwalk was a bit slippery in places but felt quite safe and sturdy. Again we walked armed with sticks…

And that brings this part of the blog to a close…and will tell you more about Abai Jungle Lodge in the next part. Come back to read all about it soon. Bye for now

Jan

Sunday 24 August, we were down to reception by 6am to check out and collect our pre-ordered breakfast boxes. By 6.15 am we had been picked up and were on our way to Kuala Lumpur airport. On arrival at the airport (around 7am) we used the self-service machines, printed our boarding passes (x4) and bag tags (which were checked through to our final destination thankfully) and then dropped off the tagged luggage at the automatic machines. Moving more easily without the luggage we found somewhere quiet to sit and to eat our breakfast box contents…. half a plastic cheese sandwich each, a chocolate muffin and some juice. The reason why we ate this so early on was because we weren’t sure what would be allowed through security as we were moving state to state within Malaysia. Our next destination – Sabah, Borneo – has its own administration so operates under different regulations.

Afterwards we headed through security – which was incredibly fast (and felt very rushed) although pretty strict – and then walked to the departure gate. The flight was called and we got on board our Air Malaysia flight to Kota Kinabalu (the capital of Sabah). This short direct flight of 2 hours 45 minutes was on time and within 20 minutes of taking off we were served our meal (which was ordered online as part of the check-in process). Wish other airlines would follow their model…. And fantastic it was too!

By lunchtime we had landed in Kota Kinabalu and we had to clear immigration again (although having already checked into Malaysia more generally). Having navigated this administrative hurdle, we walked through the airport (still airside) and located the gate for our next flight (to Lahad Datu) and waited to be called to board. This time we were getting on a small prop plane and very comfy it was too…. This flight was only an hour long and we were served water and a bag of peanuts each. Bizarrely the hostess then came through the plane offering to sell us more bags of peanuts…. Hmmm…no thanks….very kind and all that LOL.

On arrival we picked up our bags and were met by our driver in a minibus all to ourselves which was a surprise. This transfer had been organised for us by our tour operator – the first part of the trip was managed by Hayes and Jarvis with a 24-hour concierge service – the second half was organised by us independently.

We were taken to the swanky office that Borneo Rainforest Lodge have in town where we completed our check in procedures before meeting our driver Frendo who was going to drive us into the rainforest. Frendo actually works for the Lodge as outsiders are not allowed to drive into the rainforest reserve – hence why we had to change vehicle. So now armed with very smart complimentary stainless water bottles we climbed into a Helux 4WD truck making sure our bags had also been transferred. We then drove on a bumpy but tarmac road for about half an hour before entering the private security-guarded acreage. Was surprised to see security guards controlling the traffic but we had an inclining when our guide in Kuala Lumpur had told us that the Dannum Valley was very private and exclusive and he wasn’t allowed to go there!

The scenery wasn’t particularly special to start with but then we entered secondary rainforest before coming to primary rainforest. Absolutely spectacular!

We continued off road and then came across some diggers. A significant amount of rainfall had washed out the only bridge and they were working on fixing it – but this is the only road in/out of this area and this was it!

The river was raging pretty fast and we were stuck on the south (wrong!) side of it…. A truck approached the river from the other side and started to ford the river – he lost control momentarily with water across the top of his bonnet – but thankfully he had a ‘snorkel’ so there was no risk of water getting into the exhaust. We were horrified and had visions of him floating off down the river – but luckily he found some solid ground, put his foot down, and made it across. At this point our driver decided it was too dangerous and we would wait for the river to drop (as it’s tidal)….

By now we had a procession of vehicles on both sides and the workmen were all standing around watching and discussing what should happen next. Then the digger driver drove down into the river….clearly to provide protection for the vehicles. We were next….drove gingerly into the water…sat alongside the digger for a little while then pushed across to the other side. Hurrah we made it! The start of a proper Borneo adventure LOL.

We carried on driving for another hour or so and arrived at the lodge. We were very late by now and had missed the scheduled evening activity so settled into our room, had a briefing about the property, and headed to dinner. And here’s our beautiful room and views….not too shoddy!

Oh yes, in Borneo you are not allowed to wear shoes in the dining area – bare or stockinged feet only – so you need to work out which entry / exit you are planning to use to make sure your shoes are in the right place at the end LOL.

Dinner was buffet style and I admit to being a little disappointed by the selection – although thoroughly enjoyed the lamb from the BBQ station. This is allegedly the best lodge they have in the whole of Borneo so had higher expectations especially after all the amazing street food in Kuala Lumpur. The dining area is open to the forest (with a roof thankfully) and overlooks the swimming pool.

