South East Asia's Highest Peak

Kinabalu National Park, Borneo, 26-28 July 2008

South East Asia's highest peak was calling out to us "climb me, climb me"..... she stands at a mere 13,435 feet high and is a popular hike. On a recommendation from fellow travellers we met in Vietnam we had booked to stay at the base camp accommodation (Laban Rata) before we even set foot in Borneo because it gets booked out during high season. Laban Rata is where you climb to on day 1 before making the early morning (2am) ascent to the summit for sunrise on day 2.

Conditions were perfect for our hike on day 1 and as we set off we had crystal clear views of the challenge that lay before us, yarg! We paired up with Kelly & Mark (a British couple we met previously) and along with our guide Rahila we struck off at 9:30am. At Park HQ we were provided with a hefty packed lunch along with a book of vouchers for our meals. While the trek was a steady climb there were plenty of shelters along the way where one could take repose. At about 11am clouds rolled in to obscure our views of the surrounding countryside. We were happy to reach Laban Rata at 2:00pm and after a hot shower (well....for some... unfortunately by the time Mark took a shower the well ran cold) and a wholesome feed we were all in good spirits and enjoyed the craic with Kelly, Mark, Holly & Adam. The cloud however did not roll on as expected but stuck around and the heavens opened. The weather in Borneo had been consistently good up until this point and whatever showers we had seen had passed quickly. This rain just got heavier and heavier. 2am, 3am, 4am.... still raining. Sunrise was no longer an option. At this stage we would be lucky if we got to summit at all. Back to bed to catch a few more Z's.

They started serving breakfast at 7:30am and it was at this stage we heard that the Park Warden had locked the gate to the summit trail for safety reasons. This was very disappointing as the rain had now stopped and the sun was even trying to make an appearance. After breakfast we determined to walk the 10 minutes uphill to the gate to see for ourselves that access was being denied. Even as we climbed other guides were coming down against us declaring that the gate was locked. We persevered and low and behold when we got to the gate.... it was locked. Surprise Surprise. But there was another group of people waiting who told us that the warden was opening the gate shortly and he did. Hurray! We all scurried through as quickly as we could before he had a change of mind. Once through the gate we knew we were going all the way to the summit. Panaromic views were not on the menu but we didn't care, this day was all about climbing a mountain. To reach the summit (Low's Peak) we had to pull ourselves up the steep granite via safety ropes - once we got there Dave and I couldn't help but do a celebratory dance. We then took photos, looked around at the non-existent views, paused in a moment of self satisfaction and started our descent to base camp.

We had about 90 minutes to relax in Laban Rata before Kelly, Mark and Rahila caught up and we all descended together from there. Every so often Rahila would lead us of on a little side path to view large and colourful carnivorous Pitcher Plants (see photo). The last 3km was the worst with everyones legs keen to see the bottom of this mighty granite behemoth. Ironically we were almost as happy to get to the bottom as we had been to get to the top.... almost. Then, as was always the case in these situations, the recovery process began. Good meal, warm shower, frosty beer, clean clothes and a lighthearted movie before an early bed. The following morning Dave couldn't resist wandering out on the balcony to check weather conditions, just as suspected - crystal clear views of the summit. The bad weather had just prevailed for that one day. We didn't mind though because for a moment we had been the highest people in South East Asia!

Reaching Laban Rata

Gate is now open!

Mark, Holly, Adam, Dave, Claire & Kelly (left to right)

Old Man of the Forest

Kinabatangan Nature Reserve, Borneo, 22-23 July 2008

Sepilok, Borneo, 24-25 July 2008

Vincent, back in KK, had booked us onto a 3 day/2 night tour to Kinabatangan Jungle. This is wild remote Borneo. We were scheduled to take boat safaris, night walks and day treks into the jungle. While we felt confident we'd see monkeys we were hoping to see some truly wild orangutans and if we were really lucky some Pygmy elephants. The first stop was a river Cruise and it wasn't long before we spotted some playful long tailed macaques. Further downstream we came across some Proboscis monkeys, these are really funny looking fellows - they have a huge belly and a big fat droopy red nose giving the impression that maybe they have been hitting the jungle juice a little too hard. Finally we had an orangutan pointed out to us but really it was little more than a brown amorphous shape in the foliage. For all we could see it might just as well have been a big leaf or some exotic fruit so it was difficult to get too excited. We didnt see much on the night safari other than a few sleeping birds and a couple of centipedes. The early morning boat trip bore even less fruit. but we felt confident that our 3 hour jungle safari would have us running to avoid Pygmy elephants while jumping over sleeping orangutans. We didn't see a thing, nothing/nada/ziltch. Not even a solitary monkey!

