Previous chronologically: 
Borneo Bound
Dates Traveled: November-December 2007
Malaysia (State of Sabah) - Kota Kinabalu (KK)
We arrived in Kota Kinabalu (KK) around midnight, only to find that the airport transfer we’d arranged with the hostel was nowhere to be found. We eventually just grabbed a cab to the hostel, where we crashed long and hard. It had been a long day.
After a lazy start the following morning we finally ventured outside, only to find that the Sunday market was happening right outside our door. We enjoyed meandering through that for awhile before spending the rest of the day taking care of general stuff, since we were once again back in civilization. We were also lamenting the fact we were back in civilization - there were too many foreigners around! However, the good food and good vibe of KK made it worthwhile. I had been to KK 5 years earlier and enjoyed my time then as well. It’s a nice place.
We had been hoping to climb Mt. Kinabalu - at 13,435 feet/4,095 meters it’s the highest point on Borneo. Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is comprised of the Indonesian province of Kalimantan, the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak, and the country of Brunei. Anyway, while in Papua and about 2 weeks prior to our arrival in Malaysia, we’d contacted the Kinabalu Park authorities to see if there was accommodation on the mountain. Unfortunately, there were no beds available until a week after we planned on being there, which was too late for us. I’d climbed Mt. Kinabalu back in 2002, but it became obvious that it wasn’t going to happen this time around.
The following day we spent trying to send all of our Papuan souvenirs back to our respective homes, before catching a cab out to the museum. Before actually entering the museum we took in the very good, and free, heritage village. There were representative homes from the various tribes in Malaysia, and it was an interesting, extensive, and informative glimpse into their lives and customs. When we later entered the museum we found it to be quite good as well.
Early the following morning we hopped a ferry for the trip to Brunei. Even the extensive rain couldn’t ruin the break we had in KK, but since we couldn’t climb the mountain we decided to move along fairly quickly.
Brunei - Bandar Seri Begawan (BSB)
It was a 3-hour ferry ride from Kota Kinabalu to the Malaysian island of Labuan, a couple hour layover there, and another 1-hour ferry ride from Labuan to Brunei. While passing through customs we were asked one question - were we carrying any alcohol. Foreigners entering Brunei are allowed to bring in a set amount of alcohol as long as they declare it. Other than that, alcohol is not available in the Muslim country. We later talked to some young guys from Brunei who said they routinely pop across the border into the Malaysian state of Sarawak if they want to have some drinks.
We caught a bus into Bandar Seri Begawan (BSB), the capital of Brunei, where we quickly found a place to stay, got settled, and then hit the streets for a wander. We checked out the waterfront and looked across to Kampung Ayer, the water village which we’d visit in a few days time. We then headed towards the large mosque in that part of town, the Sultan Omar Ali Saiffuddi Mosque. 
As we neared it we were approached by a young man, Abdul, who claimed to be a guide. We initially blew him off, but the more we listened the more we liked what we heard - he’d drive us around for 2-3 hours, showing us the main sites in BSB, as well as other places such as the homes of some of the princes and princesses which we wouldn’t be able to see on our own. And all of that for less than US$20. Sold!
We initially spent 45 minutes wandering around the outside of the mosque, snapping photos and admiring the building as it was floodlit against the evening sky, and reflected in the artificial lake. We weren’t allowed inside at that time as prayers were ongoing. From that mosque we proceeded to the largest mosque in Brunei, the Jame Asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque - another mouthful. We spent another 45 minutes or so walking around the outside of that one, snapping many photos of the beautiful building softly illuminated by the lights. 
The next stop was a night market. We both love to street-graze through markets, so we did exactly that - trying many things simply because they looked interesting, or because we had no idea what they were. We also went with a few old standbys - chicken and beef skewers. Yummm.
