Jewel in the Crown
Jul 19–22, 2015 in Malaysia ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C
Big John Scuba is run by a cuddly local (no points for guessing his name). And John was one of those guys who knew everyone and could get things done, as he had demonstrated after my transfer debacle. He generously waited back until my taxi eventually arrived at 7pm that evening to sort out my paperwork, after which he dropped me at my hotel (which he also arranged for me, at a discount). The next morning he picked me up again and gave me a lift to his boat which would take us out to Mabul Island. The town of Semporna was a dump (literally, as there was rubbish lying in the streets) and I was hoping that it was no reflection of what lay offshore. Thankfully, it wasn't.
The next morning we boarded one of Big John's dive boats for the one hour trip out to Mabul Island. Mabul is the largest island of the archipelago, and accommodates the most tourists. It also hosts a small colony of "sea gypsies", who build their houses out over the sea to apparently avoid paying tax. Depending on your budget you can spend anything from $40 to over $600 per night for lodging in this part of the world. Naturally, I was at the $40 end of the scale, and I had been told to expect a "homestay". To my pleasant surprise it was more like a budget hotel, suspended over the Cerebes Sea and run by a local family. I even had my own room! But realising that our plumbing dropped straight into the water below I quickly made a note not to swim in the lagoon. Other than that, it was excellent!
Without wasting a moment, I was told to join the local Divemaster to do a quick refresher. Osmund wasn't much of a talker but informed me that our first dive would be in a spot called Coral Garden, and that I was to perform a series of drills to ensure that I wouldn't be a danger to myself or others. With those out of the way we used the rest of our air to have a bit of a look around. We saw turtles, eels, puffer fish, and an octopus, and there was even a small wreck. With only a small gesture Osmund asked if I wanted to go inside and check it out...absolutely! I hadn't been inside a wreck before, and it was like being in your own documentary. Because the water inside is so still, and the walls are so close, everything looks very clear. When I surfaced I was smiling ear to ear, which made a pleasant change from the bleeding lungs last time. We rounded off day one with dives at Eel Garden and the Seaventures Oil Rig (now converted into a hotel). Yet amazingly this wonderland wasn't even the big drawcard.
Divers all over the world come to this archipelago with one island in mind: Sipadan! In fact, Sipadan Island was at the top of Rodale's Scuba Diving Magazine Gold List for 'The Top Dive Destination in the World', shared only with the Galapagos Islands and Truk in Micronesia. Unfortunately for me, this popularity meant that it usually sold out weeks or months in advance, and given that I was now in peak season I assumed the latter. Sadly I hadn't made a booking, and I knew that Big John wasn't among the limited number of dive operators who held any of the 120 permits allowed each day. But, as I chatted with Mark, Big John's Dive Instructor, he told me he'd see what he could do. To my absolute delight he returned after a few phone calls and advised me that he could score me a permit in 2 days time due to a cancellation. It would cost a small fortune, and I had to pretend to be Peter Schrelechner (no joke), but I was in!! And so my 3day/9dive trip turned into 4 day/12dive epic, including Sipadan! For those who may be familiar with the local diving, I also dived Lobster Wall twice, the Navy Marker, Ray Point as well as Mid Reef & House Reef around Kapalai Island. The sealife was extraordinary, how could Sipadan possibly be so much better?
It started with the scenery. Unlike the other islands, no one was allowed to stay on Sipadan (except for the World's luckiest deployment of Malaysian troops, who had a small camp there!!). So Sipidan was a well preserved atoll, jutting up 600m vertically from the sea floor below. This unique geography made it a haven for sea creatures of all types, as I was about to find out. Taking advantage of the 15m visibility, our first dive dropped us straight to 22m depth where we ran right into a school of reef sharks. Over the next 45 minutes we slowly ascended passing numerous turtles in what felt more like a giant aquarium than the ocean. To top it off we spent our 5m safety stop hovering over the reef, watching every colour of fish. On our second dive we went to the famous Barracuda Point and hadn't even descended before the show started. Within moments we became enveloped by a massive shoal of Jackfish. As we dived it was like diving through a sea of silver, so thick they actually blocked out the light as they swam around us. And we finished with a dive into Turtle Cave, a sea cave about 20m down, before ascending while drifting along the precipitous wall that the island sits on. On the boat ride home we could barely contain our excitement, the reputation of Sipadan was well deserved!! But Mother Nature wasn't done yet, and swam a massive pod of Pilot Whales right across our bow.
And with that, my time was up and it was sadly time to return to Australia. But what a way to end! Thank you Malaysia, and thank you Peter Schrelechner!!Read more
Protons, Peroduas and Palm Oil
Jul 18–19, 2015 in Malaysia ⋅ ☁️ 33 °C
With only a few more days left to burn, I figured I had time for maybe one or two more highlights. So, I reopened the Lonely Planet and checked out what they recommended. One of the remaining suggestions for northern Borneo was scuba diving at the Semporna Archipelago. I hold an Advanced Open Water licence, but it had been about 4 years since my last dive in Africa...and this dive hadn't exactly gone to plan (I surfaced coughing up blood, which led to pneumonia). The islands off Semporna were also on the Australian Government's current list of No-go areas, due to the risk of piracy from the Philippines. Pirates?! Risk of horrible diving-death!? This had my name written all over it!
But, Semporna was at the other end of the country, and I needed to work out a way of getting there. I managed to book a cheap flight from Sandakan to Tawau, which would save me about 6 hours in a bus, traversing the province north to south. But, that still left me needing to get from my jungle camp to Sandakan Airport, crossing the island west to east.
I knew that there would be cross-country buses passing Ranau throughout the day (the nearest town on the highway), so the next morning I hiked back out of the jungle and caught a taxi to main arterial across the island. But, when I advised my driver of my plan he looked grim. Despite allowing myself 6 hours to go barely 250km, he pointed out that today was the end of Ramadan, and therefore the beginning of the Muslim festival of Hari Raya. Every Muslim would be on the move to visit family & friends, and this religion represents about 2/3 of Malaysians. This could be a problem.
My taxi driver was right, and the bus stop at Ranau was already full of locals waiting for seats on a passing bus. Even if I got lucky and there were buses leaving Kota Kinabalu with empty seats, I was at the end of a worryingly long queue for these. There was no opportunity to pre-book, so it was first come, first served. It looked like I needed more than a small bit of luck. And that was when a minivan came past, calling for passengers to go to Telupid , a town about half way to my final destination of Sandakan.
None of the locals blinked, and I had been warned that taking minivans would likely leave me stranded in "exotic" Telupid, hence my reason for trying the bus. When I dismissed the driver by saying I was going to Sandakan, he immediately replied that the buses were full and that I would need to go with him. I knew there was a chance that he could be telling the truth, but I also knew that this was exactly what any scheming minivan driver would have said to secure an extra fare. So, I negotiated for a while, and pointed out that I had a deadline and a plane to catch. He assured me that he would personally find me a minivan in Telupid, to ensure I got there in time, and he eventually won me over. I was on my way, and at least I was getting closer.
Just after we arrived in Telupid the first of the buses rolled past, and it was indeed full. But now the flood of travellers associated with Hari Raya actually started to work in my favour. Rather than taking the typical several hours for the minivans to fill up (they won't leave unless full, ie 14 passengers in 12 seats), the minivan that my initial driver had pointed me towards barely took an hour to overflow with passengers. With my 15 new companions jammed in around me, I was on the road again with time to spare. Best of all, the minivan dropped me directly to the airport on his way into Sandakan, win for travel karma (and thanks random minivan drivers)!
But, the the adventure, goodwill of the locals, didn't end there. My flight from Sandakan was delayed by 45 minutes, and when I finally touched down in Tawau my intended transfer had decided to get on with his afternoon...and left. When I asked the local taxi drivers the rate to get to Semporna they advised that I would be out of pocket 95 ringgits for the 100km journey, which was almost quadruple the cost of my arranged transfer. Then one of them informed me that he was actually a Semporna local, and had the office phone number for my chosen dive operator. With no pleading necessary he took out his mobile phone and called them for me. 10 minutes later, after a lot more effort to help a stranded traveller than I would have expected from any taxi driver, he eventually advised me to follow him. My dive operator had agreed to pay him the fare, and I would still only need to pay them my agreed transfer rate. This transaction gave me my first hint that I had chosen my dive operator wisely...and that most people really are good at heart.
