Back to Sandakan, back to Kota Kinabalu. My last days in Borneo!

After breakfast, I walked over to the 'bus station' to catch the local mini bus to Sepilok; Orang-utans rehabilitation centre, Sun bears rehabilitation centre and a Rain forest discovery centre. The bus ride was about 40minutes. I decided to go to the Orang-utans first, since there was a feeding at 10 (I arrived around 945) and my ticket would be good for the entire day so why miss the first one (there would be another one it the afternoon). I didn't quite enjoy it, there was one orang-utan with her baby and a lot of macaques! So I briefly took a look, thinking back of the one I saw in Semenggoh which was so excited, and made my way to the outside nursery. This is where they teach the young rescued (orphans or wounded) orang-utans how to play, walk, stay off the ground, etc. It's also open to any wild or (as they call the once that are send back into the wild) graduated orang-utans. I didn't stay long and exited the area. The sun bears were across the street but I really wanted to check out the Rainforest discovery centre first.

On the way there, it was about a 1,5km walk, a pick up truck stopped and asked if I needed a ride. I replied with no, thank you and continued walking. The same pick up was waiting a bit down the road and honked, the driver gave me his number and told me to call him. I was polite and said okay but was also a bit annoyed. Anyways, I continued walking down the road. The rainforest discovery centre wasn't really what I expected. There were some nice walking trails and I did all of the walking on my cheap flipflops of course, but I expected to see more birds I guess and bigger trees. But I must say, it was very quiet and peaceful. But so so hot!!

I then walked back to the main road to make my way back to the orang-utans and sun bears. And then another pick up truck stopped with tainted windows and just waited, so I took a turn into a b&b. The car eventually made a u turn and drove off. I was getting a bit annoyed and grabbed a stick and a rock, that I walked with all the way back to the sun bears/orang-utans. No other cars stopped.

I first went to the sun bears and didn't expect much but it was rather nice. There's different areas that they stay in, depending on the stages of their rehabilitation. Because I was there when the temperature was at it's highest, they just mostly layed down and sunbathed (as sun bears apparently love to do). One was up in a far away tree but they pointed a telescope that way so you could see it and also take pictures through it. Oh and BBC was also recording for a documentary, so we had to walk very slowly. There was also a second platform where I found one sun bear that was looking for food, but it soon dissapeared out of sight.

I then went back to the orang-utans and first watched a documentary on what it is they're doing there. I didn't expect much of it and just the a/c alone was nice! And watching it, there was a part me that wondered if this was all necessary and if it wasn't better to just let them be and another part of me felt so sad that I felt understanding of what it is they were doing. After the movie I decided to get an icecream before doing anything else haha. I then walked towards the nursery again. As I got closer to the nursery, I looked up, -always look up- and I saw 3 orang utans in the distance high up in a tree. I watched them for a little while and then continued walking around the corner and into the nursery where I only stayed for a few minutes. I then went back outside onto the boardwalk which was where I would be for a little while, missing the second feeding.

The 3, orang-utans were making their way down, climbing down that big tree I saw them on first and then swinging from tree to tree. They were waiting for each other, which was quite cute. They got closer and closer and then jumped from the tree to the boardwalk we were on. And they were right in front of us!!! Holy crap, they were so close. Me and the other people still there tried not to move. I couldn't take any pictures because my memory was full, darnit...I guess we all take so many pictures and videos because we are afraid to forget the moment and for me it's also because I always love to share my experiences! But I do hope this memory stays with me forever and I tried to really savor the moment. 

I also went through my photos when I was down at the river and was able to relive everything I had done and seen. It sometimes just doesn't register right away, well it does in some degree. Another reason I should really start doing photo albums.

Anyways, I took the mini bus back after that (there's only one going back). I was the only 'tourist' and the driver kept telling anyone he could with a sad face. The bus filled up with locals all the way back though and I saw a pricelist on the bus and it was about half of what tourists had to pay. Now by this time, I was a bit fed up, also because of the pick up trucks and the differences in prices each and every time, that I payed the busdriver what a local would have to. He told me it wasn't enough, I pointed at the pricelist and said, same same. And I really just walked off after that. I did feel a bit guilty later that day.