After dinner it was still early so we took ourselves off to Hornbill Corner for a pontoonie. Hornbill Corner is a little platform set in the rainforest which is an outside bar and most of the people in there were employees (who because of the remote location largely live on-site). We met some honeymooners from Wales and played UNO with them before retiring back to our room. Was a fun night especially having some company!

Monday morning we were up very early for breakfast – the morning activity was a mountain hike to a waterfall which was classified as muddy and strenuous! So we declined…. Instead we opted for the alternative – a canopy walk – and our guide went off to organise it for us. We had breakfast and a female macaque monkey climbed down and stole my toast! Outrageous behaviour LOL. She was pretty aggressive too. Looks pretty cute and innocent here though….

Anyway we were told what to do by the staff to avoid this happening in future…basically although Borneo does not have tigers they did have many years before and monkeys have an inherent fear of them. (Borneo’s biggest predator is actually a clouded leopard but they are pretty rare to see). So…around the lodge you will find a variety of stuffed toy tigers…so we put one on our breakfast table and when another monkey came by we picked it up and roared in his face. I am not sure who was more shocked – the other guests or the monkey – but it certainly worked a treat and he was out of there in record-breaking speed LOL.

Our canopy walk was scheduled for 9am so we returned to our room for a chill in the air conditioning before returning to meet our guide. We started the walk which was a hike up hill to the start of the path. OMG the humidity was a killer…so here’s a picture of the intrepid explorers dressed to impress…. Despite working hard on our fitness pre-holiday in the gym I struggled a bit – especially with the circular steps up to the top of the canopy. We walked along and enjoyed the sights but sadly not much to see apart from a few birds and lots of bugs….

After returning to the lodge we got cleaned up (again!) had a chill out back in the room then went off for lunch.

The afternoon activity was a hike along the river which was muddy but not too difficult – although I had to be helped up and down some pretty uneven ground LOL! We were wearing our leech socks at this point as we knew this was the area where they were most prevalent. We did come across a few but thankfully we didn’t get any on us (or so we thought). Not too long into this walk we heard thunder and then some lightning…at which point our guide was radioed by the lodge to return…to dangerous for us all to be in the rainforest in a thunderstorm. So we headed back – getting wet from the increasing rainfall – and got cleaned up in our room. As Richard came out of the shower I noticed something on his back and realised that he had actually picked up a tiny leech….yuck….managed to remove and despatch it down the toilet and tried to stop the tiny pin prick wound from bleeding. This is pretty impossible…..but thankful I had brought a first-aid kit with us so able to disinfect etc. The biggest risk is infection so we were now ready to keep an eye on this wound going forward. Interestingly I found a bleeding cut on my ankle which was unexplained – after all I was wearing long sock, trousers and leech socks over the top – so didn’t understand how that had happened and know it was not a leech! Assuming it was my new trekking shoes but hey, who cares, it was very minor and cleaned up easily.

After all this excitement we headed for an early dinner as the evening activity was a golf buggy evening safari – but it was by now absolutely pouring down! So we had dinner and then our guide came and found us and said that the safari had been cancelled because of the (by now torrential) rain. Was very disappointed as I’d particularly been looking forward to this part of our trip.. But we were royally entertained by some staff putting on a traditional dance show…. We even got our photos taken with them at the end! A very nice last night here in the Dannum Valley after all. With hindsight we would have extended this element of the trip – two nights wasn’t long enough especially as we hadn’t allowed for any travel or weather delays curtailing some of the activities.

After dinner we returned to our room with a bottle of wine and sat and watched the weather from the safety of our room. Very nice it was too…despite the gloom outside.

Tuesday morning up early again – disappointed to be leaving having not really seen anything of note – so we had breakfast at 7am and by 7.30 am we were checked out and with our driver heading back to Lahad Datu, a two and a half hour drive. This time, thankfully, the river was lower so the crossing wasn’t quite so dramatic but the rain had caused further problems on the exit road….

In Lahad Datu we had a comfort break in the swanky office and was then picked up by our next driver who was taking us another two and a half hours to Sukau Rainforest Lodge which is located on the Kinatabangan River. So it was a long travel day…. This time we had a minibus all to ourselves again and the driver was very friendly and spoke good English.

That brings part 2 to a close – come back soon for another edition – bye for now

Jan

Wednesday 20 August we made our final preparations before heading off – we washed and waxed the car before garaging it – then at 4pm we were picked up for the trip to the airport. This was a pretty smooth uneventful ride around the M25 to Heathrow and we arrived at Terminal 5 by 6pm. We utilised the self-service terminals, printed our boarding passes and tagged our bags before dropping them off. Now unhindered by our luggage we cleared customs and headed to the pub for a quick bite to eat before ending up in a nice (but shockingly expensive) wine bar. By the time we had finished our wine the gate was showing on the indicator boards so we headed off on the train to the satellite gate. On arrival we were surprised to see that the plane was already boarding so no hanging around, we got straight on and claimed our economy bulk-head exit seats. I’m sure that British Airways have removed all padding from their economy seats but as we had a ‘buy one, get one free’ deal I shouldn’t really complain. Anyway, all hand luggage stowed in the upper lockers we settled in for our direct 14 hour flight. Lots of leg room but a shame about the numb bum and aching coccyx LOL.

