Jungle Part Deux, Also Caves

On Wednesday I flew south to Mulu to visit a national park there that is known for it's spectacular cave systems. I'm pretty sure one of them is featured on The Planet Earth series for those of you who have seen it. You know the one where they are climbing the mountain of bat guano and cockroaches? Ya, that's it. It's even more spectacular in person because you can really appreciate that rich smell of ammonia, it's very pungent. Kind of stings the nostrils.

The caves really were impressive. I've never seen caves like this before with proper selactites and bats and everything. The Deer Cave there apparently is the largest cavern chamber in the world and it houses millions of bats that come out to feed most evenings in giant swarms. It was really cool to see them leave the cave in this big swirling mass.

Mulu was also a very social place, I met a lot of people and drank a lot of beer. Overall it was a really good experience and I'm glad I was able to get a last-minute booking there. It would have sucked to spend those days sitting in KK instead.

Well I think I just heard my flight to Singapore being called to board. I've got two nights there and then I'm heading home. It's been a great trip... Afghanistan included, but it will be good to get home again.

I'm so far behind in this

I don't even know how I can possibly catch up. I'm going to start with the last few days because it's fresh in my head.

I just got back to KK after spending the last two days climbing Mount Kinabalu (which thanks to Duane I just learned is not the highest peak in SE Asia as advertised). It is a 4092m tall mountain though and it was a hell of a trek to get to the top.

I kind of booked the mountain a little last minute and didn't really have a whole lot of info beyond what the tour company gave me which basically said that they recommend that I leave KK at around 7am to be at the mountain for 10am so I could meet up with other trekkers and share the cost of a guide and start the hike.

Well I tried to leave KK on a 7:30am bus but by the time we actually left KK it was closer to 8:20am because the driver kept waiting for more passengers to show up. It was really pissing me off because he kept saying "Soon, soon" but if I had known it was going to be an hour late than I would have tried to find another bus. Anyways, by the time I got to the mountain it was around 10:30am and there was nobody at the base so I had to pay the full cost to hire my own personal guide (because they won't let you on the mountain without one). When I checked in they asked me when I was planning on doing the mountain and I was kind of confused because I wasn't really sure why they would think I was checking in if I was going to do the mountain some other day. Anyways when I said I would be starting it as soon as they checked me in the girl looked at me like I was crazy to be starting so late in the day.

Anyways, it was 11am by the time I got cleared in and picked up my guide and the ridiculous packed lunch they provided... cheese sandwiches, boiled eggs and bananas in a cardboard box packed in a reusable grocery bag. How is that practical to carry up a mountain? So thinking that I was really behind I started hiking quickly up the mountain. After about 20 minutes I lost my guide and never saw him again until about an hour after I got to the lodge. This guy hikes the mountain twice a week... how could he get so far behind?

I did the first day in about 3h10m which after reaching the lodge I found out was a really fast time. Most were doing it in 5-6 hours. At the lodge I met a group of engineers, an Auzzie couple from Singapore and an Irish girl who had been travelling all over SE Asia for the last few months. We sat and enjoyed our 25MYR beers (so expensive but worth it!) and commiserated on how tired we were. I got to bed early that night as the next day would start at 2am so we could be at the peak for sunrise.

Now I get a little competitive about a lot of things and I also hate being in a pack of people that prevent me from going at my own pace so I decided that I wanted to try to get as far to the front of the pack as quickly as I could so I could just do my own thing instead of waiting for others to get out of the way. Well after about 500m I realized I was at the front of the pack and there wasn't anyone even close to keeping up with me (even my guide) so I just carried on to the summit. It was the most amazing walk in the dark with millions of stars in the sky and the moon setting behind one of the mountain peaks... it was just beautiful! I would stop and turn around every once in a while to see a snake of lights coming up the mountain behind me but they were nowhere close to catching up. I have to give my guide credit though because about half way to the peak as I stopped for water a light came up to me quickly and there he was panting and wheezing. It didn't take long for him to fall behind again and I was easily the first to the summit by about 20 minutes.

Watching the sun come up over the mountains this morning was simply spectacular! As I sat there watching it I kind of wished it would just go on and on.

On the way back down the mountain my guide did much better and stayed with me the whole time. As we approached the trailhead I heard him sigh and say "Finally". I really think I almost killed him. I gave him a good tip though so he was happy in the end.

Almost the end... of Semporna

Sadly I'll be leaving Semporna soon. It's been great here and I really just can't get enough of diving. A few days ago I finally got my trip to Sipadan Island. It turns out is is everything it's cracked up to be.

The first two dives of the day were strictly ok... I saw things that I hadn't seen before like grey reef sharks and white tip reef sharks but other than that the dives were just average. The third dive was spectacular! We went down to the Turtle Tomb and then along Drop Off and the scenery is simply amazing. It's a wall dive where the wall stretches down into the deep as far as you can see. It apparently goes down over 600m deep. Swimming along this wall as new scenes opened up in front of us as we went around every corner was just amazing! The wall was hanging with coral and on some little shelves you could find turtles resting. To our left we always kept a watch out to try to spot any rays that came by or if we were really lucky a hammerhead or whale shark. The divemaster did spot a devil ray and gave a bang on his tank while he waved urgently towards us. I took off after him and swam hard to catch a quick view of the ray as it sped by. Amazing!