I flew back to Kota Kinabalu the next morning and was able to get another row to myself. I was glad that, I wouldn't have a lot of flights left in the next two months. After all, I did 6 flights in the last two weeks. Back to the same hostel with the familiar faces, having dinner together, playing uno, having fun for the next two days. It's now almost 2am and I'm leaving for the airport at 6am. I stayed up to finish my book so I didn't have to carry it with me and decided to then write this. Not sure I'll go to sleep anymore. I realized that this would probably be my last hostel on this trip! And I will only really go to two countries before going home, Australia and Indonesia (and then make my way back to Bangkok for my flight home). I know I have a lot of time left but because I'll be seeing all these familiar faces in the next two months, it feels like time will go by even faster!

Cheers,

T.

Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan & Kinabatangan river!

So there's usually a song that I hear over and over and over again in a certain country, that  I would then download to remind me of my time in that particular country. But in this case it's the same song chasing me around in all the countries I've been to on this trip; Memories - Maroon 5. It's everywhere...even when the airplane was getting ready for take off to Kota Kinabalu (aka KK). The flight was good, I claimed an entire row so I could stretch my legs a bit. The legroom I have on the domestic Air Asia flights is so little so the extra space was very appreciated!!

Went back to the same hostel as before, where I was also able to leave my big backpack and that's why all I needed to bring was a carry on bag. That was soooo nice! And also to travel in flipflops :)!! I was welcomed back at the hostel by familiar faces and also one girl that said one of her roommates told her about me before she left haha. It was one of the people I hung out with before I left for Langkawi. I came in around 730pm and had another two nights in KK. So the next full day, I didn't do much...sleep in, go to the pool, chill, repacked my big backpack to leave behind again and a smaller one to take with me to Sandakan, where I was flying to the next afternoon.

And so another flight with just a carry on bag and wearing flipflops! I did bring my sarong this time because I was freezing on the airplane last time. And again, little legroom and a terrible powernap but the flight was only about half an hour! Got to the hostel in Sandakan, where I had booked a double room with seaview and it did not disappoint! It's the first time in...I kind of want to say all of my trip, that I have a window! Which is not entirely true, but this is the first private room with window and shower, still shared restrooms. The view was sooo nice and I even opened the windows a few times.

Sandakan itself was okay. A lot of males on the street (young and old) and a lot of stares (also by females) and 'hello, hello, hello' and 'wow, you're beautiful'. Sigh, yeah 'hello and goodbye' haha. My hostel was at a waterfront which was nice for walks and other than that I didn't see much, local shops, a supermarket and a mall.

I was picked up the next day to go on my 2night Kinabatangan river tour (which included 2 afternoon and one morning rivercruises, a night jungle walk and a morning jungle walk)! I was with 3 other people from the hostel and after lunch a 4th person joined us. The bus ride to Kinabatangan river was very bumpy and took about 2 hours, 3 of us shared travel stories on the bus and so time went by a bit faster. We then took a boat to our lodge for about 5-10min. 3 of our group only had a daytour which was lunch, an afternoon cruise and the 2hours back to Sandakan and 2 of us stayed overnight. We checked in and I was in a fan dorm, which was the cheapest option, and I was the only one there and so I had 6 beds to choose from! There was a boardwalk in between the dorm, chalets and reception/restaurant and everything was high of the ground, safe from snakes and such. We saw a huge lizard and a few monkeys at which point I said monjet, which means monkey when the staff asked what I saw. They started laughing.

At 330pm they hit a drum, letting everyone know it was tea time. Very funny and reminded me of when I was on one of the islands of Fiji as the only guest there and I slept on a hill. And everytime a meal was being served, they did the same. Anyways, we had our tea plus snack and listened to our guide who gave us some information on the area, the wildlife, our activities and explained what the rules were.

