Day 18: Kundasang by Arushi

Our sleepy eyes awoke to blaring alarms at an equally alarming 2.45 AM and we tumbled into the car.

The town was surprisingly littered with lights, although not much activity until we arrived at the meeting point we scouted out yesterday. At 3.30 we were joining the gaggle of dazed walkers, we waited for the truck, to take us to the base point of Maragang Hill. Two trucks carted the rest of the group until it was just the five of us left, plus our guide Aswan. This gave us ample time to fuel up on bananas albeit they were smaller than our pinkies.

Our ride arrived and we piled in, Dad, Millen and I holding on for dear life on the back of the truck, clinging onto anyone and anything we could get our hands on. We survived the bumpy journey and at 4.20 we were at the base ready to start our journey. It started with a devastation, when I learnt that my torch light was in fact dead, and feeling like a foolish tourist I shamefully tucked it back into my pocket and accepted Aswan’s gift of his head light.

We began our ascent in the pitch black, with Aswan holding up the rear. As mum pointed out, the Last Frontier Resort had trained us for this moment, and climbing the steps reminded us coldly of the flights of stairs up to the accommodation. It was a mix of steps and roots to clamber over, and the ground was a lot squelchier than we expected, so I was glad my hiking shoes were on my feet and my tevas were at home.

We ventured up, with a few short breaks to swig water, delayer, and recoup, but for the most part we sped up the walk like hiking bosses, overtaking people and reaching the summit in under an hour. I let the way, followed by Millen, Mum, Dad, Eashan and Aswan, (alpha walker at the back), which was a good order with light distribution and walking speeds, and by the time we reached the top, there was a sliver of red just peeking over the horizon.

We were at the top at 5.20, and had a while to wait for the sunrise so we layered up, and devoured some mango (and did some blog catching up… got to fit it in where we can! Currently live from the top of Maragang Hill as I type). We spent an hour people watching my and sunrise watching from the third tallest hill on an island at 2232 metres above sea level. Bit of a mouthful!

As the sky grew lighter, the clouds danced around playfully, shifting shapes and colours from deep reds to light purples. The tip of Mount Kinabalu was drenched in sun as the clouds shifted.

Standing right next to the mountain we were overly confident after accomplishing the third tallest island hill we reckoned we could tackle the tallest mountain in south east Asia, however we were brought back down to earth as Aswan responded to our delusions by laughing… still not sure if he was laughing at us or with us still.

We generated more laughter from Aswan when we were the first people down after being the last people down as we began our descent. He pointed out a trumpet flower to us and we visited a midway view point, but all in all the descent was smooth and much brighter as the blue sky ahead shone down onto the winding route.

Ravenous after our excursion we went to L’armonia for food, which meant a ‘full breakfast’ for the carnivores (closest they’ve had to a full English) and mushroom quesadilla for the vegetarians and mum. The cafe was near the hot springs which is a local tourist spot so we researched them a bit to find the most appalling reviews (screenshot for reference) which provided great entertainment for the meal, and were all so negative that my interest was peaked and I almost wanted to visit just to see if it’s as bad as Ann S says.

We then went back to our base camp for a siesta snooze which was much needed! We also tried some
Golden apples / June plum fruit which was purchased last night with the mango, which were small green crunchy fruits that were weirdly salty?

Millen and Eashan visited the laundrette a whilst mum and I visited the upstairs cafe called Kopi Sanangan to get drinks. The cafe had a really nice vibe, a cool breeze and yummy drinks so will be back!

For late lunch we chose Sabah tea plantation, which is one of the few that is truly organic and doesn’t use pesticides! This is because the ‘pests’ have the rainforest next to the plantation to explore, and have no interest in the tea crops interestingly. At the restaurant we ordered some Sabah tea, which even had a 2litre option - we just went for a normal tea pot! We visited the little shop for some souvenir presents and checked out the view Mount Kinabalu, which by then had a ring of clouds encircling it. There was also an information board around the death marches in Sabah. We have seen threads of the Japanese invasion in Sabah, but haven’t felt like we know the full history, so this was a sad but interesting read. In brief, the death marches refer to when the Japanese invaders forced Australian British and Indian prisoners (who had been defending Malaya) to march across Sandakan. Only 6 survived the marches, and over 2,000 soldiers died, highlighting the devastating impact of these marches.

Following this brief history lesson, the next stop was to do some ‘Luanti Fish Tourism’, also known as a fish massage at a river round the corner, which dad and Eashan were eager to visit. We paid 50 ringits at the reception and a further 2 ringits on two packs of fish food, and found ourselves at the edge of the river in Luanti town, facing off with what seemed like hundreds of Malaysian Mahseer fish, which were much larger than we were expecting!

The sign at the entrance had some helpful facts, and apparently these fish are naturally trained by the villagers. These fish ‘gently nibble on dead skin during the fish spa experience’, and the massage experience is ‘believed to have therapeutic effects, including helping people with skin conditions such as psoriasis, and is said to leave the skin feeling smoother and softer’.

I would not describe the experience as relaxing. This was my experience:

Tentatively approaching the water, toes out, the pack of hungry fish sense food and squirm aggressively in the water, their large bodies almost breaking the surface. I could just about brave two inches deep, squealing every time they came near, mainly for two reasons. The first reason was due to the sheer amount of them - I felt like I was being attacked by a hoard of hangry fish. Secondly, was the size, most of them being about the size of my foot, and the occasional fish was the size that could eat my foot. I felt two nibbles and that was enough for me!

Eashan on the other hand was comparatively chilled compared to me and even sat on a chair in the water while they swarmed around him (and even when it started raining cats and dogs!) Dad also was fairly calm and whilst Millen was not, he also embraced them much more than mum and I, who decided it wasn’t for us.

It was a fairly long drive back, another hour or so, so we drove straight to August for dinner (early again as most places shut around 8/9 here), and enjoyed our food whilst playing hearts. When we left, the sky had darkened and yet it was only 18.30, so we hit up the local supermarket. We purchased a few bits and bobs, exploring local culture through examining what snacks they had on offer, including a lot of fish snacks.

We then returned to our hotel for a not so chilled evening of trying to go through the dark pit of hell which is securing Indonesian visas which was a palava and a half! It was also a sad reminder that we leave Malaysia in two days, which is when I will be off solo, as I go to Samboja to volunteer with orangutans for 12 days, and then for another 4 weeks travelling around Indonesia, which is incredibly exciting, but also means that this is farewell on the blog from me, and hopefully a good nights sleep!Læs mere