This entry will probably sound different to previous ones since it hasn't really been traveling so much whilst in Borneo. No, I didn't twiddle my thumbs for a week - it was way more exciting. Whilst in KK me and Briony rented a motorbike and drove down to the airport to meet my parents! Yep, since I don't plan to come home any time soon and I have been away for 15 months now (hard to believe it's been that long) they decided to come on holiday to the far east and see if they could meet up with me. It has been an incredible week and I have done a lot of things I can honestly say I am not particularly used to.
Before all that though I had a few days in Kota Kinabalu before they got there. We used our time well and had a real explore of the city. We fancied a day out to one of the islands but decided that since we have a couple of days to kill we could rent a tent and camp out at one of the nearby islands within the Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park. We chose Mamutik since the Lonely Planet hyped it up to have the best coral garden of the lot. So we got our tent, got our provisions, got our ticket and jumped on a boat. The boat trip was fast and it was surprising the whole thing didn't tip right over. At the island we rented out a couple of snorkels and masks and looked for the best camping spot. We followed the walking trail around the whole island (it wasn't a very big island) until we found the best spot for camping nestled in the corner of the beach by a cliff. Feeling very hot and sweaty I went straight into the water to cool off. Cooling off in the South China sea north of Borneo is completely impossible! It is incredibly warm and unbelievably relaxing. After the swim we donned the snorkels and set out to this coral garden. We saw loads of brilliantly coloured fish and corals, of which I recognized a good many from the days at home visiting fish shops with dad. The vibrancy of the fish was amazing, even though some evil fish did bite me! We came to the island prepared and had our dinner of crisps and Pop Mie (pot noodle) for dinner. When it started to get dark we got our survival skills on and made a fire.
The fire wasn't going overly well as the wind started to pick up. Then it started to rain. Rain in a rainforest is quite rainy. So when the storm started we grabbed our tent, which so happened not to be waterproof and the peg bag held just a single peg, and it sort of snapped in two as it was pouring down with rain running across the island looking for shelter! We found a large shelter on a concrete plane and it even had a light! So we sat down in this shelter watching the storm pelting down all around us. It was very funny and although sleep came very fitfully I did get some in. The following morning we got up and put our snorkels back on for a long swim. This took us all the way around the island, taking about 2 hours. It was incredible and everytime it started looking samey suddenly something else would pop out at you. We saw clown fish, moray eels, puffer fish, and loads more that I have no idea what their names were. I really wish I had an underwater camera!
Back on land on the worlds 4th biggest island we spent a whole day walking around a few places around KK. First we trekked up the steep road going to the Signal Hill lookout point. This lookout point gave us a great view of some buildings... but that was about it. Following the road around we got to the KK Wetland Center and bird sanctuary. Not as exciting as it sounds. We snuck in without paying and strolled around in the baking heat seeing nothing at all but some tiny crabs in the marsh. The walk took us up to the main harbour and down back to the city center where we stopped for ice cream on the way - needs to be done.
We checked out of the hostel the following morning and hired out the motorbike to drive down to the airport. Originally my parents coming to Borneo was supposed to be a surprise for me, but with obvious 'where in the world are you!?' difficulties that wasn't to be. So it was excellent to surprise them at the airport as they thought I'd be meeting them at the hotel resort. After saying our long awaited hello's we bid them goodbye as we hopped back on the bike for a 45 minute drive to the Nexus resort north of KK city center. On the way the rains came very heavily and we got drenched! We very nearly beat them to the hotel too but they edged in front at the final hurdle. We got checked in, which was a bit of a mission and involved much confusion in trying to change rooms. Thankfully we confused them enough to sneak Briony into our room without any notice. (It feels like we've done a lot of sneaking recently!) After we got in we had to take the bikes back to the city. When we got to the bikes we realised we had made a very foolish error in forgetting about how it's kind of rainy in a rainforest and we left our helmets upside down on the bikes. Needless to say they were full to the brim with rain water! It took much deliberation but we had to take the bikes back so we squeezed out as much water as possible and braved the dampness. When we got back to the shop the guy there joked about us smelling bad... I think it was a joke anyway!
So we got some lunch, grabbed our bags and caught a taxi back to Nexus. The Nexus resort by the way is absolutely amazing. We have stayed in some pretty cool places but obviously at as low a cost as possible so we've never experienced anything like this! There were pools, with pool bars! And it had a 6km beach. And 8 restaurants. And it was quite stunning! So after much catching up and gossiping about news at home we went for a walk along the beach as the sun was setting. It was really nice and we watched some local teenagers hauling in a fishing net. Didn't look like they did too well though, just a few little crabs. It rained a bit but there was a huge rainbow as well so we didn't mind. When we got back mum and dad took us out for Chinese at one of the resorts 8 restaurants. It was nearly as good as Chinese food in China! We stayed up until the early hours of the morning drinking imported wine and Pimms, telling Briony many "when Ian was little..." stories. My favourite.
The following morning we got up and went into town on the shuttle bus. The first port of call was to stop in a local restaurant me and Briony enjoyed before for laksa. I think they were quite astonished by the price, especially after the cost of last nights Chinese. We had a walk through the handicraft market along the waterfront and bought some strange looking fruit, which turned out to be pretty horrendous. After buying supermarket supplies the rain started coming down hard again. I thought at this point mum and dad might be wondering why the hell they came to this place when it just rains all the time anyway! Thankfully they knew that you can't have a rainforest without rain and the landscape wouldn't be so green were it not for the copious amounts of rain. The rain died down in time for us to go and catch the bus back.
The following day we got up early to get to the town for a day trip back into Tunku Abdul Rahman national park. We chose Sapi island to visit this time, Sapi means cow though I'm not clued in to it's significance. Mum was amazed as to the heat of the water and proclaimed in excitement that it was hotter that some baths she has had. We had a swim for a while and then stopped for a barbecue lunch. While we were waiting to eat a large crowd amassed close to where the barbecue'ers were barbecue'ing. We quickly realised it was a monitor lizard and seeing how I've already seen plenty of those I wasn't too fussed at running over, camera armed. However there wasn't just one, there were at least half a dozen going after scraps of food. Shortly after we got over there two of the lizards started wrestling! It was quite a sight to see the lizards get right up on their back legs holding each other up with their strength, almost like they were dancing. They then proceeded to throw each other about trying to get an upper hand.
Back to lunch and there was an incredible amount of food with just about everything ou can barbecue except burgers. After food we rested for a while before taking mum and dad out snorkeling. It was really exciting to be able to show them something like that. I felt like a kid again - "Mum! Dad! Come look at this!" - and until they both managed to get injured I think they really enjoyed it. Injured snorkeling..? Yes. Mum got bit/suckered by a huge fish she had to rip off her leg and dad managed to cut himself on coral. I'm sure there are many out there, mostly surfers, who can attest to how sharp coral is. We got the boat back to KK and decided to stop for a coffee. This somehow transcended into cheesecake and iced coffee with ice cream! Not too sure how that happened but we were definitely all glad for it! As the sun was setting we walked through the night market area. Having visited a lot of night markets I was expecting to see all the same things. However, this market was huge! It had all the usual stuff plus loads of fruit, vegetables, meat and fish. We stopped for dinner and for 4 people to each and have a drink it cost less than 5 pounds. A true traveling experience.
I'm afriad I have to wrap this up as it is taking a LONG time for me to play catch up here! So I will get Part 2 up as soon as I can. I'm not too sure how many parts there are going to be just yet. It will all depend on how much I can get on the internet in the next few days! I am currently slumming it in Kuala Lumpur which is an excellent city to explore - more to come.
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