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In Search
Of Conrad - 20/07/2006
So. Borneo.
One of the last remaining bastions of diverse wildlife in the
world. Oft touted alongside the Galapagos, Madagascar and lately
Socotra as a island haven. We did not think so as we took the
bus from Tawau to Sandakan. All we saw were palm oil
plantations. In fact, virtually the whole of Sabah is one
giant palm oil plantation.
We arrived by speedboat from Nunukan in Kalimantan. We
wandered Tawau around like village idiots aghast at the
difference between Indonesia and Malaysia. The bus to
Sandakan was showing Rambo, the music was quiet, almost
inaudible, and we even got a free meal ticket for the stop.
We spent a few days in Sandakan organising ourselves. The
town is nice and friendly but does not have any attractions
within it and is typically Malaysian, functional and soul-less.
We made the trip to the Sepilok rehabilitation centre to see the
orangutans but were disappointed. We were shocked at the
tour groups from the big hotels, prior to this we had not seen
any other tourists since leaving the Togean islands. We
trekked in protected park around the centre. The only
wildlife we found was leeches. Lots of them. Every few
metres one of us had a slimy feeling and then we had to flick it
off before it engaged fully. One got in Monikas trousers,
it sucked a big crater in her leg and left blood spurting
everywhere. We saw an orangutan. One. Encouraged to
stuff it's face on the food left for it, just to please the
tourists. Is this rehabilitation?
In Sandakan we punctuated our viewing of the World Cup, if you
can remember that all-too-brief period of hopeless faith in
Englands chances (even briefer for the Czechs, their confidence
boosted by their 2nd position in the pre-World Cup FIFA
rankings), with research on the Kinabantang river.
Avoiding the expensive tours pushed at us, we discovered the
Sukau B and B, suggested by the incredibly helpful and friendly
woman at the tourist information centre in Sandakan. A
quick bus ride and then 3 hours hitching in the blistering
midday heat along a dirt track. It was only 40km but it
took so long because most of the traffic was only going as far
as their respective palm oil plantation. One guy even gave us
two bottles of water each to keep us going on the journey! The
Sukau B and B was literally the end of the road. We found
a calm relaxing place and took two boat rides along the river.
In the evening we managed to spot proboscis monkeys, a sleeping
python, a couple of monitor lizards and lots of beautiful birds,
including colourful Kingfishers and ruthless Oriental Divers. An
eagle oversaw proceedings from the top of a tall tree. The
morning cruise was not so exciting, I blamed the convoy of boats
from each of the resort hotels! But why can you see so
much wildlife along the Kinabantang? Because the palm oil
plantations have pushed the wildlife to the last remaining patch
of habitat, that along the riverbank. Good news for the
eager-eyed tourists, not so good for the, already endangered
wildlife.
Sunset on Kinabantang river
Next up was a stay with some relations of mine in Kota Kinabalu.
My uncle Nigels wife, Tita, her sisters family lives there.
They live in Taman Kingfisher, a wealthy suburb. Each day
their servant,Joey, cooks masses of food for everybody. I
mean masses, such as three kilos of tuna steaks just for
breakfast. Part of our sightseeing included a tour of the
richest houses in the area and they also took us to their
properties in Papar and along the beach front. We had to
pass though towns that were submerged in 3 feet of water after
recent monsoonal storms. The beach estate has 5 acres of
fruit trees and a nice hut facing the sea. They also own acres
of palm oil plantations. Brad, the husband, gave me the
figures. Currently palm oil can be produced at a 100%
profit margin, which could rise to 400% if the Chinese succeed
in their development of cars running on palm oil. It is a
lucrative business. Now it becomes clear why so much of
Sabah is plantation. But you can't help thinking that
somewhere, sometime, somebody would have realised that Borneo
is, or perhaps already was, a world-famous home of myriad
wildlife. Just last year it was listed in the top 3 world
destinations for nature by the Lonely Planet (sandwiched between
Kenya and Madagascar). Perhaps the Malaysian government
should have had different priorities. It is a shame
that the lust for wealth is so strong and blinds people to the
real issues. Whilst driving with the family they would
often point at areas of natural wildlife and say 'look at that,
it is undeveloped, ugly land. Soon it will be a plantation.”
After three days of excessive gorging on food, we left to burn
off the calories climbing Mount Kinabalu,
the highest point between the Himalayas and Papua.
Constantly fully booked due to Malaysian groups block booking
dates just in case they want to climb, there is no deposit
required, we had to wait at the Park HQ for a cancellation. The
day we arrived we had an amazing view of the mount with all of
its jagged peaks glowing in the sun. We did not take a
photo, deciding it would probably be like it tomorrow. We
got a cancellation and started to climb. It is a 6km trek
up to the rest house at Laban Rata. We took our time,
enjoying the pitcher plants along the way. Other than that
the trek was uninteresting, it is only there for the
summit and it seems the most important thing for Malaysians is
the certificate you get afterwards to prove you made it!
