Southeast Asia

On October 8 we took a minivan from Mount Kinabalu to Kota Kinabalu. We reached Kota Kinabalu around 1:30pm, checked-in at the hotel and went for lunch. We also did some laundry because all the clothes we were wearing yesterday are still dirty and wet. We spent the afternoon working on the blog and a few things.

On October 9 we flew to Gunung Mulu National Park. This national park is very isolated, only accessible by plane or by boat, it promises to be one of the best places to see wildlife in Borneo. We got to Mulu and Edward, the owner of Mulu River Lodge where we will be staying, was waiting for us at the airport. He drove us to the lodge for check-in.

In the afternoon we went to the park for information about the activities and booked a few things for the next couple of days. We have to say that this place is packed with adventure, cave exploration, hiking and nature!

I am not feeling good at all, my stomach is playing up again… I think I got food poisoning in Mount Kinabalu. Our friend Jan had the same thing the night before we left.

On October 10 we went to the watch tower but could not see much, just a few birds and squirrels. We then headed to the bat exodus where an estimated 2 or 3 million bats come out every night from Deer Cave to feed. It is estimated that they eat around 15 to 20 tons of insects per night. It was quiet the spectacle to see them coming out in their weird formations. This is the second place we see them and it does not get old!

Later that night we went for a guided night walk. During the night walk we had the opportunity to see lots of insects but not mammals or big animals. Unfortunately we were with a family of 5 that were extremely loud.

October 11 bought a lot more excitement to the table… we are going to the Garden of Eden which involves a little bit of everything, cave exploration, caving, river crossing and trekking.

The trip starts by walking 3.5Km from the park headquarters to Deer Cave, one of the largest caves in the world. Passing the cave and exiting through the other side is the Garden of Eden, which formed by the collapse of the roof of the cave and opened up an area for vegetation to grow. The hiking through the cave is challenging, in some places ropes have been installed to assist people to climb up or down. Narrow passages and slippery areas are also part of the fun! Once we passed the cave we walked through the jungle until we reached the waterfalls. We went for a well deserved dip in nice cold water!

We stayed at the waterfalls for about an hour, then headed back through the same path.

On the way back we stopped for a better look at Deer Cave, it is quite impressive because of its size, however not for its formations.

We then stopped at Lang Cave, a small cave connected to Deer Cave, but with beautiful stalactites and stalagmites. It takes about half hour to go through Lang Cave but it is beautiful.

We then sat down to wait for the bat exodus… well, we are here already so we might as well see it again!

On October 12 we took another tour to see more caves. This time we took a long boat up the river; about 15 minutes later we stopped by Batu Bungan, a small village along the river. Here we went to the local market where the ladies make souvenirs. We could not resist it and bought a bracelet from the oldest lady in the village… she is the most adorable lady! They speak a different dialect so the communication was through an interpreter.

We visited the Wind Cave, a massive cave with great formations. The infrastructure inside the cave was nicely done without damaging too much the cave; the boardwalks are in excellent shape and it is all very safe.

After the impressive Wind Cave we headed to Clearwater Cave. This last cave is breathtaking; the river that runs inside it is crystal clear and provides a beautiful green colour as it runs through. My only issue was time, unfortunately the tour did not give us enough time to take good photographs inside the caves. After our last cave we had time for a quick dip in the cold crystal clear water from the cave as it comes out of it.

In the afternoon we went back to Deer Cave and Lang Cave. We convinced the park staff to take us back free of charge as Marcela was not feeling well yesterday and had to cut short her visit to these two caves. We had a bit more time to take better photos this time.

October 13 is our last day in Mulu. We signed up for the canopy walk at 8:30am. This is a 480m canopy walk along the tree tops about 25m or 30m above the ground. The swing bridges are well constructed and although they move a lot when you walk on them, they feel very safe!

This concludes our visit to Gunung Mulu National Park, a true testimony of nature, wildlife, preservation and conservation. A place with activities for everybody and where one could spend several days exploring this beautiful area. Of course it is another one of those places where we could have spent more time… but we say the same everywhere we go!

On October 3 we started at 5:30am with our morning cruise.  Unfortunately we did not see much, just a lizard and a few birds.

At 10:00am we went for a jungle walk.  After a short boat ride we entered the jungle through a small path.  We walked for an hour but again did not see more than a frog and few insects.  When on the boat the captain spotted a python snake relaxing on a tree branch. It is a small snake compared to what they become when they are fully grown adults but still a beautiful animal.