The journey across the island was bitter sweet, though. I passed 3 things in high numbers: Protons and Peroguas (Malaysia's own vehicles brands), but also endless Palm Oil Plantations. The island of Borneo sits on the equator, and this tropical climate makes it ideal for growing most kinds of vegetation. Sadly, Malaysia is serving the massive global demand for palm oil by bulldozing native rainforests, and planting palm plantations. These monocultures now cover about 20% of the state of Sabah, and the impact was heart breaking. Mighty rivers which were once flanked by virgin rainforest stretching to the horizon, are now lined by a narrow corridor of original trees, followed by palm trees as far as the eye could see. I was desperately hoping that my ocean dive location had been better protected than the forests...Read more
King of the Jungle
Jul 15–17, 2015 in Malaysia ⋅ 🌧 26 °C
Lupa Masa was more like it! Sitting on the boundary of Mt Kinabalu NP, the name translates to "forget time". And not only did the directions for finding them include "wait at Restaurant in village and we will pick you up", but then continued with "for the 30 minute walk in to the camp". Sweeeet...
Constructed entirely of materials that had to be carried in by hand, Lupa Masa jungle camp really does give you that feeling of remoteness. The long house was made entirely of bamboo and doesn't have walls, and there is no electricity for 21 hrs each day (therefore no refrigeration). You almost expect to hear Tarzan swinging by while you lounge around soaking up the jungle surrounds. And sitting at almost 1,000m elevation it was also a lot cooler...Perfect!
As it turned out, I was the only guest on my first night. As such, it would have been a bit awkward for the staff of 4, and pair of volunteers, to treat me like a customer. So, instead, I was treated like one of the team, with the exception that I didn't need to cook or wash up (even better!). It was really disappointing that Mel had needed to leave, because I was sure she would have loved this place. In future I think I might need to limit my holidays to durations we can both take.
And true to the surrounding rainforest, it rained every day (despite being dry season). In fact, one of the downpours must have been so severe upstream that it actually caused a flash flood. I'd always been taught not to camp near a river bed, and watching the speed and ferocity with which the waters rose, I now realised why! I've included a video showing two of the local waterways before & after the flooding. Glad I wasn't taking a dip!
Now that I'd had my third dose of jungle I figured it was time for a sea-change before heading home. Thankfully, sitting less than a day away was some world-class diving which would allow me to put my scuba ticket to some use.Read more
Tip of Borneo
Jul 12–14, 2015 in Malaysia ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C
We'd had a pretty good group for our tour of Sarawak, but it was nice to be independent again. It would have been even nicer if Mel was still around, but unfortunately she'd run out of holidays, and had to go back to Australia for work. I had managed to score an extra fortnight of leave, and now just needed to decide what to do with that. Since we hadn't really spent any time in Sabah, at the northern end of the island, that seemed like the logical place to start. This inevitably led me back to Kota Kinabalu as a starting point.
Like most other travellers to Sabah, I had been intending to climb Mt Kinabalu (SE Asia's highest peak), but unfortunately a recent earthquake had caused a closure of the mountain which was expected to remain in force for several more months yet. But my slight inconvenience was nothing compared with the lives lost during the quake, and the livelihoods now being impacted by the loss of tourism. So, instead of the TOP of Borneo I decided to begin with the the TIP of Borneo.
I'd read about a jungle camp in the far north which was closely associated with the local Rungus villagers. Tampat Do Aman, meaning "place of friends" in the local tongue, was started by a Brit named Howard. He'd given up running a nearby resort, married a local girl and started something a little different. I knew I was onto a winner when his directions for getting there were basically "Don't bother trying to find us. Meet at Ria Hotel in Kudat (nearest town) at 1pm and we'll come and get you". After arriving in Kudat with some time to burn, I discovered that my chosen destination wasn't the only difficult thing to find around there. After several loops around the village trying to find an ATM , a friendly local lady realised I had no idea and took pity on me. After reading my blank expression while listening to her directions, she told me to wait while she got her car, and proceeded to drive me to the ATM herself. What a lovely person! With one less toy Koala (my standard gift for assisting an Aussie-in-need) and my faith in human kindness reaffirmed, my contact arrived to pick me up and I was on my way.
The photos made Tampat Do Aman look like a beachside oasis, which was partly true since these photos were of the beachside cafe that Howard also runs. But, in reality, the camp was actually about 4km from the beach, back in the jungle. However, seeing as it was about 40 degrees in the shade, the cafe is where you spend most of your time anyway, so I suppose that counts.
Aside from the distance between camp and the cafe, Tampat Do Aman was really lovely, and had the feeling of a jungle kibbutz (complete with open-air showers and a genuine bamboo longhouse). Thankfully, to save his patrons attempting the commute on foot (and likely dying of heat stroke), Howard regularly piled guests into the back of his Hilux, Taliban-style (minus the AK-47's), and did the trip back and forth.
I actually think that the TDA Cafe was the real winner, and the frequent visitors from other lodgings/towns seemed to confirm this. As long as you weren't in too much of a rush (and why would you be), the all-local staff would keep your tab ticking over with fresh juices, snacks, amazing food and most importantly; ice cold beers. The Tip of Borneo really was a beach-side paradise, but after 2 days with the mercury barely dipping below 30 (even at night!) I decided that I needed to find a cooler jungle. Thankfully, it turned out that the national park around Mt Kinabalu was still open for business. With an extra thousand metres of altitude, I was hoping that this would do the trick.Read more
Kuching
Jul 7–9, 2015 in Malaysia ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C
Mulu NP was a massive highlight, but we weren't finished just yet. After 3 days of hiking and exploring (and drinking and eating) it was time to leave. This time we followed the much more common route (ie to the airport) and flew out to Kuching with only a short stop at Miri to pick up our big packs. We'd last seen those almost 5 days ago when they got sent on ahead, and had been living out of increasingly smelly day packs ever since. It was great to finally have fresh clothes again, and our first showers felt like we washed away kilograms of dirt and sweat.
Revitalised, the next morning we headed off once more, but this time to the nearby Bako National Park. Other than the compulsory boat ride in, Bako was a lot closer to civilisation and therefore generally better travelled than the more remote Mulu. But, it was also a very different kind of park, located on the coast, with light jungle and several seastacks offshore. Besides the amazing scenery we had been told that this place would give us a good opportunity to see some wildlife, and we weren't disappointed. Despite never venturing more than about a kilometre from the park headquarters we crossed paths with some wild boar, proboscus monkeys, langurs, a green viper and some very cheeky common monkeys. One particularly cheeky specimen even decided to jump on my shoulder and make like a pirate's pet (or look for food in my hair...). With the animal spotting over, we took a quick coastal tour before returning to the mainland. We'd loved to have spent all day at Bako, but we had arranged an opportunity to maybe see semi-wild Orangutans.
About an hour south of Kuching is Semenggoh Rehabilitation Centre for semi-wild Orangutans. Here, animals are brought if injured, captured or orphaned, and returned to health. Unlike Sepilok, near Sandakan, these animals are kept in a semi-wild state, with their own generous chunk of virgin jungle. To help raise money for the centre visitors are invited to watch "feedings" which occur twice daily. On each occasion fruit is left in a specially prepared clearing to try and coax some of the animals out of the jungle. There is no guarantee any of them will come for the food (especially if the local trees are fruiting), but this is the trade-off to see semi-wild animals. Happily for us 5 orangutans were feeling peckish while we were there, including a mother and father with their baby. And, to put the icing on the cake, I finally saw a pitcher plant that I'd been hunting all trip. This is your queue to zone out or skip to the next entry if you would like to avoid the biology lesson.
I'd first seen been introduced to pitcher plants by David Attenborough (in a documentary, of course). Unique to the island of Borneo, these remarkably plants have developed very unique ways of harvesting food. One of them (shown in my photo) has evolved what equates to a jar with a partially open lid. On the underside of the lid the plant generates a sweet nectar, and on the rim of the jar the plant lines itself with a lubricant. Any insect which is drawn by the nectar, slips on the rim and falls into the jar which is filled with a kind of digestion fluid. Makes the Venus Fly-trap seem a bit basic in comparison! Another type of pitcher has a symbiotic relationship with a shrew. Here the lid is left fully open, encouraging the shrew to come and straddle the jar to lick off the nectar. Now the jar acts like a kind of toilet bowl for the shrew, and this is exactly what the pitcher is relying on...yummy...
