Our Experiences Travelling Borneo, Malaysia
One country, two major cities, three islands, an abundance of wildlife, a melting pot of cultures and cuisines and a luxury resort. This is Borneo.
Due to an oversight in seasons, we only spent two weeks in Borneo, but what a magnificent two weeks they were! We've made a pact to re-visit this beautiful, complex island in the future, to delve deeper into the magnitude of nature it contains, and learn more about the vast cultures of its people.
Gaya Island
Booking the trip when we were both in full-time employment meant we had a slightly warped idea of what would be considered expensive on this trip, and with that, we booked three nights at a 5-star resort on Gaya Island. For what we got, it really wasn't expensive at all if you compare it to the UK, for example, but in hindsight, it was a fair amount to be spending within our first month of our unlimited time away.
The staff at the resort were some of the friendliest and most accomodating people I've ever come across in the hospitality industry and they couldn't do enough for us. There was also a daily itinerary of activities; both free and paid-for, that we could join at any point. The first one we joined was a nature trek with our guide Asmina, who was extremely knowledgable with all things nature. The activity started with Asmina's colleague bringing out a flying squirrel in a cage - they were nursing it as it was very young and had fallen from its nest. We then started our trek through the dense jungle where Asmina shared facts about the various trees we were passing, and pointed out animals such as lizards and even a pit viper!
We brought snorkels from home, and we are so glad we did because Gaya Island has some of the best snorkeling I've ever experienced - approximately 50m from the shore, there was an abundance of tropical fish swimming within their coral reef. We were so excited as this was our first time snorkeling during the trip and felt so lucky that there were this many fish right by our resort. Bringing our snorkels meant we didn't need to join any activities and borrow masks - we were completely free to step into the 30 degree water any time we liked. We'd also packed a waterproof camera that we purchased with a gift card one of my clients had sent me as a 'thank you' when I left my job - it was great to be able to capture some of what we saw on camera and share our memories with friends and family back home.
There were a few restaurants to choose from at the resort; one of the restaurants was a very posh place where you had to dress well to enter. Needless to say, Tora and I didn't pack our black-tie outfits for this trip, so we knew we wouldn't get to eat there… or so we thought. On our last day, we saw there was a cooking class on the itinerary. This was a paid-for activity, but we didn't mind because we enjoy cooking, learning about local cuisine, and we'd get to eat whatever we made. To our surprise, the cooking class was held in the very restaurant that was reserved for the "wealthy", and we had the whole place to ourselves! We cooked ourselves a two-course meal and ate it on the fancy deck with an unspoilt view of the beach and out to sea. The meal consisted of a Borneo pineapple and cucumber salad to start, then a beancurd curry as the main. It was delicious, even if I do say so myself!
Kota Kinabalu
The closest port to Gaya Island on the mainland is Jesselton Point, located in the city of Kota Kinabalu. When booking the trip, we thought it'd be a good idea to stay in the city for a few nights and see what city-life would be like in Borneo. Kota Kinabalu was not what we expected. I don't quite know how to describe it, but it wasn't good - the only core memory I have of the place was the smells. THE SMELLS. If it wasn't the smell of drains, it was the smell of fish at the food markets. I couldn't stand walking around the place. We tried… We really tried. We ventured out and about, trying to find somewhere to enjoy but we simply couldn't find any joy in the place. Even at our hostel, there was a family with small children commandeering the shared living space - I mean, lying on the sofa watching cartoons all day, so we couldn't even chill out there! Our room was our only sanctuary.
The last full day in Kota Kinabalu, we decided not to try and enjoy the city any more, but rather get on a boat and do a bit of island hopping. With the contrast of Gaya Island to Kota Kinabalu sitting heavy in our minds, we knew the only place we wanted to be was back in the South China Sea with all our aquatic friends. The water was crystal clear and there wasn't a bad smell around. With that, we packed our towels and snorkels and headed back to Jesselton Point!
The day went pretty well - we saw two more islands off the mainland of Borneo, and got to do some more snorkeling, but nothing compared to the snorkeling of Gaya Island. We went to Manukan Island and Sapi Island. Manukan Island was the more built-up of the two, but both were pleasant and most importantly, had some beautiful fish to see.
Bako National Park
Finally, the day came to depart Kota Kinabalu and fly South to Kuching! We were about to embark on a three day, two night tour of Bako National Park with our very own guide, Joe. Joe was very local, living in Bako Village itself, not far from Bako National Park, and he was full of knowledge and passion for the wildlife living around him. Joe walked at a pace that a snail wouldn't struggle keeping up with, and was about as quiet as a snail, too! With each step, he was listening out for monkeys in the trees, while keeping his eyes peeled for wildlife down on the ground. He took pride in his title of Snake Man - because he was the best at spotting snakes. He proved this with a sighting of a Borneo Pit Viper, that he and his fellow guides have been looking out for for years! His excitement ricocheted around the park and the other guides were in awe of him for spotting it. Luckily, it was asleep when he saw it, so we all got to go and have a good look at it while the elusive snake rested.
On the first day, we couldn't believe the abundance of animals we saw! Joe couldn't believe it either, and explained how lucky we were to see everything we saw in just one day. Tora and I sat down that night and listed all the animals we could recall seeing. We saw: bearded pigs, a scorpion, a whip snake, macaques, proboscis monkeys, silverleaf monkeys, a huntsman spider, a pit viper, a bronze back snake, civet cat, two flying lemurs, some brown tree frogs, tree crabs, bats, magpie-robin, spiderhunter, stick insects, giant ants, millions of termites, hundreds of hermit crabs, a white leaf frog, green leaf frog, catfish and a big juicy fluffy caterpillar! Phew.