The afternoon cruise brought a bit more wildlife to the table.  We saw proboscis monkeys, macaques, kingfishers, eagles and different types of birds.

In the evening cruise we had the fortune to find a python snake swimming in the river… we didn’t know how good swimmers the snakes are, wow!  We also found some birds and a feline but the guide did not know the name.

On October 4 we had our last cruise before departing the Kinabatangan River. We had an early morning start… again 5:30am.  We spotted lots and lots of hornbills and a few birds… but nature had saved the best for last for us. Just before the river cruise ended the guide spotted wild orangutans, there were three of them playing high up on a tree.  It was breathtaking to see them in the wild, in their habitat and most probably just waking up from a good night of sleep.  What a scene to end a couple of days packed with adventure, nature and wildlife watching!  We left these three “man of the forest” knowing that their habitat will, one day, be converted into a palm oil plantation and they will have to find a new home and adapt to new challenges.  We, humans, are the biggest predator for these animals; we are, directly or indirectly, destroying their forest.  I want to take the opportunity to invite you to consider twice when buying products with palm oil, the main contributing factor in the deforestation of Borneo.  It is sad to see from the air that they are still chopping down trees to make way for new plantations… when is it going to stop?

After our morning cruise we had breakfast and took the minivan back to Sepilok Jungle Resort where we will be spending the night.

In the afternoon we went to the Rainforest Discovery Centre to look for the Giant Flying Squirrel.  We had seen them briefly last time we were there but now we know where they hide so hopefully we have a better chance.  We got into position just before 6:00pm and sure enough, they came out of their burrows and started gliding.  We were able to see a few of them, unfortunately it gets dark very quickly.

Later we went for a self-guided night walk looking for the slow loris or tarsiers… well, let me tell you we did not see much!

Poboscis Monkeys, Kinabatanga River Cruise, Malaysia

We left at 8:00am on September 28 from Semporna to Sepilok, a forest reserve near Sandakan.  We arrived at Sepilok Jungle Resort in the early afternoon, the place where we will be spending the next 4 nights, checked-in, had lunch and headed to the pool.  We met with Liam, Nadisha, Sara and Stace some friends we met in Mabul Island.

On September 29 we went to the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre, where we experienced the beautiful program the Sabah Wildlife Department is doing to protect and rehabilitate such beautiful animals.  One could spend weeks here watching them interact with each other, play, climb, swing and even act silly.  We spent some time by the feeding platform where the park places some food as a supplement for the wild orang-utans that might not be able to find enough food in the jungle; they can come back to the area for a free feed.

In the afternoon we went to the nursery where we saw around 11 youngsters play and interact with each other and the keepers.  On our way out we stopped by the feeding platform and found a female orang-utan with her youngster.

On September 30 we headed to the Sepilok Rainforest Discovery Centre.  This is another forest reserve with beautiful walks and a canopy walk.  We spent the whole day walking around, looking for birds and learning about Borneo in the visitor centre.

On October 1 we went back to the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre… we cannot get enough of these beautiful animals.

On October 2 we visited the Sun Bear Conservation Centre.  This centre is dedicated to the conservation of the smallest bear of all, the sun bear.  This is a good example that a man with a vision and a good heart can make a difference.  Mr. Wong is dedicated to the protection and conservation of these little bears. He is involved not only on the operation of the centre but also in
explaining the visitors about the bears. The centre has around 44 bears, which are developing the skills to be released into Borneo’s jungle.

At 1:30pm we left Sepilok on our way to Kinabatangan River, an area well known for its biodiversity and the river cruises to watch wildlife.

After arrival at Sukau Greenview Bed & Breakfast we had the first cruise, however it was raining too much that we decided not to go and take another one later on instead.  We spent the afternoon by the river and having tea.

In the evening we went on the night cruise, we could see birds, sneaks, lizards and a crocodile.

On September 21 we took a bus from Kota Kinabalu to Semporna, it took us 11 hours to get there but the bus was very comfortable, it had USB charging station on every seat.  We spent the night in Semporna… nothing to see in this town, just a stop for divers going to the islands around here.

On September 22 we crossed the street and checked-in with Scuba Junkies the company we chose to go diving with in Mabul Island.  We got onto the boat at 8:30am and were transferred to Mabul Island where we got our diving equipment and sooner than we knew it we were in the water.  We went diving three times today, all the dives were nice but the visibility was not the greatest.  Let’s wait and see what other dive sites they have.

