Only 4 more days of holidays. I easily could spend so much more time here. The diving out at Mataking Island was great, we saw heaps of sea-turtles and a frogfish and a tiny tiny sea-horse and a pikachu - don't ask me what the hell it is, it was that small i could barely see it.
Lisa and I did a second day diving out at Sibuan Island. Not quite as good. There were some strong currents running through and a shit load of rubbish - plastic bags etc which was a bit disappointing after Mataking Island which was a pristine tropical island paradise kind of island. The dive guides out at Sibuan were also a bit crap. There was my guide who was a german dude who was nice, but a couple of the other guys were fat lazy backpacker types who thought it was fine and professional to smoke all over the passengers and throw their cigarette butts in the water. Dirty pigs.
Ahh well I guess they fit in in Semporna then, it really is a hovel of a town. The markets stink of rubbish and there are rats running around everywhere. Not really what you would expect as the gateway to one of the worlds top diving spots.
So after Semporna we spent a couple of days in the Gunung Mulu National Park which is in Sarawak. It was great. We only had 3 days so we didn't get to climb the pinnacles which looked like it would have been fantastic. But we did get in a couple of days adventure caving which was awesome.
hmmm, this internet is a bit slow so i'll post this and write a new one for the caves.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Friday, March 21, 2008
Fat nosed monkeys and tiger leeches
Hey guys,
Today Lisa and I arrived in Semporna which is in southern Sabah on the coast. It is where everyone comes to go diving. So, although we couldn't get out to Sipodan Island because it was fully booked, we are going out to Mataking Island to do a couple of dives which should be fun.
We spent the last couple of days out in a little resort thing on the Kinabatangan River where we did some cruises and some little walks. The walks were good fun. All muddy and lots of leeches. The funniest bit was when our guide first came out dressed for the night walk in blue overalls and gumboots; he looked like dad ready to go milk the cows!
On our last day as Kinabatangan we saw a heap of probiscus monkey. They are the massive blue and orange monkeys with these big fat noses. And they live so damn high up in the trees it is hard to see them. We also saw an orang-utan which was pretty cool. It's pretty rare to see them in the wild, but we saw one that was quite young sitting in a fig tree by the river, it was so so cool. I have taken about a billion photos, I just hope some of them turn out ok.
Still no Slow Loris or Pygmy Elephant, but I'll keep my eyes peeled.
Today Lisa and I arrived in Semporna which is in southern Sabah on the coast. It is where everyone comes to go diving. So, although we couldn't get out to Sipodan Island because it was fully booked, we are going out to Mataking Island to do a couple of dives which should be fun.
We spent the last couple of days out in a little resort thing on the Kinabatangan River where we did some cruises and some little walks. The walks were good fun. All muddy and lots of leeches. The funniest bit was when our guide first came out dressed for the night walk in blue overalls and gumboots; he looked like dad ready to go milk the cows!
On our last day as Kinabatangan we saw a heap of probiscus monkey. They are the massive blue and orange monkeys with these big fat noses. And they live so damn high up in the trees it is hard to see them. We also saw an orang-utan which was pretty cool. It's pretty rare to see them in the wild, but we saw one that was quite young sitting in a fig tree by the river, it was so so cool. I have taken about a billion photos, I just hope some of them turn out ok.
Still no Slow Loris or Pygmy Elephant, but I'll keep my eyes peeled.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Trekking the jungles of Borneo
I was going to add a post on facebook with my Borneo adventures but decided it would be better revive my old blog. Hopefully later in the week I will get some photos up.
Anyway, for those who are a little behind the times. Lisa and I are holidaying in Borneo. It's a great place. We first flew into KL and then to KK (Kota Kinabalu) which is a cute little city on the beach. We didn't have time to see much of it, but it reminded me a bit of Zanzibar which was cool.
The next day we went out to climb Mt Kinabalu. It's just over 4000m, so big but not a massive mountain. But it is quite a full on hike to get to the top as it is very steep. Although I think that the going down was actually harder than the going up.