From the market we proceeded to a park along the Brunei river looking across to the Istana Nurul Iman - the Sultan’s palace. Most of the palace sits behind trees and isn’t visible to the public, but we could at least get an idea of the scale of the place. It’s said to be the largest residential palace in the world, with a reputed 1,788 rooms and 257 bathrooms within its floor area of 2,152,782 square feet (200,000 m²). Now that’s a house! Abdul continually peppered us with interesting information on the sites we were seeing, as well as life in general in Brunei. For instance, he said that ‘religious police’ often patrolled parks such as we were then walking through to ensure that no unmarried couples were out cavorting.
From the park he drove us to a few homes of the royal family - those of princes and princesses. As you can imagine, they were beautiful. Abdul told a story that one of the princes loved Porsches, and he had a different colored Porsche for every day of the week. That seemed a bit excessive until I just read on Wikipedia that the car collection at the Sultan’s palace contains custom made Bentleys and Ferraris, as well as 165 Rolls Royces! Maybe 7 Porsche’s isn’t excessive at all compared to his dad’s stable of cars!
The three-plus hour tour was exactly what we needed and a perfect introduction to Brunei. We got to see the main sites by floodlight, but Abdul also provided a great deal of useful information regarding the general style of living of the common people, as well as the Sultan and his family. It was great value for the little bit of money we paid.
The following day we went back to each of the mosques to get photos in the daylight. We also went inside the Sultan Omar Ali Saiffuddi Mosque, and spent some time talking to one of the caretakers. One of the five pillars of Islam states that every able-bodied Muslim should make the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their lifetime. In Brunei, if you’re a government worker who has been on the job at least 15 years, that one journey will be paid for by the government. 
Yearly airfares were some of the other perks of being a government employee. Obviously the Sultan has a lot of money - Brunei is quite wealthy due to oil reserves in the west of the country. However, he seems to honestly place the welfare of his people as a high priority, which is refreshing.
We next visited the Royal Regalia, a museum which houses articles from the Sultan’s coronation, as well as from his 25th jubilee. Various gifts presented to him over the years were on display, as were the Sultan’s numerous medals. Unfortunately, the room containing the royal jewels was under renovation and therefore off-limits.
That evening we met a Japanese couple and two guides, and the 6 of us hopped into a small boat for an evening trip along the river. We were hoping to see proboscis monkeys. Found only in Borneo, they are recognizable by their large nose and big belly. In fact, an Indonesian nickname for the monkey translates as ‘Dutchman’, as early Indonesians noticed that some of the Dutch colonizers had the same traits - true story. We were able to see several colonies of the monkeys, but as the sun was setting and the monkeys were often swinging through branches of mangrove trees, it was next to impossible to get good photos. The boat trip was pleasant as we saw many fireflies on the way back to BSB, and we also stopped to have dinner at one of the small restaurants in the stilt village.
Temburong
The following morning we hopped a fast enclosed boat for the 45-minute journey down to Bangar - capital of the Temburong district of Brunei. We walked straight to the tourist information office where we quickly hashed out a plan for the day. After a few phone calls to organize everything we were out the door with our guide, Maria. A short drive out of town had us at the Temburong river and into our longboat. The pleasant boat trip took us to the Ulu Temburong National Park. I say pleasant because they’d had a lot of rain, the water in the river was relatively deep, and we didn’t have to get out of the boat to push it over the shallow sections! At the park headquarters we jumped out of the boat and started along the well-boarded walkway to the canopy walk. The canopy walk was a series of towers, connected by a metal walkway, built some 20 meters above the ground. From the elevated walkway one could see across the jungle, and look down on the various trees in the region. It was a unique perspective of the jungle.
We opted for the cross-country route back down to our boat, which turned out to be a bit slippery due to the heavy rains the previous day. After a quick lunch we were back in our boat for the return journey. At one point we jumped out of the boat and walked up the middle of a small tributary stream to a waterfall. Maria said it was the most water she’d ever seen flowing there thanks to the heavy rains the region had been experiencing. It was nice, and walking the stream was a cool way to arrive at the falls.
