Home

10%

Malaysia

An area that's got everything

By Michael Wilson

July 8^th, 2016

Where's Borneo

A while ago a friend asked if I wanted to go on a trip to Borneo with her. As is quite usual with me, I said yes. However, as the leaving date got closer, it occurred to me I had no idea where Borneo was or what there was to do there. Now I’ve been I can tell you half of it is in Malaysia and the other half is in Indonesia. We visited the Malaysian half and here’s what we got up.

Sandakan Memorial Park

Our first stop in Borneo was Sandakan in the Sabah district. It’s a small fishing town with lots of day trips on offer to the surrounding areas. However, after over 24 hours of travelling we thought we’d spend our first day close to the hotel.

We took a short taxi ride to the memorial park, which was the home to Australian and British prisoners of war during WWII. It was where the Death Marches, which saw all but 6 soldiers die, began. Today it’s a beautiful park, funded by the British and Australian military, to remember every brave soldier who lost their life.

Write your story here. (Optional)

Borneo is HOT and HUMID! That means any opportunity to cool off is always welcome, so the infinity pool at our hotel was a much needed break

Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre

The main reason most people visit Sandakan is to see the Sepilok Orangutan rehab centre. It’s about an hours drive away and is the last place in Borneo which still claims to rehabilitate with an eye on releasing the Orangutan back into the wild.

But before there’s any chance of seeing Orangutan there’s a horde of Macaque there to steal their breakfast.

Before entering the centre, staff there warn you the Orangutan are wild animals who roam free so there’s no guarantee of seeing any. The thought of not seeing any hadn’t crossed my mind until we’d waited for over an hour and not seen a thing. We made our way to the nursery to watch the babies get fed, but this didn’t feel as ‘natural’ as I had hoped.

We were on our way out of the park when there was a rumble in the trees before a beautiful female swung through by directly over our head. She stopped and had a little look at our gawping faces before swinging off into the forrest.

Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary

When I was telling people I was going to Borneo, everyone seemed to know that was the place you go to see Orangutan. While wild Orangutan can also be found in Sumatra, Proboscis monkeys can only be found in Borneo. If I’m honest, the Proboscis were far more interesting to watch. They actually remind me more of humans than other monkeys/apes. The way they sat around eating with their pot bellies and massive noses really made me think I was sat amongst middle management in an office.

Write your story here. (Optional)

While we were watching the monkeys, two Hornbill's turned up in the trees!

Sun bears

One animal I hadn’t expected to see in Borneo was bears. However, sun bears live there and there’s a sanctuary for them right next to the Orangutans. They’re really small and can climb trees really well. This wasn’t true of the first baby we spotted who was really struggling to get down. When we saw an adult slide gracefully from top to bottom we could see the baby had lots of learning to do.

This wasn't supposed to happen!

The final stop on our day trip was the Rainforest Discovery Centre. We’d been told this was a nice area to walk around in the treetops and a good place to spot the birdlife Borneo has to offer. It was seemingly just the four of us in the park and none of us could believe our eyes when we spotted an Orangutan sat on the walkway. We’d been told all day not to go too near the monkeys because they can legitimately tear a human apart and they’re wild animals. However, this little lady was on our path so we slowly approached her hoping she’d let us pass.

Instead, she walked with us up the path until she found a good spot for a lie down. We tip-toed by her, when she got up and started to follow us on our walk. We stayed with her for quite a while and before long she’d started striking a pose for us.

Write your story here. (Optional)

The Rainforest Discovery Centre is a picturesque place to explore

Kinabatangan River

I’d read on the flight out that Pygmy elephants can also be found in Borneo. Another animal I hadn’t been expecting to see. On our second day, I convinced the group to take the few hour drive to Kinabatangan River where they can be found via river cruise.

It’s not just elephants that live along the river banks. We saw proboscis and macaque and a huge range of birds including eagles and the bird Borneo is famous for, the Hornbill.

Pygmy elephants!

As the cruise started we were once again reminded that we’re looking for wild animals and that it’s relatively rare to see the elephants.

Of course you know how this ends, but a short while into the cruise another boat coming from the opposite direction signalled to our guide that a herd of elephant was up river. The excitement built until they were in sight!

It was amazing, there were elephants of all ages, some were bathing in the river, some were eating and a few were playing. Every now and then a deafening roar would come from the trees, which we assumed was the alpha calling them back into the trees.

Kota Kinabalu

After a short flight, we arrived in Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Sabah. The city was far more modern than I had expected with shopping malls and hotels all over the place and more being built.

We decided to hop on another boat, this time to be taken to some beautiful islands where we could catch some rays and have a snorkel. We chose Sapi and Manukan, both were lovely and provided us ample sun bathing opportunity.

