My favourite butterfly from Borneo

Finally had technology to begin getting my photos from my proper camera to my cloud so I can access my nicer photos!

2 Weeks in Sabah, Borneo

Backpacking in Borneo feels like opening a Double Decker bar after a hard gym workout - a blissfully indulgent but hard earned treat.

For me, Sabah has been the gift that just keeps giving. All the grand experiences have been wonderful, but even in the daily goings-on I've learnt a great deal. Malaysia has a lot of sit-down loos, although I seem to have a knack for finding the remaining holes in the ground in desperate times. Unlike in India when I accidentally locked myself in to one and the school caretaker nearly performed an exorcism and Kenya where I lost my balance and plunged foot first straight down said hole, I seem to have finally mastered the art of not being completely incompetent in this division. Embrace the victories, right?

My wonderful hostel owners in KK made me feel like family, taking care of me when I staggered down the stairs after climbing and making sure I had enough to eat on long bus journeys. The scenery I just can't gush enough about. The mountains, jungle, rainforest, beaches, waterfalls, fruit, wildlife - I just can't get enough! I even took a 6 9 hour bus from Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan to see more of it rather than a 40 minute flight, which was only slightly tainted by the looping soundtrack of farting, burping, spitting, and retching coming from across the aisle...

In my first week I explored the city, went to the beach, got lost in a night market, had a magnificent day at the Sabah Ethnology Museum, and climbed Mount Kinabalu. The infamous Gaya Sunday Market was sprawling with tourist trinkets and local foods, but for me the terrible conditions and treatment of animals for sale was far too negative to outweigh these. The regular night market is very tame, however, and is just crammed with locals, food, and clothes. Week 2 was also exciting, with 3 days in the jungle wildlife spotting, visiting the best orangutan sanctuary I've experienced, island hopping, and eating my way through the city again, including the Gaya Street Chinese New Year kick off festival! No such thing as too much dim sum. I also spent 2 weeks being chronically underdressed compared to the super snazzy holidaymakers from China and Korea, decked out in the most beautifully Pinterest outfits and heels with perfectly porcelain faces despite the 35 degree heat. That's talent, my friends.

Manutik Island, Kota Kinabalu

Mowgli Time! The Kinabatangan River and Jungle

Brace yourself, I'm very excited. Almost as excited as I was when I Skyped Tom to tell him I was going offline for a few days because I was going to the JUNGLE! I said Lara Croft, he said Eliza Thornberry, we settled on a Dora the Explorer/The Magic Schoolbus crossover. I think I lost out there. 

After an 8 hour bus from KK to Sandakan and a night there to refresh, I was picked up in Sandakan by a minivan and whisked away to the Kinbatangan river within 3 hours, stopping to pick up other people along the way and bumping our way along the last few "roads" to the crossing point. We got into a boat and hopped over to the other side of the river, climbed a plank and plunged straight into the jungle at the Nature Resort Kinbatangan! 

Loving life in the second row

The resort is absolutely glorious. A row of wood cabins lined the path to the reception centre, secluded from each other by free growing jungle and the occasional monitor lizard. The first thing that struck me was the pure quiet of it all - no phones tapping, no Whatsapp buzzes, nothing. The second thing was how noisy it all was, but gloriously so! Dragonflies buzzing, birds calling, cicadas making smoke with their back legs - so much noise which I never normally hear, and it was lush. After checking in and an ice cold glass of rose cordial I skipped off to my dorm with 3 of my bus pals, delighted to find comfy beds and a bug screen across the window - I like nature, but not enough to cuddle up to a bazillion mozzies every night.

Headhunting and House Building - Exploring Sabah Museum!

I have a very established love/hate relationship with museums. I know I should think "WOO YAY knowledge and learning and new stuff!" but I invariably think "oigh, blurry plaques and looking at 8 million identical ceramic plates, thrillsville...". In what seems to be becoming a regular event now, Sabah Museum turned my expectations upside down by being an interactive version of the Discovery Channel, and my memories of The Magic Schoolbus came rushing forwards! 

Having held my map the correct way and followed to the spot the museum allegedly stood, I landed in the middle of a patch of deserted rainforest, having left all cars, road signs, and recognisable paths far behind. I climbed for 15 minutes, past an abandoned ticket booth with smashed windows and no signs of human life in sight, genuinely wondering if I had accidentally strolled into the set for the next Jurassic Park.

Not creepy at all...

When I reached the top, I emerged from a dense bush of sticky fern leaves to see, very clearly, the entrance gate standing approximately 200m to my left and on the opposite side of the buildings. For all my excellent map handling skills, I had come from the back.