Sadly, this would also be Mel's last destination. Being a bastion of the planet's future (ie teacher) she was unfortunately limited to the school holidays, which were rapidly running out. As a treat to ourselves we upgraded and spent our last night in Kuching in an absolute stunning hotel that Mel found on Tripadvisor. The Ranee Suites had only been open for about a year, but the owner had done an amazing job converting a pair of shops into a 20ish room boutique hotel. We felt a bit guilty with the extravagance, but this was a holiday after all, so we soaked it up. For Mel this was unfortunately the end, but for me it was only the end of Sarawak. Now it was on to Sabah, and goodbye to anything like this kind of luxury.Read more
Going Batty
Jul 4–7, 2015 in Malaysia ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C
We'd been seeing some small limestone stacks buried in the forest along the Headhunters trail, which you could have mistaken for the hidden temples around Angkor Wat if they'd taken more geometric shapes. But when we emerged from the jungle and saw the limestone karsts, we realised that we'd barely scratched the surface.
Our first overnight stop in the park was at the creatively named "Camp 5", which sits nestled between the peaks of Gunung Api and Gunung Benarat. Although, "peaks" is not really the best description, because Gunung Benarat rose about 1,600m vertically from the surrounding rainforest. It was like looking at the cliffs of Yosemite on steroids! Suddenly our exhaustion was forgotten, as we stared in awe at the scenery, including a brief glimpse at the Pinnacles (limestone spires) that atop Gunung Api. But we were still drenched in sweat, so we each dropped our bags in the dorm and took a blissful dunk in the river.
Camp 5 was like a hikers rest stop, and had the feel of a hippy commune. There are communal dorms, and one big kitchen/dining area where everyone sits around sharing stories. That evening we were given a show by the fireflies, and then woken the next morning by a torrential downpour...a wonderful natural combination ("wonderful", thanks to the roof over our head). Unfortunately, Camp 5 was only a temporary stop over, and that morning we had another hike to get to the Park Headquarters.
This was also a lovely spot, with several local restaurants and varying accommodation options. In the early 90's an airstrip was constructed near the NP, and with it brought much simpler access for less adventurous tourists (including a Marriott hotel to stay at!!). This increases the number of tourists, but that helps to keep the funding up, which in turn ensured that all the walks around the headquarters were excellently maintained. Here we stayed in the hostel for two nights, which allowed us to see several of the major draw cards for Gunung Mulu NP.
We began with a visit to Wind Cave and Clearwater Cave, which were pretty, and each included their own sink holes in the ceilings which let in a very photogenic amount of light. After this we undertook a nail-biting climb along the tree-top canopy walk. This 300m long tangle of timber, steel and rope reached about 26m off the ground at it's highest point (equivalent to a 9 storey building) and allows you a great view into the unseen world amongst the roof of the forest. And, amazingly, the Malaysians managed to construct it without actually pinning it (ie nails, rods or bolts) into any of the trees.
We also checked out Lang Cave, which contained some very cool rock formations as well as cave worms which "fish" for insects. These amazing creatures attach themselves to the underside of overhangs, then make a very sticky thread which they dangle below themselves. Once an insect gets caught in this line the worm just has to reel them in and digest them...yum.
Finally, on our last evening, it was time for the big one (literally). Deer Cave was one of the main reasons we chose Borneo, and the nightly bat exodus was also supposed to be one of the World's great migrations (especially given it's frequency). It didn't disappoint, and the shear number of bats that drained out of the cave at sunset were unbelievable. Apparently 2-3 million of these little winged creatures swarm out of Deer Cave every night to feast on about 15,000tonnes of insects! As they exit they form a spiral which is supposedly designed to confuse predators, but it seemed that at least a few of the local bat hawks had their number. The whole exodus took about 30 minutes, which implied an average of around 1,500 bats every second! How they manage to avoid crashing into each other is a miracle.
Until 2009, Deer Cave held the record for the World's largest cave passage: 170m wide and 120m tall. It is literally large enough that the Airbus A380 could fit into it...2 abreast and piled 5 high! It was an awesome sight which was almost impossible to capture on camera.Read more
Head Hunting
Jul 2–4, 2015 in Malaysia ⋅ ☁️ 32 °C
Now it was time for the real adventure to start. It began easily enough with a minivan trip out of town, until the road...well...just, ended. Considerately the authorities had constructed a nice asphalt pavement right into the front porch of someone's hut (complete with linemarking). From here we all transferred into longboats for our journey upstream. Our eventual destination was the World Heritage listed Mulu National Park, which has an airport, but our chosen route would be taking us via the ominously named Head Hunter's Trail, and needed 3 days (kind of like doing the Inca Trail to reach Machu Picchu).
To save the whole ordeal taking even longer, we would be catching longboats to the start of the Head Hunters Trail. But even this would take 2 days, and we spent our first night adjacent to the river in an Iban Longhouse. Apparently these structures are the traditional dwellings of the Iban people, although I think "traditional" might be drawing a long bow, since each one now seems to be equipped with satellite TV dishes. But, the nightly sounds of the village still seemed pretty traditional, including a farm animals, squabbling dogs, and very confused roosters who seemed to be predicting perpetual dawn...
After a very rough night of "sleep" we bid farewell to our Iban hosts and continued upriver. Since it was the dry season, the water level was at it's lowest, and now even the amazing skills of our longboat drivers couldn't manage to cross some of the shallowest parts of the river. This necessitated a lot of pushing and heaving to help drag the boats upstream. After several hours of this we finally reached the beginning of the Head Hunter's Trail, left the boats behind, and changed into dry clothes. But, 5 minutes into the hike, we realised that we needn't have bothered. It may have been dry season, but it didn't seem to be making a dent in the humidity...we were literally dripping with sweat!! But, the change of clothes was thankfully helping to keep most of the leaches at bay, and only a solitary die-hard managed to find the gap between my trousers and shoes. But he paid dearly for his efforts, getting gradually squished to death by the lip of my shoe, and I only realised that I'd been bitten when I eventually took off my shoes that evening.
Finally, after 2 days in a longboat and several hours of hiking in pools of our own sweat, we emerged into the forest clearing that housed the creatively named "Camp 5" on the edge of Mulu National Park. This wasn't just a sight for sore eyes, because surrounding Camp 5 was the scenery that earned Mulu its place on the World Heritage list.Read more
On Tour
Jun 30–Jul 1, 2015 in Malaysia ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C
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!Read more
Easing into Things
Jun 28–29, 2015 in Malaysia ⋅ 🌧 33 °C
As with a lot of journeys, our trip kicked off at an entirely unreasonable hour. At 4:45am our taxi arrived. We knew that because we heard him scraping the back end of his taxi off by trying to reverse up the driveway. We appreciated his efforts, but we're not sure the neighbours did, since it was still 2 hours before sunrise on a Sunday morning. If this didn't wake them up then we're certain that our departure did. The steepness of the driveway, which caused his issues on arrival, now prevented his tyres getting any traction on the way out. After leaving the majority of his tread on our landlord's pretty concrete driveway (to the point where you could smell the burning rubber) he eventually managed upon an angle that allowed him to extricate us, after leaving any of his remaining rear bumper bar behind. With a start like this, we knew this was going to be another adventure!
But we weren't exactly slumming it in the beginning, despite not having access to the Qantas Club (due to flying Malaysian Airlines). I had a plan/scam to wave my Airport Security card to try and get us priority access through customs/immigration, but then Mel did some internet research that saved me embarrassing myself. She babysits a Platinum Amex, and it turns out that this gained us both priority immigration as well as access to the Amex Lounge. Thanks P&J!!
The flight was pretty painless, and we watched some heavily censored movies in between catching a few cool glimpses of some Indonesian islands on the way over. The first thing that we noticed when we approached the airport in KL were the endless fields of palm trees around the airport. As far as the eye could see were mile upon mile of palm plantations. I'd heard that these kinds of plantations were becoming a major cause of deforestation in South-east Asia, but witnessing them first-hand was startling. Once we landed it was a very efficient train ride into the city, where we switched onto the Light Rail to get to our hotel. It was all very quick and easy.
