Malaysia and Thailand

Dec 26 2008

We left Mulu and flew to Kota Kinabalu, in Sabah State. Sarawak and Sabah are both semi-autonomous states so they have their own immigration and passport stamping routine. Unlike the EU countries which no longer stamp your passport as you cross their borders, we get extra stamps in Malaysia. More souvenirs from our trip!

Kota Kinabalu is the largest city we have visited in Malaysia and has probably the worst traffic jams we have seen so far. Step-In Hostel, where we are staying, is in the heart of the action, right near the ocean. The divided road in front of our hostel has parking on both sides leaving a single lane for other cars to pass, most of which seem to be trolling for a parking place. The streets are lined with shops and restaurant that often spill onto the sidewalks, but everyone is pleasant and polite. We arrived yesterday in time to visit the night market and have supper in one of many hawker stalls setup for the evening. We had a help yourself buffet of rice, veggies, various meats and fish. We are still sampling dishes we do not recognize. Some will remain favourites, some will not be tried again. We plan to return tonight and sample more delicacies.

Kota Kinabalu Night Market

Mamotik Island

Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park is a cluster of five islands just a 10 minute speedboat away from Kota Kinabalu. Just perfect for a sunny morning. Mamotik Island was recommended to us for its good snorkelling and relatively uncrowded beaches. It was so nice to swim in warm tropical waters again and we saw plenty of colourful tropical fish. If the weather cooperates, we may have time for another visit to the island before we leave Borneo.

The next day we left on an Express bus for Eastern Sabah. It was a ride Ray did not appreciate. He tends to suffer from motion sickness. The bus rocked to and fro up the winding road into the mountains. We did get a peek at the rocky summit of Mt Kinabalu through the clouds. It was pouring rain when the bus attendant came to tell us we were at our stop. We grabbed our bags and got out of the bus, scrambling to put on rain jackets and put up an umbrella. In the time it took to cross a busy intersection to our waiting minivan, we were soaked. These cloud bursts do not usually last very long but when they occur you get wet. Thank goodness for quick-dry clothing.

It was a short ride to Labuk B&B, now situated in Sepilok Forest Edge Resort. This very nice complex has a Labuk B&B, a lodge with simple rooms, where we stayed, and several private cabins set amongst lovely gardens. The owner bought the property three years ago as a getaway for his family and has converted the complex to a small resort that includes a nice restaurant on a wide deck, ornamental ponds filled with water lilies and a collection of farm animals he raises as a hobby. Our only problem was that we had not expected it to be so peaceful and pleasant. The original Labuk B&B, as listed in our Lonely Planet, was much simpler but it has moved into the Forest Edge Resort and that has made the difference. We had arrived with just enough in our day packs for three days and couldn't change our plans. Oh well. We enjoyed the time we had.

Waterlilies at Labuk B & B

Orangutan at lunch

We came to Sepilok to see the Orang-utans at the nearby Rehabilitation center, a 10 minute walk from our resort. The center received its first orphaned orang-utan in 1964 and has been in operation ever since. The staff train the orphans to be self sufficient and eventually return to the wild. It takes from 6 to 10 years before an animal is ready to leave the center. The orang-utans are first kept in enclosures until they are acclimatised to their new home, then they are released to the forest around the rehab center. There are now 60 orang-utans in the process of rehabilitation and another 17 who live in the wild and no longer return to the center. Part of that training involves turning up at a feeding station twice a day, at 10 AM and again at 3 PM, where staff feed them on bananas, milk and vitamins. Tourists are permitted to view the orang-utans being fed, just as they were at the Rehabilitation Center outside Kuching. The cameras were snapping away as three young orang-utans and a mother with a baby turned up to entertain us at the 10 AM feeding.

At noon that same day we and two other couples were picked up in a minivan and driven two hours away to Nature Lodge Kinabatangan on the Kinabatagan River. The newly paved road passed between Oil Palm plantations the entire way. Palm Oil is an important product in Sabah, even more so than tourism, but it involves destroying native rainforest. That is why the Kinabatangan River Corridor reserve was created and is so important for the protection of the creatures that call the forest their home.

 We all looked forward to three days and two nights exploring this rainforest reserve. We were promised sighting of many animals and birds and we were not disappointed. Eleven other tourists arrived when we did, all planning to spend Christmas in the rainforest, and we soon became fast friends. Ray and I had a simple cabin with attached toilet and shower. There were two dorm rooms with 6 beds each and several other cabins or "chalets", plus a dining terrace where we gathered for meals and beer at the end of the day. We had a busy itinerary set out for us, a two hour boat trip along the Kinabatangan River, in the late afternoon and another boat trip at 6 AM, a long forest walk after breakfast and night walks each evening.