Days on the trip were packed from early-morning to late at night where we continued nature-spotting with our torches on, as we trekked through the jungle to see what nocturnal beings we could spot. We even ventured out to the river where we saw fireflies! Unfortunately, the moon was too bright to see them in all their glory, but it was still spectacular nonetheless.
We'd gotten to know Joe quite well during our trip, and on the last day, he actually took us to his own village. It was so beautifully authentic, seeing where he lived and having him show us around pointing out things like the local school, the mosque and the mayor's house. We stopped at a local shop where he bought us some bananas and tofu (the restaurant we'd be eating lunch at didn't have any tofu so he took our own) - life just seemed simple there. The people were so friendly and excited to see us, and almost everyone in the village knew Joe. It was the perfect ending to a wonderful trip, and on that high note, we jumped in our mini-van and went off to our apartment in Kuching where we'd spend the next week.
Kuching
As far as cities go, Kuching was a world away from Kota Kinabalu. Our apartment was lovely and modern, with a balcony, swimming pool and laundry facilities, and it was located just far enough out of town to be peaceful but still within walking distance. When we got there, it was late afternoon, so we decided to wander over to the supermarket via our local pub. The drinks were all in the fridges around the outside of the room, and we just had to help ourselves to whatever we wanted, pay at the till then sit down and drink. This was our first time experiencing the "wine" - and it isn't the normal wine we're used to. It's more like a flat, fruit juice. I had the cherry one and Tora had peach. The wine went down like a nice cold beer on a hot day, and we ended up absolutely hammered after a couple of bottles each - this stuff was 13.5% abv. and we were drinking it like juice. Anyway, the supermarket was calling, so we left the pub and made our way there. On the way what did we see? Another bar, of course. With live music advertised outside. Without hesitation, we popped in for a swifty to see what time the band was starting and to see what the vibe was like in there. Turned out, the band was starting in an hour and the vibe was decent! After a beer there, we finally got to the supermarket. As embarrassed as I am to admit it, we bought a pile of shite. We woke up in the morning to find ingredients that cannot make one single meal, but two bottles of soy sauce, and a tin of pickled leeks instead!!! Anyway, feeling proud and accomplished, we went back to the bar with our backpacks full of "groceries", and enjoyed the rest of the night watching the band perform then staggered home.
For the duration of that week, we prioritised relaxing, and even spent one or two days just in our apartment watching Netflix and doing bits of research for future travels. We ventured into the city quite a bit, and explored the colourful streets of Chinatown and various other areas.
On our way into town one day, we heard a thud and looked down to find a poor little bird on the floor looking rather unwell. It had fallen from a roof. Tora scooped it up, named him Jeff, and we tried our best to care for it by giving it water and holding it still as it flailed its head around. I had a quick look online to see why a bird would be swinging its head around like this, and it turns out this is a common symptom of a head injury. I found a vetinary clinic on Google Maps and off we went. When we got there, it was abundantly clear that this place is just for cats and dogs, but we took our little bird in anyway and explained the situation. We were given a ticket and were instructed to wait outside in the queue to be seen. The bird wasn't getting any better, and a concerned local started chatting to us, asking about the bird. When we explained, he asked the vet's assistant if we could skip the queue and be seen more urgently. It was decided that purely because the bird wasn't bleeding, we should wait in queue and be seen when our number was called. 1086 was our number. When we got there, number 1073 was being seen… and it was taking an average of 5 - 10 minutes per customer. Unfortunately, while number 1085 was being seen, our poor little Jeff passed away on a make-shift cushion we'd set up for him. Our friend was raging becuase he thought the bird could have been saved, but to be honest, I'm not sure he would have survived even if he had have been seen earlier. Jeff was laid to rest at the clinic, and would be cremated that day with other people's pets who had sadly died.
At the weekend, there was a dragonboat festival on, and people from all over the world came to compete in the dragonboat races all weekend. The city had been relatively quiet up until then, but the place was lifted with everything that was going on. We met a couple who were competing on the Irish team (Celtic Warriors) . We soon found out that they weren’t Irish, in fact there was only one member of the team who was! It turned out that all members of the team live in Malaysia, but there are too many teams from Malaysia so they've had to enter as a country that there isn't a team for. The only rule for entering as a new country, is that as long as one person from the team is of that nationality, they're good to go. Thank you, Fergal, for being the Irish person that allowed the creation of the non-Irish-Ireland team!
It was after the first day of dragonboat racing, that we discovered a great bar where we'd spend the subsequent evenings hanging out with our new friends Gary and Eric. Eric had just returned from a stint in Singapore, and loved to sing on the karaoke, which Gary wholeheartedly encouraged and found hilarious.
Gary was an eccentric barman, who loved Manchester United, trainers, hats and chatting to new people - he used to be a tour guide, so had a knack for sharing information on the local area, its people and the culture there. It was Gary who taught us the most about the Iban tribe and their traditions of headhunting and living in longhouses. His wife is actually from a longhouse herself, and her ancestors have lived there for years. Conversation with Gary never got old, as he shared anecdote after anecdote with us, and opened up about his own personal life. We hope to meet him again.
Hoping to improve on the knowledge and understanding of Borneo that we'd already gained from Gary, we ventured off to the Borneo Cultures Museum. It was a huge fancy building with lots of floors containing various types of artifacts from woven baskets, to traditional tattoos, examples and explanations of longhouses, and videos and text about headhunters. There was so much more than that, but I wont give too much away. It was worth a visit but please note, they only accept cash!
Sadly, our two weeks were up after our week in Kuching, and it was time to leave Borneo for the time being. Our next destination was Thailand.