On Tour

After our brief stopover in KL, it was time to leave the big smoke and head to our actual destination for this trip: Borneo. The island of Borneo is shared by three countries; Indonesia, Malaysia & Brunei, but our eyes were fixed on the Malaysian portion, which ran along the northern side of the island. We'd heard that this is one of the best places in the world to see virgin rainforest, epic diving and our red-haired cousins (no, not Scottish cousin Lachlan...the Orangutans). I had assumed that this part of South-east Asia might be difficult to explore independently on a tight timeline, so we decided to book a tour. It would be Mel's first experience in a developing nation, and a tour gives you the peace of mind (not to mention scapegoat) when things don't go quite as planned.

KL had been a bit of a shock, because it was big and modern like most cities back home, and when we touched down in Kota Kinabalu I was starting to wonder if I'd got this all wrong. The shiny new airport came complete with McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts! To be honest I think it would put a lot of Australian airports to shame. After purchasing our taxi voucher (flat rate of RM30 = $10 for the trip into the city) we caught a cab to our hotel. The driver spoke English, didn't break any road rules, didn't have his cab held together with duct tape, and didn't even attempt to rip off the stupid tourists. What was going on, this wasn't what I expected at all!?

That evening we met up with the rest of our group and our tour leader. There were 15 of us all up, and it seemed like a pretty nice bunch. The youngest was an 18 year old Gen-Y out of Perth, and the oldest was...yours truly...yep, I've become THAT guy!
One of our party just happened to be a young doctor (which might prove useful given my tendency to acquire strange tropical diseases) who'd already spent a few nights in KK so, after the meeting, we followed him to the local market. Opposite the shiny new Starbucks was the quintessential assortment of tarps and corrugated iron making up the bustling night market. Here, all the local villagers came to compete with the glitzy new malls by hawking their produce and crafts. It was a strange juxtaposition, but it was great to know that the decadence of the western world may not have swallowed all of Malaysia just yet. We grabbed a seat among the locals and ordered dinner with some fresh juices. $3 later we were all smiles...this was more like it!

The following morning our tour began with a boat trip out into the South China Sea. The first stop was an island called Palau Labuan, and the ferry was kind enough to show us the movie "Titanic" on our Voyage. Irony deficiency, much? There wasn't much in Labuan except for some Duty-free shops, some bars for ex-pats, a few hotels and, of course, a new shopping mall. But, it was a compulsory stop-over that allowed us to catch the boat we needed into Limbang.

Due to the location of Brunei, catching this boat down the coast allowed us to skirt around the small sultanate and bypass the additional border crossings. After sailing up a wide estuarine mouth we eventually landed at Limbang, and I knew that I hadn't been wrong about Borneo. The town protruded from the jungle on the banks of the dirty brown river, complete with stilt houses scattered along the shoreline. Add this to the sunken boat next to the jetty, and the diminishing availability of wifi, and we knew we were in for a real adventure. Tomorrow we would be heading into the jungle!Читать далее