.

All was not lost however while on our afternoon river cruise we stopped to check out a croc in the river. What we didn't realise is that he was stopped to check out an orangutan at the waters edge. No, we didn't have one of those David Attenborough moments where the croc lunges from the water to snag the over confident great ape but what we did have was a close up encounter with this endangered species in the wild and everyone in the boat knew this was special. We walked along the ground in front of us and then swung up into a tree to gorge himself on ripened fruit. As is the orangutans were apologizing for their absence earlier in the day we quickly came across another one on the bank of the river. This guy was just as big but a little on the shy side. After swinging through a few branches he turned his back to us and became like the amorphous blob we had seen the previous day. We never did get to see Pygmy elephants although we did see a lot of their dung on the trail. We felt satisfied with the orangutan and proboscis monkey experience.

Orangutan means "old man of the forest" in Malay language

From Kinabatangan we took a short bus journey to Sepilok, home to Borneo's orangutan rehabilitation centre. No, this is not where misbehaving orangutans are sent to get them back on the straight and narrow. Rather it is where orphaned or displaced orangutans are brought to teach them natural survival skills before releasing them into the wild. The centre had a zoo feel, you are only allowed to enter during the two daily feed times. There is a large viewing deck set up in front of where the orangutans are fed. At the designated times these great apes swinging and fill up on free grub and then swing out again. We went to both feeding times and there were more orangutans present in the morning than in the afternoon. This fact helped us appreciate that Sepilok Orangutan Rehab Centre is not a zoo. It is a large jungle area where the orangutans accept food for a period of time as a stepping stone before becoming completely independent at which point they will no longer turn up for feeding time. "Orangutan sightings are not guaranteed" was clearly printed on our tickets and I guess if you don't spot them then SORC is doing a good job. It is a nice place to visit but these sightings do not compare with the excitement we felt on spotting the large male in the wild during our Kinabatangan trip.

Feeding time at Sepilok

Kinabatangan River

Jungle Bug

Diving in Sipidan

Kota Kinabalu, Borneo, 17-18 July 2008
Semporna, Borneo, 19-21 July 2008

Air Asia is to Asia what Ryan Air is to Europe - "a no-frills airline". We arrived in Kota Kinabalu (KK) at 9pm on a balmy Thursday night. We had pre-booked a hostel close to the airport providing a free pick-up but as always seemed to be our luck in these circumstances they were nowhere to be seen. A phone call later and they magically appeared to take us to their super dingy accommodation. We couldn't believe that the place had gotten good reviews on Hostleworld because it truly was a dump. The following morning we caught a bus down town and checked into the Tropicana Lodge. The owner, Vincent, is a local who speaks about 6 languages, chain smokes marijuana joints throughout the day and, for sustenance, is never without a can of Tiger beer in his hand. He is a good guy and spent a lot of time with us devising a suitable itinerary around Sabah (one of the 2 Malaysian regions of Borneo, the other being Sarawak) This is just what we needed as he knew all the bus times and connections to get so as not to waste any time and ensure we never had to double back on ourselves.

First stop Semporna for some scuba diving off the island of Sipidan. This is regarded as one of the worlds premier dive sites and so was a no-brainer for inclusion on our trip. In the Malay language "semporna" means "perfect"....and nothing could be further from the truth. The place is a dump, plain and simple. Thankfully we would not be spending too much time in the town. I, Dave, was booked in for two days of scuba diving while Claire signed up for a day of snorkeling. If it was as good as they say she would go for the second day also. With all this talk of Sipidan you might think it was a sizable island but in fact it is little more than a speck in the ocean. What makes it so special is the fact that it rises 600m from the ocean floor providing shallower waters for the growth of coral and associated marine life. There were 3 dives per day with a break on the island between each one. It didn't disappoint.