And we weren't exactly slumming it with our accommodation, either. My mate Tony, at Helloworld Travel, had booked us into the Double Tree by Hilton, who gave us a complimentary upgrade to a Deluxe King room. Yet it turned out that the restaurant was the real party piece. When we presented for breakfast in the morning we had to be given a tour by the staff! This is because the restaurant occupied the entire floor, and included four separate buffets scattered throughout. The offering include cuisine from Malaysia, India, China and the West. We gorged ourselves like common tourists, to the point where any more food might have jeopardised our chances of walking out under our own steam.
After a quick rest to allow the food coma to subside, we ventured out to explore Kuala Lumpur. Unsurprisingly, the Hilton was clearly in the affluent part of town, so it was only a short walk to reach the City Park, which then led us on to the Petronas Towers. These are probably the key tourist drawcard in the city (unless you're a shopaholic). With an exterior comprising of 33,000 stainless steel and 55,000 glass panels they are certainly an impressive sight. Each tower is 88 storeys tall and they reach 452m into the sky, making them the world's tallest buildings when they were constructed. They held this title until 2004 and now hold equal 14th (with each other) among the rank of World Tallest Structures, and 7th for tallest buildings (as at 2015). The double-storey skybridge connecting the two structures is 170m above the street (shopping mall) below, and isn't fixed to either tower, allowing them to sway several feet in high winds!
KL was pleasant enough, but not that different to most other big cities: full of shiny shopping malls, skyscrapers and freeways. One noticeable exception were the housing precincts. It seemed that random precincts of high density housing had popped up at apparently random locations spread around the city. But, KL served it's purpose, allowing us to acclimatise and relax before heading onwards to the island of Borneo!Read more
Blyde River Beauty
June 25, 2011 in South Africa ⋅ 🌙 14 °C
This morning we slept in and left at a more leisurely hour. About an hour north of Hazyview is Graskop (Grass Head in Afrikaans). We checked into the Berlyn Peacock Tavern, which is run by an eccentric gentleman named Louie, then went exploring.
Grass Head is at the southern end of the Blyde River Canyon, which is the largest green canyon in the world (and the 3rd largest canyon overall behind the Grand Canyon in the USA and Fish River Canyon in Namibia...for you trivia lovers). Today was spent exploring the amazing scenery in this area. We checked out Wonder View, God's Window, The Pinnacle, Bourke's Luck Potholes, Lowveld View then The Three Rondavels. This gave us an amazing perspective of the Canyon, with some enviable photo opportunities.
Given that it was Private School holidays, it was remarkably quiet. I found Bourke's Luck Potholes to be a particularly fascinating phenomenon. Apparently some Irish bloke named Bourke figured that these circular formations in the rock (created by the swirling waters of the Blyde River) were a good place to find Gold...as it would be...?
Blyde River had been on my Bucket list for years and it didn't disappoint...my camera was running hot! As sunset approached, we finished the day by visiting Berlyn and Lisbon Falls. Berlyn Falls was nice, but Lisbon Falls had a particularly African feel about them. The Sunset helped, too. Our cameras were on overdrive...
[11 days on the road]Read more
Kruger Park
June 22, 2011 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C
Today we were up at 5am to visit Kruger National Park. Kruger is the jewel in the South African crown and has an area equivalent in size to Wales. We arrived in the twilight before the gates opened at 6am, and we weren't even the first ones in line! R180 later and we were in the Phabeni gate.
Things started off pretty slowly with some distant antelope sightings during the first half an hour. Then we started to hit some rhythm and we'd soon ticked off giraffe, zebra, elephant, hippo, water buffalo and warthog. With the clock passing 9am we headed into the Skukuza rest complex for breakfast. We pulled up a table on the deck overlooking the Sabie River and settled in for hearty bacon and egg brekky, chatting about where we might find the remainder of the "Big 5": lions, rhinos and leopards. We were hopeful about the lions and Rhino's, but leopards are notoriously elusive.
As we looked out over the river a pair of otters hopped out of the long grass and slipped into the water. Moments later we saw why the otters were on the run...a leopard emerged onto the river bank!! Seemingly oblivious to the amazed onlookers, the leopard proceeded to stalk up the river tracking the pair of otters. We continued to look on in stunned excitement for about 5 minutes until the leopard disappeared out of view. Then we sat back down, drank our coffees and ate our breakfast. WOW!
We never did see a lion or rhino, but we did manage to see a lot of other things including baboons and even a pair of honey badgers! The funniest event of the day happened when a herd of elephants decided to lazily graze their way across the road. Naturally, you give way to something the size of an elephant, but a small hatchback that was at the front of the queue decided that it was in the way of their progress. As such, they disappeared around the corner (in the direction of the big matriarch elephant). Moments later, they reappeared going flat out in reverse. We were all in stitches! HAHA.
In our quest to find the remaining Big 5 we had driven a fair way from our park entry gate. There are significant fines for exiting the park after closure, and even bigger problems if you get caught inside. We didn't have internal accommodation and soon realised that we had to make a move. Basically we would have to cover the same distance we'd done all day in the remaining 90 minutes. The race was on! Now covering 60ish km's in over an hour wouldn't typically be that hard, but Kruger is basically a zoo with no fences...and some VERY big animals. We made good progress until dusk, with a few stops for animal crossings including a cool pair of hyenas. Then it became dark, which was an extra problem since the low beam lights on Penny's car didn't work.
Now it turned from car-racing to heart-racing. We eventually made it to the gate with about 10 minutes to spare before the 6pm deadline, but the ordeal wasn't done just yet. The security guard was threatening to lock us in unless we paid the "late fee", which we assumed would end up straight in his pocket. We assumed we were in the right so we started arguing, unleashing Penny who instinctively went into her professional IR mode. After a heated back and forth, we were eventually let through. We later found out that the guard was in the right, and the gate was supposed to close at 5:30pm. We'd been 20 minutes late...oops...
To save time we had exited through a different gate, which put us a long way from our lodge in Hazyview. By now it was totally dark and we had to juggle between useless fog lamps and blinding high beams depending on traffic. Now it had gone from heart-racing to heart-stopping. We had to find a road which was unlit and not well marked, then dodge pedestrians (yep, lots of black African people, in black African clothes, on a black African night) as well as other similarly unroadworthy vehicles. After 30 minutes of luck, arse, fluke and swearing we finally made it back to our bungalow. It was time for a beer and a change of pants. Another end to another exciting day.
[8 days on the road]Read more
Doorstep to Kruger
June 20, 2011 in South Africa ⋅ 🌙 26 °C
Today the 7 of us left the city behind and drove northeast to a town called Hazyview, our stepping off point for Kruger National Park. The drive took about 6 hours and descended off the plateau that Johannesburg sits on. We didn't go that much closer to the equator, but the descent definitely helped with the temperature.
On the way we planned to stop for a meal at a cafe called Milly's, which Penny recommended as a convenient place to break the drive. Unfortunately, someone had decided Milly's was also a convenient place to light a bonfire, because it was barely more than a pile of ashes when we arrived. It must have been quite recent, since there were some equally stunned workers sitting around after inadvertently showing up for work on a Monday morning.
In Hazyview, we'd booked into a 3-bedroom bungalow at The Kruger Park Lodge. It was pretty flash, and not typical of the places that I'd be frequenting on this trip. This was fortunate, because I had saved up to do the entire year of travel on savings, and at this rate I'd be broke and heading home next month. With a bit of time before sunset I decided to go and explore the posh surroundings.
KPL is actually a golf resort, so most of the scenery was associated with the manicured fairways. There were some monkeys and antelope (obviously), which seemed to be South African golf course equivalent to Kangaroos back in Australia. It was a bit anticlimactic, so I wandered on to the "Hippo Hide" lookout. This was also a bit underwhelming, with the hippos clearly not trained to perform whenever some Aussie shows up waving a camera. With the sun now below the horizon I turned back towards our bungalow, and nearly tripped over a crocodile.. Yikes...that could have been another premature end to the trip! We rounded out the evening by cooking a bbq/braai on the deck, and then hit the hay. We'd be up before the sun tomorrow to go to Kruger.
[6 days on the road]Read more
Bulls, balls, biltong and boerwors
June 18, 2011 in South Africa ⋅ 🌙 17 °C
We had a few restful days allowing my jetlag to settle, and for me to acclimatise. Johannesburg sits on a plateau known as the Highveld, at an elevation of a 1,750 metres. This makes it a lot colder than Sydney, and overnight temperatures had been plummeting below zero.
