Sabah (Borneo) - animals, animals and more animals

After our one night in Sandakan, the rest of our trip included a visit to the famous Turtle Island and the Sepilok Orang-Utan Rehabilitation Center.
At Turtle Island we had the entire day for swimming, lying on the beach and snorkeling on the reef just next to the island (due to poor visibility it was very hard to spot any fish at all). At night it was turtle time, where we not only had the opportunity of watching a turtle lay there eggs, but they were also collected in order to increase the percentage of hatchlings surviving. Then we watched the eggs being carried to the hatchery, where they are safe from potential predators. The last part of this guided tour was the release of hundreds of hatchlings into the open sea, where they will spend the rest of their lives.

Beach on Turtle Island

Protected area for the hatchlings

Sunset on Turtle Island

After Turtle Island we travelled back to Sandakan to get ready for our last Borneo adventure - having a close encounter with the man of the forest (as orang-utan can be translated from malay). Even though we did not see them in the wild, at least we had the opportunity of seeing them at the rehabilitation center, where there natural habitat is still preserved. The reason why it is hard to spot any Orang-Utans in the wild is because their natural habitat has radically been destroyed because of legal and illegal logging, agricultural land adaption, etc.
We also visited another sanctuary where they are rehabilitating Proboscis Monkeys ("Nasenaffen"), but you can also see Long-tailed Macaques and Silfer Leaf Monkeys.

Feeding time for the Orang-Utans

One proboscis monkey

One proboscis monkey family

So in the end we did finally see some animals in Borneo. Our last night we spent in Kota Kinabalu before my dad and I returned to Kuala Lumpur to spend one final full day togehter.

Sabah (Borneo) - Mount Kinabalu and much more

Well it has been quite some time since I had the opportunity of adding something to my blog, but the last 10 days without any internet connection made it impossible to write about my travel experiences.

Right now I am almost at the end of my Borneo experience, 4 more days left until I return to the Malaysian peninsula. So what has happened the last 10 days: after arriving in Kota Kinabalu (we left our group in Sarawak and joined another group of 10 people for our Sabah trip) and an amazing malaysian-indian dinner our first destination was a homestay with the Dusun people, who are nowadays mountainguides or porters apart from being farmers. They work for the National Park, as for tourists guides are required and porters are sometimes necessary for climbing the highest mountain in Sout-East-Asia, Mount Kinabalu (4095 meters).

What we were to climb the next 2 days

The second night in Sabah we spent at a Dusun Village, where we had another encounter with the famous local rice wine (this time I had a little bit too much, resulting in a headache the next morning). Luckily we did not have to climb the mountain the next day.
After our stay with the Dusun people we drove to Mt. Kinabalu National Park Head Quarters, where we had the rest of the day off, getting ready for our climb the following day. My dad and I took the opportunity of visiting a botanical garden, where you could see different pitcher plants and orchids that grow only around Mt. Kinabalu.
So the next morning our 2 day hike up to the top of Mt. Kinabalu began. We had the choice of taking a more scening but longer route or taking the straight way up. My dad and I chose the longer version, called Mesilau trail, which started at 2000 meters and took us over almost 8 km up to our first stop at Laban Rata (around 3300 meters). There we spend the first night (not really the entire night), and we got up at 2.30 am to climb the remaining 800 altitude meters and 2,7 km up to the summit of Mt. Kinabalu to watch the sunrise. This experience was truly breathtaking, not only because of the altitude but also because of different colours appearing in the sky.

Scenery while ascending Mt. Kinabalu

Just before sunset

We finally made it!!!!

Cloud formation at Mt. Kinabalu

Reflection of Mt. Kinabalu

After the sunrise we descended to Laban Rata for an early breakfast and then it was another 6 km down the main trail back to the entrance of the park. Concering the weather we were very lucky as we had absolutely no rain the entire 2 days of hiking (in total we hiked almost 20 km and 5200 m in altitude difference)
After that we drove to Poring Springs, where we had the opportunity of spending more than 1 day relaxing and soothing our sore legs in hot springs. Unfortunately the weather was not on our side as it was pooring cats and dogs and the facilities of these hot springs were not as inviting as I first expected them to be. It took those bathtubs almost 1 hour to fill up by 1 centimeter. So instead of resting our entire body it was only the feet that were sort of refreshed.

Rafflesia (Not very pretty to be honest)

After our adventure at Poring Springs, where we spotted the largest flower in the world (Rafflesia), we went into the jungle of Sabah. Actually you would not say jungle, as it is only secondary forest (only 30 years old), but then again I spotted more animals within this area as anywhere else so far. We saw different primates including the endangered proboscis monkey and long-tail macaques and several different species of hornbills (very rare and endangered birds) and many other birds. We stayed one night in hammocks (unfortunately the sound of the very close highway was louder than the jungle noises) and had a guided night-jungle walk.

