Borneo: this simple name evokes the legends of the Headhunters, blowpipe hunting deep in the unforgiving jungle, bizarre tribal tattoo ceremonies, and a land undiscovered and unblemished by the modern age of tourism. Well, at least that's what the word "Borneo" evoked for me. I was right about most of these cliches: all have proved true, all except the land free of tourism. So far, I have been to Cambodia: Land of Angkor Wat, Vietnam: Land of Pho, Thailand: Land of Pad Thai and Temples Galore, The Philippines: Land of Fantastic Island Paradises, and Laos: Land of, well, Laos. All of these countries (perhaps with the exception of Laos) have been firmly on the tourist trail for years and Malaysia gets only a fraction of the tourists that these other Asian countries see, but nowhere has been as fully booked (in every sense of this term) as Borneo Malaysia. The jungle was booked, the islands were booked, the scuba-diving was booked, the Turtle Island was booked, the mountain (and who ever heard of a mountain being booked?!) was booked. All of these veritable destinations have been booked by adventure seeking and better planned tourists for up to six months (six months!) in advance. And then there's me. Me, who didn't even know she was headed to Borneo until a week ago. Me, who is a hopeless wanderer, never knowing whether to stay put or move ahead. Me, who is far too unorganized and spontaneous to actually commit to a hotel reservation let alone book a mountain. So, here I am in Borneo having accomplished only one of the many things I had planned to do while in Sabah. Naturally, I had planned to do everything possible: climb Mt. Kinabalu (the highest mountain in Southeast Asia), jungle trek for at least 3 leech filled nights spotting wild Proboscis Monkeys along the way, scuba dive off the shark and turtle filled waters of Sipadan Island, feed the friendly Orangutans at the Sepilok Orangutan Sancutary, and witness the scurrying of thousands of baby turtles into the sea from Turtle Island. Naturally, everything is booked well into August.
But, I try to look on the bright side of every situation placed before me on this crazy adventure and I have had some fabulous times while here, namely via food and scuba diving. I did manage to squeeze my way into some highly coveted dive spots at Sipadan Island: considered by Jacques Cousteau to be one of the best dive sights in the world. I admit, I have to agree with good ole' Jacques. Sipadan, the only oceanic island in Malaysia is nestled firmly off of Borneo's eastern coast in the Celebes Sea. Favored with exceptionally clear waters, well-protected and healthy coral reef systems, and hundreds of schooling barracudas, Big-eye Trevally, giant Grouper, White-tipped Reef Sharks, and Greenback Sea Turtles, the waters off of Sipadan are some of the best dive sights I've ever dived before. With each dive you are virtually guaranteed to see dozens of all the above mentioned sea life as well as a variety of other creatures: blue-spotted sting rays, moray eels, multi-colored nudi branches, crocodile, scorpion, stone, and frog fish. I did a total of 6 dives at Sipadan Island and 3 dives off of Mabul diving, best for macro-diving (looking for the small stuff). I could have easily done more had my budget and the availability allowed. I fortified my dive trips with great veggie curry and Indian roti canai (unleavened bread similar to naan) and fresh orange juices and sweetened local coffee and tea.
After leaving Sipadan, I got the heavenly plush (and you know I mean it after all of the styles of transport I've endured over the past 3 months) 10 hour bus back north to the capital of Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, known to locals as KK. I planned to head straight to Mt. Kinabalu to try my luck at there being a mountain cancellation. The problem with the mountain is that it is a 2 day hike, requiring a night at Laban Rata (the mid-point of the mountain). At Laban Rata accommodation is extremely limited and there are always scores more people vying for the official 140 spots. I arrived Monday morning to rather ski lodge-like hostel accommodation at the bottom of the mountain and put my name on the waiting list. I then spent the next 3 days enduring bite-like cold, blustery winds, and torrential rains, watching my chances of climbing Mt. Kinabalu steadily declining. Somehow I tend to bring rain with me. It was such inclement weather that those climbers who had already made it halfway were forced to turn around as it was unsafe to climb to the summit and those still at the bottom were forced to wait another day. I decided that the mountain was not meant to be and as the food wasn't all that great I decided to head back to KK, where I am now.
KK, is a very manageable city with more 24 hour restaurants than all of Kansas City and Lawrence combined. Also, the quality of the food served at these establishments is far more desirable. There are Chinese restaurants, Halal Muslim restaurants (serving no pork), Western restaurants, coffee chops, and food stands all open for the hungry and thirsty 24 hours a day. If I could stretch my stomach ever wider I would sample these establishments round the clock. Unfortunately, I am restricted by my size and can only support 3 rounded meals a day plus a couple of mid-meal snacks. Yesterday, for example, I had Nasi Lemak-banana leaf-wrapped coconut-scented rice with chili paste, cucumbers, dried anchovies, and peanuts- with a condensed milk-sweetened coffee for breakfast, a roti canai with yellow curry dipping sauce for a snack, the best bowl of Chicken Curry Laksa-wide-noodle soup with a curried broth filled with beansprouts, chunks of chicken and tofu, chili paste, lime and cilantro-I've ever tasted, and a whole fresh (it was alive when I ordered it) Tilapia fried in sweet and sour sauce served with a side of garlic and chili enhanced greens. I did share that last meal with Lisette, my lovely new Dutch friend.
Lis has been my traveling companion for practically the whole time in Sabah. She is the first woman I have traveled with so far and it has been great to finally get some "girl-time" in complete with all the gossip and silliness associated with girl-time. Lis recently spent 4 months deep in the Taman Negara jungle teaching English and so speaks beautiful Malay and was able to teach me all I could hope to learn about the many forms of Malay food and culture. Unfortunately, she left today for Bangkok and then back to Holland so we where unable to continue traveling together, but hopefully we'll be able to meet up again sometime soon!
I am now patiently whiling away the hours until I catch my early evening flight to Kuching in Sarawak Borneo, on the other side of Borneo Malaysia. Fortunately, Sarawak features all of the above-mentioned activities but with a fraction of the tourists. Hopefully, and perhaps with just a little bit of planning, I will be able to experience some of these fascinating places after all. But first I am headed to Kuching to attend a 3 day music and culture festival held annually at the Sarawak Cultural Village. The Borneo Rain forest Festival fills its days with workshops as varied as blow-pipe making and tribal dancing and its nights with musical performances from bands from as near as Borneo to as far away as England and Poland. I'll be going with a friend, Jonny, whom I met in The Philippines and who I randomly bumped into again here in KK (funny how often that happens!) so it should be a very culturally enriching 3 days!
Will write more after the fact, but first I'm going to enjoy another of those curry laksa's! Again, thanks for reading!
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