After shaking off our third freezing morning, we headed off in the direction of Pretoria. It had been a while since I'd visited South Africa, and the drive itself was quite an eye-opener. Pretoria is about 60km away from the centre of Johannesburg, but there didn't seem to be any noticeable change in cities; Johannesburg seemed to have expanded to fill the entire gap!
Our first stop for the day was the Voortrekker Monument. It was built to commemorate the early European explorers making inroads into the north of the country. The car park may not have been full of pickup trucks with gun racks, but you did get the feeling that this place was probably not the flavour of the month in the new age of reconciliation. Despite this, I had to admit that it was quite an impressive monument, though.
After this, we managed to have a quick stop at the Union Buildings (parliament house). For those who have watched the movie Invictus, this is where Nelson Mandela met with the South African rugby captain (or Morgan Freeman met with Matt Damon if you were struggling with the characters).
Finally, it was time for our main attraction that day, which was attending a critical Super 14's game between the Bulls and the Sharks. The two teams were deadlocked at 5th and 6th on the ladder and this was the last chance to make it into the finals. We parked on a local street, with about 50,000 other people, and headed for the stadium.
South Africans seem to take their rugby very seriously...and socially. There were people lounging around next to their cars in camp chairs and every second car seemed to be having their own bbq on the street. Hilariously my Dad got offered a suck on a kid's bong in return for some dried boerwors that we were carrying. He politely declined, but handed over the snacks anyway.
It was a home game for the Bulls and the stands were a sea of blue amidst a cloud of smoke. Amazingly it seemed that smoking had yet to be banned in South Africa, so fans could smoke in the stands, but they weren't allowed to drink. This was bizarre to an Australian, where our rules were exactly the opposite. Despite the toxic smog, suffered in sobriety, it was a sell-out game and the atmosphere was fantastic.
We were backing the Sharks since they represented the region I was born in.
Plus, everyone loves an underdog, right? The match was a nail biter with the Sharks eventually winning 26-23...talk about intense!
About 10 minutes from the end of the match we were entertained by a streaker from the crowd. Amazingly, he managed to waddle the full way across the field with his pants down without being molested (excuse the pun) by security or the players. This was another thing that wouldn't have happened in Australia, where those brave/drunk enough to streak are usually crash-tackled within seconds of leaping onto the pitch. This streaker seemed equally shocked at his ease of passage so, upon reaching the other side, he pulled up his pants and waited patiently to be removed. Eventually, a pair of guards came over and politely escorted him away.
After such an amazing Saturday, we spent Sunday at home celebrating South African Father's Day. Our next stop was going to be South Africa's premier national park, and we wanted to be well rested.
[4 days on the road]Read more
It Starts!
June 14, 2011 in Australia ⋅ 🌧 15 °C
I was sad that I had to leave my only in-country family behind, but the journey had to start at some point. Because I had been based in Sydney for work, that's where I was due to start from. It didn't take long for my travel karma to begin, and thankfully it started off positive.
While I was checking in for my flight from Brisbane to Sydney I noticed a gentleman struggling with the newly-automated systems. I helped to guide him through it, and he repaid my gesture by inviting me to join him for a beer in the Qantas lounge while we both waited for our flights. It turns out that he was a grazier from Rockhampton, the town where I went to university, and where my brother lives. He was in Brisbane for the racing carnival and we both knew some of the same people back in Rockhampton, including my brother's boss. I was starting to wonder who else I might run into on this trip, but there was one other person that I was really looking to seeing before I left.
In typically bad timing, I'd met a girl about two months ago, and we were becoming really close. She knew about my impending travel plans, but would never have been able to join me, as she was in the middle of a masters degree. We both knew that this day was coming, but that didn't really make it any easier to leave. We spent a wonderful night together, not knowing if it might be our last, and she dropped me at the airport in the morning. Ready or not, I was on my way!Read more
Surprise for my Sister
June 13, 2011 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C
As luck would have it, my sister Kate flew back into the country on Sunday morning after 5 weeks in South Africa and Europe. Her boyfriend at the time figured that perhaps she may actually want to catch up with her brother before he disappears for 12 months. Smart lad. So, together we devised a surprise visit to say hello, inserting an overnight stay on my connection between Gladstone and Sydney. From the reaction on Kate's face when I arrived, it looked like the surprise worked.
We went out for dinner, with Kate's travel stories and photos serving as our entertainment. It sounded like she'd had a blast, and it made me even more excited to get started. Sadly, I was only in town for one night so we said our farewells before she went back to work on Tuesday. Despite the rushed visit, it was great to catch up and say a proper goodbye, rather than doing it over the phone.
Kate had one request, in an effort to put some semblance of sanity into her lunatic brother's naive travel style: keep a blog. This way she could keep track of me, and at least have an informed idea which consulate to reach out to if (and perhaps when) I disappeared. I'd never been much of a writer, after all I'm an engineer by training. Thankfully, this simple ask would turn out to add so much more value into my trip, and help keep alive memories which would otherwise have faded with time. For this I am eternally grateful. Plus, it couldn't hurt for someone to know where to find me, if I did get a little too adventurous.Read more
Family and Farewells
June 12, 2011 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C
Welcome, everyone, to my travel blog.
I've done a bit of travelling in my life, but never really had a chance to satisfy the travel bug. It seems that each trip just gives the bug more time to latch on. If I'm ever going to settle down then I probably need to fix that...or at least that's my excuse for this trip. I've worked for Boral ever since I finished university and I'm coming up on the end of my seventh year now. I figured shortly I wouldn't have the opportunity to just up and dump my life for a 12 month junket...and I'm 30 so I'm expecting that my travel demographic is going to shift as well...maybe.
I've been planning this trip for about a year now, visiting the countries less explored, to see them before they hit the major tourist trail (although it is probably too late for some...but alas). In March 2011 I finally started some real planning; like actually contacting a travel agent and booking in my leave. At the time I was working on a project to re-sheet the 2 main runways at Sydney Airport, but we expected that to be well and truly completed by mid-May. Sure enough, it ended last Wednesday (8th June)...haha.
So between then and now I've packed my life away at Dad's house, and said farewell to Rick, Sonia, Julia and Claire (the only family I've got left in the country right now). Amazingly my Dad is currently in South Africa, my sister is in Europe and my cousin is in the USA. Perhaps the travel bug is genetic?
The plan is a bit fluid, but the general flow is Africa, Middle East, Africa again, UK, Eastern Europe, Spain, South America, North America, then home. Sounds simple, right? Famous last words which I'm sure I'll try and laugh off later.
As I surveyed my pile of gear on the loungeroom floor I couldn't decide if I had packed too much or too little. What do you need for a year on the road? I'd be visiting four different continents, multiple ecosystems, and experiencing an array of climates. There would be deserts, mountains, rainforests, snow, sand...the list went on. I had pretty much every vaccine in existence pumping through my veins, so in the end I decided to do what I'd done for most of my life: wing it and hope for the best.
I would be taking a 75L backpack and a smaller daypack, and I tried to make a mental note of what I was jamming in them:
-Notebook Computer
-500GB portable hard drive
-Media player
-Good digital camera
-Dodgey, but indestructible, pocket digital camera
-Battery charger
-Head lamp
-Mini speaker
-Travel pillow
-Travel sheet
-Travel towel
-Travel Air bed
-Gore-tex Jacket
-Poncho
-Waterproof stuff sack
-Summer sleeping bag
-Winter sleeping bag
-Batteries and chargers
-Alarm clock
-Divers watch
-Passport and itinerary
-International Drivers Licence
-Cash
-Travel money card
-Bank Card
-Credit card
-Toiletries
-English-spanish dictionary
-African phrase book
-Novel
-Clip-on koala toys (for the kids)
-Australian flags (for the adults)
-Underwear
-Socks
-Beanie
-Gloves
-Thermals
-Cargo pants & jeans
-Fleece
-Shirts and shorts
-Pluggers (thongs)
-Boots
-Tennis ball
-Sense of adventure
I had now idea if this was an appropriate amount of gear, but only time would tell. Here I come, world!Read more
Bawiti
Nov 10–11, 2009 in Egypt ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C
After a night camped under the stars in the spectacular White Desert, it was time to hit the "road" again, but not before a bit of fun in the sand. Rolling sand dunes connect, and surround, some of the largest limestone peaks, and our guides wanted to demonstrate their 4x4 skills while they had a chance. It wasn't long before this led to the rest of us needing to demonstrate our digging skills, as the 4x4's were promptly bogged in the soft sand. With the fun (and digging) over, we rejoined the "highway", and continued on our northerly bearing.
