Borneo Expedition 2005

Day 12: The pot noodle-esque breakfast was somewhat silly and unfulfilling! Day sacks on our backs, we feebly trundled out of our accomodation, to the site's reception area. Here, we handed over our large main rucksacks, having the cheek to put them all in 2 huge plastic survival sacks! This was to avoid the very small fee per bag, and we got away with it!
A short bus journey later, up some twisty road, past where we'd slept last night, we had arrived at the "start!". At this point, we came upon a board with record times for scaling the mountain. The record for men was just over 2 hours or something silly! That can't be true... we'll be taking 2 damn DAYS! And someone said that was the time for going up AND down!!! Surely not?! Can the locals get any more super human?! They'd beat Spiderman anyday. The wuss.
Raring to go, to begin the climb we first had to go downhill! The slope was lengthy and straight, before the first steps UP the appeared! And these were BIG steps in places. Big, uneven steps that even my lanky legs had trouble with! 2,500 steps of leg-mangling uphill-ness... with nothing but flying fish and chocolate monkeys for company... to eat, i meant. Walk. Walk. Walk. ALL UPHILL!
... how knackering!
... how sweatful!
... how uber-painful!
No words can really explain what it was like... maybe like doing every cross country you've ever done in one day... possibly. Actually, that's a crap comparison. It was k.n.a.c.k.e.r.i.n.g anyway!
However the pain was somewhat compensated by some really amazing views - across valleys etc, through clouds, all sorts of wildlife and plants... and the most revolting leggings ever! Some disgusting bright luminous colour on a shrivelled middle-aged woman... "Mmm... Leggings!" Ha! The catchphrase of the whole expedition is born! Thankyou Calvey.
It was also bewildering to regularly pass or be passed by frail, old porters carrying objects lat east twice there size. These items and supplies were hoisted upon their heads and backs, held in wicker baskets. I'm sure I saw some kind of tumble dryer being transported up the mountain, as well as a dozen crates of Coke bottles! These people truly put us to shame with their strength... and knobbly knees... that were feckin' muscly!
Ahoy! The end for today is in sight! At last, the (higher up) restaurant! After some food in the 3,100m high restaurant (which was still a stupid walk from where we were sleeping!), it's bed time i think. We're all very much oh so tired, and with the prospect of a 1am wake-up...

Borneo's hostels are scummier / MUCH colder at this height!

Day 11. Another delightful bus journey! This time it was from Sepilok to Mt. Kinabalu - and yet more road cafe yuk food was had! This, and the bus journey, made Emma feel vey queasy! And sitting next to her on the bus, my poking and prodding did nothing to alleviate her problems!
During the journey we had good views of the bastad hill that we'd soon have to climb! We also watched some pirated films (inc. Mr and Mrs Smith), sitting near pirate people!
In what seemed like an eTeRnItY, we were dropped off at the side of the road (basically the foot of Mt. Kinabalu!). Up a hill into the "World Heritage Site", we waited around the entrance a bit, then proceeded to walk to our accomodation. Mountain mist was ominously everywhere as we trundled down some side-sloping steps. Rooms were somehow chosen and we all began to settle in.
Most of the day was spent walking around the main complex's site. Split off into groups, we were trying to find a suitable restaurant to eat in tonight. Instead, we all just got lost and after about an hour of going round in circles, we refound each other in a cafe near the main entrance. The food we'd found on our explorations was either too expensive or too far away - so not much luck there!
Back in our accomodation, the wonderfully bare and sterile place it was, we all listened to a man trying the (from what we could gather) VERY cold shower! He made some very silly noises! "Ah!!! Ooh!!! Eee!!!" Feeling in a lively mood ourselves, it was time for "Kyle-in-a-bag" and dropping (and leaving) Soos in the boys' toilets!
That night we decided to go to the cheapo, off-site restaurant, where we ordered BIG platefuls of rice and all things nice to share. It was so much cheaper and maybe nicer than anything we could've afforded or had at the onsite restaurant(s).
It was pitch black by the time we'd left the restaurant (by some spooky back door!) Walking out, we crossed the road, saw the "Max Lube" stickered van, walked up the hill to the entrance and back to our rooms, dreading tomorrow...