Further along the wall we found a small school of barracudas playing in the current and then came upon a massive school of jackfish as well as a school of humphead parrotfish. The humpheads were great! They're pretty big fish (close to 1.5m long) and while they milled about chomping on the coral they looked kind of like a heard of buffalo.

While we waited and watched the parrotfish, one of the guys in our group put his hand down on a piece of coral to steady himself. As he did this I looked beside his hand and there was a big scorpionfish sitting less than a foot from his right hand. I carefully went around to the left side of him to tap him on his shoulder and gave him the old "there's a scorpionfish sitting right beside your hand" signal. He didn't seem to get it so I followed up with a "just carefully come towards me please before you get yourself poisoned" signal. He did come towards me but he still didn't seem to get what I was trying to say although he seemed quite grateful later when I explained it to him on the surface. He even gave me a cookie :)

So after the parrotfish we went back to the school of jackfish and swam through them. It was really awesome being completely surrounded by the fish as they swirled around. There is also a big school of barracuda at Sipadan which was at the time apparently just a little further down the reef. It would have been really awesome to swim with them. I spoke so some people who did and they just said it was an incredible experience being in this swirling vortex of barracuda. Oh well... maybe next time. Overall, Sipadan was really great!

So I have been trying to figure out how to spend the rest of my time here. I have Mount Kinabalu booked for the 15th and wanted to go see some orangutans up in Sandakan before going there. I had heard great things about Uncle Tan's for the orangutans and jungle trekking from everyone that passes through there so I booked with them. I've been told it's basically like summer camp but with beer. Can't wait!

After Uncle Tan's and the mountain I'll only have 4 days left in Borneo before catching my flight up to Singapore. I still haven't figured out what I'll do with that time but I might head south as there are supposed to be some spectacular caves down there. I'd also kind of like to pass through Brunei even if it's just for a few hours because I kind of want to get another stamp on my passport. I'll have to look into it all in the next few days and decide what to do. If all else fails I can always spend the time diving in KK! I feel like my vacation is coming to an end too fast, only two weeks left.

I've decided I may not ever come home

Arrived in Borneo on the 28th and caught a bus to Semporna where I would be diving. This area is supposed to be one of the top ten places to dive in the world so it should probably suit my needs just fine.

The town itself is... well it's a shithole. There isn't really another way to put it. There is a small area near the docks where all the diveshops are and that's basically where the tourists live and stay. Even that area is very run down, dirty and smells bad. Anyways I didn't come here to tour Semporna, I knew it was a dump. I came here to dive.

I completed both my open water and advanced open water courses and I'm now just fun diving and I'm absolutely loving it! I don't know why I haven't been doing this for years! It's amazing to go down under the waves, there is so much life down there!

I saw my first shark yesterday! Just a small nurse shark, but it was very cool. Apparently they've been spotting hammerheads at Sipadan for the last three days so I'm hoping I'll see one when I'm there. Today I saw an eagle ray and a blue marlin. The marlin was jumping out of the water as it hunted for fish, it was really cool.

The dive outfit that I've been using is called Scuba Junkie and I have to give them two big thumbs up on their work. They own the dive shop, the hostel and the bar next door and that's pretty much all I need from the town here. My days start at 7am, grab some breakfast, over to the dive shop, on a boat to some island, do two dives, have an amazing lunch (the food here has been so good), do another dive, back on the boat to Semporna, shower, change, over to the bar for about 6 hours, bed, repeat.

The first day I went diving I was at an island called Sibuan. Sibuan is basically a spit of sand with some beautiful tall palms on it and a few huts where the local villagers live. It honestly looks like something out of Robinson Crusoe. We went ashore at lunch and a bunch of kids from the village came running down the beach with fresh coconuts for us. One little boy in particular who was probably around 4 years old came down the beach with a coconut on his shoulder and looking all proud that he had carried it all that way but wasn't wearing a stitch of clothing. It had to make you smile.

The diving has been great, I've seen a nurse shark, eagle ray, octopus, lots of turtles, lionfish, scorpionfish, a school of thousands of jackfish that swam all around us, giant morays, colourful little nudibranches, boxer shrimp, batfish, angelfish, triggerfish, little nemo fish, trumpet fish, surgeon fish, spotted ribbon tailed rays, remoras and so many other things.

Yesterday a green turtle passed by me and it had a remora on it's back. Well as it passed, the remora came off and swam towards me. It seemed very curious and came to take a close look. I tried to shoo it away but it was very persistent and I sort of lost track of it when it swam down towards my chest. I didn't think much of it and carried on my way. Well about five minutes later I felt something on my head and so I looked up and saw a flash of a tail above me and then felt more movement around my head. I tapped my dive buddy on the shoulder and sort of pointed to my head and made a kind of "is there something eating my head?" kind of signal. She initially looked confused and then she had big eyes and laughed as she saw the remora trying to clean my head. Well my little friend eventually left me alone when our instructor came over and it decided instead to try to swim up his shorts. Rowan was luckily quick enough to clamp down the leg of his suit before the fish made it's way up.

I've met a ton of good people here, most of them come and go... well I guess all of them have moved on by now and new ones have arrived. I seem to be the only one who's stayed for the long haul but I just can't get enough of it. Tonight I went on a muck dive in the harbor and it's such a different world down there at night. Lots of different and curious little creatures. It was a little creepy too with nothing but darkness around you and just a flashlight to show  your way.

I'll be heading to Si Amil island tomorrow. Looking forward to it already.

G'night.