One of the most common questions backpackers ask each other is "what day is it?" To which, the normal response is, "um, hmm....Friday...I think?" With the next motion being everyone pulling out there cell phones to see if in fact, that was the correct answer. It was this very question that made us realize that our time in Malaysia has nearly come to an end. A lot has happened since our last post and it may take too long to write in depth about each thing that we have seen and done. So, we decided that a quick brief about each place visited with more pictures than usual would suffice :)
We left Miri by boarding a flight bound for Mulu National Park. Mulu can
only be accessed by plane. It was very beautiful and extremely hot.
We visited 6 amazing caves. One of which previously held the record for the
largest cave in the world. It is a strange feeling to be in the darkest
of dark with bats flying around your head and only the light of your
flashlight to guide you on your way. Here we river boated along the beautiful river
and even took a few swims to escape the heat of the day. We watched
over 3 million bats follow their daily routine, of spiraling out of
their sleepy slumber to hunt at sunset. They spiral to try and fool the Bat Hawks, which swoop in for the easy meal. These bats are the smallest in the world.
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| The bats coming out of the cave to feed. |
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| Heading inside Deer Cave, the largest in the world. |
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| One of the many bats. |
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| Stick Bug. |
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| Inside Wind Cave. |
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| Looking out of Lang Cave. One of the prettiest. |
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| Sunset at Mulu. |
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| Our homestay in Mulu. This place had 25 beds inside. We met some great people here. |
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| Heading down into Fast Lane Cave. |
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| Baby sparrows that live inside the caves. |
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| Early morning canopy walk at Mulu. |
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| We were going to take a photo of this cool insect. Cat decided to eat it first. |
From Mulu we headed to Kota Kinabalu where the weather prevailed and left us with a lot of rain. We were unable to do any snorkeling but were able to visit a few night markets and a coffee shop or two.
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| Large lobster at the seafood market. |
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| Fish market...which part of the tuna would you like? mmm tuna! |
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| Sunset at the pier in Kota Kinabalu. |
Asian mini buses are not made to fit a man Dean's size. So it was a good thing that our ride from Kota Kinabalu to Mount Kinabalu was only 2 hours. We splurged on a room with an amazing view of the mountains and drank coffee on the deck while bundled up in our sweaters. We shared the deck with our neighbor who was a Malaysian, he said we could just call him "Black". He was 52 and boasted about being the lead singer of a band at night and financial planner by day. We spent one afternoon with him strumming on his guitar singing to classic 70's rock music. Due to Kelly's low level of fitness and our combined laziness, we decided not to climb Mount Kinabalu but instead enjoyed the view from below. Over 40 000 people come from all around the world to climb it. We did however hike a few of the trails that snaked along the bottom of the mountain. We heard from others that the hike to the top wasn't that easy, so we felt better about our decision to enjoy the views from the bottom.
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| Dean preparing our instant 3 in 1 coffee in the morning. Actually tastes pretty good. |
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| View from our balcony. |
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| Mount Kinabalu from the bottom. |
After a 6 hour bus ride from Mount Kinabalu we arrived in Sandakan. We spent an afternoon at Sepilok Rehabilitation Center. This is a world renowned center established to rehabilitate captured Orangutan orphans and introduce them back into the wild. Similar to the one we visited in Kuching. We had a great afternoon there as we got to see 5 Orangutans. 1 of them was a female with a small baby. It was a delight to watch her with her baby. How she held the little one. To the way she protected it from the view of humans and the other curious Orangutans. It looked so similar to how we would handle our own. Our time to watch was limited to just over an hour and how quickly that hour goes. It was easy to see why Orangutan translates to 'Man of the forest'.
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| Biggest canopy walk we have been on. Just outside Sepilok. |
One thing that Borneo has proven to us time and time again, is that most things require a package or tour. This has proven to be a bit frustrating at times. After a lot of research we realized that the easiest and probably most cost effective way to tour the Kinabatangan River, 2 hours south of Sandakan, would be through a tour package. Our main reason for wanting to do the river cruise was to spot the Pygmy Elephants. We even arranged for a private boat ride further up the river in hopes to see them. But we had no luck. They were nowhere to be seen. It was disappointing but we made the most of it and in the end were happy with what we did see. Many different types of monkeys, 1 Orangutan, a dead crocodile and many, many beautiful birds. Some of the birds we saw were on our night cruise in the pitch black. How the guides spotted them with a small flashlight is beyond us.
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| Pig Tailed Macaque. You can probably guess what his facial expression is saying! |
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| Only Crocodile we saw was dead. Unfortunately got trapped in a fishing net. |
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| Buffy Fish Owl on the night cruise. |
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| Stork-billed Kingfisher. Night Cruise. |
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| Blue Eared Kingfisher. Night Trek. |
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| Baby Long Tailed Macaque. |
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| Male Proboscis Monkey. |
Our next stop was Semporna. We had purchased tickets in Sandakan for the bus to pick us up along its route. We were dropped off on the highway at 9am in hopes to catch the 9:30 bus. At 2pm after our first bus didn't show and many other buses passing us by, a local man arranged a space on a already crowded van to take us to the next city, Lahud Datu. From there we made it just in time to catch another crowded van to Semporna. What was suppose to be a 4 hour, air conditioned, easy journey ended up becoming a very long and hot 10 hour day. 5 hours waiting in the scorching sun and 5 hours on the smallest, most packed mini buses around. It was tiring and a good reminder that sometimes the best of plans can go astray. No point in getting frustrated (although we did) instead just go with the flow and enjoy the journey. Semporna itself has nothing much to offer except a whole lot of garbage. It's the islands nearby that most people go to visit, using Semporna as a jump off point. The most famous island being Sipidan, which is well known as one of the best diving spots in the world. Unfortunately, you have to be certified and book possibly a months in advance. We did on the other hand, after 20 or so emails and one park permit, arrange to visit Bohey Dulang. Which is an ancient volcano remnant. We had to hire our own expensive boat to get there. Then jungle trek up a very steep hill to see the view. But it was SOOO worth it. The blue-green mesmerizing beauty of the water was one that we had never seen before and probably won't again for a while. We were in Samporna during the last days of Ramadan. Which is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and a time of fasting for the Islamic people. The last day celebration could, in a sense, be compared to Christmas for us. A day for the people to celebrate with their family and friends. Nearly everything closed that day, which made it difficult to find food. The people dressed in their finest clothes, creating a collage of vibrant colors through the streets. It was a day of celebration and everyone was so happy. We haven't seen that many smiles in a long time and it was a unique experience to be part of.
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| Happy to have made it to the top. |
Nearly an 11 hour bus ride brought us back to Kota Kinabalu where we have a flight booked heading for Bali, Indonesia on Tuesday. Neither of us imagined that we would have spent 2 1/2 months in Malaysia. The country is multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and extremly beautiful. It has 13 states and 3 federal territories. We have probably only scratched the surface of what Malaysia has to offer. The people are genuinely nice and we felt welcomed everywhere we visited. We got to experience and learn a lot about Islam. We got off the beaten path a few times. We saw animals in the wild that we could only hope to see. At times we had comforts of home and at other moments we felt that we couldn't be further away. The food was delicious and any weight we lost in Thailand, we put back on. We're ready to leave Malaysia and are very excited to start exploring our next country, Indonesia. Looking forward to experiencing Balinese lifestyle and seeing many different landscapes in this volcanic dominant region.