Once we were in the air, the meal service started. It was pretty late by now (almost 11pm London time) and we got the usual food option of chicken or pasta – the chicken and rice was actually quite nice. I watched a movie, had a couple of drinks, then settled down to sleep….well, snoozed really…as there was a constant queue for the loo and the toilet flushed noisily all night… Never mind – 14 hours later we arrived in Kuala Lumpur, our first stop in Malaysia, and we were able to use the auto gates for immigration as I’d previously registered us online. Then we headed off to find the luggage. We waited and waited and waited….very annoying…but our Apple tags gave us comfort knowing that our bags had made the plane with us and had also arrived in Kuala Lumpur! Finally we got the cases and went through customs – which was really just putting them through an x-ray machine – and then out to the arrival hall.

We had been told that a driver would be waiting for us. As we were so late getting through we thought it was possible he may have given up. And, of course, as anticipated no-one was waiting. We spotted a tour company which had lists and lists of names and thankfully ours was on it! So we identified ourselves and they called the driver – we stood over to one side and, eventually after a bit of a wait, he turned up and whisked us off to our hotel in the City..

We checked in and took ourselves to our room – which was very nice – shame about the view of the traffic below LOL. We got ourselves cleaned up and went to the rooftop bar for a night cap. Well, it was hardly a bar, it was a waiter with a trolleyload of drinks waiting to serve us on an outside terrace. The views were nice though and it was lovely to be sitting in the warmth.

Afterwards we headed down to the bar located at the front of the hotel – almost in the foyer – and shared a pretty average pizza but thankfully they had some very nice wine! And so to bed absolutely shattered. We slept well but, because of the time difference, we awoke after only five hours which really wasn’t enough. Never mind….

Friday morning we headed down to breakfast and the buffet was great with lots of options – largely Asian – and, of course all Halal as Malaysia is an Islamic country. So we looked at the anaemic ‘steamed’ chicken sausages – yuck – and decided that the egg station, the toast machine, the fresh fruit and the pastries was our ‘go to’ option – surprisingly they did have baked beans LOL.

After a pretty good breakfast we headed out to the mall as Richard wanted to buy a new hat – we hadn’t brought our Australian ones with us as they don’t fold up and carrying them around when travelling is a bit of a pain. Anyway, there were no hats available, but we did manage to get some new batteries for our Apple air tags which had warned us they were running low….

Afterwards we walked up the road and got on the tourist Hop On, Hop Off city bus and followed the ‘green route’ for a couple of hours. We sat upstairs in the air but it was boiling hot and without hats we soon had to scarper inside for some air conditioned relief.

We got off at another mall and picked up some cold drinks as we were gasping by now (bad preparation on our part – don’t know what we were thinking to be out and about without at least one bottle of water between us!)….. Be warned – we found and used the facilities but there was no toilet paper available (they all have bidet hoses instead) – and only 50% of them were western style. Definitely wasn’t going to attempt the squatting type at this stage of our trip as my stiff legs hadn’t recovered from the travelling yet… Also all the toilet cubicles we came across (irrespective of style) were always soaking wet – the floors were often awash and all cubicles were built down a little step to avoid flooding – think people just spray around the whole thing to clean after using the facilities and, of course, no option for drying / mopping.

Having had a welcome air conditioned and comfort break we got back on the bus for another two hours – this time we followed the City route. We stayed under cover this time and were a little irritated by a loud group of American tourists who were clearly well out of their comfort zone and seemed to think that the driver would stop on demand. The funniest comment was that they were late for an appointment to go somewhere so they decided to get off and to get a taxi back to their hotel. As we spent the whole two hours navigating serious nose to bumper traffic not sure why they thought a taxi would be quicker as they would just end up in the same traffic jam LOL. We enjoyed the sights and sounds of the city as we drove around. Lots of contrasts – from modern high rise buildings to mosques, temples, green spaces and lots of hotels / restaurants etc.

Two hours later we got off the bus at the main terminal again – with pretty numb backsides – and walked back to our hotel. We had a glass of wine whilst we sorted out the Grab app (think Malaysian Uber) as we had tickets to visit the Petronas Towers in the evening. So we grabbed a sandwich which we shared while we activated the (data only) e-SIM which we had purchased.