Oh what a day. Sigh...

Day 10. My leadership... is over today. About time! The day started well with our room lockout (NOT my fault I tell ya!), before going on to see the monkeys at the Sepilok sanctuary. They were good to see, but there were too many tourists around, making everything seem a bit fake. Meh, I suppose their money (and ours) helps protect them! We saw about 7 or 8 or 9 wild orang-utans, including a baby, and several macaques - some just dangling overhead, ready to shit on us! It felt like the hottest day the earth had EVER had whilst we were there! The sweat came like a flood merely standing and looking, let alone doing any sort of moving! Seeing a gazillion ants in a huge conga line heading somewhere along a railing, we went back to the main sanctuary centre, watched some video on rainforest protection in a pleasantly cool building, and walked around an orang-utan information centre. Who knew they had such big hands?!
We left monkeyville, waited at a bus-stop for ages then took the groovy (got musik!) bus to Sandakan, a city in the very North of Borneo. At the vibrant city of Sandakan, we walked around a few markets including the live fish and all-sorts-of-other-odd-sea-creatures market! From there, we headed towards a huge modern mosque overshadowing a sprawling water village. The buildings in this village were on stilts and went off into the sea, over mud-flats which the local children ran over in low tide. It was an odd experience just wandering over their walkways, through the place where the inhabitants live largely in poverty. Despite the far-from-ideal conditions, everyone seemed very welcoming - especially the children! The coastal stilt village seemed very fragile and precarious, with many parts of the buildings and walkways rotting away. I couldn't help thinking about if a similar tsunami to the Boxing Day 2004 one hit here, it would all be instantly wiped out.
So we wandered back out of water village, past the lurvely dead dog in the bin. We had a failed fish BBQ idea (thanx anyway Kyle!), and headed back to the centre of Sandakan. After some shopping for provisions, we re-boarded the groovy bus, with butter sweetcorn this time, and headed back to Sepilok.
After the extensive journey, which included some seemingly pointless diversions and a thunderstorm, we were back at Sepilok. We were in time for some grub too! We had more restaurant food and Mirinda... Zoe's fave! It's this very flavoursome soft drink in two flavours... either orange and some kind or berry i believe. It rivals Milo (local hot chocolate) as the drink of choice!
After the meal i was de-briefed (no pants!) from my wonderful leadership. That basically meant having a talk from Adam and Su the "true" leaders about how i thought I'd done whilst i was in charge of everyone. We concluded that i was too laid back, but had put some effort in.... something like that anyway!
Back in our cabins, we somehow ended up playing chirades, imitating each other (more like piss-taking!), whilst eating stupid amounts of tasteless coconut flesh...
I also decided that, instead of venturing out and about into the dark and spider-infested toilet, I would take a shower more closely to our cabins. So, using the nice cold rain that happened to be falling and leaky guttering, I had a lovely drain shower! It did the job...

Sleepy-pooz, no home-sick-ness yet...

(The big spider was squished tonight... R.I.P.)

