There are a lot of border crossings on the way to KK. After crossing into Sarawak at Kuala Lurah you have to re-enter Brunei at Temburong, then come out the other side back into Sarawak. Finally there are border formalities crossing from Sarawak into Sabah, even though they are both part of Malaysia. A lot of rigmarole, but we made it easier by dividing the trip into short stages. The first day we only went as far as Limbang, which was fine because we had never been there before. The next day we did the rest of the border crossings and spent the night at Beaufort, where we had stayed on our earlier trip in order to do the popular Beaufort-Tenom train trip. We headed straight for the Mandarin Inn, across the river from the main town, as we knew this to be the best of the rather limited accommodation options.
We stayed a couple of nights at Trekkers Lodge in KK, a basic but clean and friendly place favoured by young world-travellers. They include a simple breakfast, tea and coffee all day and a little library where you can exchange your books. We find it a welcome break from the usual cheap hotels, particularly as they give the option of a fan room for those who like to get away from air-conditioning.
Our next destination was Kundasang, where we stayed for two nights at the new Grand Kinabalu View Lodge, which is spectacularly situated at 5,000 ft in the foothills of Mount Kinabalu. It is not really completed yet but was offering a special pre-launch rate of RM60 per night (per person) including meals. It is run by Azlan and his business partner, Alfred. We took Azlan with us and left our car at the nearby Fairy Garden Chinese restaurant where Alfred was waiting to drive us to the lodge as the road up the hill is only accessible to four-wheel drive vehicles. They are deliberately leaving the development of the road until the last stage. We had delicious home-cooked meals, including fresh crabs on the first evening, and Alfred gave us a guided tour of Kundasang, including the impressive war memorial marking the spot where the notorious Death Marches of WW2 ended up.
There was no need for either fans or air-conditioning here. We actually used blankets, perhaps for the first time since we left Australia. We got up early in the morning to see a beautiful 360 degree panorama of the mountains, in particular Kinabalu. We looked through a telescope and could see what appeared to be some of the climbers.
On the second evening the generator broke down and we sat at an outside table by a fire and had our meal by the light of lanterns. We were pleased that we had got our torch fixed in Limbang as it came in handy during the night.
On Wednesday morning after breakfast Alfred drove us back down to the car and we left the refreshing mountain air of Kundasang to drive to Sepilok, near Sandakan. I had already found information on the internet about Sepilok Jungle Resort which sounded very inviting. We did check out a few other places, but the resort was indeed the best place to stay. Once again we were able to get a fan room. There are many levels of accommodation available here, from dormitories up to luxury suites. One of the most appealing features is the large garden and a walkway that goes across the pond, through the jungle and up to a look-out tower before circling back to the rooms. The food at the restaurant is of a high standard and reasonably priced considering it is part of a resort. If you order in advance they can catch a fish from the pond to cook for lunch.
There is an interesting twenty-minute film to watch about the work carried out at this place. Like the information centre it is free of charge, and is shown three times a day. Not only is Sepilok one of the tourist highlights of Sabah, but it is by far the cheapest. Entry is RM10 for foreigners and only RM1 for Malaysians.
There were many tours on offer for visits to the Kinabatangan River, and this is the usual way to explore the area. The cheapest of these is a very basic camp run by "Uncle Tan", who is mentioned in all the backpackers' Guide Books. The more expensive tours go to a small town called Sukau, where you can stay in more comfortable cabins. We asked a number of people about whether Sukau was accessible with a normal car and received various answers. Obviously anyone with a vested interest in the tours would prefer that we thought otherwise. We decided to try it out and if it got too difficult to turn back and continue to Lahad Datu. We were also unsure whether we could find accommodation in Sukau, as it could be monopolised by the tour companies, so we started early in case we had to drive back to civilisation the same day.
The road turned out to be rather bumpy and dusty, consisting mainly of loose gravel. There was a fair amount of traffic, mainly trucks going to and from the palm plantations that lined the road. There were also a number of four-wheel-drive vehicles. We did not see any other ordinary cars, but the road was quite manageable, if not particularly comfortable. It took about an hour to drive the forty-two kilometres to Sukau after leaving the main highway. We saw some of the lodges used by the tour companies, but we could not find anybody to attend to us. These places didn't expect casual enquiries, as their guests would normally be booked well in advance. With assistance from the locals we eventually found our way to a pleasant lodge by the river where some staff were in attendance. We were quoted RM200 for a night, but after a bit of negotiation we got it down to RM50 provided we did the boat trip with them for another RM50. As the boat trip was our main reason for being there, and we already knew that this was the minimum we would have to pay, we were quite happy to accept. There is actually a Bed and Breakfast place out the other side of town. We did not go and see it, but it would probably be a reasonable option if there was a problem getting into one of the lodges.
