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Day 9
Take a 2.5 hour jet boat to Labuan, a duty free
island., wait all day because the next boat
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Team Sabah Bevin and Sharon: Kiwis living in London who work to travel.
Paul and Alice: Sydney, Newlywed veterinarians Katherine: London travel agent, world traveler
Miguel: Madrid dairy farm researcher
returning home after
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Day 10 Drive 4 or so hours to Mt Kinabalu National Park which has the highest peak in SE Asia. Take a warm-up hike and get some sleep at our cool little hotel that clings to the side of a hill and overlooks the terraced farm valley below. Day 11 Another stroll up a mountain. Everything is in metric so I never realized how far we went until we were done and we never actually saw the mountain because it was cloudy until we came down. It was HUGE. Left at 9am for a about a 4 mile walk from 4500 feet to 10500 feet. We were still sore from last week. The trail was a mix of 2500 stairs, and tiring steeps. The higher we went the colder it got and then...the rain. This was driving, gale wind rain that went sideways. I just stood there soaked to the bone and freezing, thinking this sucks. But I only had one hour of it while others were in it for 3. Upon reaching the rest house and changing I didn't stop shivering and shaking for an hour, so I went from heat exhaustion week 1 to hypothermia week 2. Made it up by 1 pm to the rest house and was in bed by 6. Day 12 In bed by 6 because we started the final ascent at 3 in the morning for the final 3000 vertical feet to the summit at 13500 ft. It was pretty wild because it was dark out and we were walking over granite faces and trying to stay upright with ropes because the winds were so strong. Looking behind me was just an eerie stream of lights from 100 people following through the clouds. With the wind it had to be about freezing temp. Took 2.5 hours to reach the top. Froze for about 25 minutes at the summit waiting for the sunrise and then descended back down into the clouds. Made it all the way back to the base by noon and my toes were about to fall off because of my shoes. Had to side step it in pain the whole way down. We see various Discovery Channel Borneo Eco Challenge racers runningup and down the mountain just for fun because they finished the race early. Visit hot springs in the afternoon to soak. In bed early because... |
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Day 13 We leave at 3 in the morning for a 5 hour mini bus ride to Sepilok so we could see the orangutans twice that day. I contortioned myself on the floor of the bus to get comfortable. I haven't slept since I got to this country. And my cold came back from the rain and I think the malaria pills have been making me nauseous. But I'm havinbg fun... really. Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center had viewing platforms where we sweltered in the heat and got bitten up by bugs to see the orangs stroll in from the open forest to eat bananas. Between the morning and afternoon visit we stop at the Allied war memorial in Sandakan where 2500 Aussies and Brits died just months before the allied invasion. Only 6 survived by escaping to tell the story of the brutalization by the Japanese and the forced death marches through the jungles and mountains.
Day 14 We drive 1 hour to Sandakan again to take an hour speed boat ride to Turtle Island National Park. Snorkled on some great reef and slept on the beach for the first time since flying to Malaysia. That night we learn about the turtles and wait in the lodge for the turtles to come ashore. Luckily the first comes up at 10 and not 2 am and we run out to the beach to watch it lay eggs. Then we get to hold hatchlings and then watch them get released into the ocean and help guide them the right way. Amazing. (In the grand scheme of things we weren't that far from where the tourist hostages were taken at Sepidan)
Day 15 Drive 3 hours on bumpy roads past miles and miles of palm oil plantations that have replaced the rainforest to Sukau where we relax in a riverside lodge and then take a cruise to see Proboscis monkeys. Sad, ugly things I think but it was cool to watch then belly flopping from trees into the river to cross. A National Geographic photog was there so maybe next year it will be in the mag.
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Day 16 Fly back to KK to relax and do some shopping. Have an open air farewell dinner in a market and then some drinks, and more drinks, and some more, and then karaoke again, and more karaoke, and then I go to bed at 2 but not before throwing up. |
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On to Hong Kong... |
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