Borneo, It’s a Jungle Out There!

Ah Borneo, the name for me summons visions of exotic jungles, wildlife, beaches or mountains. And who knew Borneo was the third largest island in the world, somewhat bizarrely split between Indonesia, Malaysia, and the tiny sultanate of Brunei. We have decided to focus on the Malaysian side of Borneo as it’s a bit more tourist friendly and jumping between both sides actually involves a lot more travel and flights. Seeing more of less is still our favorite way.

We also vividly recall our great three week trip to peninsular Malaysia about 10 years ago. So as we touched down in Kota Kinabalu, the capital of the state of Sabah, we were both very excited. Not quite a new country for us, but a very new place. And there is so much to see and experience here.

The multi cultural melting pot is striking here with an intoxicating mix of customs, manners, religion, and of course, food. Malay (Muslim), Chinese, Indian, and a mix of indigenous and intermixed cultures means that you’ll always be guessing where someone is from.

To add to the excitement and challenges, our travels have coincided with the lunar new year celebrations in Asia. A month long celebration of the year of the (Wooden) Dragon, with the actual lunar new year on February 10th. So my challenge as the travel planner was to figure out how to work around the potential high lodging costs and travel bottlenecks of the peak of the holiday from about the 9th to 14th. More on the success of our strategy in our next post.

We like Malaysia, but it it’s always tough for us to have to rely on cars so much to get around as there is no real public transit in Sabah. Grab is the dominant ride hail App here and it works pretty well and is cheap. So we have been using it and make sure we tip well as all ride hail and delivery drivers of the world often seem to be underpaid and under appreciated.

Mount Kinabalu dominates this corner of Sabah and occasionally in clear weather, mostly the mornings, you can even see it from KK. It’s also a popular summit climb and epic if it’s clear; but we decided for a number of reasons to skip it. First off; February is still the rainy season here and climbs can be rained out or miserable. I also opted to travel light for 2+ months of travel with just my trusty Ecco sandals and very light running shoes/trainers. An additional pair of size 14 hiking boots takes half my Osprey pack. Oh, and it’s a slog up and down 8,000 feet in 36 hours with a 2am wake up.

There are lodging options outside the park if you have a car but keeping to our blog mantra, we just used a Grab to get to the Park HQ and stayed for 2 nights at the lodging run by Santera. It’s all a bit pricy for what you get; but you are paying for a great location next to the trails, forest and park utilty road. As well as spectacular views of the mountain when clear.

The hiking trails were interesting, but except for the main Silau Silau Trail, not too well maintained. The small botanical gardens boardwalk loop walk is worth doing with a guide (free at 9am or 3pm) as otherwise you’ll miss a lot.

It dumped rain for hours the second afternoon and evening, making the forest and creeks rage with water. We felt bad for the climbers that had set out that morning, but perhaps they missed the worst of it by getting to the first shelter by late afternoon.

Getting back to KK 2 days later was a bit more challenging as no Grab drivers would respond out on the remote location (not surprisingly) and we ended up booking a car back through the park HQ. It all worked out fine; but was about double the Grab rate; even with our generous App tipping.

We opted for an apartment near Jettleson Quay in a giant new high rise complex as hotels had already doubled in cost with the run up to the New Year. It was conveniently just a few minutes walk to the boat docks to the islands, but was loud with concrete block echoes, and music and road noise about due to pre-holiday festivities.

I had hesitations in visiting one or more of the Islands off the coast of KK after reading about overcrowding and trash issues. We didn’t want to add to the problem, but it did seem that trash issue were more discussed pre-pandemic. We also opted for just one island, as you can visit one, two, or three islands in semi scheduled service from one of many boat/tour operators. The crowds did show up later morning but it was not bad, as trash disposal was good and the water seemed clean. Kudos to the park management for this, but they still should revamp and consolidate the many competing boat services, and work on the supply side of plastic, which is everywhere and in everything in Malaysia.

Our first week in Borneo was intense. And all peak travel has its ups and downs, but the blessing of having time is to be able to smooth out the bumps and go with the flow a bit more. Sure, Lunar New Year partying meant getting less sleep a few nights in KK, but the festivals, food, and people make up for it. We’re here now and savoring every moment. Happy New Year!