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| Silly sisters on the morning cruise that yielded the orangutans. |
By
Randall D.
Ball
Sticking with tradition for at least another year, we
spent our Christmas holiday on an island:
Borneo.
Flying from our home in Lahore, Pakistan, to Sri
Lanka, with an overnight stay in Colombo courtesy of the airline, we then flew
on Christmas Eve from Colombo through Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah,
Borneo, Malaysia (city, state, island, country). We spent Christmas Day and the next in Kota
Kinabalu, relaxing at the hotel, reading, eating, and splashing in the rooftop
pool. It was a nice way to unwind before
our tour of Borneo really began.
Tuesday the 27th of December, we were
picked up by our tour guide and driver and transferred about ten minutes away
to a different hotel—a much nicer one at that.
We were introduced to our guide David and driver Fender, both very nice
and knowledgeable and helpful. That
night, we were driven a bit up into the mountains to the Mari Mari Cultural
Village, where we saw replicas of various tribal houses and villages, sampled
food, participated in a few fun activities, and enjoyed a traditional music and
dance performance (Anastasia even joined in on stage!) followed by dinner. For Talula, the highlight was all the kittens
around. And she’d see even more
throughout our tour, much to her delight.
For Anastasia, the highlight was probably the tapioca and the honey
tastings. They also had some rice wine,
which was all right but nothing special.
Wednesday morning at breakfast in the hotel, Anastasia
went on her own to get some chicken sausage at the buffet. She asked a boy about her age for
assistance. For the rest of the holiday,
we would poke fun at her and her new boyfriend, “Sausage Boy.” (My favourite bit was telling her that she
liked him because she never “sausage” a face as his. Yes, “Dad Jokes” really are that awesome).
After breakfast we left the city and headed for the
mountains. On our way to Mt. Kinabalu,
we stopped along a river and traversed a suspension bridge that led directly
into a village market—giving us some local flavor. At the national park surrounding Mt.
Kinabalu, we explored a botanical garden and went on a little nature walk. Anastasia enjoyed leading the way, while our
tour guide David walked more with Christine and me to tell us about the flora
and fauna and about the mountain itself and surrounding park. It’s a huge place. After lunch, we had another hike up a
mountain, this one a bit more strenuous.
It was only five hundred meters, but it was five hundred meters of
climbing up a mountain side. Anastasia
just about ran up the path, climbing the steps as quickly as she could, and I
struggled to keep up with her while Christine had the unenviable job of encouraging
Talula to keep trudging up the pathway.
In the middle was David, our guide, probably not too sure with whom to
walk.
Once we made it high up into the treetops, we then enjoyed a pretty thrilling canopy walk. It was much higher than some of the walks we had done in New Zealand or Florida, and the view was incredible. In the same area as the canopy walk, we also explored a butterfly garden and saw—and smelled—some sulphur hot springs.
Once we made it high up into the treetops, we then enjoyed a pretty thrilling canopy walk. It was much higher than some of the walks we had done in New Zealand or Florida, and the view was incredible. In the same area as the canopy walk, we also explored a butterfly garden and saw—and smelled—some sulphur hot springs.
That night we stayed at a pine resort in the
mountains. Christine and I sat out on
the front porch overlooking Mt. Kinabalu and sipped some wine while the girls
ate ice cream. Win win.
Walking around the resort that evening with the girls,
I had a little conversation with them. Talula told me that I was a strong boy.
“Why not a man?” I asked her.
“Okay, you’re a strong old man.”
I winced. “Old? Let’s go back to boy.”
She replied, “But you ARE old, Daddy.”
Thanks, Talula.
The next day, we had a long overland transfer, five
hours, to our rainforest lodge. However,
we made a few stops along the way, including a stop for refreshments at a
little roadside restaurant serving up some pork pau (a Chinese bun,
essentially). We also stopped to see a
couple of very famous flowers that were in bloom: the Rafflesia, which are humongous flowering
plants found in Southeast Asia. They’re
not easy to find, which explains why we had to pay an admission fee to get in
to see these impressive flowers.
From the tour van, we then transferred at a jetty onto
a little narrow boat to cross the Sukau Kinabatangan River to our rainforest
lodge. From there, we would take a
series of boat cruises, starting late that afternoon. On our first boat cruise, we spotted
hornbills, several hawks, egrets, a kingfisher, a blue-throated bee-eater, and
numerous proboscis monkeys. At the lodge
itself, we would see wild boar, turkeys, and many monkeys, mostly long-tailed
and short-tailed macaques.