Our total trip into the park lasted about 6 hours. Back in town we gathered up a few snacks that we could call dinner, and then Maria drove us out of Bangar the other direction to a traditional long house - our home for the night. I’ve wanted to stay in a traditional long house for the past 5 years, but as soon as we drove up I realized that this wasn’t going to be the experience I’d hoped for. It was a modern long house with all the conveniences - electricity, tv, stove, toilet, lights, etc. She basically dumped us there and left us to fend for ourselves. 
Long houses are exactly as the name implies - a long house which is subdivided into smaller individual rooms belonging to each family. There is a common area out front of the individual rooms which runs the length of the long house, and a porch outside of that. We were led to one of the rooms by a few of the younger kids who could speak English, and told that was our place for the night. Then they left. Hmmmmmm - this could be a long night. Rhona and I sat there talking in the hopes the kids would eventually work up the nerve to come back to talk to us, which they did. It seems most of the families in that particular long house were headed by brothers, so everyone was related. They were also extremely religious. Our room contained a large cross and candle, a dais, a robe, censer, numerous religious pictures, a recruiting poster for the priesthood, and an altar with statues. The surroundings made us sit back and wonder about the traditional homes we’d been led to on our trip. The first night of our trek in Papua had been headed by an extremely religious Dani man, and now our long house homestay, in a predominately Muslim country, was also in a Christian home. Were the people organizing the stays simply assuming we were Christian because we were Westerners? It made us wonder. Quite honestly we would have preferred to stay with a Muslim family for that experience, but we later learned that not many of them are living in the long houses.
Even though the experience was nothing like I’d hoped/expected, we still enjoyed talking to the kids and learning a bit more about their life in that part of Brunei. As night rolled in the kids showed up with a couple of mattresses, blankets, and pillows. We moved a coffee table and chair and voila - bedroom for the night.
The following morning Maria came back to get us, dropped us at the ferry terminal, and we caught the return boat to BSB.
Back in Bandar Seri Begawan
Back in BSB we headed immediately to the Jame Asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque for the third time. It was Friday, and we wanted to be at the largest mosque in Brunei for their noon prayers. We caught the bus there and arrived just as everyone else was getting there. We estimated over 3000 people were there for the most significant prayer of the week for Muslims. We saw people dressed in various traditional outfits and hats. Obviously we weren’t allowed inside the mosque during the prayers, but we sat on a bench just outside the entrance to the open, lower level of the mosque. Those that couldn’t fit in the domed prayer room were performing their prayers downstairs, and we could watch everything they did from our vantage point. It was fantastic to be able to sit there, hear the imam, and watch the prayers. We really enjoyed that. We still hadn’t been able to tour the inside of the mosque, but as no tours are allowed on Friday until 5 PM we were going to have to wait another day. We spent the rest of the day walking around trying to find a particular outdoor shop.
For dinner we popped into a sushi restaurant - as you do. When we’d finished we asked our waitress which bus to catch back to our part of the city, and where we could catch the bus. She told us and we left, only to have her run after us and catch us on the street. It seems the waitresses had had a brief pow-wow after we left. Most of the buses shut down at 6 PM (it was now after 7), but two buses were going to change their schedule such that they were available until 10. However, the waitresses weren’t sure if that change had already occurred or not. Their solution? The manager of the restaurant arranged for one of her chefs to drive us back to our hotel! We had already commented repeatedly about how nice the locals were, but this was incredible! And they wouldn’t take no for an answer, so we piled into his car and he drove us back to our part of town. Talk about hospitality.
What did we do on our last full day in BSB? Went back to the main mosque, of course. We wanted to finally see the inside, so showed up at the appointed time for visits and wandered through. It was every bit as beautiful inside as we’d imagined it would be.
That afternoon we went to a handicraft shop, and then headed to the interesting museum. We were waiting for the bus outside the museum - under the covered driveway to escape the heavy rain, when an unmarked passenger van pulled up. The driver was friendly and said he’d drive us into town, so we jumped in. It turned out that he has another job, but sometimes uses his vehicle as a kind of taxi as well. When he saw us sitting there he decided to give us a lift. Again, the friendliness was incredible.