It wasn't long before huge sea turtles were gliding effortlessly past us. They were everywhere. For our last dive of the day we entered an underwater cave known as the "Turtle tomb". Turtles enter this cave, get disoriented, can't find their way out and...well. let's just say the name says it all - Turtle tomb. We only entered the mouth of the cave and so, thankfully, didn't get to see the turtle graveyard down the back. Claire, the "surface skimmer" had to work a little harder to see the turtles but pure determination drove her on. She eventually had some one-on-one time with 2 rather large specimens and one baby right off the beach of Sipidan. Day 1 over we headed back to Semporna on our super high powered speed boat. It was at this point that Claire started to feel the heat on the back of her legs. Normally ultra-careful, she had forgotten to apply sunscreen there and so burned herself pretty badly. She had also recently started on Deoxycycline for malaria prophylaxis and have heard that gives you a hyper-sensitivity to sunlight.

Consequently I was on my own for Day 2. I could have opted to dive off some of the other islands in the area (Mabul, Sabuan, etc) but with only two days at my disposal why would I bother. It was back to Sipidan for me. The other islands are for losers!! On Day 2 we encountered all the usual fishies, along with an octopus, lots of reef sharks and a huge school of jack fish. It felt amazing to be completely engulfed by a million of these little guys (they measure about 1 foot (30cm) long). Then, sadly, it was back to Semporna, purchase the obligatory "Sipidan Scuba" t-shirt and hop on a bus to Kinabitangan Nature Reserve.

Sipdan (view form the boat)

The town of Semporna!

The only attractive landmark in town was the Mosque

Fabu..Laos???

Luang Prabang, Laos, 8 - 11 July 2008
Vang Vieng, Laos, 12 - 13 July 2008
Vientiane, Laos, 14 - 16 July 2008

As we had arranged our Laos visa in Cambodia we were able to quickly breeze through immigration at Luang Prabang airport (LP from now on). Then we had a most surreal experience. We walked out of the airport doors to where all the tuk tuks drivers were waiting, but get this... not one approached us, in fact they completely ignored us. Then we noticed the desk where you purchase a tuk tuk ticket and then the next guy in line would show you to his vehicle and away you would go. All very civilised, all very strange. LP itself is a bit odd too. I guess by Laos standards it would be considered a city but it has a real small town feel. In a nutshell it has non-existent street lighting, a large concentration of Buddhist monks (or judging by their ages novice monks), different style tuk tuks (why are the tuk tuks in Thailand different from the tuk tuks in Cambodia and the tuk tuks in Laos different again? Vietnam doesn't have tuk tuks but that's a different story again), an attractive night market, and a town that is coming to terms with it's new found tourist industry. We spent our first day simply wandering the streets, but we did take time out to book a trekking/kayaking tour for the following day. The attraction for a lot of people coming to Laos is the calmer more relaxed atmosphere and this is the case however we just weren't sure yet whether it was selling anything else that would justify its claims as a premier holiday destination. LP was nice but no more so than a hundred other places we had visited.

The following morning the rain was coming down so we decided to postpone our trek and opted to take a long-boat journey up the Mekong River to the Puk Ou caves instead. While the boat journey was quite nice, the caves were a disappointment. Their selling point is that there are lots of little Buddha ornaments inside that have been deposited by the devoted followers of Buddhism for hundreds of years. The truth is it looks like someones overly cluttered mantelpiece!! Then there were all the young children that wanted to sell you a small caged bird that you could set free for $1. "Hmm, so that you you can catch it again and sell it to the next punter that comes along.... I think not".


The following morning weather conditions had improved so we made our way to the tour agency where Claire just had time to check her email before we were bundled into a mini van and away we went. There were only three of us (Claire, myself and Lee - our guide) on the trail, and as seems to be our luck, it was exceedingly muddy. One of our first stops was at a village where three different tribal communities lived together. This place felt much more natural and harmonious than the "Union of Tribal Villages" we had visited in northern Thailand. As we rounded one of the village huts we came across a black aggressive dog foaming at the mouth. The animal was clearly rabid and didn't like us entering his territory. Thankfully we were able to back away without the dog advancing on us. Lee told us afterwards that rabies is a real problem in Laos. So, happy that we didn't have to test the efficiency of the Laos emergency response to a bite for a rabid animal, we left the village. I wouldn't have fancied our chances.
.





.





.