Our second day in the rainforest involved three
separate boat rides of two hours each:
one early morning, one late afternoon, and one night cruise. During our early-morning cruise, we saw more
proboscis monkeys, hornbills, eagles, and, most importantly, orang-utans! There was a group, or rather, a congress, of
about eight orang-utans hanging in a tree, eating and playing.
During the afternoon cruise, we saw another highlight: a crocodile. We saw two more crocs on the night cruise, which was interesting. David used a heavy-duty flashlight to search for animals, and occasionally turned it off to give us complete darkness (the stars were amazingly bright). We saw several sleeping critters: two monkeys cuddled together in a tree, a very cute little kingfisher gripping a branch and sleeping soundly, and other birds. The crocodiles were awake, of course, as was the large brown owl, a buffy fish owl who was perched on a limb over the water, hunting for fish, presumably. We found an additional sleeping animal on our boat: Talula. She denied it, but we have pictures.
During the afternoon cruise, we saw another highlight: a crocodile. We saw two more crocs on the night cruise, which was interesting. David used a heavy-duty flashlight to search for animals, and occasionally turned it off to give us complete darkness (the stars were amazingly bright). We saw several sleeping critters: two monkeys cuddled together in a tree, a very cute little kingfisher gripping a branch and sleeping soundly, and other birds. The crocodiles were awake, of course, as was the large brown owl, a buffy fish owl who was perched on a limb over the water, hunting for fish, presumably. We found an additional sleeping animal on our boat: Talula. She denied it, but we have pictures.
The following day, Saturday, was New Year’s Eve. We left the rainforest lodge for Gomantong
Caves, where we saw a mother and baby orang-utan on a walkway in the jungle
before entering the bat cave. The cave
has a significant economic impact in the community, but not just due to
tourism. Besides all the bats in the
caves, there are also swiftlets whose bird nests are edible, if you so desire,
and are a popular delicacy in China.
Even less appetizing in the cave would be all the roaches there,
crawling everywhere, including all along the walkway and the railings. The girls in particular were creeped out by
the roaches. And as much as you may want
to grab the hand rails, think twice. The
smell of bat guano is also strong in places, adding another element to assault
one’s senses.
We then drove onward to Sandakan, where we had a nice lunch on a hill overlooking the water at an English tea house. Then we visited two animal sanctuaries, conveniently located next to one another: one for sun bears and one for orang-utans. We could also hear pygmy elephants in the jungle, but we didn’t get to actually see them.
From there it was a quick half-hour flight back to
Kota Kinabalu, a more favorable option than driving six or seven hours through
the mountains again. It was New Year’s
Eve, and we celebrated by going to the mall across the street from our hotel
and having sushi for dinner there.
Sunday, New Year’s Day, we were on the water. First, we took a boat (something
significantly larger—and covered—than the ones in the rainforest) out to a
coral reef in the Tunku Abdul Rehman Marine Park. The girls tried snorkelling for the first
time. Talula spent a little more time in
the water than her sister, however.
Within a few seconds of being in the water, Anastasia suddenly freaked
out and swam back to the boat. She
thought she had seen a huge fish, right below her. Something big and blue. It was one of the dive master’s fins. Christine spent more time on the water,
although in our second snorkelling location, the girls took turns on an
inflatable goose tied behind the boat, which was safely anchored. (Everyone also had floatation jackets on). After the snorkelling sessions, we had lunch
and some beach time on little Gaya Island where we encountered some wild boar
and a few giant lizards.
Then we were transferred back to our hotel and our
tour was over. We had two more days in
Kota Kinabalu, just to relax, walk around a bit, enjoy some seafood and local
food, including a meal served entirely on banana leaves, and splash in the
hotel pool. We simply bathed in the
warmth of the nearly-Equatorial sunshine before heading back to the cold and
smog of wintertime Lahore. As we flew
home on Thursday, 5 January, we left Kota Kinabalu’s sunshine behind, flying
through Kuala Lumpur, and then boarded our first successful flight on Pakistan
Airways (a previous attempt in the spring resulted in a cancelled flight and
thus a cancelled vacation), where we landed amid some pretty severe smog in
Lahore.
We are ready for summer already. Or at least spring.
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