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| BORNEO |
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| * Mt. Kinabalu |
| Niah Caves * |
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| * Kuching |
| * Bandar |
| I would possibly have missed Borneo if I hadn't been leafing through a Malaysia travel book and come across a photograph of Mt. Kinabalu and a description of the climb. Then I started reading about what else Borneo has to offer and decided I had my heart set on at least climbing the mountain and seeing what else I could find. I arrived in Singapore and met up with a girl named Jennifer who was looking for a travel companion going into Malaysia. She didn't have any agenda so I asked if she'd ever climbed any mountains, and she said "no" but that she'd give anything a try once. We got a bus to Kuala Lumpur and a flight to Kota Kinabalu, and got setup for the climb at the National Park Headquarters. Because it was hot (nearly 40c) and very humid I had trouble convincing myself that on this mountain I would need warm clothes, but it does go down to freezing up at the summit so I forced myself to buy some wooly gloves and warm trousers. I was very thankful indeed to have them when the time came. We went with our guide, "Dapit" from the park at 1500m to the Laban Rata hut at about 3500m and went up to the summit, after a short sleep, at 3AM. That was the cool part, for me at least. I sort of went ahead on my own and passed a string of many climbers on the way up, forming a trail of wobbling lights along the meandering trail. There are many ropes installed at the higher levels where it is more exposed, and this made it fairly easy to let the arms do a lot of the climbing. I finally reached the top at about 5:00 and waited along with some 20-30 others for the sunrise so we could actually see where we were. Well it was excellent. The sun came up and slowly illuminated the surrounding peaks and slopes and revealed the hills rolling down to the sea and the very distant city of Kota Kinabalu well below. The mountain is shaped somewhat like a crown, with a high central plateau surrounded by several pinacles, the "summit" being the tallest of them. The photo you often see from the mountain (and the one which first captivated me) is not the summit itself, but one of the slightly lower but more picturesque peaks called Saint John's Peak (not exactly an indigenous-sounding name, is it?) I decided to hang around longer, while almost everyone else went back to the hut to sleep or continue down the mountain, so I had the place nearly to myself for an hour or two, which was the best time of all. Eventually though I knew I had to get back with Dapit and Jennifer. Nice job on her part too, for someone who never climbed a mountain before - 4100m or about 13,500ft. The guide service, by the way, is required and doesn't cost much. It is mainly to keep people under a bit of supervision because there are many rare orchids, rafflesia, and pitcher plants in the forest at the lower elevations along the climb and they don't want them getting picked or damaged, and hey it also provides some income for local people, which is fine by me. Since you were wondering, Mount Kinabalu's name comes from one of two disputed sources: Some believe it comes from the word for China, "Kina" and a dialectical term for a widow, "Balu". This relates to a story in which a Chinese Prince is seeking a giant pink pearl on a mountain top, which is guarded by a dragon. The Prince slaid the dragon, took the pearl, and celebrated by marrying a local woman. However, he soon became homesick and left his wife to return to China, and the woman wandered heartbroken into the mountains and turned to stone. Nice story, but the other more accepted explanation is that it derives from the local words "Aki Nabalu" which mean "revered place of the dead". But I figure a little mythology makes things more interesting so I'll stick with the Chinese Prince story. |
| From Kota Kinabalu we got a boat to the island of Labuan, which is a tax-free haven under Kuala Lumpur jurisdiction, so we bought some beer and wine for our hosts, Mike and Kate, who I once rented a house from in New Zealand and who we were to be visiting now in Brunei. We got the boat from Labuan and passed through Brunei customs and immigration, receiving special documents for the alcoholic beverages which must be kept in our possession, as it is illegal to buy or sell alcohol in the country, but tourists are allowed a small amount for their own consumption. Brunei is a fairly insular Muslim nation, ruled by the Sultan, who is one of the world's richest men, and his family. Their wealth is based on oil reserves, and I wonder what will happen when that runs dry, because I really didn't see much else in the way of industry. Brunei has already shrunk tremendously. The country once encompassed all of Borneo and some of the surrounding islands, but even recently some of the country's land has been sold to Malaysia to keep paying the bills. People were generally very generous and friendly, and a few times people pulled their cars over to give us a lift - and a brief tour - without our even asking. I got a strong sense of blind loyalty to the Sultan, and the mindset that Brunei has everything you need and is wonderful - almost as though each of its citizens works for the tourism board. I asked about camera prices: "Yes, we have the best prices in the world" (wrong!) I asked about scuba diving: "Yes, we have some of the best diving in the world" (wrong again), and so forth. I was really impressed by the power of the Muslim faith, however, even if I don't care for it myself, and the melodic chantings of the Imman from the mosque towers for the 5-times daily prayers was always mesmerising. The mosques themselves are also most impressive. We stayed in the capital city of Bandar Seri Bagawan for a couple days. At the city harbour is the oddest juxtaposition of three elements: The awesome Omar Ali Saiffudin mosque, the stilted river city of Kampung Ayer, and a thoroughly modern shopping centre. So at once I was able to stand inside an air-conditioned shop surrounded by Gucci and Lacoste items, and look out directly on a palacial Muslim temple and the largest water dwelling on earth. Some 30,000 people live in Kampung Ayer, which is a giant conglomeration of houses, schools, shops, etc. all connected by plank walkways and all on stilts above the muddy waters and flats of the river mouth. It has existed like this for hundreds of years. |