Having ticked all the boxes – jobs done – we headed back to our room and sorted out some clothes / had another shower. The temperature was 39 degrees centigrade but the humidity was 88% and I, personally, found it difficult to walk too far in these conditions… Never mind….anyway, all cleaned up and dressed suitably modestly we headed back down to reception and booked a Grab to take us to the Towers. On arrival we exchanged our tickets for blue stickers and headed to the connecting bridge. Sadly we missed the sunset (we should have made it but the queues to get into the Towers – even though we had pre-purchased tickets) made it just a little too late. We then went to the 83rd floor for stunning city views and the light show on the neighbouring City buildings. Then we moved back down to the 81st floor where there is a whole area dedicated to the construction of the buildings and the project – it is a fascinating bit of architecture. The marine grade stainless steel (our assumption) cladding didn’t have a bit of rust on it…would love to know how they achieved that LOL. We thought that there would be rust at least at the rivetted points but none to be found.

Too soon it was time to return to ground level (all the timings are very carefully monitored by the staff to ensure that everyone gets a good experience and the lifts are not overloaded) and as usual ended up in the gift shop….and, of course, it would be rude not to purchase our ‘official’ photo LOL.

We then wandered into the up-market and modern KLCC Mall – which resides beneath – and found a Columbia stockist so Richard finally got his hat! So he was a very happy bunny. After making our important purchase we headed to the extensive food court and enjoyed a nice meal – Pakistani in origin but was more Turkish in it’s influence. Very nice too and very inexpensively priced… With soft drinks only as it was a strictly Halal experience.

We managed to get another Grab back to our hotel and purchased a bottle of wine for an in-room pontoonie before retiring after a pretty tiring day. But we had to do some admin – we were flying out of KL to Borneo (Sabah state) on Sunday – so checked in online in preparation for the next two flights. We also started taking our malaria tablets as we were going straight into the rainforest on arrival.

Saturday we were up early and met our driver / guide at 9am in reception after breakfast. We hopped into the car – very nice too.

We started off at the City Mosque which was sadly closed for refurbishment

then moved onto the National Monument where we came across this adorable local boy all dressed up in national costume in preparation for Malaysia Day….

Flags were flying everywhere and it all felt very festive. The main statue was commissioned by an American where they depicted Malaysians slaying the Japanese. Interestingly the faces of the Malaysia soldiers were all Western as the American who carved it had never seen a Malaysian in the flesh so the features were all wrong….but made for an interesting story!

We then headed to the Federal Court followed by the Railway Station and then to the Palace. The King was in residence (indicated by the flag being flown) and, another interesting fact here, there are a number of royal families in Malaysia and, to avoid conflict, they rotate every five years.

Then onto the Chinese Temple which was beautiful before heading to the Selangor Pewter factory. Interesting place and some beautiful items to purchase but, on a restricted luggage allowance, that wasn’t going to happen LOL. But we did enjoy seeing the Giant Tankard and some of the Formula 1 trophies that they manufacture. Afterwards we headed to the Batik Centre and enjoyed watching the artists designing by eye some fantastic materials….absolutely beautiful!

Then it was time to visit the Batu Caves – Hindu Temples carved into the rock at the top of a 272 step staircase which was tough. Then we went down 39 steps and up another 52 to the final temple where we had a blessing from the priest and got the marks on our foreheads which didn’t last long with all the significant sweating!! We enjoyed checking out the temples and watching one family carry a new born up the steps to be blessed – apparently this indicated that the couple had waited a long time before they were successful in their bid to have a family – so the precious cargo was very carefully carried up by the family swinging from a hammock until two large bamboo poles. Amazing!

Leaving the Caves behind we headed to the central market, wandered around the stalls, and then had a local lunch at a stall recommended by our guide. The food was OK but nothing to write home about – could have been hotter (in heat not spice) – but we enjoyed it nevertheless. After this we continued driving back to our hotel and had a coupe of hours rest…having organised a takeout breakfast for the Sunday morning as we were leaving very early.

Having rested up, got cleaned up and changed again, we then walked down the road to Jalan Alor which is a famous street food area – we chose a licensed place and sat down. The food was great, the beer was nice and cold, although there was a lot of Durian on sale which stinks the place out!

Leaving the street food area behind – having paid a handsome £30 for six beers and two meals (including Richard having an expensive tiger prawn dish) – we headed back towards the hotel. We stopped into another hostelry on the way – primarily to use the toilet facilities as I wanted a Western loo LOL.

Back to the hotel we packed and organised ourselves for the very early start in the morning on our journey to Borneo.

So that brings part 1 to a close, more to follow soon, bye for now.

Jan