Night market

Malaysia is well regarded as one of the best places in the world to find great food. It’s a mix of Asian, Indian, Thai and Malay cuisines which mean bags of flavour and lots of variety (as long as you like noodles). The first opportunity we had to experience proper local cuisine was at the Kota night market. The place was buzzing with people and the vendors behind the stall provided a lot of energy.

City Mosque

Malaysia is a melting pot of religions but the majority of people are Muslim. This means everywhere has at least one beautiful mosque. The Kota city mosque is surrounded by a lagoon of water making it particularly striking.

Write your story here. (Optional)

Longhouses

Villages of longhouses can also be found throughout Borneo. Most of them are built on stilts into the water and they vary wildly in colour. This village was a short walk from the centre of Kota Kinabalu.

Kuching

Our final stop in Borneo took us to Kuching, the city of cats (no idea why) and the capital of the Sarawak region.

We arrived and headed straight for the river, which runs directly through the middle of the city. En-route we passed various cat statues and some beautiful Chinese temples.

River boat cruise

Of course once we’d made it to the river we got in another boat for another river cruise. The Sarawak State Assembly building is a unique looking structure (the golden tent like building), which dominates the view from the river. There were also plenty of people fishing for their dinner.

Bako national park

We wanted to enjoy our final day in Borneo in the wild so we jumped in a taxi to Bako national park. The park is only accessible by, you guessed it, boat so we were on the water once again. After about 30 minutes we arrived on a beach and headed for the trees.

We were greeted by a Proboscis monkey, who was chowing down on the foliage. This was the closest we’d got to them so we spent ages watching him.

Now it was time to begin a trek. We didn’t have long before our boat was returning to pick us up so we chose the shortest route on the island. However, the heat and the humidity meant that it was still a tough walk. I’m glad I took a change of clothes for the finish line.

Write your story here. (Optional)

This incredible spaceship looking building is home to Kuching city council

Sarawak cultural village

On our way back, we stopped by the Sarawak cultural village, which has recreated various traditional houses from the history of Malaysia. It’s set in beautiful grounds and provided a relaxing way to end our time in Borneo.

Write your story here. (Optional)

Perhentian Islands

We flew north east to Kuala Besut before getting on another boat to the remote Perhentian islands. This is a much visited set of islands, where backpackers take some rest before flying off to Thailand or Vietnam etc.

It’s a little bit of paradise. The islands are remote and beautiful and there’s an abundance of lodges to choose from.

Kuala Lumpur by night

After a few days on the beach it was time to fly to Kuala Lumpur. This was the part of the trip I was looking forward to the most. After our flight and sitting in traffic (the traffic in KL is madness) for what felt like forever I rushed out of our Airbnb, camera in hand, and headed straight for the Petronas Towers!

I’ll admit, when I arrived I welled up a little. The city was just starting to light up as the sun went down and the energy of the crowds enjoying the magnificent Petronas Towers really hit me. After 3 days on a beach, this confirmed just how much I feed off the energy cities provide.

KUALA LUMPUR BY day

The next morning I awoke early and explored the city in the sun. I headed towards China town looking to get an amazing breakfast and I wasn’t disappointed. There’s also a huge market of knock-offs and fresh produce to heighten the senses.

Walking around the city, it’s amazing to see how much building is going on. New apartments and sky-scrappers are going up all over the city, it will be amazing to follow the progress of its skyline in the next few years.

Batu caves

After exploring the centre, we hopped on a train and travelled out of the city for the Batu Caves. There are some incredibly lavish statues there to greet you and some exhausting steps to climb before getting to the caves.

There are various warnings that the macaques there are especially naughty and only too happy to empty your bags. For whatever reason the macaques here are especially boisterous, but we were lucky to avoid any advances.

Once we got to the caves, we signed up for a tour of the dark caves, where your guide enlightens you about the huge array of wildlife that thrive inside.

Night Market Masjid India

Every Saturday in Kuala Lumpur, the Indian quarter of Masjid India holds a night market for the locals to shop and eat. What better way to end our holiday than to join them? I’d heard it was busy, but nothing could prepare us for just how busy it was! There were times, when I actually thought we weren’t ever going to get out of the packed streets.

Luckily though, we made it out and got to try all sorts of incredible food and soak up the electric atmosphere!

GOODBYE MALAYSIA

After nearly three weeks of travelling it was time to go home. It felt like I’d been on four different holidays, with each new area providing something completely unique. Malaysia has something for everyone, wildlife, beautiful scenery, amazing food, adventure, great shopping and friendly locals. If you’re planning a big holiday you might want to consider Malaysia.