| The stunning Omar Ali Saiffudin mosque at night. |
| The Omar Ali Saiffudin mosque next day under sunny skies. |
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| The impressive Jame'Asr Hassanal Bolkiah Mosque (try saying that five times quickly) in Gadong. The Sultan was visiting that day so they were cleaning all the surfaces with drinking water, and of course we weren't allowed inside. |
| Carefully making our way around the water village of Kampong Ayer. Ridiculous to call it a "village" when it is inhabited by 30,000 people, but then I have trouble referring to it as a "city". |
| Making friends in Kampong Ayer. The little guy on my knee was pretty shy about posing for the camera, but maybe he never saw a guy with yellow hair before either. |
| Dramatic skies at the coast near Kuala Belait, where many Shell Oil employees work, and drink smuggled-in Heineken beers. We saw the empty bottles - right there on the beach. |
| From Brunei we caught a bus over the Belait River and back into Malaysia (Sarawak) and the city of Miri. We were taken in hand by one of the guys we met at a food stall and he brought us into a night club where a plump Malaysian guy was doing his best Axel Rose impersonation with a pretty good sounding band behind him. "Frank" bought the beers and took care of us all night, and he drove us to the airport at the end of our visit. Nice guy! But first we went on a side trip out to the Niah caves, which are some of the highest and longest in the world. We found a basic hotel near the park entrance, complete with cockroaches and many other insect companions and went on to the caves by bus in the morning. Entering the park along a long plank walk through increasingly dense jungle, I was happy to see there was virtually no one else there. We went through some ancient cliff dwellings which are now uninhabited but well-preserved, and came to the mouth of the first of many giant caves. |
| Trying to look cool, like I do this every day, in front of St. John's Peak on the way down from the summit. |
| The very pointy-looking St. John's Peak at the edge of the vast plateau which forms the base of Mount Kinabalu's various summits. The photograph I originally saw of this motivated me to come check it out. |
| Several others gathering at the summit just before sunrise. It was cold, but considering we were at over 4000 metres it wasn't that cold, as it lies so near the equator that the treeline is only 1000 metres below. |
| The entrance to the "main" cave, with 70-metre high ceiling and the smell of bat guano. |
| The plank walk leading from the park headquarters into the cave area. There were many exotic birds and insects, and it was very pleasant. |
| With the guy I met living deep in one of the caves, who led me on an impromptu tour of the caves and showed me some ancient cave drawings. We shared exactly one English word (hello), but hand signals and smiles go a long way. His Adidas shorts are another small hint of globalisation. |
| Jennifer didn't like the smell of bat shit, so she went back outside, while I went deep into the cave network and found a man living way back there who saw my light and called "hello..." and drew me toward his dwelling. He had a bamboo frame bed and a shelf full of canned food, which made me wonder what kind of life this was. Through sign language he indicated to me that he could show me around the caves and so I went with him, both of us following the dim light of our torches. He showed me the many bird nests which he harvests for profit, and some very old cave paintings dating back some 1500 years. At the mouth of one of the caves we poised for a photograph, and there I offered him half of my food - one apple. I was embarrassed when I saw that he had only about three teeth, and watched him knaw through the apple, but he seemed appreciative. The caves were amazing. |
| We got a flight from Miri to the city of Kuching. Coming from the general feeling of restrictive Islamic Brunei and the slightly less stiffled culture of Eastern Sarawak, Kuching was like arriving in Las Vegas (ok, not really, but in context, yes). I had one of my patented "happy attacks" in Kuching. It is a wonderful city (but don't go there because you would spoil it!) and we enjoyed walking along the river Sarawak and the many craft shops and the hint of the modern world lying to the west. The vibe there was refreshingly free, with even a sound and light show at the river front which made me do the (now patented) "Happy Attack Dance". It is a centre for very many crafts from Borneo, and in retrospect, Bali. In light of the good times, we were reminded that problems can still occur. When we stored our backpacks in the Rainforest Hotel for the day and later took them to the airport for our flight to Johor Bahru, I could see that someone had gone through my backpack thoroughly. I am typically very organised in my bag, and I could see that everything was moved around in my backpack, so clearly someone was in there. Thankfully nothing was missing. They were probably looking for cash and credit cards, which of course I had with me. It happens, and in this case it was a harmless reminder not to get too complaiscent. |
| Two nice river views along the banks of the river Sarawak at the lovely city of Kuching. |
| "Kuching" means "Cat", and here we see evidence, in the form of one of many cat homages in the city with my cheesie grins. Kuching is my favourite city in Borneo (remember - don't go there, OK?) From here we flew to Peninsular Maslasia in Johor Bahru and carried on up the coast. |