The next problem was finding some lunch. As we were the only guests there was no food available at the lodge. On the package tours meals are provided, but it would not be worth their while to cook just for us. We drove into the village and found that all restaurants were closed for Ramadan. Once again consulting the local people, we were directed to a shop where we were able to buy some buns and other provisions to keep us going until the evening when, we were assured, there would be restaurants open. In fact, when we went back in the evening the only restaurant we could find was cooking up a fish barbecue, but it was for their own personal consumption for the family fast-breaking. The restaurant was not actually open to the public. However, not wanting us to go hungry during this time of celebration, they offered to cook us some noodles if we could wait for a while. So we did eventually get to eat a simple but pleasant meal.
We did the two-hour boat trip at the recommended time of 4 pm. The boat goes up a tributary of the Kinabatangan where you are practically guaranteed to find the proboscis monkeys, but we also had several birds, including hornbills, pointed out to us. At one stage the guide stopped by the river bank and pointed to something which took us a while to make out, a large lizard clinging to the trunk of a tree, very well camouflaged to blend in with the bark. We saw several proboscis monkeys along the way and the boat made a number of stops for us to watch them in detail. At the furthest point there was a large colony up in the treetops above us, some of them coming very close to the boat. The males are the most interesting, with their Jimmy Durante noses. Actually there is a kind of symmetry in their profile, which I won't elaborate on. The trip was a wonderful experience. No rain, but plenty of cloud cover so we could avoid the hot sun. The Kinabatangan River is one of the highlights of a trip to Sabah, and not to be missed, even if you do have to take an expensive tour to get there.
The next day, Saturday, we travelled back along the gravel road, stopping along the way to visit the Gomantong Caves. Once again, these are usually visited as part of a tour, and you are supposed to apply for visiting permits in KK or Sandakan. However we thought we would try our luck and apply at the reception when we got there. As it turned out, there was no one at the gates and reception was closed, although the opening hours printed on the door indicated that they should have been open. We decided to go and have a look at the caves anyway. There were plenty of local people about to show us the way, and we walked through a fairly impressive but smelly cavern on a walkway covered in guano and cockroaches. At this time we had not yet been to Mulu or Niah so this was a foretaste of those more famous caves.
Back on the main highway, it wasn't very long before one of our tyres blew out. This was just what I had been dreading. I had managed to avoid flat tyres since buying the car and, as far as I knew, did not have a useable jack. I did, however, have a properly inflated spare tyre, and no sooner had I taken this out of the boot than a minibus pulled up behind me. A group of young men jumped out and proceeded to change the tyre very efficiently, using their own equipment, and asking nothing in return. What a wonderful country this is!
In Lahad Datu we checked out the hotels recommended in our guide books. We were not impressed by Malaysia Venus Hotel II, described by one book as "the best deal in town" but found the Perdana Hotel across the road more to our liking, with friendly staff and even a lift that worked, at the incredibly low rate of RM25.
On Sunday, we continued on to Semporna, stopping for lunch at the little town of Kunak. We found an excellent restaurant, well-patronised by locals, by the name of Fook Seng, definitely worth the detour of a few kilometres off the main highway. We had a delicious whole steamed fish and a plate of Chinese vegetables, accompanied by rice, soup and tea.
The most interesting place to stay in Semporna is Dragon Inn, a large resort complex built entirely over water. The comfortable air-conditioned room had gaps in the floorboards where you could look down and see the sea-water below. We wanted to eat at the resort's restaurant which is quite well-known but it was booked out for a wedding, so we walked into town to find a local meal and decided to have lunch at the restaurant before we left the next day. It was an interesting time to be at Dragon Inn as it was the eve of Hari Raya, and this turned out to be the place where all the locals gathered to celebrate the end of Ramadan. We had to make our way past crowds of revellers, many of whom wanted to shake our hands or take photos with us, to get to the accommodation area, which, fortunately, was open only to guests of the resort.
We drove to Tawau, Sabah's southernmost town, which is mainly known as a departure point for Kalimantan. We stayed at the Soon Yee Hotel, which one guide-book correctly described as "the best bargain option in town". Not a lot to do here, but there were the usual night markets and open-air eating places to enjoy.
We broke the journey back to Sepilok at Lahad Datu, where the friendly Perdana Hotel showed great pleasure in seeing us again, and continued the next day to Sepilok Jungle Resort. We planned to spend the afternoon and evening in Sandakan, hoping to find somewhere nice to celebrate our 31st wedding anniversary.
In Sandakan itself we drove up to a lookout with a good view over the city, and later to a Chinese temple with an even more impressive outlook. This did not seem to be mentioned in the English tourist literature, but was in a French brochure, and was also suggested by the lady who managed the Sepilok Jungle Resort.
On our way back to Kota Kinabalu, we spent a night at the Poring Hot Springs. The only accommodation available was the Hostel, where we had to share a room with four other people. However, as hostels go, it was very good, and we decided to take advantage of the cooking facilities rather than eat at the canteen or drive out to find a restaurant. We climbed up the hill to do the canopy walk, a bit scary if you actually look down and try to enjoy the view, and spent an hour relaxing in a hot sulphur bath under a starry sky with a crescent moon.