The heavens opened at Laban Rata, our hut was belted with strong
winds and driving rain. We got up at 2:30am to prepare for
the summit but it was not possible. By 8am a waterfall up
to chest height had formed at the summit. Reports
suggested that one Australian guy had managed to get through
before they closed it off, his wife returning early because she
did not want her children to be orphans! Apparently he made it
there and back. For the rest of us, about 200 people, we
descended dejectedly through the river that had amassed all
along the trail. It had been a Korean national holiday and
many people had flown in just to climb. It would be a
long, tiring return journey for most of them.
Carnivorous
pitcher plant, Mt Kinabalu
In order to warm up and dry off we headed next for Brunei.
My preconception of Brunei was something between Singapore and
Dubai, i.e. Clean and rich but with an Arabic feel, mosques and
minarets, and of course, no alcohol. A flight on Royal
Brunei had previously prepared me for a dry country, although it
is not so strict as other Islamic states such as Pakistan.
Crossing into Pakistan my bag was searched for any alcoholic
drinks, crossing into Brunei I could, if I chose, bring with me
two bottles of spirits and 12 beers, surely enough for anyone's,
usually brief visit.
The capital, Bandar Seri Begawan, or BSB, is clean and modern,
although a little sterile and with not much to do. The
Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque is an impressive sight by day,
incredible at night, lit up and reflecting in the surrounding
lake. The exterior is Italian marble, with the inevitable
gold plating, the windows are imported from England.
Inside is not so refined, the Persian carpets looking a little
out of place alongside the escalator and e-Islam unit, which is
like an ATM where you can ask questions about Islam.
Unfortunately, as infidels, we were not allowed to step off of
the centre carpet so I could not utilise this technological
marvel.
Omar Ali Saifuddien
Mosque
The other attraction in Brunei is Kampung Ayer. The
floating village on the river, houses, shops, restaurants and
even a mosque connected by plank walkways. This is one reason
why a dry state is a good idea!
We did attempt to see the Sultans palace. A futile
attempt, after a 4km walk in the midday sun we found all we
could see were guards and a lot of foliage hiding it from the
roads. This did not stop the bus load of Japanese tourists
from taking a photo. It was the Sultans 60th birthday on
July 15th. He is still mega-popular, his photo adorning
walls and billboards everywhere. This was one big
difference between Malaysia and Brunei, gone are the posters of
footballers, suddenly there are only posters of the Sultan.
Of course he is popular, there are no taxes in Brunei, he helps
Bruneians pay for big possessions such as cars, and gave them a
giant theme park for his 48th birthday (claimed to be the worlds
biggest but someone called Disney disputes that). What a
guy!
The trip to Sarawak from Brunei requires a series of bus rides
through the Shell oil fields in the west of Brunei, bringing
home the lack of necessity for taxes.
Our first stop in Sarawak was the Niah national park, famous for
its big caves, the biggest of which is imaginatively named, “the
Great cave”. They were impressive, sprawling, twisting and
turning through Gunung Subis, sometimes low and cramped, other
times opening into great caverns, often with light pouring in
from some peep-hole above. There was also a long-house
village in the park but the presence of SUV's suggested it was
not so traditional. It was a relaxing stop, luxury
accommodation (even a hot shower!) at the consistent Sarawak
national park low rack-rates. The park was deserted, we
had it all to ourselves.
Our next stop was Similajau national park. Another quiet,
relaxing stop, this national park was set along the coat and the
jungle trails led from beach to beach. It was nice and the
low tide enabled us to walk back along the coast, past the
amazing, eroded rocks and cliffs, although squelching our way
through the slimy swamp in full view of 'Beware of the
Crocodiles' signs was not quite so enjoyable! We
thoroughly enjoyed Similajau, the other guests were really
friendly and made for some good after dinner discussions.
But why is it a national park? Apparently turtles come here to
lay eggs so maybe it is to protect them, but it seems like this
is a very rare occurrence.
Sunset at
Similajau National Park
From Similajau a night bus sped us through to Kuching, with a
stop at an all-you-can eat buffet along the way. Kuching
is quite a beautiful city, a surprise in Malaysia where the
emphasis is on functional and not aesthetic factors. In
fact in all of Malaysia only Kuching, Melaka and perhaps Penang
could be described as interesting or beautiful. We have
spent about 10 days in and around Kuching, visiting the
excellent, and free Sarawak museum (much better than the Sabah
museum in KK, which also has a 15Rm for foreigners entrance fee)
and the exhibition by Steven Bennett of portraits from different
cultures around the world. We have been staying in the St
Thomas Diocese rest house, which I highly recommend, it is
peaceful and quiet and built in an old house with big wooden
staircases and furniture.