It was clear that the bearing was more important than sticking to the actual road, and there were a few reasons for this. Firstly, the shifting sands of the desert reclaimed large sections of the highway, so there was little difference between driving in the dunes and driving on the bitumen. Secondly, the pesky government roadblocks were an irritation that our drivers were happy to avoid, and the vast nothingness made it easy to detour around them. After an hour or two of emulating our own stage of the Dakar Rally, our drivers brought us upon an area of the desert that was a bizarre inversion of what we had left behind that morning.
Looking like we had crossed some kind of geographic chess board, we were now surrounded by the surreal peaks of the BLACK Desert. Apparently, these volcano-shaped mounds are actually made up of a variety of different rocks, but are typically capped with a basalt tip, which gives them their characteristic black colour.
Despite being winter, the days were still quite warm, so our guides found us a perfect roadside cafe for lunch. This retreat came complete with an external, and INTERNAL, water trough to cool us down. So, we dipped our feet in the water, while sampling more delicious Egyptian food.
With our energy replenished, we continued on until we reached our overnight stop in Bawiti. As with our earlier stop in Dakhla, this one was in another oasis, which included the first trees that we'd seen in days. We relaxed in our hotel's rooftop beer garden (beerless for any muslim locals), then had dinner at the modestly named "Popular" restaurant. Tomorrow we would be heading even further into the Desert...Read more
The White Desert
Nov 10–11, 2009 in Egypt ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C
We had been noticing the heavily armed "tourist police" all along the Nile Valley, and now we collected our own armed guard for the journey deeper into the remote parts of the western desert. Eventually we would almost reach the border with Libya, and that wasn't exactly the most stable part of the world.
There was a general sense of unease in Egypt and Libya in 2009. Hosni Mubarak had been the president of Egypt for almost 20 years, and Muammar Gaddafi had been the dictator of Libya since 1969. We didn't know at the time, but within 2 years the "Arab Spring" uprising would overthrow Mubarak and see Gaddafi assassinated. But, being a naive 28-year-old from a country town in NSW, so I was just enjoying the adventure.
We hadn't been on our westward path for long before we came across our first military checkpoint. Ghandi reassured us that these were for security, to catch bandits, and to ensure that we made it safely to our destination. That explanation was probably meant to put our minds at ease, but we got the feeling the roadblocks were actually there to suppress any revolution, and to line the pockets for the troops that occupied them. It seemed like our drivers agreed, and it wasn't long before our mini-convoy started taking unscheduled detours through the desert to bypass the roadblocks.
Oddly, this was actually the part of our trip that I was looking forward to the most (no, not the endless roadblocks). Despite all the ancient engineering marvels along the Nile, it was the natural wonder of the White Desert that had inspired me to visit Egypt in the first place. Located pretty close to the middle of the Western Desert, a national park had been created in 2002 to protect the otherworldy rock formations and their elusive animal inhabitants.
Formed by the erosion of sand and wind against the white chalk limestone, the national park contained lumps, mounds, and cliffs of all shapes and sizes. The natural sculptures of the White Desert were truly extraordinary, but I was also finding that the silence and emptiness of the desert had its own beauty, as we set up camp and slept under the open sky. Without any light pollution to diffuse the stars, the milky way was so clear that you almost cast a shadow in the darkness.
The sunrise treated us to another "wow" moment, with the eastern horizon turning every shade of orange before our nearest star crept back into view. It was easy to understand why so many cultures have worshipped a sun god, and I was very glad to have an opportunity to tick off this bucket list moment. After snapping a ridiculous number of photos, we departed to the north and continued our journey even deeper into the desert.Read more
El Qasr
Nov 9–10, 2009 in Egypt ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C
On Monday morning we woke up early, bundled into a minivan, and set out into the vast nothingness of the Sahara Desert. Once you leave the narrow sliver of green that flanks the Nile River, there's not much to see until you reach the Atlantic Coast...or so I thought.
We were on the only road for miles, and the monotony of the sand was only broken by the occasional pile of rocks. Thankfully the driver was pushing the minivan to the limit (obviously, because he was Egyptian), so that meant we would at least arrive early to the middle of nowhere. Then, after about 250km into the desert, we reached a random patch of green, then another.
Thanks to western TV I had always imagined an oasis to be a small pool of water with a palm tree or two. But the Kharga Oasis sits in a depression that is about 160km long, and supports a string of settlements totalling almost 70,000 people. We stopped in El-Kharga for lunch, and got mobbed by school kids. In Australia this would only happen if we were giving away free iPhones, but here the kids were all just curious to see the pale foreigners.
After a chance to stretch our legs and have something to eat, we jumped back into our minivan and continued deeper into the desert. A few hours later we arrived in the Dakhla Oasis, which would be our rest stop for the night. It was quite a pretty town, and was definitely not something that I expected to see out here in the desert. From the roof of our hotel we could see a patchwork quilt of various crops, stretching for kilometres out into the desert. It provided a really striking contrast to the barren wasteland surrounding it.
The next morning we set off for the medieval mud brick city of El-Qasr. We were still on the only road westward, following the old caravan routes that connect the oases like a sparse desert web. El-Qasr was an fascinating place. Apparently, it has been inhabited since the Roman times, but the mud brick ruins that we were seeing originated from the Ottoman Empire about 500 years ago. It was amazing to see multi-storey buildings made out of mud, including the 21m tall minaret of the Nasr El-Din Mosque.
After a few hours of exploring, we returned to our trusty minivan for the final leg to the Farafra Oasis. Here we were transferred to serious looking 4WDs, and we collected an equally-serious looking armed guard...things were getting real...Read more
Luxor
Nov 6–7, 2009 in Egypt ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C
The modern-day city of Luxor stands on the site of the Ancient Egyptian city of Thebes. Thebes acted as the capital for long periods of time, and this makes it very rich in archaeological sites. These include the temple complexes at Karnak and Luxor, the Colossi of Memnon, the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut, and the extensive Valley of the Kings.
With so many highlights, you could easily have spent a week there, but unfortunately, we only had 2 days, and it was already after lunch by the time our minivan arrived from Edfu. Despite this challenge, our guide Ghandi had devised an epic 48hours that would tick off all of them...and use every mode of transport that he could get his hands on...including donkeys.
Our first stop was the astounding temple complex at Karnak. Covering approximately 100 hectares, Karnak is the largest religious building ever built. Construction began almost 4,000 years ago, and continued over millennia. It is so vast that the complex is divided into precincts, and we only had time to visit the precinct of Amun-Re. But it's not like we missed out, because this area contains the Great Hypostyle Hall (home to 134 stone columns up to 21m in height) and the tallest obelisk left in Egypt. The latter point highlights the fact that only 5 of the 30 obelisks from Ancient Egypt are still at their original sites. The tallest is now standing 32.18m above its plynth in Lateran Palace, Rome! (Karnak retained the 2nd tallest, at 29.56m)
We had squeezed every last ray of sunshine during our visit to Karnak, and it was dark by the time we returned to downtown Luxor. This meant that there wasn't enough time to visit the Temple of Luxor, but, if I'm honest, I was starting to suffer from "temple burnout" anyway. I had experienced this previously in Mexico, and it's the feeling you get when you've seen enough of piles of rocks (regardless of how epic they might be). Thankfully, the proximity of the Luxor Temple to downtown meant that we were still able to catch a few photos of it from the outside. Bathed in floodlights, this was actually a lovely way to see it (and its obelisk).
The next morning, Ghandi got us up early to finish our own version of TV's Amazing Race, and our first stop was the Colossi of Memnon. These statues are actually a bit of a misnomer, because they represent Pharoah Amenhotep III, not the mythological Greek King, Memnon.
The original function of the Colossi were to stand guard at the entrance to Amenhotep's massive memorial temple. In its day, this temple complex was the largest and most opulent in Ancient Egypt. Covering a total of 35 hectares, it was larger than the Temple of Karnak was at that time. Sadly, (especially for Amenhotep) the Colossi are now shattered, and the memorial temple is...well, ironically, a distant memory.