Day 9. Still my leadership! Today we were off to Sepilok Orang-Utan Sanctuary! We travelled for several hours by coach, only stopping once for a toilet break and some dodgy food at a roadside cafe. The food was slop, full of bits of animal tubes and nostrils! Not only was it unappealing to look at, my lack of hunger coupled with an ill-feeling stomach meant that the disgusting food didn't go down very well at all!
Approaching Sepilok territory, we were unkindly dropped 2.5km away from the sanctuary, and almost had to WALK! ...shock! horror! Where we were dropped off, there were some suspicious looking locals standing by their cars. They kept talking quietly at each other, occasionally looking up at us. We slowly edged away and began walking! Ten minutes into the walk (already knackered!), we were picked up by Sepilok workers that were driving past. One of the pick-ups that collected us had a big hole in the vehicle floor, giving good air conditioning! I somehow think MOTs mean nothing here! However, the pick-up i was in was very nice and far more stable!
The Sepilok hostels were very nice in all fairness, well built and clean. Outside the chalets were large benches and carved things (mushrooms?!) Although I suspect that these were rather plastic or concrete instead of wood! The only problem with the whole complex was that the toilets were far from ensuite, and they had a big spider in! mUsT rEmEmBeR tO cHeCk UnDeR tHe ToIleT sEat! mUsT rEmEmBeR tO cHeCk UnDeR tHe ToIleT sEat! mUsT rEmEmBeR tO cHeCk UnDeR tHe ToIleT sEat! mUsT rEmEmBeR tO cHeCk UnDeR tHe ToIleT sEat!
The restaurant at the site, basically next to our rooms, was nice, but expensive by Borneo standards. The food wasn't even anything special.
We're off to see the orang-utans tomorrow, woop! woop! And they'd better be worth it, as they were a clinching factor in me choosing Borneo over Central America or other places that I could have gone with World Challenge...
Despite the flood the other night, there has been far less rain than I expected there to be. I don't think it's wet season, which might explain a bit, but still!
Trying to go to the toilet in the evening was hell, especially after you'd just had that big spider run under your feet and out of view. Pisses were now reserved for the bushes, and I'm sure I can hold a number two in...
Tonight, I'm staying in a room with Calvey, Kyle and Lucy. It was time for us to go to bed, and everyone was tired after today's long bus journey. However, we wouldn't be sleeping for a while yet, as shadowing into the night came the pointless laughter! Us four were all laying in bed... not together, and began to say goodnight to each other:

Calvey: "Goodnight!"
Me: "Goodnight!"
Lucy: "Goodnight!"
Kyle: " "

Kyle's non-response tickled something in Calvey and me, and we were off! Mu ha ha ha! HA! It wouldn't stop! Literally for more than 30 minutes, pure laughter! And when it did briefly stop and we'd try to hold it in, we'd just burst and trigger each other off again! Dear lordy! It HURT! It was painful to keep laughing - but it was unstoppable! That was until we got tired, so so sleepy... and fell asleep!

Day 8. My "leadership" pointlessly continues! The river waters had subsided slightly by morning, leaving river debris perilously close to where we slept last night. Adam told us this morning that the waters had come EVEN higher during the night whilst we were asleep. That is higher than when we were awake and on the brink of abandoning our outpost!
After checking that all our kit hadn't been washed away, we left the relatively luxurious centre, climbed a never-ending hill and clambered aboard yet more mini-busses! We were on a return ride to Kota Kinabalu and the ride was very much humbling. We saw and heard of the destruction last night's 11-hour long heavy rain had caused - 3 dead, cars submerged, houses obliterated (literally), petrol pumps strewn about. Indeed, I'm sure it happens fairly often in Borneo, in the tropics, but it was something none of us had seen before. If such an event occured in the UK, there'd be chaos! The whole country'd stop! Think of how much everyone focused on Boscastle when it was flooded - and no-one even died!
Once back in KK, it was time do to some more organising! This was to ensure that we had transport and accomodation for the upcoming week, but our actions only resulted in chaos! With me in charge, things didn't go smoothly! I can NEVER decide anything! We also did some eating (yet more rice!) and drinking (lumpy cinsau!)
In the evening, we went to a restaurant in close proximity to our Planet Kinabalu hostel. When I say A restaurant, I mean several, as it was one large sprawling complex of them! It was then time for another night out - to the "Cock & Bull" pub again! It was great fun, as usual, of course! At the pub, we met Sampson, THE Borneo man, and promptly gave him a fair few cans of Boddingtons that we'd smuggled with us from the UK. I couldn't give him my can, as it got destroyed on the plane - damn baggage handlers! It equally covered by kit in a moist, yeasty smell!
Boddingtons was Sampson's favourite tipple, and he had great difficult buying the Manchester beer in Borneo! Sampson was a large, friendly, girthy man whom my older brother Robert had previously met when he came to Borneo on a simliar trip. However, my brother's trip was with his school and over 10 years before me! That didn't stop me using the same rucksack as he did though...!

This place is wonderful. And no squits yet! Added bonus.