We next jumped in a water taxi for the short trip out to Kampung Ayer, the water village. It’s estimated that 30,000 Bruneians still live in this city on stilts. It has everything that you can find on land - mosques, schools, fire departments, restaurants, and homes. There are wooden walkways between most of the homes, and an intricate network of waterways which the locals negotiate by boat, though to be fair it seemed that most simply relied on the numerous water taxis. We walked around for a few hours, snapping numerous photos in the beautiful end-of-day light.
We lingered longer than most travelers tend to in Brunei, but we really enjoyed it there. We found it to be an interesting stop, with some exceptionally gracious people.
Malaysia (State of Sarawak) - Miri
We caught a bus from BSB to the oil region towns of Seria, and then immediately to Kuala Belait. To say that Shell Oil Company was a major player in the region would be an understatement. From Kuala Belait we took a bus to the border, went through the immigration formalities, and then boarded another bus to the nearby Malaysian town of Miri.
While in Papua and Brunei we had started looking at our options for Sarawak. We had wanted to hike the headhunters trail down to Gunung Mulu National Park. It’s billed as a 3-day hike that follows the ancient route of headhunters into what is now the World Heritage listed park. However, the more we looked into it the more we realized that it was a lot of time spent in boats, and very little actual hiking - only about 11 kms of hiking in total. Plus it was expensive. Therefore, we opted to spend more time in Brunei and catch a cheap flight down to Gunung Mulu instead.
So, the following morning we were at the airport to catch our flight into the park, which took about 40 minutes. We were dropped off at park headquarters and basically hit the ground running. We registered for our room and talked to the very informative park rangers about our options for the 2-plus days we had in the park. In no time at all we had a great idea of what was available, when the ranger-led tours of the show caves took place, and what was possible to do on our own.
We started with a short walk by ourselves along the boarded trail through the jungle. It was beautiful, and we were quite pleased that we were able to spot some of the carnivorous pitcher plants. After a quick lunch we met another couple and a ranger for our 3 km walk back to Lang and Deer Caves. Along the way we saw a snake on a branch above the boardwalk, and a lizard near the trail. Once we arrived at the caves we first elected to walk through Lang Cave, which was probably the most beautiful of the four show caves in Gunung Mulu. There were numerous stalactites and stalagmites, and the lighting was tastefully done.
Next up was the neighboring Deer Cave - said to be the largest single cave passage in the world. The entrance was roughly 170 meters wide by 120 meters high. It was enormous! The large cave was home to millions of bats, so you can imagine the smell as we proceeded deeper into the cave. Most intriguing was the sight when we turned to look back at the entrance - there was honest Abe himself…Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States. Honest.
After exploring the caves we ventured out to an area of benches where we could look back at the yawning entrance to Deer Cave. On most nights millions of bats stream out of the cave in search of food, and we were there to witness the event, so we waited. And waited….and waited. We hung around for over an hour, until it grew dark and it became obvious that they wouldn’t be flying out on that night. We were quite disappointed as it sounds like quite a spectacle. As a consolation, on our walk back to headquarters we were shown some glowing fungus. It was interesting, and very obviously glowing when we turned off our head lamps. We liked our first encounter with the glowing fungus so much that we ended up returning on our own the following night to see if we could find some more. We walked, switched off our headlamps, and then looked around. Ooh - that tree is glowing….and so are those mushrooms! It was cool.
Around 3 AM we were woken by heavy rain outside - rain which continued to pound until about 9 AM the following morning. Shortly before 9 we boarded a small boat with two other passengers for our trip up river to visit the remaining two show caves - Wind and Clearwater. The extent of Clearwater cave continues to grow as expeditions explore it’s numerous branches. It currently measures roughly 150 kms in length, and ranks in the top 10 in that category in the world. Many believe that it is the largest cave system in the world based on volume, and it’s many passages are still revealing their secrets.
Rather than take the boat back we opted to leave the guide and other 2 passengers and walk the 3 kms back to headquarters, as it allowed us to also pass through Moon Milk Cave. We enjoyed the leisurely walk through the jungle with nobody else around, and seemed to time our arrival at headquarters perfectly. Not three minutes after we plopped down at a cafe table the skies opened up again and there was another torrential downpour. We wiled away the afternoon sitting outside, but under a roof, watching and listening to the rain.