We were all in for a treat on the boat trip that first afternoon. Even Luis, our boatman-guide was so excited he crashed into the second boat carrying half of our group. Luckily the motorboats emerged relatively unscathed. The excitement was caused by a group of Borneo Pygmy elephants making their way through the forest just a few meters from the river's edge. These are the smallest elephants in the world but an adult male can be 3 M tall. There are three groups in the forest but they are usually quite elusive, so we were lucky to see them. The group numbered about ten, including two babies, the mothers and younger males.

There are several species of monkeys in the forest. A favourite spot for the Proboscis monkeys, those orange creatures with the long, droopy noses, is near a fig tree, their favourite food. We smelled them before we saw them but stayed entranced by their ability to jump long distances from tree to tree. We saw several large "harem" groups, consisting of a dominant male with the biggest belly and longest nose, several females with babies and adolescents, both males and females.

The next day we were thrilled to see two wild Orangutans. One was a large male making a nest for the night near the top of a tree. The other was a female preparing to bed down several trees away from the male, who travels alone.

The Long-tailed Macaques of Bako NP drove everyone crazy but in this rainforest they have not learned to steal everything in sight and were just entertaining to watch. We saw them in the evening getting ready to sleep and again in the morning foraging for food. Large groups played follow the leader in the tree tops and in the bushes along the river bank.

Macaques

hungry or hot?

There were lots of birds about; egrets galore, sea eagles, kites, kingfishers and even several varieties of hornbills. Monitor Lizards slept in the muddy bank of the river or sprawled along a low tree branch. We even saw a small baby crocodile. It was all alone on the river bank. Luis was curious as to the location of the mother as they are not usually far apart, but she remained hidden in the waters. We didn't dangle our feet in the water to try to locate her.

The monsoon season has turned the forest paths into pools of mud and increased the population of leeches. We were advised to wear long pants, long-sleeved shirts tucked into our pants, leech-proof socks pulled over the pant bottoms and lots of insect repellent. We all wore big rubber boots supplied by the lodge for our first walk that evening after dinner. They were needed.

Jungle walk

scorpion

We didn't see any animals on our walks in the forest. Another group spotted a tiny Tarsier monkey, the same kind we saw in the Philippines last year, but we didn't. We did spy several birds sleeping in the trees and plenty of insects. Luis showed us his friend, a big black scorpion. He allowed it to crawl over his hand and up his arm. Two of the men in our group were brave enough to give the scorpion a ride. Luis said they would only sting if really threatened. I believed him but passed on a scorpion encounter.

Remember my encounter with a leech in Mulu NP? Well I found out what I thought was a harmless inch worm was the dreaded Tiger leech. They lurk on the underside of leaves looking for an unsuspecting warm-blooded mammal to walk by. Luis is so used to walking in the forest he doesn't even wear a long sleeved shirt. He spied a Tiger leech sneaking around on his T-shirt and showed it too us before flicking it off before it could attach itself and feed. That is what it does. Inch its way, very quickly if necessary, to the juiciest piece of skin it can find, then latches on. We were reassured that they did no harm, just sucked your blood but none of us looked forward to the experience.

We were warned to de-leech ourselves before entering our rooms after a walk in the forest. We thought we were being quite vigilant but we missed a few! I put on my sandals, left on the veranda of our cabin, after dinner following our afternoon walk. A stinging sensation caused me to look down at my feet. I had stepped on a leech lying in wait on my sandal. Ray thought it had probably been on my rubber boots, also on the cabin veranda and crawled over to my sandal. It had just started to attach itself and with Ray's help, I got it off and we stamped it to death.

And that wasn't my last encounter with the dreaded leech! Our second night, after our walk, I was happily reading in bed and I felt something strange on my upper thigh. I looked down to see a Tiger leech settling in for a feed. A shriek brought Ray to the rescue once more. He got it off and picked it up with some toilet paper and dropped it into the toilet. We should have squashed it to death immediately. It took three flushes before it was no longer crawling out of the toilet. It took me a while that night before I was certain there were no more lurking leeches. The next morning after breakfast we returned to the cabin to find to our horror, the leech on top of the toilet seat! It was its last crawl. It was good and truly squished this time. I am now the Leech Queen of the Lodge.

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