The first day was quite hard work. 6k up to the base camp. The first 2k's we hardest for me as I was still throwing up from getting car sick (which may or may not have been caused by numerous margaritas the night before) in the bus on the way up. That was a long trip. 2 hours of windy bumpy roads and me having to get them to stop the bus every 15 minutes so i could have a throw!
The other thing that made the climb hard was the fact that our tour operator wasn't fan of letting you know what was going on or organising anything much. So we were the only people climbing the mountain with 16kg packs! Everyone else had been told what to bring or had porters organised for them.
But it was all worth it. 5 days later my calves are still aching but the climb to the top and the view of dawn breaking over the mountains was spectacular. We got up at 3am to climb so we'd be there for dawn. The climb in the dark is so steep that they have ropes bolted into the side of the mountain to help pull yourself up. Then we got to the top about 1/2 an hour before dawn and it was bloody freezing!
Then the sky started to lighten up and you could see the outlines of the mountains and although the sky was clear where we were, there was cloud cover over the other peaks which turned all kinds of colours as the sun came up. Hmm, i don't think i'll even bother to try to explain it any more i'll just get frustrated because it's not right. anyway, it was really really good and then when you went to come back down you could actually see the path you had climbed in the dark and were like holy hell i came up there?!
After the climb we went to poring hot springs for some relaxing hot spring jacuzzi action. We also got to see the evasive Rafflesia in flower. This is a rare plant that flowers once every 5 years and only for 7 days! It is the weirdest looking plant and to me looks like something that belongs in the ocean not sitting in the rainforest.
We're now down in Sandakan and have seen some Orang utans and sea turtles, but Stilly wants a go on the internet so i'll write again later.
Anyway, for those who are a little behind the times. Lisa and I are holidaying in Borneo. It's a great place. We first flew into KL and then to KK (Kota Kinabalu) which is a cute little city on the beach. We didn't have time to see much of it, but it reminded me a bit of Zanzibar which was cool.
The next day we went out to climb Mt Kinabalu. It's just over 4000m, so big but not a massive mountain. But it is quite a full on hike to get to the top as it is very steep. Although I think that the going down was actually harder than the going up.
The first day was quite hard work. 6k up to the base camp. The first 2k's we hardest for me as I was still throwing up from getting car sick (which may or may not have been caused by numerous margaritas the night before) in the bus on the way up. That was a long trip. 2 hours of windy bumpy roads and me having to get them to stop the bus every 15 minutes so i could have a throw!
The other thing that made the climb hard was the fact that our tour operator wasn't fan of letting you know what was going on or organising anything much. So we were the only people climbing the mountain with 16kg packs! Everyone else had been told what to bring or had porters organised for them.
But it was all worth it. 5 days later my calves are still aching but the climb to the top and the view of dawn breaking over the mountains was spectacular. We got up at 3am to climb so we'd be there for dawn. The climb in the dark is so steep that they have ropes bolted into the side of the mountain to help pull yourself up. Then we got to the top about 1/2 an hour before dawn and it was bloody freezing!
Then the sky started to lighten up and you could see the outlines of the mountains and although the sky was clear where we were, there was cloud cover over the other peaks which turned all kinds of colours as the sun came up. Hmm, i don't think i'll even bother to try to explain it any more i'll just get frustrated because it's not right. anyway, it was really really good and then when you went to come back down you could actually see the path you had climbed in the dark and were like holy hell i came up there?!
After the climb we went to poring hot springs for some relaxing hot spring jacuzzi action. We also got to see the evasive Rafflesia in flower. This is a rare plant that flowers once every 5 years and only for 7 days! It is the weirdest looking plant and to me looks like something that belongs in the ocean not sitting in the rainforest.
We're now down in Sandakan and have seen some Orang utans and sea turtles, but Stilly wants a go on the internet so i'll write again later.
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