We left with the 5 of us and another group of 5 including 2 tourguides which completely filled the boat. The water is brown (or looks brown because of the mud underneath). The cruise was about two hours and I was hoping to see orang utans (which means man if the forest) and pygmea elephants, but when I heard the last sightings were months ago, I settled on seeing crocs and monkeys. Everytime we saw a log, it looked like a crocodile and so everytime we saw a log, one of us went; crocodile. We did see a few actual crocodile heads in the water, some birds (like hornsbills, eagles and kingfishers) and a lot of monkeys, macaques and proboscis monkeys (nose monkeys). 

The two of us that stayed overnight went on the night trek with one guide/spotter in front and one behind us. We had to rent boots because it was very muddy and also wear long socks or rent leech socks. The night walk was nice and exciting and I hoped to see more than big bugs (that's what I mostly saw in Bako, Sarawak). And we did, birds (kingfishers!!!), a small snake and civet cats!! After that we walked to the river to check out the stars, you could see so many of them!! And then went to our rooms. I heard animals on the roof before going to sleep, which was probably civet cats chasing jungle mice according to one of the guides.

I had set my alarm for 530am, because of our schedule 550am tea/coffee, 6am morning river cruise! I somehow always wake up before my alarm clock though and this time it was also still dark outside. But I got up, had tea and we then went on the morning cruise, just the two of us again plus guide and the driver. It was nice, we again saw more monkeys, birds, but this time I also spotted an owl which was new! And knowing it's wildlife, I sometimes still felt a bit as I did when I was in Bako, Sarawak, like it was a tourist attraction (which it kind of is but still it's not a zoo or anything), kind of like I was on a Jurassic Park ride minus the dinosaurs of course haha.

After the cruise we had breakfast and everybody left after that, but more people were to join me at lunch time. I also did a morning trek, but mostly saw trees...and heard a lot of birds, boars, etc. Another drum around noon meant another meal and they gave me so much food. If there's a lot of people there's a buffet, but if not, you get the food per group and my group was just me. After lunch I layed by the river and finished my book and waited for the next activity, a village visit. This was however just going to a homestay next door where I had my teabreak, still by myself (and the guide), it felt a bit awkward..This was followed by my 3rd and final rivercruise.

I didn't expect much of it, or nothing new anyway and figured I would just relax. It started out very quiet, not a lot of monkeys nor birds and I wondered if it was too hot (the day before was very cloudy). But then it ended up to be the best out of 3!! There were a lot of boats out today and usually when a boat stops to look at something, others followed. And we saw 3 boats in one spot so it had to be special and it was, in the distance but still recognizable, two orang utans! The guide said, every time we saw a monkey, Talitha, monjet haha. We stayed and looked at them for a little while. We continued our cruise after more and more boats came to check it out and went on a different route than before. I don't know why they don't always take this route! We saw a lot more monkeys there, macaques and proboscis monkeys again and also....a huge crocodile!!! Happy days!!! 

We all came back very happy and waited for the drum to tell us dinner was ready and again, they gave me so much food. I was still kind of full from lunch but decided to eat so I wouldn't be hungry later. It's weird to go from eating small portions twice a day to 3 somewhat large meals. And so after dinner, I did not do another night trek but went back to the room, worked on this post, went through my pictures and called it a night. 

Woke up early the next morning, had breakfast and went back to Sandakan. Because we didn't have lunch on the way back, it took 2,5 hours. I checked in to the same hostel again, seaview room of course! I stayed inside to watch a movie (The fault in our stars, which was also the book I had just finished). I then had noodlesoup and apples for lunch and a pedicure and footscrub for dinner haha.

Cheers,
T.

Ps; there was no signal whatsoever at Kinabatangan except for once during one of the rivercruises. When I was taking pictures, an email from my mom came through. But as we were moving, I lost the signal again. Which was fine to be off the grid for 2 days! Except for this one lady that was there who lost her phone in the river and with that alsp her pictures but sh.e was also fine, there's nothing you can do about it she said. She joined her friend, who had traveled for months, for her last 10 days.

 (The huge croc)

 (Mr. Everlasting - proboscis monkey)

Kota Kinabalu and 48hrs in Langkawi visiting a local friend!