.
.
Our trek continued up into the hills and Paddy fields for another 90 minutes before we arrived at another tribal village. We stopped here for lunch and engaged the local children in some playful chatter. Claire decided to buy them a treat from the village store....and that's when disaster struck. Where was her purse? Then she remembered she had left it beside the PC that morning when she checked her email. About 4 hours had passed and when Lee rang the office there was no sign of it. Someone had obviously come in to use the internet and swiped an easy target. B******ds. We continued the remainder of our trip which consisted of a little more trekking, a short kayak to an impressive waterfall and finally a 2 hour kayak downstream to our end point. Needless to say it was difficult to enjoy any of it knowing that some scumbag was walking around with our money.

Back in the office we performed a thorough search but to no avail. A trip to the "Tourist Police" Office gave no reprieve from the pain as they were little more than children who found Claire's reporting of the incident all very amusing. The ring leader tried to explain that they weren't really the tourist police while still attempting to watch the TV with on eye. Claire, getting a little bit "crazed" went over and started pulling cables, sockets out of the wall until the TV fell silent. Still finding it all amusing the main man re-states that we needed to go to the "real" Tourist Police. They however closed at 5pm and it was now 5:15pm. Well, they were closed obviously. We were booked on the early morning bus out of town & decided against postponing our exodus in order to amuse the "real" tourist police.

Van Vieng has become, thanks to the Lonley Planet, a must stop of point between Luang Prabang and Vientiane. Young backpackers seem to love this place. Personally we mourned the demise of the town that must have existed before LP marked it for superstardom. Now, it is little more than a soul-less string of budget accommodation and something else most unusual... some genius had the idea of setting their restaurant up in such a way that the customers sit as though sitting up in bed with a low table across their waist and pillow supporting the back. Then the piece-de-resistance, they had TV's at the front showing nothing but back to back episodes of friends all day long.... and every other restaurant in town copied them! One place had just started showing Family Guy so maybe there is hope for the town yet. But what is there to see and do, what is the draw for V V?

It would appear that the town is blessed with more than it's fair share of geniuses, another bright spark got the idea of renting out inflated tractor tubes to enable customer to float downstream on the Nam Song river. Then as though a genius convention was taking place bars started springing up along the riverside where "tubers" could stop off for a whisky bucket whilst on their journey downstream. We met quite a few people who had partaken in the aforementioned activity and came a cropper. One girl had gashed her leg and needed to go to hospital and another had banged her head and could not recall the last 30 mins of her experience. And the stories went on. Claire, in her wisdom, decided to abstain. I was to go down with a couple we had first met in Vietnam (Sophie and Graham) however both had to pull out. Graham because he had pulled a muscle in his abdomen on his first outing and Sophie because she had a cut on her leg during her first outing and it was infected. Hmm, this did not bode well. I got talking with 3 Irish girls during the tuk tuk ride to the drop off point so we all hit the water together. After floating 100 yards we arrived at the first pub. Staff were employed to throw out sticks on rope for you to catch onto and be dragged into shore. So far so good. We each sank a bottle of Laos beer (which is pretty rough). For entertainment purposes, in case the booze wasn't enough, the bars have set up high trapeze-like swings for you to swing out over the river and plunge from a height into the murky brown water of the Nam Song below. Belly and face flops were the order of the day. At Bar # 2 and 3 we were intrigued to see unoccupied tubes floating past, then we saw tubeless swimmer #1 fighting for her life. She was pulled into safety but was clearly shook by the ordeal. We later met a girl who had her leg cut on an underwater rope. She had one persno trying to keep her head above water while another pleaded with the locals for a knife with which to cut the rope, apparently by Laos standards ropes are pricey and so none were too keen to see one cut just to save the life of a careless tuber. They relented and the girl was glad to be able to tell the tale. A funny thing then happened to our band of 4, the next bar required you to make your own way into shore and while 3 of us made it one floated on by. Not wanting her to be on her own, and assuming there would be endless bars on the riverbanks, we got back in the water. After 20 mins and no additional bars we arrived at the finish point in V V. Trip over. All in all it's a sociable day out and if you keep your wits about you there is no reason to come to any harm. The problem is that a lot of the young ones are irresponsible with alcohol.

Claire loathed the town of Vang Vieng and was adamant that we catch the first bus out of town the following morning.

