Last week,we returned from our adventures in
Malaysian Borneo. Oh man, Borneo rocked! This was definitely one of
our best trips and it has left us both wanting more.
We had an 8pm flight out of Hong Kong. Just as we arrived at the airport,
one of the most crazy storms I’ve ever seen started. Lightning hates
me. It’s out to ruin my life. Lightning thought to itself, “Hmmm…
she’s safely inside the airport so I can’t get her directly… I’ll just have to
flash around nonstop all night long so her plane can’t leave.”
Lightning, seriously, I hate you too. I wish I knew your
kryptonite. Our plane (and every other plane) was still full of inbound
passengers circling the airport, not cleared to land. I am SO glad we
were safe inside and not on that plane. Anyway, Lightning was being a
total bully outside while our flight kept getting pushed back later and
later. Eventually, the inbound plane was low enough on fuel that it had
to land in nearby Macau. We were told to get our bags, go home and come
back the next morning for an 11am flight.
Unfortunately, we had a 7:30am transfer to make by boat and due to the delay we
were still at home in bed at this point. It was a public holiday in
Malaysia so we had no way of contacting them to get a later boat or even to get
picked up the next day (we were supposed to have been there 3 days and 2
nights). Where was “there”? Pulau Tiga: the island where the first
season of Survivor was filmed. I’m a huge fan of the show. I even
tried to audition once but, despite the fact that the auditions were being held
IN CANADA, it was for Americans only. Grrr! So staying on this
island was going to be a dream come true. Unfortunately, the tribe had
spoken, my torch was snuffed, and I was definitely the first one voted off the
island. Now I know how it feels.
Before you start to feel too sorry for me, let me tell you how awesomely things
turned out. After Survivor Island, we were supposed to spend 1 night in a
resort called Pacific Sutera in Kota Kinabalu. Since we had nowhere to
go, we hopped on WiFi and booked the first few nights there as well. When
we arrived with our last minute reservations, the check-in desk supervisor took
pity on us. He said we looked sad and tired so he gave us the ultimate
upgrade to the $900CDN dollar per night executive suite and free
breakfast! It was sooooo amazing. Two bathrooms, a huge separate
bedroom, full living room and a gorgeous view of the entire resort grounds and
the ocean. The resort was huge and there were many pools but we spent
most of our time in the one closest to our building because it had a swim-up
bar. The grounds were sprawling and beautiful, and the entire staff was
so friendly and welcoming. This is the first time I’ve ever stayed in a
resort. Maybe it was the knowledge that we were in a completely unplanned
spot at an unplanned time and that I was ok with it or maybe it was just the
tropical cocktails at that swim-up bar, but I’m also pretty sure this is the
first time in my life I’ve ever just truly relaxed. This is the girl who
makes detailed vacation spreadsheets and organizes everything 8 months in
advance. But things don’t always work out. I really learned a
lesson about rolling with the punches, being spontaneous and enjoying the
moment. After a few swim-up Pina Coladas, I even let my husband
talk me into spending a week of our time in Ireland this summer with no
pre-booked hotels. Eeeek!
 |
| The Pacific Sutera pool bar. If you look closely, you can see me in my pink bathing suit, ordering a drink. (photo credit to the husband) |
 |
| Pacific Sutera sunset (photo credit to the husband) |
After
Pacific Sutera, we hopped on another plane (where we got a seat upgrade) and
headed east to spend one night at the Sheraton in Sandakan, before the
adventures began.
The next
morning, we spent two hours heading straight out to sea in a small, very fast
speedboat. It was a weird feeling to watch the land slowly slip away into
nothingness and be completely surrounded by endless blue. Finally, after
an hour or so, a little dot appeared. As we got closer, it got
bigger. The white sand, the clear turquoise water…. It was the kind of
thing you only see in National Geographic magazines, but there it was, an island
oasis stretching out in front of me. We pulled up to the jetty, which was
attached to the island by a long wooden walkway over the water. The
restaurant was down another over-water walkway in the other direction.
The circumference of the island was home to beautiful cottages. The front
door was on land and the back door opened up onto a private balcony over the
water. But we weren’t there to look at cottages. We were there to
dive!
 |
| Lankayan Island Dive Resort (photo credit to the husband) |
I learned to dive a year and a half ago in Hong Kong. Hong Kong’s waters are so barren and dirty
that I found diving to be quite scary.
Going 18 metres deep when I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face
caused me so much anxiety. There were a
few times when I couldn’t see the surface of the water or the ocean floor. Suspended in the middle, I lost all
orientation and sense of direction. It
was a terrifying feeling. Hong Kongers
overfish their part of the ocean. Also,
the pollution is so bad I’m not sure anyone would want to live in the ocean here anyway. When I finally reached the ocean
floor and could see about 2 feet at a time, it was like looking at a post-apocalyptic
wasteland.
Last year, we dove in the Capetown Aquarium predator tank and
that was significantly better because there were fish (including sharks!) and
clear water. But I wasn’t weighted
properly (hadn’t been in Hong Kong either) and had a lot of trouble controlling
my buoyancy.
I was nervous
for my first real ocean dive. It turns
out there was nothing to fear. When you
are diving in waters with good visibility and signs of abundant life, all the
anxiety just melts away. I still had a
few issues with buoyancy control which caused me to stick my knee directly on
an anemone and get a massive sting, but I had it all figured out by the
end. We saw a shark (happy day!), lots
of stingrays, 2 sea turtles and tonnes of fish.
It was so beautiful. I felt like
an explorer in a new world down there.
And I loved looking 20 metres above me to see the surface of the water,
with the sun shining through. It was an
amazing experience and I can’t wait for our next dive trip.
 |
| Me diving (and loving it) (photo credit to the husband) |
After 4 days on the dive island, it was jungle time! Back on land, we drove to a nearby orangutan
reserve to watch them have their breakfast.
Then we were off on a 3 hour roadtrip deep into the Sukau jungle. The jungle was amazing. It look wild and untouched. We spent three days living on the banks of
the Kinabatangan River and doing riverboat cruises to see a billion monkeys and
birds. We did some jungle trekking but
that was not the greatest time. We
learned a little too late that leeches in Borneo not just in the swampy ground,
but also in trees! My poor husband had 3
leech encounters as these heat-seeking monsters jumped from trees and attached
themselves to his arm and head. My
favourite part of our jungle stay was the night cruising. We got to watch so many sleeping birds and
see swallows flitting about in a cave.
The only downfall was the lightning on the second night. The lightning was pretty far away, but the
sky was big and it looked closer. At one
point, I may or may not have been curled up in fetal position, half on the
floor of the boat, half on my husband’s lap, shaking and asking for my last
rites.
 |
| Morning mist on the Kinabatangan River (photo credit to the husband) |
 |
| Monkey!!!!! (photo credit to the husband) |
 |
| Night cave swallows |
The next afternoon, we hopped on a plane back to Kota Kinabalu, where we
began. After all the outdoors adventure,
we figured we deserved a break so we stayed in the lovely, 5-star Shangri-la Tanjung
Aru. It was beautiful, right on the
water with a massive infinity pool. Just
what we needed for our last 2 days in Borneo.
 |
| Infinity pool at the Shangri-la |
Now we’re back in Hong Kong and looking forward to our next adventure (our
summer Euro-trip). But we’ll definitely
be back in Borneo at some point. Pulau
Tiga has kindly offered to credit our Survivor stay so we can come back anytime
in the next year. I consider this my
version of “redemption island” (Sorry, for all the Survivor jokes in this post,
non-Survivor fans.) And we definitely
want to explore other areas of Malaysia in the future. Malaysia, we are not
done with you!