Landed in Kota Kinabalu and there's sea, sun, defenitely a change of scenery!!! Happy days :)!! Took a bus to the hostel which wasn't far away but then I couldn't find it after being dropped off. It took me about 10minutes because it was in an appartment building. I then checked in and it was the first time since I left that I had my own private room(!!!), shared bathroom and no window but still woehoeee! I took a picture and send it to the collegues that chipped in  money to use on Booking.com as a farewell present. I thanked them for the 6 nights I would have here in the next two weeks. You see, this isn't the only place I'm visiting in Malaysia. I've got about 48hrs in Langkawi to visit a local friend and 5 nights in Sandakan (incl. 2 near Kinabatangan river).

And as usual, I sat down with all my brochures and maps to plan my time there. But the relaxed vibes got to me and I couldn't be bothered. My only goal the next 3 days was to go to the Sunday market. I read about it before and made sure I had a Sunday here to go see it. I immediately came in contact with the other guest in the hostel. It was the first time on this trip to really socialize with others and it felt good, despite of the fact that most of them were Dutch or German (I hope you're reading this haha). And so a trip to the Sunday market became multiple trips to a pool nearby, of which the hostel had an access card to, the saturday night market (SATAY!!!) and eating together. I wasn't even in my room that much.

After 3 nights I left to go on my 48hour quick getaway to Langkawi. I totally forgot that I had a layover in Kuala Lumpur, darnit....this meant it would take 5,5 hours in total to get there. I arrived and my transfer flight was a few gates down. It was in the same area I was a few years ago when I had a super long layover (I mean really long). I thought I'd entertain myself with movie lounges and such, but because I was flying domestically, there was nothing. I passed by my 'old' hang out spot, where I wrote my blog and the bakery where I bought a chicken curry puff (I did again that day). Luckily I didn't have to wait that long today!

I landed in Langkawi, took a Grab to my accomodation. Oh yeah, the Grab is like Uber here and I bought a SIM card with data because it's about €5 for unlimited 4G data for a month (first time ever on any trip, just so I can use Grab)! We drove through the area I stayed in before and at night I went on a walk on the beach towards that same area. It was the same but also things changed! It was so weird to be back and not have the same people around me nor the same surroundings.

Auri, the friend I came here for on her only day off, picked me up the next morning to go for breakfast. We met a year and a half ago when I was here. She worked at the icecream shop in front of my hostel! The shop is still there and I passed it, but she wasn't so that was weird too. It was good seeing her again. We also went for dinner at night at the hotel she works at now and video chatted with another guy that was here when we first met (English), unfortunately the other girl (Dutch) was working (hard) so we weren't all there but it was fun!! 

On the morning of my flight, I went for a final walk on the beach, had breakfast and headed to the airport. What a way to end my time here and even better, traveling on flipflops and carrying nothing but handlugagge :)!

Cheers,
T.

KOTA KINABALU

 LANGKAWI

Lantern Festival and finally a sunny day in Taipei/Taiwan :)!!!

The flight was exhausting, I kind of always assume that I'll have an entertainment set and when I don't....jeeez. I also finished all my 1-2-3star sudokus and only have 4star ones left and they are super hard!! And my book was in my checked luggage. And so I decided to sort/delete/organize my pictures and videos. And also listen to music for the first time since I left. This was my 6th flight and I have at least 10 more flights to go!!

8days in Taipei (Taiwan), yikes, I'll try to keep it as short as possible! If you tell anyone you are going to Taipei for a week, they'd tell you you're nuts. Someone told me on the night I arrived. But to me, it's more than a checklist. I'd rather have extra time to just walk around and try to feel a cities vibe, could I have done with less days here though? Of course. Could I have seen more of Taiwan? Sure. But for me, this was fine. Btw, this was probably my first social contact I had in weeks (and they asked if I was from Canada, glad I still don't sound like Dutchie). It hasn't been busy in the first places I went to because of low season, and also now due to the Corona virus and I also kept a bit to myself. I mean I won't be alone for more than  half of my trip so I might as well enjoy it while it lasts right!