On September 23 we embarked on a challenge… find a diving shop that can take us to Sipadan, a famous island about 45 minutes from Mabul Island where the diving is supposed to be out of this world.  Diving in Sipadan is restricted to a certain amount of permits per day and like anything else in third world countries it is controlled by the powerful and well connected resorts (also the most expensive ones).  Scuba Junkie only gets 7 permits per day so you can understand the task at hand we have.  We walked around the island talking to almost everybody and leaving our phone number with all the diving shops around; however we were not lucky enough to find anybody that had available spots for the next few days.  We went to Sipadan Water Village and talked to the shop manager who said he might have a couple of spots for September 26 but he will confirm later.

During our walk through the village we talked to the locals, play with the kids and got a bit of a sense of people’s lives among the rich Asian tourists that flood this island in high season.

September 24 was another diving day, we went to 3 different spots around the island.  Lots of different marine life we had not seen before, like the giant
moray and the flamboyant cuttlefish.  Unfortunately the visibility is nowhere near what we experienced in the Philippines.

On September 25 we signed up for 3 more immersions.  The first 2 were at
the nearby Kapalai Island.  This “one resort island” offers lots of diving spots around it.  The diving was good but the visibility is still disappointing; athough it was a bit better does not compare to other diving sites.

When we came back for lunch from Kapalai we found a message from Alan from Sipadan Water Village letting us know that there were a couple of spots available to go diving in Sipadan on September 26.  Alan asked us to go there in the afternoon to finalize all the details… it looks like after all we will be diving in Sipadan.

In the afternoon we went diving at Seaventures Mabul, an old oil rig converted into a hotel.  The visibility at this site was very poor, however there was a lot of big fish around the columns of the oil rig.

Once we arrived after our last dive we headed to talk to Alan and sure enough we were going to Sipadan.  We selected our equipment, filled out all the paperwork required and got our new names… ah, yes, we will have to pretend to be somebody else because the permits are on someone else’s names, but that’s not a big deal!

Skuba Junkies has a sea turtle hatchery program, where the eggs from sea turtles that are laid around the island get transported to their beach so they can be protected from predators. We were very lucky because around 7:30pm we got a call to the beach to see the turtles hatched from one of the nests.

September 26 started quite early, we were on the boat by 7:00am on our way to Sipadan. We did 3 dives and they all lived up to the hype of Sipadan and what everybody talks about.  I have to say that Barracuda point was my favourite because it involved a good drift, lots of fish, sharks, barracudas and a bit of danger… I will save this story for another day!

September 27 is our last day in Mabul Island, it is sad to say goodbye to this beautiful paradise but we will be moving on to our next experience.  In the morning we went snorkelling around the resort.  We left on the 4:00pm boat back to Semporna.

On September 18 we took a bus at 10:30am from Bangar to Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia. Kota Kinabalu is the capital of the Sabah province is Borneo Malaysia. The bus has a long lay over in Lawas, where we arrived at 11:20am and did not leave until 1:00pm. We finally arrived in Kota Kinabalu at 4:30pm. One thing to note in the immigration process… we left Brunei without major delays; we then entered Malaysia to the province of Sarawak where we got a stamp in our passports acknowledging that we had entered Malaysia. After driving another 20 minutes or so, we hit another border control; this time it was the province of Sabah, which has an independent immigration process within Malaysia. This stop was the longest and we got another stamp on our passport… keep them coming! I am glad we have a 36 pages passport this time!

Upon arriving in Kota Kinabalu, also know as KK, we headed to the hotel and went for a walk. This is a full on city, with lots of malls, a waterfront with sophisticated restaurants, high end hotels and condominiums, very impressive and completely unexpected.

On September 19 we went to a travel agency to inquire about the trips offered in Sabah. Marilyn from Marudu Express travel Services gave us some bad news… there is a Chinese holiday coming up and almost everything is fully booked for the first week of October, so we are going to plan this part of the trip a bit more (we hate planning!). We went to a café and evaluated all the options so we will be back tomorrow to talk to Marilyn as it is now too late.

On September 20 we went back to the travel agency and talked to Marilyn who was extremely helpful. She helped us arrange the rest of the trip. It looks like we will have to take a bus to Semporna to go to Mabul Island to go diving before doing the rest of the trips. Mabul Island is also fully booked for the first week of October. We headed to Scuba Junkies and booked our diving trip and then went back to Marilyn to book the rest.

It looks like the next week or so is fully booked and set in stone, something we do not like but do not want to miss some of the activities we want to do in this area.