Rainforests of Borneo

Thursday, November 21

Here, in Kota Kinabalu. Now we've got to find out how we make reservations, book transport to Mount Kinabalu park,and from there find our way to Poring Hot Springs. I'll save you the mildly mundane travel details. The one highlight was that we did get separated from each other once again. And this time Kelly had her walkie-talkie, and I had mine. But for the obvious reasons, I didn't think to turn mine on.

At about 10:00 am we found a bus and were whisked up the mountain at a very leisurely pace, making it to the park at about 12:15. Did we mention that this park is in the middle of a rainforest? It was raining. Hard. This was the primary reason we were willing to overpay for a taxi from here to there, there being Poring Hot Springs.

Once we got there the rain had cleared and the weather was beautiful. We went on a hike to the closer of the two waterfalls. When we got back there was a very friendly Canadian fellow named Dave, who was traveling with his wife, Whitney. They had gone up Mount Kinabalu the previous day with a bunch of other late twenty, early thirtysomethings, and we had a nice chat about traveling. But soon the sulfurous bubblings of the hot springs were impossible to resist. We changed into something more suitable for hot springs (and less suitable for Malaysia) and spent the rest of the afternoon filling our sulfur bath, and chatting with a very friendly local fellow. He was at the park with his family celebrating the recent marriage of his sister. "Gee everybody's getting married".

Dinner was rather uneventful. We finally learned our lesson though; never eat dinner outside at night under a ceiling fan unless you like your food with bonus protein flying into it about once every five minutes. "Waiter there's a fly in my soup, and juice, and salad..."

After dinner we joined the rest of the travelers at another resteraunt for some drinks and conversation. We kind of felt like lightweights compared to them. They were all on the road for at least six months, and one of them was planning on nearly a year and a half of travel. Amazing. We all went back to the hostel, and spent the rest of the evening playing cards. We actually stayed up till midnight again! We're over the lag, really over it.

Friday, November 22

Even if it's been said above, let me just say again - the rainforest here is so beautiful, probably the lushest green place I've ever been with huge ferns and countless plants that unfortunately I couldn't identify, countless strange birdcalls that unfortunately I couldn't name, and countless huge insects that we looked at with fascination yet from a safe distance. Andrew and I love hiking and the outdoors, but I must admit, we are kinda wimpy when it comes to strange-looking (and even some not-so-strange-looking) critters. Or maybe I am just speaking for myself.

On our first morning in the rainforest, we had breakfast with a couple from Canada, Dave and Whitney, who we met the previous day. They were also on their honeymoon, although theirs was 6 months long. Dave had been laid off and Whitney was given a leave of absence, so they were using Dave's severance pay to travel around southeast Asia and figure out what they wanted to do when they grew up. They were a couple years older than us.

After breakfasting and picking up snacks to take hiking, we headed off into the rainforest to find another waterfall. After we passed the first waterfall we came upon the stench of bat guano and along with it a bat cave. Outside of the cave there was a sign in both Malay and English saying, "Visitors are not encouraged to enter the cave". Needless to say, we didn't really need the sign to keep us from entering.

As we continued along the trail, the general direction was up. We were pretty sure that we were the only ones on the trail, which was becoming much more rugged and less defined, when we remembered that anyone taking this particular trail was supposed to inform the park officials before they left. We hadn't informed them. We wondered how many people got lost on this trail before they began the policy for trekkers to inform them beforehand. Regardless, we continued on and were rewarded with a lovely stream.

Onward we went through high grass, for which I was able to convert my shorts to pants, but unfortunately Andrew had forgotten his zip on long pant legs so he was getting bit pretty bad. After going through that awhile we were rewarded with a breathtaking view of the lush green valley below. We continued on the rugged trail again when it occurred to us - maybe we should put some insect repellent on. A few seconds later it occurred to us - maybe we forgot the insect repellent in the other bag. So after we got bit one too many times and before we reached the waterfall, we turned around. We rationalized that the view of the valley was all we really needed to see anyhow.

After we got back from this hike, we went the well-traveled route that most tourist go when they come to Poring Hot Springs - to the canopy walk. For 5 ringetts (3.8 ringetts = $1USD) per person, 10 ringetts more if you want to bring your camera, you get to walk on a flimsy suspension bridge 40 meters (about 130 feet) high over the rainforest canopy, made out of narrow wooden planks to walk on, a small amount of netting along the side in case you slipped off of the plank, and ropes along the top of the netting, holding the bridge from one tree to the next, and allowing it to swing as you walked between trees. There were signs everywhere - only 6 people at a time on the bridge. We played it safe and only went with us two. And we paid to do this!?! One thing we did not pay for was the camera. Don't tell anyone - we snuck it it! We surreptitiously took one picture while we were high in the trees, then began on the last leg of the bridges. I liked to keep a fairly far distance between me and Andrew on the bridge, but a park staff person began tailgating me, forcing me to tailgate Andrew, who sped up till we got to the landing between trees/bridges. There the staff person passed us up and proceeded to fine the person in front of us for bringing a camera and not paying for it. Guess we lucked out!