Brushing myself off and regaining sweaty, sweaty composure, I got my entrance ticket and wifi code (?!) to use with their interactive QR codes on different exhibits, and I skipped through the sweeping doors into the beautifully chilly museum. Instantly hit with "NO PHOTO" signs my heart sank a little because it already looked so cool, but actually I think it was a great thing as it made me really pay attention and learn about what I was seeing, in order to describe it properly. So brace for geeky excitement, because it was awesome. 

As in all great educational love stories, it starts with a bloody massive whale skeleton. Bryde's whale, to be exact, and it was huge.

Coral and Coconuts: Beach Hunting and Island Hopping in Kota Kinabalu

Before you even think about island hopping from KK, make sure you check out the divinely deserted Tanjung Aru beach is a long stretch located on the West side of the city. Gorgeously shady park and water which can genuinely be described as hot, Tanjung Aru is a lovely mainland alternative to jumping on a ferry. The downside to this beautifully quiet beach is that there are no food or drink sellers, so make sure you grab some food on the way. You'll want the number 16 bus from Marina Court if you're going local, and the fare is 5RM. If your visit is like mine, you'll only be sharing the beach with crabs and monitor lizards!

U wot m8

If you're determined to leave the mainland, Kota Kinabalu has a group of 5 islands within a 15 minute ferry ride from Jessleton Point, which is 15 mins walk from the Centre Point Mall. First up is the ticket hall, in which 10 desks of tour agencies flog exactly the same tours at exactly the same prices! Some of these touts can get quite aggressive though, so just move along to the next one if you don't like the treatment. This is definitely one of those times where you haggle even though the price is written down. Touts end up adding on all sorts of "marine taxes" which are absolute pocket padders so argue it heartily! A 2 island trip should cost you 30RM at the desk, and then 10RM at the first island as "conservation tax" - if you're hopping, keep hold of the receipt for this one otherwise you'll be paying it at every island! 

Sea View Sandakan - Hostel Review

Great food, nice staff, but that's it. Rough but well meaning, this hostel is basic but does the job. For 20MR per night it makes for a good quick stop between activities - I stayed here for 1 night when I took the bus from KK to Sandakan. 

Location 4/5

Good, right on the seafront and between the local Central Market with food courts and the Harbour Mall with clothes, pharmacies, etc.

PODs Backpackers - Hostel Review

A small, quiet hostel in a great location. 35RM per night and lots of freebies available in the fridge and cupboards! 

Location 5/5

Great, on the main road by the seafront and next to the Centre Point mall. 2 mins walk from the huge food night market, and just 5 mins from the clothing night markets. Right next to the local bus hub and opposite the waterfront bars and decking. Very convenient for everything in the city!

How To Organise Climbing Mount Kinabalu

When I was trying to sort out my climb, I couldn't find anything recent on the Internet to help me along the way. So, just in case anyone else is in the same boat, I hope this helps a little!

Here is my post about the climb itself, in case you need any more inspiration to get your boots on and feed your soul some mountain air! 

The view from the registration office

Fitness

Some crazies climb Kinabalu as a race, whilst others take it as a hearty stroll. You don't need to be a gym junkie to climb Kinabalu, but the better fitness you have the easier and more enjoyable the experience will be. Nobody gets points for having to be carried down the mountain by the rescue squad, so at the very least do some training on staircases before you attempt the climb! You should at least be able to climb the equivalent of 12 staircases without stopping, but the mountain pace is slow and steady so you're not going to be bolting anywhere. It's a tiring and challenging course and as with a lot of physical things it's mainly about your attitude. 

A lot of people climb mount Kinabalu with no hiking experience at all. It's doable, but it'll be slow and hard and your legs will be jelly on the way down! That's not to put you off, it's just to give you a realistic view. If you have dodgy knees, the way down is likely to aggravate those bad boys more than a salt rub to sunburn, so be prepared with some supports or, in the footsteps of an Aussie I met on the way, have a crate waiting for you at the bottom!

Cheeky Macaque

Caught this cheeky little macaque scampering up a tree on the Kinabatangan River! Beautiful guy and such a brilliant jungle trip. Post coming soon!

Hanger is real

We all have those days where you just have to put your foot on the basket and take all the food 😊

Sunset at Laban Rata

Knee Deep and Not Breathing

One of the key things about taking good photographs is patience. Waiting to set up the photo, waiting for all the elements to be in the right light or position, and then waiting for the subject to actually do something.

Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of patience. (I can see my Mum's eyebrows raised and lips pursed in the classic "Mmmhm, good one Sherlock")

So when I went to the amazing Sabah Heritage Village and saw a gorgeous red dragonfly/pretty thing, I knew it would make for a lovely photo. If only (shuffle to the left)... I could get it (crouch down) ... Right. 

Wrong focus. 

Angle too wide.

No focus at all.

Too far away.

Zoom too grainy.

Too shaky.

Dammit, Pedro - get your shit together! 

I gave it another go. Crouching down, leaning forwards, looking straight at the screen, so zoomed in that if I looked away I'd lose the beauty entirely. Small, shuffling steps. Keeping red in view. Small, shuffling steps. Keeping red in view. Small... shuffling... WHOOOMP!

Lights, Camera, Kiwi?

I'm not sure why, but there must be about a hundred phones with photos of me on them now.

In Sabah the teenage girls were pretty good at the sneaky over-the-shoulder pretend selfie or the outright "Stop. Stand." techniques. The most amusing one to date has been a woman yesterday at the beach taking a photo of me and being so surprised when the shutter sound went off at full volume that she jumped back, straight into the path of a huge monitor lizard! Phone went one way, she went the other, and I laughed my recently photographed are right off. The teenage boys tend to go on the charm offensive, generally striding up to me and saying "Beauuuuutiful lady, can we get a photo?" - a generally better tactic, as a face wipe has been the closest I've got to makeup for 3 weeks and I'm desperately hoping the freckles might join up into a tan one day.

Having just got off the bus from KK I headed straight for the Sandakan harbour for some fruit and fresh air. No sooner had I sat down and cracked into my snacks, I caught two teenage girls taking my photo mid-kiwi and when they realised and decided to pose for photos next to me! I asked them why it was good to have a photo and they just said "Hello! We are from the Philippines!" and giggled away again. So I tucked back into my kiwi and before I knew it a boy sat next to me, took a selfie with me bemused and still with bloody kiwi next to my face, and ran off!

I got this a lot in India as the old "show and tell" back in the village because white travellers weren't too common in those parts... But then it turned out that I was apparently the girlfriend of 5 different guys in the same village, with our photos plastered all over their Facebook profiles! 

If someone in Malaysia fancies giving me a modelling contract then hit me up: I've got the 6-hours-on-a-bus and nothing-but-fried-for-days looks nailed. It's a niche market, but somebody has to boss it. 

On top of the world!

Today I summited the 20th most prominent mountain in the world! Certainly the most challenging physical experience I have had to date, and such a completely spectacular mountain I am so grateful it'll be with me forever. 

Waddling in 8 tops and blown over by the wind twice, but it's a great thing to have your head above the clouds!

"Your thighs look strong. Beefy. You'll be fine"

Beefy.

Reassuring words from my hostel owner this evening as I'm packing my clothes into my day sack ready to climb Mount Kinabalu tomorrow! I am so excited and I just can't hide it so I ate a lot of carbs and called it legit preparation, which definitely negated my breathlessness at the top of the stairs to my dorm.

I was intending to turn up and climb on the day when I originally planned to do Mt Kinabalu, but the late 2015 earthquake meant the mountain had to be closed for 3 months and only reopened a few weeks ago. Because of the damage to the trails, now only 100 people are allowed up each day (previously 200), and people who missed their climb due to the closure have been reallocated dates this month. I didn't want to miss climbing at all as this is one of the absolute highlights of my trip, so I ended up booking through Amazing Borneo Tours to guarantee my climb. I'll review how it went once I've done it!

I love mountain climbing and Borneo is my ultimate adventureland, so the combination is just divine. My Dad also climbed Mt Kinabalu back in the day, so I feel even more excited to be able to bring the same experience into my life and share something so incredible in a now-and-then kind of way.

Arriving in Kota Kinabalu

KK is a very cool city, and it knows it. Hard Rock Cafe, ads for Malaysia Total Wipeout, very modern architecture, waterfront bars, top spec malls, the lot - so why does it feel a bit dull? There's so much to do in Sanah, but it's main city is very much a passing point rather than a POI of itself. Most tours start in KK, there's awesome diving, island hopping, and water sports to be done just off the coast of KK, and of course there is the incredible Kinabalu National Park just 2 hours drive away. But none of that is KK. The main attraction in KK itself is definitely the central night market - a mile long stretch of fish literally just hauled out of the sea on the other side of the tents, being cooked however you fancy!

Central and night market