Travelling with Sam

So the last blog I mentioned that I’d be going off for the March Holiday with Sam, to explore more of Borneo. I was very keen to impress him but the dilemma was I only had about 10 days to fit in what could have easily been 3 weeks off travelling. I must have spent a good month putting together a full on schedule and whilst I had the logistical side of travelling sorted I’d forgotten the jetlag Sam would be suffering (8 hours ahead out here). It didn’t help him either that I’d planned to do White water Rafting less than 15 hours after he arrived; considering that he’d just spent 23 hours straight on the plane to get out here, I’d definitely not done him any favours!

The white water rafting was as a full on as you probably could have asked for and the 5.30 am wake up was a struggle for both us. This is because to get to the rafting base it’s is only accessible by the only steam train to run through Sabah, which took a few hours. Sam and I sat on the roof and this amongst dodging trailing branches, the spectacular views and the uncertainty that the train would de rail any minute; was an experience in itself.  We were not sure what to expect of the rapids as it hadn’t rained for a month, so I was praying I wouldn’t be let down at the first hurdle for impressing Sam. We sat at the front at the boat, because this is where the guide said you get splashed the most and being siblings you could imagine there was a ridiculous amount of brotherly competitiveness! The rapids were thankfully ferocious and lived up to their grade IV reputation and apparently we did well to be the only boat not to capsize at all throughout this unforgiving route. Interestingly enough according to the guide it’s the people who stop paddling in the rapids who are the ones who capsize and everyone other group provided us with the entertainment of doing exactly that. After a well-deserved BBQ, we set about the long journey back to Kota Kinabalu and we arrived back at the hostel at about 7pm. By which stage, much to my amusement, I think that the 23 hours of flying from the day before and 8 hours of jetlag had almost killed Sam. Nevertheless, I’m sure he didn’t mind too much and I wouldn’t be alone in saying it was an exceptional start to the holiday!

Footsal

After a very early night, we flew to Sandakan the following morning and set about for seeing more of what Sabah is famed for, the Orang-utans in the Rehabilitation centre, Sepilok! We walked in with high spirits and cameras at the ready as they lady on the gate said they’d seen 6 or 7 the day before. Although at the same time we were wary not to get our hopes because the main aim at the centre is for successful rehabilitation of the Orang-utans, which means there was a possibility that would wouldn’t see any at all! Sadly, my doubts were confirmed and the one that we did see only hung around for the free food that was offer; I don’t blame the lad! However, all hopes of seeing more were not lost as I knew there still was a chance we’d be able to see some on the river safari I’d planned in the coming days, on the famous Kinabatangan River. The boat journey provided exactly that experience that I sought and after a while of some not fruitful spotting, the boats suddenly slowed up and there in the nearby tree was a male orang-utan swinging effortlessly from branch to branch! Quite naturally, everyone and everything fell to a complete silence, as we sat there in awe of this beautiful sight. It was hard for the guides to convince us to move on to the camp as we were all so amazed but there was noticeable buzz for the rest of the journey and everyone was smiling. We arrived to the camp shortly after and as if seeing an Orang-utan on the journey wasn’t enough, there was even a jungle footsal court that we could play in! Our lodging was a basic hut with mattresses on the floor and mozzy nets, surrounded by swampy marshland, with a constant chatter of insects of birds around us… and I’m most certainly not complaining! The itinerary was full on and over the three days we lucky enough to see a whole number of different species including: crocodiles, kingfishers, flying foxes and my favourite: the constantly aroused ‘red rocketed’ proboscis monkey. Not to forget, in the times we weren’t out on the river we passed the time playing copious amount of footsal with the people who worked there. We had a decent team but I think the fact the majority of the opposition were knocking around the 5ft mark and the surprising outcome of Sam’s talent in goal, we had the edge! All in all, I couldn’t have asked for more from the camp and we had glorious 3 days on the river!

We arrived at Kuching with high spirits from the camp and had a lot we wanted to tick off. The owner of the hostel we stayed at was an absolute gem and he basically planned an itinerary of what he thought we should do in the two days we had here. After a very chilled out evening having sun downers by the river front, we set off early the next morning, in the hope of seeing some more proboscis monkeys at Bako National Park. The weather was perfect when we set off and just when we were starting to think the day couldn’t get any better all hells let loose. This as we joked, wouldn’t have been an issue if we’d thought like mother would have done and planned for all outcomes. Needless to say after a couple hours of heavy rain our jokes soon surpassed! However, all was not bad because the one good thing about this horrific weather meant that the wildlife came out in the numbers and I wouldn’t be exaggerating if I said we saw at least 20 proboscis monkeys. Other notable highlights of the two days were: eating probably the best fish I’ve ever had, sunsets by the riverfront and late nights sitting by the river front listening to local music and eating local food. This all along with the fact that I managed to get a new stamp on the passport clarified to me that I’d definitely make sure to come back to Kuching!

Beaut

The penultimate part of Sam and I’s travelling was spent in the North of Sarawak, in a place famed for its Cave Network, Gunung Mulu National Park. I’m not one to usually like this sort of thing and if I’m going to be honest I only booked to go there as I thought that Sam would enjoy it, given the cultured bloke that he is. We saw some enormous caves and were very fortunate to see the ‘Changing of the guard’, where the 2/3 million of the bats come out of the cave at sunset and fly about in huge wave like black clouds. Annoyingly one of the tours, supposedly for advanced cavers, that involved 8km of caving and 1.5km of swimming had vacancies the day after we left. So I think I’ll make Sam very jealous, when I plan to go back and do it just before I leave! However, after exploring and getting to know more about the caves over the few days I’m glad to say that I’ve surprised myself.  There was even a volley ball court at the park for me to Lose to Sam on! 

Abraham Lincoln 

Shadow in one of the caves...