Back in Kota Kinabalu we drove out to the Magellan hoping we were not too late for their buffet lunch. We were disappointed to find that most dishes were finished and there was no sign of them being replaced. We tried the Pan Pacific Sutera, which has basically the same food and found it much more intact, presumably having fewer customers over there. We also found that they were replacing the food as it disappeared.
In KK we caught up with our film-viewing. The only films available of course were the big box-office hits, but there were some we wanted to see. We had already seen "Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone" on our first visit, and this time saw "Lord of the Rings" and the animated "Monsters Inc." The theatre complex was a short walk from Trekkers Lodge. For dinner we found a very good and efficiently run local Chinese restaurant where you can see the food cooked up in front of you in a big wok. It is Ming San, next to City Park, almost directly up the road from Trekkers Lodge.
After a couple of days we set off to explore the Kudat Peninsula, stopping en route at Kota Belud for the famous Sunday market. In Kudat it took a while to find a hotel that was to our liking. Most accommodation was in the new part of town. Nobody seemed to be expecting visitors and most places we checked were unattended. Eventually we took a room at the Kian Dai Hotel, which was more pleasant than the other more expensive places we saw. Do people really accept a room without a window? We could never stay in a windowless room no matter how well-furnished it is. This hotel even gave us a calendar for 2002, featuring a picture of horses as it is the Chinese Year of the Horse.
Though we had occasionally had a beer or two with our meals we had not yet spotted a bottle of wine on our travels, and, in order to celebrate Christmas, decided to make a conscious effort to find one. We managed to find a shop in town that sold mainly hard liquor, but they did stock two brands of wine. There was a choice between Californian (the ubiquitous Carlo Rossi, which does not appeal to us) and Delmore, a French table wine, so we decided to risk the latter. Now we just had to find a decent restaurant to drink it in and hope that they had a corkscrew.
It didn't take us long to find the best places to eat. There was a row of open-style Chinese restaurants down towards the sea. A couple of them were well-patronised so we chose the first one of these and asked what was available. Normally we order a steamed fish, but this time I felt like sweet and sour for a change. As Yoong always prefers steamed, we asked if it was possible to cut the fish in half and have one half steamed with ginger and the other fried with sweet and sour. We then decided this was a bit too demanding and were not even sure the man understood what we wanted so we changed our order to a whole steamed fish and gor lor yook (sweet and sour pork). Although Yoong speaks Chinese it is Cantonese dialect and, unless the waiter is Cantonese, she often has almost as much difficulty being understood as I do.
We showed the man our bottle of wine and, using appropriate gestures, asked if he had such a thing as a corkscrew. Well, there wasn't actually one in the restaurant, but he disappeared for a while and eventually came back with, not only a corkscrew, but two genuine wine glasses. We had been quite prepared to drink our wine out of beer glasses, but this gesture was very much appreciated. And the wine actually tasted pretty good to us.
After some time the first dish arrived. It seemed to be a whole steamed fish, as expected. But then another fish turned up - this time sweet and sour. Clearly they had not understood our attempts either to order two half fish or to change the order. And then the gor lor yook came. Normally we would not order a sweet and sour dish at all - now we had ended up with two. Fortunately all the food was delicious, and we thought it was appropriate to be a bit extravagant as Christmas was on its way. After some time we made a discovery. The fish were not quite whole fish. They really were two half-fish, though with rather more than half the flesh we would expect to find, and of different species, one best suited for steaming and the other for cooking sweet and sour style. Despite the similarity in two of the dishes, it was an excellent meal and we were quite happy to pay whatever the man thought appropriate to satisfy our strange requests. It came to only RM21. (Haven't they heard about corkage?)
The next day we spent driving to various beaches around the peninsula and through little villages. We found it strange that each time we came within a few kilometres of a village the gravel road would change to bitumen, even smoother and less pot-holed than the main highway. We walked along Bak-Bak Beach and had a shorter visit to a few others, and also stopped at the little town of Sikuati. For our Christmas Day lunch we returned to the restaurant of the previous night, and found our two wine glasses waiting for us. This time one of our favourite dishes was available, consisting of alternate slices of pork and yam, which we enjoyed along with a whole steamed fish - no more mucking about with halves.
We had booked the Magellan for Wednesday to have a bit of luxury after all our hard travelling. This time we got there in time to have the buffet. One of the deciding factors, apart from the usual cheese and desserts, was a dish of large juicy prawns. If we had been a little later we would have missed them as they were not replaced. Eventually a squid dish was substituted for them. Unfortunately we feel the buffet at the Magellan, although still excellent value, has declined in quality since our trip earlier in the year. Perhaps it has something to do with the drop in tourist numbers. The room was certainly luxurious and, apart from a couple of swims in the pool, we spent most of the afternoon relaxing and watching movies on TV, before driving into town for dinner at Ming San.
We returned to Kuala Belait on Saturday January 19 for a few days rest before getting back to work. KB seemed quieter than ever after the lively towns of Malaysia.
Taking the car made things so much easier and we both feel it was one of the best holidays we have ever had. It also gave us the confidence to explore Sarawak by car as well.