Malaysian Borneo
Hello everyone,
This installment comes to you from Malaysian Borneo. Borneo is the island bit of Malaysia, it shares with Brunei and Indonesia. It's my first trip to Malaysia and so far, it has been incredible. I'll post some pictures when I get home so you can have a look at what I've been up to.
My trip started in the capital of Kota Kinabalu. I was only there a night, as it was a starting off point, but I had a good night with some folks I met at the hostel. The next day I was off to Mt. Kinabalu, the highest mountain in SE Asia between Papua New Guinea and the Himalayas. I should preface this entry by saying that I arranged absolutely nothing before I arrived to Borneo, and that usually isn't a problem. So, I was off to Kinabalu even though there was no lodging on the mountain and a spot climbing wasn't guaranteed. I got there a night early and spent the night in the park, hoping for a cancellation the next morning. When I checked in at 9am, there still were no spots on the mountain, but my patience prevailed and a landed a cushy bunk in the no heat, no frills ranger station. I was also able to hook up with a group of 5, reducing my guide fees! The first day had us climbing straight up for 5 hours. It wasn't terribly difficult, but taxing none the less. After a meal and a few hours of hanging out, I got ready for bed at 7:45pm. Mt. Kinabalu is 4000 meters(about 12000 feet), so a 2:30am departure from the mountain base camp will put you on the summit before sunrise. My rented sleeping bag and extra blanket kept me surprisingly warm and before I knew it, I was climbing the last 1000 meters in the dark. Along the way, the trail changed from jungle to high forest to exposed granite. Again, not a difficult climb, but hard work-thin air, guide ropes, dark, slippery.... Sunrise was amazing and a good reward for a tough 2 days. The climb down was quicker and easier, but tough on the quads, knees and lower legs. I'm still sore two days later!
That day, I waited four hours to get a bus to Sepilok and it didn't pan out. 2 hours after waiting a bus came that was full, three hours in another came, but didn't stop, an hour after that I learned that the next bus was coming at 8pm which would have put me in to my destination at midnight. I decided to spend another night at Kinabalu. At the hostel that night I met a Dutch guy that did the whole ascent and decent in hours. Showoff. The record for up and down is just under three hours, though....incredible. My whole trip took a total of about 8 or 9 hours spread over two days.
Yesterday I made it to Sepilok and went to an Oranguatan reserve. It's one of four in the world, and some of them come in to feed twice a day. It was cool, but there were far more monkeys(us tourists) than apes! It was cool and I went for a good hike in the woods.
Today I'm in Semporna and tomorrow I'm going diving at Palau Sipadan. It's one of the top ten dive sites in the world, and I'm looking forward to it. I haven't been diving since Costa Rica. I might see sea turtles, hammerhead sharks, white and black tipped reef sharks and tons of fish. I'll keep you posted.
Love,
jc
This installment comes to you from Malaysian Borneo. Borneo is the island bit of Malaysia, it shares with Brunei and Indonesia. It's my first trip to Malaysia and so far, it has been incredible. I'll post some pictures when I get home so you can have a look at what I've been up to.
My trip started in the capital of Kota Kinabalu. I was only there a night, as it was a starting off point, but I had a good night with some folks I met at the hostel. The next day I was off to Mt. Kinabalu, the highest mountain in SE Asia between Papua New Guinea and the Himalayas. I should preface this entry by saying that I arranged absolutely nothing before I arrived to Borneo, and that usually isn't a problem. So, I was off to Kinabalu even though there was no lodging on the mountain and a spot climbing wasn't guaranteed. I got there a night early and spent the night in the park, hoping for a cancellation the next morning. When I checked in at 9am, there still were no spots on the mountain, but my patience prevailed and a landed a cushy bunk in the no heat, no frills ranger station. I was also able to hook up with a group of 5, reducing my guide fees! The first day had us climbing straight up for 5 hours. It wasn't terribly difficult, but taxing none the less. After a meal and a few hours of hanging out, I got ready for bed at 7:45pm. Mt. Kinabalu is 4000 meters(about 12000 feet), so a 2:30am departure from the mountain base camp will put you on the summit before sunrise. My rented sleeping bag and extra blanket kept me surprisingly warm and before I knew it, I was climbing the last 1000 meters in the dark. Along the way, the trail changed from jungle to high forest to exposed granite. Again, not a difficult climb, but hard work-thin air, guide ropes, dark, slippery.... Sunrise was amazing and a good reward for a tough 2 days. The climb down was quicker and easier, but tough on the quads, knees and lower legs. I'm still sore two days later!
That day, I waited four hours to get a bus to Sepilok and it didn't pan out. 2 hours after waiting a bus came that was full, three hours in another came, but didn't stop, an hour after that I learned that the next bus was coming at 8pm which would have put me in to my destination at midnight. I decided to spend another night at Kinabalu. At the hostel that night I met a Dutch guy that did the whole ascent and decent in hours. Showoff. The record for up and down is just under three hours, though....incredible. My whole trip took a total of about 8 or 9 hours spread over two days.
Yesterday I made it to Sepilok and went to an Oranguatan reserve. It's one of four in the world, and some of them come in to feed twice a day. It was cool, but there were far more monkeys(us tourists) than apes! It was cool and I went for a good hike in the woods.
Today I'm in Semporna and tomorrow I'm going diving at Palau Sipadan. It's one of the top ten dive sites in the world, and I'm looking forward to it. I haven't been diving since Costa Rica. I might see sea turtles, hammerhead sharks, white and black tipped reef sharks and tons of fish. I'll keep you posted.
Love,
jc