The base of the jungle camp

Our 5 star hotel

The next day we had the opportunity of cooking our own lunch with the help of Malay volunteers from Mescot (http://www.mescot.org/), an organisation that coordinated the jungle experience and the following homestay. After our lunch we watched and were invited in a typical cultural performance with traditional music, and after that we enjoyed a volleyball game with the local people of this village.
The last night we spent at a homestay coordinated and organized by Mescot. Out of pure luck we stayed at a local family, where we were invited to a muslim wedding party, as friends of them were getting married. This was quite an experience, with a local band playing and a huge buffet with very delicious food to choose from.

Muslim wedding

Right now I am in Sandakan, and the next days we will visit Turtle Island, which is just off of Sandakan, and the Orang-Utan Sepilok Sanctuary. So I will be able to add more to this blog probably in 2-3 days from now.

Sarawak (Borneo) - somewhere lost in the jungle!

Well I have made my way to Borneo (actually not correct as the Malaysian part is now called Sawarak in the South and Sabah in the North). So the first part of my trip, which ends today, I spent with my dad and 10 other people trekking through Mulu National Park and visiting one Iban Longhouse, situated right next to the river.
On our first 4 days of our trip in Sarawak we visited the Mulu National Park, which offers a great variety of natural treasures (limestone stalactite caves, where we could watch millions of bats departing for their nightly feast; a lush rainforest; rivers, where we had to push our boats a few times due to low running water). Arriving at the Mulu National Park Headquarters we made our way to Camp 5, a 2 hour boat ride and a 2 hour fairly easy hike. The following day we had the opportunity to climb to a viewpoint, making it possible to watch the "Pinnacles" a cliffy and sharp limestone formation ( a very steep and slippery 7-hour hike, where we also had to climb over ladders).

The Pinnacles I

The Pinnacles II

This is how we got there

After we got back to Camp 5 it was all about resting our sore legs and muscles, and therefore we took a swim in the nearby river.
When we got back to the Mulu NP Headquarters we had the chance to encounter millions of bats leaving the caves for their daily feast, something very fascinating to watch as it was always thousands of bats together leaving their place.

For the second part of our trip in Sarawak we visited an Iban Longhouse, where we stayed with local Ibans (an ethnic group originating from the Indonesian part of Borneo, called Kalimatan). The first night we had the chance to taste their locally brewed rice wines, join in their local dances, listening to their music and learning from their local and traditional knowledge and beliefs. The next day we went for a hike to a nearby waterfall, passing hill-rice plantations, pepper plants and rubber trees. The second half of the day we spent at the longhouse or the nearby river, cooling off our bodies.

Right now we are in Kota Kinabalu, getting ready for the second part of our trip (now we are in Sabah, in the north of the Malaysian part of Borneo) leading us to the top of Mount Kinabalu, several hot springs, a jungle encounter, visiting an orang-utan sanctuary and a turtle island.

Thailand and Penang - something that started quite unpleasant but turned out to be very good

So after my first day in Penang, Edwin, Antje (a german woman working in Penang, whom Edwin knew because
of working for her boss) and me went to Thailand. Well I wouldnt say Thailand because when you think of Thailand you automatically picture beaches, really good Thai food and cultural sights. We went to Hat Chai a city 1 1/2 hours away from the border, but still having the flair of a border town (prostitution, bad food and tons of replicas, like watches, glasses etc). So to be honest it was okay going there as I have never been there before and we tried to make the best out of it by visiting a few live-music bars at night. During the day we were just strolling around the streets trying to avoid the "massage mister, massage mister" cries.
Getting back from Thailand was a relief and we treated ourselves on Monday night with an exceptional Thai food in Penang (I guess you dont have to drive that far to get what you want and even better). This restaurant was on top of a hill so you could also watch parts of the sunset as it was cloudy. The restaurant owner created an artpiece around his restaurant with a leisure park and different scultures in the garden.
Tuesday I spent the entire day exploring the city of Penang and the island itself, visiting several temples, a botanical garden, a tropical spice garden (very informative), a mosque and several more.This was a lot of fun as I had the opportunity to talk to some local people (e.g. in the mosque I was approached by a couple of Muslims).
On Wednesday I went down to Kuala Lumpur as I was getting ready for my 3-week adventure in Sabah and Sawarak (also known as the Malaysian part of Borneo), including no sleep from Wednesday to Thursday as I had to get up at 4 am and there was some disturbing noise either from the hostel or some other place and too many thoughts running through my head.
Right now I am in Miri waiting for my father to join me the following three weeks, where we will be hiking quite a lot (including the climb of Mt. Kinabalu, 4100 meter) and visiting remote forests and hopefully encounter exotic animals. As we are mainly staying in lodges of different National Parks the posts on my blog will be very infrequent.