It was also the first night I shushed someone. I arrived around 11pm and tried to go to sleep about an hour after and this girl was on the phone having a loud conversation, so I asked her to be quiet (in sort of a nice way) and she said sorry and stopped talking. Gosh, am I getting old? Haha, I do think that this might be one of the last times I'll be backpacking like this. Plus I did call this kind of my 'good bye' tour of visiting the final pieces of my puzzle on this end of the world. I must say though, I've been very succesful at picking good and comfortable hostels/beds, but I am kind of looking forward to having my own room and mostly to a pool, sun and good (cheap) food. And just a change of scenery really, it's been a lot of the same.

The main reason for me to go to Taipei was for the annual lantern festival in Pingxi! Giant paper lanterns flying high into the sky. I decided to do this on a day trip. One of the first things our tour guide asked was where everbody got their masks? Mostly got them from home or another country. Apparently they were sold out and the only way to get one in Taiwan now is if you have an insurance card and even then you are limited to 1-2 per week if they have any at all. Later that week I saw a line outside a pharmacy, I guess a new batch came in. Somebody said that the masks were 'made in China' and the tourguide joked that maybe that was their agenda.

The tour was fun, I talked to a group of 3 from Hawaii most of the day, a couple and their friend. And one asked me if I wasn't afraid, not wearing a mask and all. And I said, no, if it's my time, it's my time and I'll be doing something I love (and no I don't mean coughing or dying). Besides if everyone is wearing one, why should I right.

We had a few stops; Shifen Waterfall. First we saw a tiny one, and then a medium one...was this getting better? And then a big one! That was it! It was gorgeous and even though my shoes and socks were soaked, I walked to the better viewing points which only a few others did. Did not prepare to have any rain on my trip, but there it was. I had wet feet till the end! Our tour guide had these rubber boots she pulled over her shoes! She told me; Made in China, order on Alibaba! We also went to Shifen old street, where the train runs by every half an hour and people light up their lanterns from the tracks in between and also went to an old coal mine.

Our final activity was to write on our lanterns (which were as big as a person) and let it fly! My four sides read; Taipei 2020 Pingxi - Be Happy / Laughter, Happiness, Health / For friends and family / Nederland & all over the world. Because of the rain, they soon turned black and all fell from the sky though, dramatic music played in the background (not on purpose I think). It was nice while it lasted! But as they all started crashing down as black dots in the sky, I wondered if anyone was going to pick them up...

The rest of the week involved a lot of walking! I also saw a celebrity! I didn't know who it was at the time, but there was a lot of security, police, photographers, fans, etc. There were old ladies that were 'pushed' aside because they were protesting and happened to be on the same street. And this guy went the same route I went on, I saw him everywhere (at the Taipei Lantern Festival). I later learned that he is Taipeis mayor and people love him. I even saw him on tv in the metro a few days after!

I also had take out from a 1 star Michelin restaurant! Quite the experience :)! And I went to a lot of night markets, they're everywhere and this culture is all about food! It didn't all smell great, but I couldn't pinpoint what it was, 'stinky tofu', blood dishes, no idea. This place is also about shopping, holy crap, sometimes it was almost as if I was walking around in an Ebay/Alibaba/Wish shop haha. 

Of course I had to go to the zoo, they had pandas!! The zoo was huge! And full of greenery, I really had to look for some of the animals and didn't see some of them at all. That morning before going to the zoo, I went on a gondala ride which took forever (20-30min) and I walked for about half an hour only to find that the place I was walking to was closed due to construction (31st of Jan till April) and so I walked back. This was the only other day my feet got wet but dried at the zoo.

And there was one day, I was sooo tired. I probably should have stayed in or go out a bit later. I walked around like a zombie and put on some music (2nd time on this trip) and thought some things over, but I might dedicate a seperate post on that.

I did learn from it and took it easy the next day(s), I just walked around the city for a bit. Sightseeing and just experience the culture. Very relaxing and I finally had a sunny day (or 2). I also noticed more and more people started wearing masks and my hostel (and a museum I went to) also started scanning temperatures since a few days. There was also a camera at the biggest/most popular temple and of course most of the airports.

Well, that's it for Taipei/Taiwan!

Flying to a change of scenery....

Cheers,
T.