Now Ghandi mixed it up, and saddled us with donkeys for a short ride through farmland to the Valley of the Kings. It seemed like a poetic way to arrive, but it was definitely not like a scene from an Indiana Jones movie. Firstly, I'm quite heavy, and this definitely didn't seem to impress my donkey. Secondly, I'm very tall, and this meant that I could basically walk with the donkey underneath me. Despite this, the ass, and his donkey, both eventually made it in one piece.
The entrance to the Valley was actually quite nondescript, compared with the monuments that we'd been seeing. Cameras weren't allowed, so we left them behind and followed our guide's advice to visit the tombs of Ramses IV, Ramses VI and Amenhotep II. The recommendation was solid, and we avoided the crowds that would have been at the tomb of Ramses II, and the disappointment that apparently accompanies a visit to the tomb of Tutankhamun. The tombs we saw were astonishing, and displayed both expert carvings and vibrant colours. In fact, one of them demonstrated the entire process perfectly. It wasn't completed before the pharoah died, so the workers just downed the tools and planted him as is. This allowed us to see all 4 phases of the artistry in one place, demonstrating that craftsmanship has barely changed for thousands of years. Marks were visible where apprentices had started to sketch the intended carvings, eventually being overwritten by their masters as they worked their way around the rooms. Then the engravers chiselled the murals into the walls, and finally the painters applied the finishing touches.
Adjacent to the Valley of the Kings are another pair of valleys that provided a glimpse at how all of this was possible; the Valley of the Workers and the Valley of the Nobles. We visited both, including the tombs of Sennedjem, an artist, and Inerka, who was a servant. Amazingly, their tombs were also awash with colourful paintings, but this time they reflected scenes from daily life (as opposed to the afterlife represented in the tombs of the pharoahs). One of the nobles, Sennofer, apparently oversaw the Garden of Amun, so he had arranged for the roof of his tomb to be decked out to look like a vineyard. What a way to go!
It had been a hell of a day, and it would be our last on the Nile. Tomorrow we would be heading west into the desert.Read more
Edfu by felucca
Nov 5–6, 2009 in Egypt ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C
Our night with the local Nubian family had been lovely, with feasting and revelry. Unfortunately, our time in Egypt was short, and we had plenty more things to see. Today we would be sailing down the nile and visiting another temple. The day would end up including both my most relaxing, and my most terrifying, experiences of the trip.
A trip down the Nile River is an obligatory part of any visit to Egypt. Owing to the narrow margins of life on either bank, travelling on the water provides a great view into the world of the locals. There are a wide spectrum of options for a journey down the river, from the humble felucca, all the way to the modern cruise liners holding hundreds of people. Our budget tour was very much at the felucca end of the spectrum, and I ended up being eternally grateful for that.
We'd be on the felucca overnight, so Ghandi took us to the shops for supplies. Egypt is a Muslim country, and alcohol is difficult to come by, but that was perfectly fine. We stocked up with fresh local treats including almonds, dates and apricots. We weren't sure what was ahead of us, but we definitely wouldn't be hungry while we did it. It turned out to be a whole lot of blissful nothing!
A felucca is a traditional wooden sailing boat, about 10m long, with a single sail. They have become quite popular with tourists, and have been modified for comfort. Ours had a large mattress covering the entire deck, with a canopy to shelter us from the sun. They are wonderfully peaceful, and we soon grew accustomed to the occasional "clink" noise, made the rigging, every time we changed tack with the wind. Our boat captain had an old tape player, and ran Bob Marley on repeat, quietly serenading us as we drifted along, watching the world go by. As the sun sank over the adjacent dunes, I started calculating how long I could just sail around on a felucca before my money ran out. It was a tempting thought.
It would be reckless to stay on the river after dark, so our captain pulled ashore beside what we assumed might be his family's felucca, and we tied up for the night. We were fed another wonderful meal while the locals set a fire on the river bank. We would have happily sat around watching the "bush TV", but Ghandi invited us to join him and watch the Football World Cup qualifiers on a real TV. We thought that might be interesting, so we tagged along.
A little while later, in total darkness, a small truck arrived, and bundled us into the tray. This is where the day turned a bit terrifying. I had learned about the psychotic Egyptian drivers back in Cairo, but at least there they were contained to a crawl because of the constant gridlock. Now, on the open rural roads, the drivers were unleashed. This particular driver had devised a curious way to conserve fuel...by turning his lights off! With a very real risk of collision with goats, donkeys, or other random livestock, he only chose to light the way ahead each time a vehicle came in the other direction. At least they wouldn't hit us...unless one of them was also using his logic. We held on for dear life, and thankfully Allah must have willed for us to reach our destination unscathed.
The football match itself was actually being played at a stadium back in Aswan, the town we'd just left. It was a friendly between Egypt and Tanzania, qualifying for the FIFA World Cup, and taught us two things: the Egyptian football team is much better than Tanzania's (the final score was 5-1), and the Egyptian fans love their football! We had another great night, miraculously made it back to the boat in one piece, and went to sleep on the deck.
The following morning was sadly the end of our felucca trip, and it was time to go exporting again. This time we would be seeing the Temple at Edfu. Originally constructed around the same time as Philae (circa 200BCE), Edfu still sits in its original position, owing to its location downstream of the Aswan Dam. It is apparently one of the best preserved temples from Ancient Egypt, and this is because it was actually reclaimed by the shifting sands over the centuries. In 1798 a French expedition identified the tips of the 36m-tall stone monument protruding from the desert, and began excavating. Imagine their surprise when they needed to dig down the equivalent of a 12-storey building to reach the bottom!
Edfu was amazing, and its inscriptions include important information about the local language, myths, and even its own construction. Nowadays, that would fit onto a memory card the size of a thumbnail, but this was definitely a much cooler way to tell a story! After hours wandering around in awe, we were informed that our destinations the next day would be even more impressive. That was hard to imagine...what could possibly be more impressive than what we'd seen so far?Read more
Abu Simbel
Nov 4–5, 2009 in Egypt ⋅ 🌙 24 °C
Knowing that I was an Engineer, our guide had informed me that today would probably be one of the highlights of the trip. Considering what we'd seen so far, that was hard to imagine, but I wanted to be well-rested anyway. We'd be heading another 300km furthe south, right to the border with Sudan, and when we'd been given the choice to fly or take a pre-dawn bus, I immediately opted to sacrifice the extra cash for the sake of a few more hours of sleep. Little did I realise that this would also give me access to an additional engineering marvel.
The reason that Philae went under water was because Lake Nasser was created, and our flight path would be taking us straight over it. Between 1960 and 1970 the Egyptians, supported by the good folks who eventually gave us Chernobyl (USSR), constructed the World's largest earthen dam wall at the city of Aswan. While the reservoir isn't quite as big as its Southern African cousin, Lake Kariba, it has allowed Egypt to generate hydroelectric power and control the flooding that used to wreak havoc on the crops downstream.
With my nerd-meter dialled up to 11, our flight landed, and we were transferred to see what we actually came for. Abu Simbel is the name of the village that hosts the enormous temples of Ramesses II and his wife Nefertari. Originally carved out of the mountainside more than 3, 000 years ago, these monuments were put at risk when Lake Nasser was created. Thankfully these temples, like the ones on Philae, were rescued as part of an immense international effort to Save the Monuments of Nubia. The entire complex was cut into blocks, then painstakingly reconstructed, in conjunction with an artificial mountain, 65m higher up! Considering that this was all done in the 60's, before the birth of modern computing, GPS, AI, the internet, or even mobile phones, this is justifiably regarded as one of history's great engineering projects. It seemed almost poetic that a marvel of "modern" engineering (the relocation) was used to save a marvel of ancient engineering (the monument), from another marvel of modern engineering (the dam). Unfortunately, I was let down by my own incompetence regarding a simple piece of engineering, and I had forgotten to charge the batteries in my camera. I managed to snap a small handful of shots, and the rest I needed to commit to memory.