Before we could get into any more rule-breaking trouble, we left the hot springs and journeyed by taxi to Mount Kinabalu Park, where most people go to do the 2 day hike up the mountain, but we went to just hike around the area. On the way we stopped to see the rafflesia plant, which was in bloom. It is the largest flower in the world, or so they say, which blooms to about 1 meter (3.2 ft) in diameter. We paid 10 ringetts each, then an additional 10 for the camera - we didn't want to risk it this time. I was a bit let down by how big the flower was, it looked to me to be less than 2 feet wide. I told the taxi driver that I thought it would be bigger and he said something to the effect of, "they always do".

As we got to the Mount Kinabalu park, it began to pour. We checked into the park headquarters, found out we had at least a ten minute walk to our twin cabin, and thought we'd try to wait out the rain at the cafe. When we finally came to the realization that it was going to rain all night, we trudged through the rain with our luggage on our backs (I was grateful mine converted to a backpack and this was the first time that I took advantage of that feature). For the first time on our trip, we were actually cold, so we took advantage of the space heater in the cabin and the hot shower (only cold showers or hot sulfurous tubs in Poring), then had dinner at the mistranslated all-you-can-eat salad restaurant that was previously mentioned, and went to bed.

Saturday, November 23

Another day, another downpour. Did we mention that this is the rain forest. Did we also mention that this is the rainy season? We did get to breakfast in dry weather. And we were also able to fit in a good bit of walking in the dry morning weather. Unfortunately, the last third of the walk was a little less than dry. The forest is kind of tricky when it rains. There is this large canopy of leaves, suspended by trees (who woulda thunk it?) and they are amazingly good at acting as a canopy (now really, does that not seem obvious in linguistic retrospect?). So as we were walking down the various paths, we were for the most part quite dry. To us it seemed like less than a drizzle. A drop here, a drop there, here a drop, there a drop, everywhere a drop drop. Ol' MacDonald...

Kelly says I'm getting sidetracked (again, who'd a thunk?).

By the time the downpour had begun it was TOO LATE. While it was drier on the trail, our route to
pseudo-civilization rested in our ability to navigate an asphalt road from point A to point B on the map. This turned out to be about a half-mile walk in what had now become a very respectable rain. Did we mention that this was a rain forest?

After we checked out, it was time to arrange transport back to Kota Kinabalu (KK). By now, the down pour was pouring down, and anyone who spent more than a minute out in the rain would be soaked. So we waited at the bus stop. Luckliy it had an awning, and we only got totally drenched going from park headquarters to the stop.

We don't know how long it takes for the bus to come. This is because we didn't wait. About ten minutes after we got to the stop, a couple from Hong Kong arrived and through a fairly non-linear set of circumstances, we found ourselves paying 5 ringget more for a mini-van to KK than we would have for a bus. Another dollar-fifty down the drain. Did I mention that so far we've only LOST $10 American? Did I mention that Kelly thinks I've been writing "Did I mention" too much today :)

The ride was quicker in the taxi, and Kelly had quite a conversation with the Hong Kong couple. I slept.

Once in KK we quested for postcards, found authentic Italian food, and slept in a hostel. It was at this hostel where Kelly declared that once in Bali, we would not be staying in any of these sub-standard accommodations where sheet-changing does not occur on a daily basis. I wonder what she's going to expect of *our* sheets at home.

During our travels we've had various opportunities to read newspapers from all around the region. It's always a little eerie. The things they report on are very different from the stuff that gets press in the US. One story we noticed was that three days after opening, "Harry Potter: The Chamber of Secrets" was out on DVD in Malaysia. We've read the books, and we saw the last movie, so we figured "what the heck". For a small fee of 15 ringgets, we could have our very own (poorly recorded) copy of the movie on DVD, for our brand spanking new DVD player (thanks ctm). Now I'm sure that there is some pang of corporate remorse in my body screaming about the dollars that I've just swiped from Warner (I think). But I suppress these things when overseas. You know what they say; "When in Rome, buy pirated movies".

One bit of coincidence was that we ran into Anya, one of the Poring travelers at the Trekkers Lodge where we stayed. She was the yoga instructor who was traveling for a year and a half. She invited us to see the movie "Transporter". She told us it was a "western". It took us a while to figure out that she meant "western world" not "cowboys and cattle".

But we were tired, confused, and wet. I guess it rains in the city too. So we went to bed, and mentally prepared ourselves for the last leg of our journey: Bali.

next time: our heroes excel in doing nothing, it's a vacation from our vacation, it's the land of thrice daily offerings to the gods, it's BALI!!!

- Andrew and Kelly