We spent two days at the Bako national park. Certainly the
most beautiful we have seen, the thick jungle leading to hidden
beaches and up to the kerangas on top, the sandy, dry jungle.
Kerangas is a word often heard in Borneo, rather like the word 'Padi'
at any dive resort or 'powder' at ski resorts. No
conversation seems to be complete without it, which is about as
irritating as the phrase 'same same but different '. The
park was beautiful and once you got on the trails it felt
deserted. There is a hidden waterfall and some of the
beaches are beautiful. There is a lot of wildlife,
primarily probosicis monkeys (the ugly ones with big red noses),
macaques and leaf monkeys (the ones that have punk haircuts), as
well as snakes and bearded wild pigs. The only downside
about Bako is that it receives around 200 visitors everyday and
a lot of them look like they just got lost on the way back from
the bar on Koh PgaNgan. I don't meant o sound arrogant but
it is a bit of shock after only meeting people genuinely
interesting in where they are to suddenly be confronted with
groups judging each other on their clothes and appearance,
changing into evening wear for the dinner buffet and generally
behaving in an ignorant and uneducated manner. Or the
other visitors coming on day trips dressed as though they are
going for a month in the Amazon! We were taken aback at the
surly manner in which the canteen staff treated us, but suddenly
we realised why, when they are subjected daily to people
shouting at them in loud, “clear” English because they
immediately assume they cannot speak English. It was
unpleasant and we spent most of our time after meals on the
quiet refuge of our hostel balcony.
Female
Proboscis Monkey, Bako National Park
We returned from Bako with a group of people in tow, found a
restaurant selling Stella at 11Rm for four cans and ended up in
a Chinese karaoke bar at 3am. Some kind of self-fulfilling
prophecy?
We visited the Semengoh rehabilitation centre near Kuching.
Similar to Sepilok but without the touristic feel, despite the
large group waiting for the feeding. The animals
threatened to make it the first ever no-show at feeding but then
a large male came swinging through the trees and started
devouring the fruit and eggs left for him. I felt far more
comfortable here, especially as the main park warden told us he
would happy if none showed up as it proved the rehabilitation is
working. If they can find food in the forest without
having to visited the feeding platforms, then it is good news.
Also, where as Sepilok cost 30rm for non-Malaysian (5rm for
Malaysians) plus 10rm camera fee, Semengoh operates a 3rm across
the board entrance, in correlation with the general admission
fees for all Sarawak forest reserves. It is an amazingly
professional organisation, the Sarawak Forestry Department, all
national parks are 10rm per adult, all forest reserves 3rm per
adult and all the accommodation is priced according to a central
pricing structure, regardless of popularity or percentage of
foreign tourists. This has been the big difference between
Sarawak and Sabah, whereas Sabah sees wildlife as a
get-rich-quick scheme, and foreign tourists as walking dollars
that must be milked at all opportunities, Sarawak has developed
a far more sustainable approach to tourism and has left us
feeling very impressed and likely to impart our good experiences
onto other potential travellers and consider a return visit.
Also Sarawak seems to encourage independent travel, there are
local buses to all of the major parks, or at least within
reasonable walking distance, whereas Sabah seems to want to
channel all tourists through expensive organised tours. I
always though Sabah was the more developed, 'civilised' state of
the two but in fact it is struggling to shake off its pirate
state image, whereas Sarawak earns top marks.
Orangutans at Semmengoh
Yesterday we took a trip to Kubah national park.
More wildlife, more insects, more jungle and another pretty
waterfall. But somehow I felt jaded by national parks and
jungle trekking and am super keen to get to the Philippines,
somewhere that has held appeal to me since reading the Beach.
Alex Garland actually had the inspiration for the book from the
Philippines, he just set it in Thailand to make it more
realistic. The real island is somewhere between Luzon and
Palawan. We will search for it. Today we must take a bus back
through Sarawak to Miri on the Brunei border. We will then
try to hitch-hike through Brunei and take the boat back to Kota
Kinabalu. I predict a couple more days of stuffing our
faces before we fly into Clark Airbase, north of Manila next
week.
Tip Of Borneo
P.S. We did
successfully hitch-hike, not only through Brunei but all the way
to our doorstep in Kingfisher. We did have two more days
of stuffing our faces. We also saw the touristic Crocodile
farm, the amazing beauty of the Tip of Borneo, which is an
amazing beach and coast at, unsurprisingly, the tip of Borneo.
On our last day we drove around taking photos of Mount Kinabalu
from every angle.
Mount
Kinabalu
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