Date : 4th July 2005 - 12 July 2005
Amount Spend : RM 13XX (including Air Flight)

Day 1

Reach Kota Kinabalu Airport Terminal 2 at 2.30pm. Get a taxi to Kota kinabalu Town for RM 13.50. Found a backpacker lodge call Borneo Backpackers http://www.borneobackpackers.com. The dormitory there will only cost you RM 25 for fan and RM 3

 

 

Then off I went exploring Kota Kinabalu city. Then I hike up Kota Kinabalu Bukit Bendera by foot. It only takes 10 - 15 minutes hike up the tar road. And there you can see Kota Kinabalu City.

 

 

 

The sky in the picture is very cloudy and soon enough, it rains. Spend the rest of my evening mingle around with other backpacking tourist and do my research on places to visit. The lounge area is filled with information on places to visit and tour package to take. The staff there is also very friendly helping you arrange all your trips. Manage to talk to Mr David from Miri, very nice and adventurous person and he gave me many tips on where to visit while I am at Sabah. Also managed to talk to a few UK volunteers, they taught me how to go to Sepilok and Sukau in Sandakan.

Day 2

Wake up early to catch the earliest express boat to labuan. The express boat takes 3 hours and cost me RM 33 for economy class and RM 38 for first class. Must also pay RM 3 for Jetty Tax. The ride is pretty bad if you are sitting at the economy class. The boat ride is very shaky and you can smell the diesel fuel. My advice, pay RM 5 more and take the first class seats which is at the upper deck. Reach Labuan at 11 pm, check in to any cheap hotel I can find and start exploring Labuan city. Nothing much in the city, very small city and all is within walking distance. The beach there has brown colour sand and the water is not crystal clear. Went to the famous Financial Offshore Park, a small aquarium (just a few small corals and fish aquariums available) and a public beach beside the aquarium.

 

Day 3

Wake up at 9 pm and headed to the Financial Offshore Park to visit a few foreign bank offices and went to LOFSA to get more information on how to open an offshore company. Check out the hotel and buy lots of duty-free stuff from duty free shops. Left Labuan for KK with express boat for RM 36 (first class).

Went back to Borneo Backpackers in Kota Kinabalu and did lots of packing for my next adventure. I pack really light and leave all my heavy luggage at Borneo Backpackers for 3 - 4 days with no extra charge. I manage to met up with Susan from Eco Borneo Tours, one of the top reputable tour company is Sabah. She manage to arrange me to Kinabatangan Wildlife Safari 2 days & 1 night tour. Lucky me, I get a priceline.com model pricing for the tour. Then I went to Kota Kinabalu Information centre to get more information. The staff there is very friendly giving you all information you needed to get you going. At night, explore the night market around Kota Kinabalu, lots of night market everyday.

Day 4

Wake up very early in the morning to catch 7.30 long distance bus to Sandakan. The Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan long distance bus stops at a few bus station along the way such as Kinabalu Park, Ranau and Sepilok. The frequency of long distance bus in the morning are very frequent, 1/2 hour to 1 hour a bus but after 10 am the frequency are be as long as 4 - 6 hours a bus. I took the long distance bus to Kinabalu Park for RM 10 and the journey takes 2 hours. Reach Kinabalu Park on 9.30am, the weather is very chilling up there. Takes photo of the majestic Mount Kinabalu, walk around the park in my light backpack (all my heavy bags are kept at Backpacker Borneo).

 

 

After 1 hour walk, I take a private van transport to Ranau and Poring for RM 65. Enterance fees to Poring hot spring is RM 3 and Poring Canopy Walkway is RM 3, camera fees RM 5. Take a bath at the hot spring and the cooling spring at the many private pools available. Have lunch in Poring before getting a private van transport to Ranau long distance bus stop for RM 20. Ranau is the only bus stop with foods and toilets available along the KK to Sandakan trunk road. I hop on the next available bus to Sandakan for RM 20. The journey takes 4 hours with no available stops for toilets and food. You need to settle all your business at a small toilet inside the bus. The trunk road is in pretty bad condition and the bus is going extremely fast, so it is impossible to sleep in the bus. Reach Sandakan city at 6.30 pm and take any public bus heading to town for 50 cent. Find a decent cheap and clean hotel to stay in and went exploring Sandakan Night Market. Lots of unique Malay food. After dinner, lucky for me, there is a public concert on a Thursday night. Doesn't know what are they celebrating but there is free cultural show

 

 

Day 5

Wake up at 8am and have my breakfast before hiking up to Sandakan Bukit Bendera. Get a glimps of Sandakan City from the hill top and take a mini bus down to Sandakan town area for 50 cent.

 

Visit Sandakan tourist information centre, served by friendly Elvina (esong02@tm.net.my) helping me to get more information on how to travel around Sandakan. Can E-mail her for more info about Sandakan, she is very willing to help. Then I check out the hotel in sandakan and travel to Sepilok by public bus for RM 1.80. The bus to Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary is every hour. Reach Sepilok at 1 pm, check-in to Sepilok Jungle Resort for RM 18 per night in the fan only dormitory. At 2 pm, walk 5 minutes to Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary. The feeding time is at 10 am and 3 pm. If you miss the feeding time, the probability of seeing an Orang Utan is almost none because the sanctuary does not cage the Orang Utan in a small zoo like facility. All Orang Utan is left wild in Sepilok rainforest reserves and even if you have paid the admission fees there is no guranteed you get to see any Orang Utan. Paid RM 5 for the admission and RM 10 for Camera fees.

Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary experience is really amazing. Forget about going to a city zoo or city safari, watching wild animal in their rainforest habitat is an unforgetable experience. The feeding remembers me to the scene in Jurassic Park 1 where the visitors waited in the car while a goat is released on to the feeding platform waiting for the T-Rex to appear. After the show, I went back to Sepilok Jungle Resort for dinner and rest.

Day 6

Wake up early for breakfast, wait at resort lobby for Eco Borneo Tours escort at 8.30 am. Weather is not very good as it starts to rain.

Kinabatangan Wildlife Safari 2 days 1 night tour

The tour starts from a pickup at Sepilok Jungle Resort, and our first stop is Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary. This is the second time I experience Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary but I still love it very much. At Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary, we went to see a documentary video on Orang Utan rescue efforts in Sepilok at 9pm. It is very educational and it make you appretiate more when viewing the Orang Utan in the Sanctuary. About 9.40, we went to the viewing platform and it is raining. Our tour guide told us that we might not see any Orang Utan because they are lazy to come out if it rains, but to our surprise, there is already a bunch of Orang Utan in the platform before time waiting for the food. At 10 am sharp the ranger appears with bananas and milk. I saw more Orang Utan than the day before, maybe raining makes them hungry. After the show, we are headed to Sandakan City for lunch and there is an optional buffet lunch at Sandakan Hotel. Then we went to Sandakan Jetty for 2 1/2 hours boat ride to Sukau through the Kinabatangan river (Longest River in Malaysia).

 

Eco Borneo Tours is the only tour company providing tours to Sukau via the river route. Other tours you need to take a long bumpy road trip to Sukau and 15 minutes boat ride to Sukau Lounge. The 2 1/2 hours boat trip is very comfortable, since it is a river with no waves. On the journey, we saw orang asli settlement along the kinabatangan river. Finally after 2 1/2 boat journey, we reach Sukau. It is deep inside the kinabatangan rainforest with nothing but a few lodge. Every tour operator offering tour package to Sukau/Kinabatangan Safari has their own lodge.

 

And finally we reach Sukau Rainforest Lodge. I must say what a lodge. Only the Restaurant cum Jetty is visible and the accomodation is really surounded with rainforest. First class facility to experience the rainforest. The lodge is very eco friendly with no air-cons, no diesel generator and no TV as well.

 

As soon as we arrive, we are greeted with a warm welcome with drinks and briefing (standard stuff lah). Then at about 4.30 pm we went for a 2 hours river cruise to search for Proboscis monkey and other wild life.

 

Saw lots of Proboscis monkey, monkeys, hornbill, snakes and birds. We came back for a bath and everyone is dress in sarong for dinner (sarong is compulsary - no sarong, no dinner). Dinner is serve at Sukau Rainforest Lodge jetty cum restaurant just besides the Kinabatangan river (longest river in Malaysia).

After dinner there is an optional night river cruise for RM 35 or you can spend you time viewing educational slides shows. I went for the optional night cruise to search for birds. If you are a birds lover the cruise is very good but for me it is a bit disapointed as the cruise is short and only a few birds are found.

After the night cruise, it is free and easy. You may have a chat in the lobby, resting in your rooms listening the the sound of the rainforest or adventure out to the rainforest in their lifted wooden platforms. I went exploring in the rainforest at night with a torchlight. The lifted walkways into the forest is long covering quite far deep into the jungle. It is pretty scary, found a few weird insects and lots of bats. I went to bed that night listening to the sound of the rainforest with no aircon and tv sound disturbance.

Day 7

Wake up as early as 5.30 am for the dawn river cruise. This is another optional river cruise that will cost your RM 45. The dawn cruise is the best cruise I have taken among this previous 2 river cruise. Nice views of Kinabatangan river and lots of animals along the kinabatangan river. Our guide says that most of the animals come to the kinabatangan river in the ealry morning and will go into the forest about 9 am before coming back to the river about 4 - 5 pm.

 

 

 

 

After the dawn cruise, have a quick breakfast before taking the 9 am boat back to Sandakan. Reach Sandakan at 12 and being transfered to Sandakan long distance bus station. Thats where my Kinabatangan Safari Tour Package ends.

Then I had my lunch in Sandakan Bus Station and at 2pm, I took the 6 hours bus back to Kota Kinabalu for RM 25. Stop at Ranau bus station for free dinner, inclusive in your bus fare, rice + one meat + one vegetable. The journey back is great, nice sunset + majestic Mount Kinabalu = another amazing view. Reach Kota Kinabalu at 8pm check in back at Borneo Backpackers. Borneo Backpackers is really great because even if I reach Kota Kinabalu at 2 or 3 am in the morning, I can still able to get into their lounge area and only pay for it at morning when the staff wakes up. It is really like a home for me while in Sabah.

Day 8

Wake up early had my complimentary breakfast and headed to Kota Kinabalu Jetty. Tunku Abdul Rahman Park is my destination with lots of coral island to explorer. Waited 1/2 hour for them to collect enough ppl to go to the islands. The boat transfer to 2 islands is only RM 25 and RM 1 for the jetty fees. Another RM 3 is paid for Tunku Abdul Rahman Park fees. RM 10 for the rental of snokeling gear from the boat man. I went to Pulau Sapi and Pulau Manukan. Pulau Manukan is the best with lots of fish and lots of hard corals. The water is crystal clear. Pulau Sapi is best for their white and smooth sand. Both islands has lots of lots of tourist.

 

 

Came back from the islands had my dinner at Sugar Bun (Sabah's very successful franchise) RM 1.90 for their special 3 layer tea and RM 1.80 each for their friend chicken, at beach road where everyday there is live band playing.

Day 9

Breakfast as ussual and Taxi to terminal 2 airport for RM 13 to catch Air Asia back to KLIA & Penang.