Later that day we returned to Aswan, only to find that our guide wasn't done with us yet! We sailed across to the opposite bank of the Nile, drank at traditional Nubian Tea House, took a dip in the waters, rode camels at sunset past the ruins of the 1,300-year-old Monastery of St Hedra, and finished with a night of revelry at a local Nubian's home. I was very glad that I hadn't opted for the pre-dawn bus that morning! Thankfully the following day would turn out to be one of the most relaxing experiences in my entire life.Read more
Philae Temple
Nov 3–4, 2009 in Egypt ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C
We awoke/stayed awake as our train approached the city of Aswan, having travelled almost 1,000km down the Nile River Valley. From here we were transferred to our hotel, and assigned our "travel buddy". It wasn't an overland trip, so we didn't need to worry about cooking rosters, but we would be sharing a room due to the budget nature of our chosen tour. I was paired with a friendly compatriot named Brendan, and we immediately hit it off. This was purely good luck, since we were the only single guys on our tour, and we were therefore destined to be combined.
Thanks to the overnight train ride, we had a whole day in front of us, albeit a somewhat groggy one. Our first excursion began with a boat ride to the Ancient Temple of Isis at Philae, sort of. When the Aswan Dam was constructed in the Nile River, the subsequent flooding inundated several Ancient Egyptian archaeological sites. Some of these were left to go under water, but the Temple of Isis was to be spared, so the nearby island of Agilkia was flattened, and the Temple was relocated from the soon-to-be-submerged part of Philae, and rebuilt 12m higher up on the newly-levelled, adjacent dry land. So, technically the Temple is FROM Philae, and now sits on Agilkia.
I didn't know all of this beforehand, and my jaw dropped as our small boat rounded the headland, and the Temple of Isis emerged into view. Despite the fact that this UNESCO World Heritage listed marvel receives plenty of visitors (including Alexander the Great) the method of approach makes you feel like an explorer, discovering the monument for the first time.
We docked on the southern side of the island, and entered the complex via the imposing courtyard flanked by 6m tall columns. Each stone column was decorated, including some to look like lotus blooms, which added to the sense of awe. Your gaze is then drawn down to the grand facade that marked the entrance to the temple. This was as tall as a 6-storey building, and engraved with giant figures of ancient Egyptian dieties, despite the best efforts of Christians and other iconoclasts, who attempted to erase the massive carvings. We wandered around the extraordinary complex for as long as we could, until eventually we had to move on. It was easy to see why the Temples of Philae were once referred to as the "Pearl of the Nile".
That evening, we celebrated our first adventure with a dip in the hotel's rooftop pool and a golden sunset, as the sun dipped below the horizon on the opposite side of the Nile. This made me reflect on the amazing geography of the Nile River Valley. It hadn't struck me previously, but the Nile creates the narrowest sliver of green in the otherwise desolate sands of the Sahara Desert. In most places you could probably stand on the banks of the river, throw a rock over the fertile land, and hit the barren earth beyond. It was truly extraordinary that this had been the cradle for such an enduring civilisation.
We rounded out the day with dinner, and a walk through a lively market that had sprung up near our hotel. It was hard to imagine how our trip could get any better than this, but I didn't realise the scale of the engineering marvel that we would be seeing the next day.Read more
Cairo
Oct 31–Nov 2, 2009 in Egypt ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C
In 2009 I was working in northern NSW, and looking for a way to escape from the daily grind. I'd been fortunate enough to do a bit of international travel since leaving school, but it had always been visiting family or friends. I was feeling like spreading my wings, and the 2006 series "Planet Earth" had opened my eyes to some of the amazing natural wonders in Egypt. Combined with the historical marvels, I was very excited to visit. I hadn't done any independent travel yet, so I signed up to a group tour with a company called Intrepid. The itinerary included a trip down the Nile (obviously) and then a detour into the Sahara to check out the otherworldy White Desert.
The first step for any Australian travelling to Egypt was to obtain a visa. This required me to mail my passport to the Egyptian embassy in Sydney, and then cross my fingers that it eventually came back. Being a single young man, I had typically left this too late, so there was also some time pressure. Thankfully my passport returned to me a few weeks before I was due to leave, so I was in business.
I arrived in Cairo a day before the Intrepid tour started, so I had arranged to book into the same budget hotel. I then used the extra of the time to go exploring. The location was perfect, situated on the metro line just north-east of the CBD, a stones throw from the Al-fath Mosque. I set off on foot, and decided to continue right past the nearby Orabi metro station, wanting to see the city from street-level. That was until I actually needed to cross the first street. Then I experienced the unique behaviour of Egyptian traffic, and I wasn't so keen anymore.
Firstly, the sheer number of vehicles on the road acted like a tsunami of metal that filled the entire space between both kerbs. Cars weaved left and right in an incomprehensible traffic pattern, applying a constant siren of horns as a substitute for indicators. I waited at the traffic lights so that I could cross the road, but the opportunity never came. That's not because the lights never changed, but because the traffic never obeyed it. The tsunami of metal just continued endlessly.
Eventually, an Egyptian woman with small children arrived at the kerb, and stepped out into the oncoming wave with barely a sideways glance. In honesty, not looking at the oncoming death-trap might have been the only way to muster the courage to cross the road! I clenched my teeth as I watched the family disappear into the melee, hoping desperately that they would reappear on the opposite kerb. Thankfully they did, so I waited until the next family appeared so that I could hide in their bow wave, and shadow them across the road. I continued to use this procedure for my entire trip, never gaining the courage to cross the road without my unwitting human shields.
After three death-defying road crossings, I gave up and retreated into the Nasser metro station. From there I travelled below the city to the Sadat station, which allowed me to resurface adjacent to the famous Egyptian Museum.
The Egyptian Museum is the oldest archaeological museum in the Middle East, housing over 170,000 artefacts. Built in 1902, it has the largest collection of Pharaonic antiquities in the world. The Museum’s exhibits span the Pre-Dynastic Period until the Graeco-Roman Era (c. 5500 BC - AD 364), including treasures from the tomb of Tutankhamun. At the time, it also contained a number of mummies of kings and other royal family members of the New Kingdom. In 2021, these mummies were transferred to a specialised museum in a ceremony dubbed The Pharaohs' Golden Parade. I didn't know what I was looking at, but it was still awe-inspiring to be witnessing artefacts that have survived up to 7,000 years, and countless wars.
After a few hours wandering around the magnificent exhibits, I emerged back into the beautifully manicured gardens that surround the museum. I had somehow managed to avoid the sea of touts and taxi drivers on my way into the museum, but I wasn't so fortunate on my way out. They worked their trade well, and before long I had signed up to a private city tour with one of the taxi drivers. To be fair, the price was reasonable, and he dutifully delivered me to the typical tourist highlights of Cairo. These included the 700 year old aqueduct system and the UNESCO World Heritage listed Citadel of Saladin. On the way back to the museum my driver insisted that we needed to stop at a bizarre to buy "genuine" trinkets, including papyrus scrolls that were "definitely not copies made with banana leaf". I politely wandered around the market, being harrassed by hawkers, until I realised that I might never be allowed to leave until I'd bought something. I picked out some papyrus scrolls representing scenes from the ancient Book of the Dead, and secured my freedom. By the time the "tour" was over, I had almost grown accustomed to the chaotic traffic and constant honking...or I had been rendered tone deaf, which was just as likely.
The official Intrepid Tour began the following morning, with a meet and greet in the hotel lobby. Our group had about a dozen people, made up of Aussies, Americans, South Africans and Brits, and our guide was an experienced local named Ghandi (no joke). Ironically, our first stop for the day was back to the Egyptian Museum, but this was followed up by the highly anticipated visit to the Giza Plateau.
You can see the outline of the pyramids from downtown Cairo, but it wasn't until our minivan was almost there that I realised the sprawling city had just about swallowed the iconic site. Despite the disappointing encroachment of the urban jungle, and the KFC near the feet of the Sphinx, the 4,500-year-old monuments did not disappoint! The Great Pyramid of Khufu is almost 140m tall, and required 6 million tonnes of limestone blocks to be quarried, carved, shipped and installed. It was the world's tallest man-made structure for more than 3,800 years, and is the only surviving Wonder of the Ancient World. It was an awe-inspiring place, and we wandered around for a few hours, trying our best to capture the epic scale on camera.
We rounded out the day with a sensational meal of fresh falafel for next to nothing, then boarded our overnight train. This particular tour was designed for people who were short on two things: time and cash. The overnight train would save us a night in a hotel, and deposit us at the other end of the Nile....inshallah...Read more
Playa del Carmen
January 9, 2008 in Mexico ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C
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