Borneo Beauty- at last

Borneo Beauty

These travels included very few temples and more environmental experiences and will be especially memorable because it was shared with Mikaela and Cassandra. Sabah was an excellent choice as the three of us are interested in rainforest flora and fauna.

                                                       

Cassandra and Mikaela arrived in Macau on Friday and were introduced to my friends at TIS, my kindergarten students, and enjoyed an Indian lunch, after their long flight. They participated in a snapshot of Macau- eating Portuguese egg tarts, walking around Coloane Village (the island in its most original state), and enjoying a Northern Chinese dinner at The North. We walked through the extensive casinos and through Old Taipa village located on the middle island of Taipa. The next day was spent visiting Senado Square in Macau (the biggest island), St. Paul’s Cathedral and back to Taipa to enjoy mojitos out on the balcony of a lovely little Tapas Café. We ferried over to Hong Kong later in the afternoon.

                                                  

Our accommodations for a couple days in Hong Kong were incredible as they overlooked Victoria Harbour. In Hong Kong we experienced a cable train ride up Victoria Peak, 425 metres above the ground, overlooking the city, and a ride on the Star Ferry viewing the Symphony of Lights, over the harbour, the largest in the world of its kind. Recognized in the Guinness World Book of Records, 45 buildings turn into a stage of interactive lights and sounds performing five themes from shows.
                                      
                    

Joseph Blais and his wife Joanne, met us next day at Stanley Market and beach and toured us around there as well as around Repulse Bay. We later wandered around Temple Street Market and the Flower Market. I don’t think that I’ve ever seen so many flowers all in one place- Ohhhh to be able to walk to the market every week of the year and purchase flowers for my home. The following day we flew to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.

                                                                           

In Kota Kinabalu we familiarized ourselves with our surroundings and toured Kinabalu National Park. There, we were wowed by the sighting of two blooming rafflesias (largest bloom in the world), the smallest orchid in the world, arums, walked the canopy, and visited Nabalu market. The girls did a small amount of trekking along the trails. 

I’ve been approached in China before, about having a fish foot spa and have never taken the opportunity to experience this. The fish nibble at your feet, exfoliating your skin. It was free and natural at a waterfall along the way, and having fish exfoliate my feet was an extremely weird sensation but my feet felt great after.

The following day we took the boat out to Manukan Island in hopes of laying on a nice beach. We were a little disappointed, as it was as the reviews on the internet had said, there was a sizable amount of trash in the water and on the beach. It was still good to see and later in the day, we flew to Sandakan in order to transfer the following day to Turtle (Selingan) Island- a protected island for turtles.

                          

Cassandra spotted all of the turtle tracks on the beach as we landed. She has always had such an eye for animals and evidence of them. We settled into our basic chalets and spent the afternoon on the beach sunning and snorkelling the shallow coral reefs. Later on, we were able to educate ourselves about the hawksbill and green sea turtles.

 Around 8:30 that evening we witnessed a green sea turtle laying approximately 80 eggs. That alone, has a story of its own. The eggs were harvested and transferred to the protected area where they remain, until hatching. The nests in the shade will most likely yield male turtles and the ones in the sun area, females. 

                                      

                                                             

Mikaela and I both adopted a nest. I chose the numbered nest 279 with my lucky Chinese zodiac numbers and Mikaela adopted one that was harvested that evening.  To top off our experience we were able to view green sea turtle hatchlings released into the sea.                

                            The slowest hatchling of all, but it made it!!                  

Over the next two days, just as we thought it couldn’t get better, we saw orangutans, pygmy elephants, a kingfisher, sun bears, silver leaf monkeys and proboscis monkeys. Some of the animals were in sanctuaries and some out in the wild. Our little chalets were located in the rainforest along the Kinabatangan River and at night we were awed by the trumpeting of the elephants at the edge of our accommodations.

                                                                                           

Earlier we had been fortunate enough to see a whole herd of elephants along the edge of the river as we ‘cruised’ up and down the river in the evening and the next morning. Jungle trekking was to be a part of our stay but as the elephants were close by, that was out of the question. Anyone in the market for a pair of unused leech socks? One size fits all!!
                                                       

The gomantong caves were a sight to behold-lots of huge cockroaches, birds and critters that we probably couldn't even see. The other creatures of the caves included swiftlets (from which the nests are collected) and bats. Inside the cave a guard watches the nests to ensure that none go missing before the harvest. The last two of our days did feel a little rushed so I would recommend staying one more evening if you’re thinking about visiting this area. Unfortunately, these rainforests may not always be there, but there are people trying to preserve and protect it. I feel truly grateful for their work and the fact that their efforts include trying to  educate people about the rainforest by providing these low footprint experiences.

I left Mikaela and Cassandra in Sepilok, as they waited for their flight to Thailand and I returned to Kota Kinabalu for my flight back to Macau. The Nexus Resort and Spa was a relaxing place to hold up for an evening. I enjoyed the beach, water, the sunset and the time to reflect upon this past 9 days- ‘thankful for our time together and travels experienced’.

                                               

I think the way Cassandra said it, is the best way to describe it- “There is so much that we are seeing and doing that my brain can hardly process it. I’ll have to pack it away in my memory and process it all when I get home”. She also said, “Mikaela, think of what we’ve seen in two days, imagine much we’ll do and see in two weeks”. PERFECT