Survivor Island

Pulau Tiga, Borneo, 1-2 August 2008

Kota Kinabalu, Borneo, 29-31 July & 3 August 2008


Sunset on Survivor Island














Back in KK we decided to check out 1Borneo - a huge hyper mall 5km outside of town. We took the courtesy bus and it stopped at all the swanky hotels in the hope of luring some big spenders out to the suburban shoppers Mecca. It didn't happen so 1Borneo turned out to be a very nice, very modern, very large and unfortunately very empty hyper mall. Imagine Heathrow Airport with no tourists, that's what 1Borneo was all about. Claire was delighted though, the cinema was showing amongst other things the Sex and the City movie! She had been ranting on about seeing this movie since the day our travels began so she was doing cartwheels with excitement.

The following morning we were collected at 7:30am for a 2 hour bus ride and 30 minute speed boat to our final destination - Pulau Tiga... otherwise known as Survivor Island. This island was the location for the original survivor reality TV program filmed in 2000. The island had a real castaway feel about it. Beautiful sandy beaches backed by dense unexploited jungle.




After a buffet lunch we struck off in search of the mud volcano. We had first experienced this phenomenon in north Colombia and so considered ourselves old hands. While the setting of this volcano wasn't as spectacular we did have it all to ourselves! Having wallowed in the mud for 30 minutes we then had the 1km walk back to the beach completely covered from head to toe in thick gloopy mud. People seemed at first shocked and then amused as these two "Bigfoot" type characters emerged from the jungle and plunged themselves into the warm waters of the South China sea. Then it was time to get down to the real business of life on a Paradise Island - rest and relaxation. For the next 2 days we mingled jungle exploration with R&R beach time. Other than a few pieces of memorabilia back in our clubhouse there was little to belie the islands recent past on the global stage when the Pagong Pagong tribe battled it out against the ....... other tribe who I cannot remember the name of. It was stunningly beautiful with few tourists so it was a pleasant end to our time in Borneo.

We recommend Borneo as a holiday destination, it has so much to offer. Hopefully the Malay government won't mess it up by allowing the continued destruction of the rain forest to make way for ever more rows of palm trees. Palm oil has become a major export for Borneo. Only time will tell.