On our last morning in the park we got up early and hiked 3 kms to do another canopy walk. I didn’t like the elevated walk in Mulu as much as I liked the one in Ulu Temburong, though it was still a unique way to look at the jungle. That afternoon we flew back to Miri.
We really enjoyed Gunung Mulu. Everything was well organized and the show caves were varied, spectacular, and well presented. We each had visions of Chinese caves with their surreal green and red lights, so were pleasantly surprised by the care taken in presenting these caves. Our only regret is that we didn’t have time to climb up to the Pinnacles - limestone spires on one of the mountains. However, it really wasn’t the best time of year to do that - the trails were heavy with mud, there were numerous leeches, and fog often enshrouded the mountains and obscured the view. I think it would have also been fun to explore some of the adventure caves, though many were off-limits due to high water levels from all the rain. Maybe next time…
Niah Caves
The following morning we got up early and hopped in a van for the 2-hour drive to the Niah Caves headquarters. After registering we set off on the hike back to the actual caves. Having just visited the phenomenal Mulu caves, the Niah caves didn’t stand a chance. However, the Niah caves are more working caves, as locals harvest the swallow’s nests and bat guano. Though it wasn’t the right season for collecting the nests, some of the ‘tools’ were still in place. That mainly consisted of unstable bamboo platforms and lengths of bamboo tied together and dangling precariously from the ceiling. It must be quite a sight during the season to see men climbing up the poles - dots of light from their burning lamps flickering like fireflies in the expansive cave. For those who are wondering, the nests are cleaned and used in the Asian delicacy, birds nest soup.
Passing through the first enormous cave we made our way back to Painting Cave, which exhibited some rock paintings. It’s thought the cave was used by man some 42,000 years ago.
The round-trip walk and exploration of the caves took us about 5 hours, at which time we hopped in the van and proceeded back to Miri.
The following morning we caught a taxi to the airport, only to see our flight listed as ‘retimed’ on the monitor. We checked in and were told that it would be a couple of hours late. No problems. As I was running out of time we were flying to Kuching for a night, and then flying the following morning to Johor Bahru - the Malaysian town on the border with Singapore, from where we’d cross into Singapore by bus. It was considerably cheaper than flying all the way to Singapore.
Well, our delayed departure time came and went, so I made some inquiries. When I asked what time they thought the plane would be leaving, I was told midnight. Excuse me?!? Do you mean 12 or 13 hours from now midnight? Hmmmmmm. Actually, after a bit of checking we discovered we could fly directly from Miri to Johor Bahru and get to Singapore that same day. We booked that, waited for our 4 PM departure, and were on our way.
Singapore
It was relatively easy to make the border crossing from JB to Singapore, and we were lucky enough to get a room in the same hotel where we had reservations for the following night, so it all worked out well. We spent the following day posting a few more items home, and I needed to do some shopping for supplies to last me for the next 5 months. That evening Rhona’s parents flew into town to continue with her to Cambodia.
The following day we all did a bit of sightseeing before enjoying a nice dinner down by the river at Boat Quay. I then left the hotel around 5 the following morning for my marathon trek back to Rio and work.
In all it was another great 6-week vacation - including our time in Papua. It was a bit strange for me, as there were a lot of flights. I think I made something like 22 hops in my 6 weeks off. Considering I’d made about 6 or 7 in my previous 1 1/2 year trip, I found that to be a bit excessive! However, once in Papua one doesn’t have much of a choice but to fly. There are still things that I want to do in Malaysian Borneo - I seem to keep running out of time when I’m there, or things don’t work out as I hope. For instance, I’m yet to see the Rafflesia, the world’s largest flower at up to a meter in diameter. I guess I’ll be back….
I had crew change in Rio on December 5th and have been on the boat ever since. My 6 weeks of work will take me up to January 16th, when I’m free to jet off exploring again, so stay tuned for updates on the other side of that one.
Leave a Comment