Vientiane was lauded as the most laid back capital city in the world and it certainly lived up to it's reputation. It was sleepy, very sleepy. It was strange to stand on it's main street during what should have been rush hour and witness so very little going on. It has much more of a small town feel than that of a capital city. We decided to treat ourselves for our last few days in Laos and checked into a fancy hotel with all the trimmings. There isn't very much to do in Vientiane so consequently we didn't do very much. We walked along Lan Xang Street, Vientiane's answer to the Champs Elysee to Patuxai, Vientiane's answer to the Arc de Triumphe. It was constructed in 1969 with cement donated bu the USA for construction for a new airport. Hence, ex-pats refer to it as the vertical runway. Fro here we took a tuk tuk further out to Pha That Luang, Laos most important National Monument. It is a temple and also home to the supreme Patriach of Laos Buddhism. It came as a surprise that here was the country's most important monument located in the capital city and we saw maybe 20 other people in all the time we were there (including a novice monk who wanted to have his photo taken with Claire).

Other than that we just mouched around town and enjoyed the comforts of our hotel room before catching a flight to Sabah in Malaysian Borneo.



Candle glowing in Puk Ou Cave

The notice (#6) in our hotel room informed us that "under Laos government you have to go to bed at 11pm"

the "ladies room"

We hear that safety standards are questionable

The Mountains of Sapa

Sapa, Vietnam, 2 - 6 July 2008

In Sapa Claire stayed with the bags while I went in search of suitable digs. Everywhere I went prices ranged from $5 - $10, and yes, the price was a reflection on the quality. Was there anything a bit more upmarket in this town? We settled for the best of a bad lot, but later met the French-Canadian couple who put us on to the Sapa Summit Hotel. This was a proper comfortable 3 star hotel...and our room was still only $10. Best value room to date - no contest.

We laid low for a couple of days enjoying the cooler climate of this former mountain outpost. We were promised there were amazing views down the valley but for now low cloud and rain completely obscured what hope we had of seeing it. We didn't mind though as there was a serious blog backlog to catch up on.

By day 3 the weather was good enough to take a most enjoyable walk down to Catcat village and its associated waterfall. Finally we got to see the sweeping views and were suitably impressed.

.

The next day the weather was even better so we took the even longer walk out to Sin Chai village. This was an incredible walk and we were lucky enough to be the only barangs (foreigners) on it. When we arrived at the village we couldn't believe the number of young children who were busy playing games, swinging from tree's and everything else young children should be getting up to. It was a joy to behold, they were so happy and so full of life. Sapa, and the surrounding area, is full of men trying to sell you trips on the back of their moto's and today they must have thought they had a fare in the bag. It was after 6pm when we left the village and they kept telling us we wouldn't make it back to Sapa before dark. Under different circumstances we would have taken them up on their offer but we didn't want this beautiful and isolated walk to come to an end. We got back with time to spare.

For our last day in Sapa we took a trip to the Dragon's Jaw. This is a conservation area and the highlight, literally, is a look-out (Cloud-Yard) perched high up on a hill with commanding views of the surrounding countryside.

And then it was time to go. We knew we wanted to get to Luang Prabang in Laos but our options were limited. Take the train back to Hanoi and fly or take a 4 day, death defying bus journey through a newly opened border crossing (Tay Trang) in N.W. Vietnam. We chose to fly.

Dao Tribe wear red-headress

Whistlestop Hanoi

Overnight Train from Hanoi to Sapa, Vietnam, 1 July 2008

About half an hour outside of Hanoi, on route back from Halong Bay, it started to rain but perhaps rain is the wrong word. If drizzle is the word for light rain, what is the word for absolutely bucketing out of the heavens? By the time we got to the Old Quarter we had to step off the bus and into water that came almost to our knee's!! At the office where we were storing our luggage the water was pouring in through the doors covering the entire floor, right to the back, in about 6 inches of water. We were catching the train to Sapa that evening so we only had time for one more tourist stop - The Water Puppet Show (how appropriate). The show was scheduled to run for about an hour but after only 20 minutes we had had enough and left. The music was bad, the singing was worse and the puppetry itself was entertaining for about, oh let's see, 20 minutes. Very miss-able.














The train to Sapa was very comfortable. We had a sleeper cabin for 4 people which we shared with a French-Canadian couple. We decided to splash out and go business class, which was an extra $2 on this 8 hour train ride. It was the most comfortable journey we have taken to date.