Our visit to Borneo was far from joyful and the bad started as we tried to check in on our flight at Phnom Penh airport via Kuala Lumpur. We were taken aside and told there was a problem with our tickets. The problem did not lie with us leaving Cambodia and entering Borneo but with our flights out of Borneo to Vietnam. Our flight times had been changed and we had been informed but Malindo Air had not been updated about the change. Long story short it was all fixed temporarily to ensure we got our flight out but low and behold we had further issues down the line which caused us a lot of angst and worry.
Needless to say the trip did not start off well.
Finally arriving at our hotel in KotaKinabalu our mantra came immediately to mind - "Nothing is as it seems". I won't go into boring details but our experience at the Chaya Hotel put a pall across our whole time in Borneo.
For us Borneo conjures up images of jungle and monkeys and beautiful birdlife but Kotakinabalu was none of that especially where we were anyway. There is a nice boardwalk along the river on the edge of town flanked by restaurants but it is vital you don your armour to walk along here to fight your way through the hordes of Chinese and Korean tourists.......seriously.
To try to better our experience we walked a few kms to the Shangri La hotel where they have a Marina and booked a trip to ONE of the little islands of the coast of KotaKinabalu..........mistake!!!!!
On booking the tour we were encouraged to buy and try one island first.....very busy, very busy......no not that one, not Manutik too small, full of restaurant tents and Chinese.......try Manukan.... bigger and better, less crowded. We are talking cute little islands here surrounded by coral reefs with beautiful golden sand and plenty of snorkeling........what on earth? Ok we will go to one and just take an add on later to see another island if we are not all snorkelled out on Manukan. Did we want a picnic?.....no thankyou......Do you want flippers......yes please because we are really looking forward to doing some serious snorkelling here. Ok ok and onto this little speedboat to take us and a few others to Manukan. Well it was a lovely boat ride on a smooth blue sea firstly stopping at Manutik to drop off a few people. Looking at that island with thousands on it we breathed out a huge sigh of relief sure in the belief we had made the right decision. On we go with our little wristbands on to Manukan.
Doubt first set in when we had to queue at this huge jetty to get off our little boat....boats were coming to the jetty from all directions loaded with eager people. Thankfully we were met by a young man from the marina staff and guided along the jetty to our raffia mats laid out on the sand in our little spot just at the edge of the jetty. Looking left there were thousands of bodies taking up every square inch. Every patch of water had a lifejacket with a snorkel bobbing in it. There was no coral and a few fish under the jetty only.
Over tourism, lack of respect for our environment and our world by anti social, arrogant, rude and selfish Chinese and Korean people and the hunger for the almighty dollar is ruining everything that to us is beautiful. We came to Borneo to snorkel, to see wondrous colours and beauty........we were heavily let down.
Freeing ourselves finally from the grip of our disgusting hotel we moved into KotaKinabalu city for a couple of days which gave us more food choices and the smelly river to sit by but also the opportunity to have a drink or two to drown our sorrows.
Leaving our main bags at the hotel we decided to fly light to Sandakan in the North East of Borneo to see the Orangutans in the wild at Sepilok and take a boat trip down the Kinabatangan River to see monkeys, elephants, wonderful birdlife and yes - you guessed it - Orangutans. Gary chose a great hotel - thank goodness - and things started to look up. The people here were gorgeous, very friendly and very helpful.
And so to our trips. We were lucky with our river trip - along with literally dozens of other boats who all set off at 4pm - to see elephants crossing the river. Depending on who you choose to believe this was very lucky because they are only seen either 3 or 4 times a week or 3 or 4 times a year to cross the river. It was particularly cute though because Mummy and Daddy elephant were helping Baby elephant to swim to the other side. We also saw the wires strung high across the river where the Orangutans cross because they can't swim but sadly only the wires. We did see Long tail, Silverleaf, Probiscus and Ringtail monkeys jumping in the trees (mmmmm) and an old Orangutan nest in the top of a tree. Just a bad day at the office I guess but this one trip definitely blew our daily budget sky high.
So everything was hanging on our trip to the Orangutan Sanctuary that operates as most sancturies do with a nursery and a feeding platform for those to come to from the jungle should they wish to do so. And Yes......one came! We were very happy to see at least one from the wild side. Her antics were quite captivating - so agile and strong. Hands, arms, legs and feet all equally useful to clutch, peel and eat 2 bunches of bananas whilst hanging from an overhead wire. If only we humans were so versatile!!!!
Across the road, just as a bonus really, we went to the Sunbear Conservation Centre set up by Mr Wong. Now this was magic that we did not expect. Set up so well with so much caring for these endangered small bears who are so so cute. Each have individual Sun markings on their chests and very long claws for digging. It all started with Mary, a tiny baby cub orphaned in the wild and reared by Mr Wong. Many have been kept as pets and not treated well when they grow from the cub stage. Here they are all happy and after many, many years of rehabilitation some are even returned to the jungle. They live a very normal life in the jungle space provided here at the Sanctuary. We spent a lot of time here and got some wonderful photos through the telescopes provided - it was captivating.
So that was Borneo for us. We returned to KotaKinabalu for 2 nights to collect and sort our luggage, have our final meal and desert on the waterfront and next morning hightailed it to Vietnam........however leaving Borneo was not so simple either as when we tried to check in the message came back......We have received your check in but there is a problem with your ticket!!!!! Oh vey........not again!
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