Misompuru Home Stay, Sabah Borneo

We left Kuala Lumpur and flew to Kota Kinabalu (KK), in Sabah, Borneo. Malaysian Borneo has two provinces, Sarawak and Sabah, which cover the north section of the island while Indonesia controls the south section.  We arrived in KK and boarded our next plane headed toward Gunung Mulu National Park in Sarawak. This park holds many wonders, but we were particularly interested in Deer Cave, the second largest cave in the world and the largest open to the public. This cave can fit multiple jumbo jets and have room to spare, in addition to being the home of millions of bats. Every night the bats leave the cave in coordinated swarms, spiralling away to confuse the bat hawks flying above.

However, to fly into the Mulu airport the pilots need full visibility as there are mountains on either side. Our first flight circled twice and although we had wonderful sunny skies with wonderful views of the rain forest, it was pouring over the airport and we were diverted to nearby Miri. Malaysia Airways put us up in a hotel for the night with free meals, room and transport. It wasn't ice of them but our room had a visitor based on the poopies beside our bed and I ended up eating something that made me horribly sick. After two weeks of hawkers and local restaurants, the 'fancy' hotel took me down. The next morning we tried again to get to Mulu and again were diverted back to Miri due to low clouds over the airport. Since it was only getting cloudier and I was sick, we decided that the universe was telling us not to go to Mulu (also, we were losing days waiting around in planes and airports) and we caught a standby flight back to KK. We spent that night with Chris taking care of my sorry semi-corpse self. We spent the next day regrouping and we busted out of KK the day after to the Misompuru Homestay near Kudat. Chris had set everything up for me while I was sick. He did very well, very well indeed.

We hopped on a mini bus out of KK and headed north. Although the bus driver told us he knew where he was going, he dropped us off at a traditional Rungus longhouse on a beautiful beach with what we thought was no one there. Thankfully a man named Joseph was there and he was able to get us in touch with the right people. Azwin and Michael picked us up from the beach and brought us to the house we would be spending our time in. Here, we met the family and another young man named Harry (aka Harry Potter he told us). After having a lunch of local veggies, fresh stingray and fresh prawns we rode mountain bikes down the dirt road to another home. It had rained the night before, so at times we were pedalling with the bottom bracket below water. Chris is so strong, the crankset kept falling off his bike, but we made it there. At the house we met John who showed us how the Rungus harvest honey. It is too late for honey but we got to try the royal jelly which is reserved for the queen. John showed us how to tap a rubber tree and we each got to have a go. Each tree is tapped in the morning and produces around 500g a day of rubber. The farmer gets 3 Ringgit for 1kg of rubber. John says he has 1000 trees and it takes him four hours every morning to harvest and tap. After this John chopped us each a young coconut and we got to drink the water straight from the coconut! Mango seasoning is closing so he also gave us each two mangos of different kinds and we ate them right from the tree. Absolutely delicious. Chris was given an additional local fruit but I regret that I can not remember its name. John even gave us some mangos for the road. By now, it had started raining hard so we took a short break on the covered porch to wait it out before returning to the Homestay. That ride was even better than the first.

John harvesting honey

John collecting rubber from his rubber tree (he calls it his bank)

Rubber tapping

Next Azwin, Michael and Harry took us to some sacred historic oil wells on the edge of the mangrove forest. These three wells each produce oil naturally and were once exploited by the Japanese during WWII. Micheal showed us how to respect the wells so we would be protected. We took some oily water and drew it across our foreheads.

Natural oil well

After this we climbed into the mangrove forest and Azwin showed us how to find shells (mangrove clams) with a long knife similar to a machete used by the Rungus people for everything. You stand over the shallow water and draw the knife through the bottom until it hits a shell and makes a particular noise. Then you dig the shell up. Chris was a pro, he found 7 shells in the time it took me to find three. In all fairness, one of mine had been half out of the water and the other had been near the surface, I only found one the traditional way. We climbed back out of the mangroves which is very difficult when you are holding a long knife in one hand and holding shells in the other. We returned back to the Homestay with our harvest which was well received.

These clams had already been eaten, they are much harder to find than this

While we were showering all the mud off us Cobra came home. He runs the Homestay programs for all of Sabah and his house is where we stayed. He is Azwin's father and his family is wonderful. We had a lovely dinner of chicken and local veggies. There are seven cats in the house so Chris was in heaven, there was lots of love to go around.

That evening some more people came over and showed Chris and I how traditional Rungus weaving is done and I was allowed to try it. I think I destroyed it so hopefully  is is easy to undo one line. Adding a pattern into the weave is so hard I thought I had good eyesight but now  am not sure. The Rungus wove all their clothing this way with wonderful patterns. A skirt alone takes two months to weave. Beading is very important to the Rungus and we shown how to do some simple beading. I started a bracelet and Cobra's twelve year old daughter Zizi finished it for me.

Traditional weaving

Before bed we headed back into the mangroves to set crab traps by flashlight. This is a primary mangrove forest so it has never been altered or cut down. The roots are so dense you can walk across them. We set four traps although usually they set ten and place them farther into the forest.

Mangrove at night, they told us not to fear all the things that can harm you. We made sure someone was in front and behind us

The next morning we checked the traps and Chris and caught a crab! The other three traps were empty . Cobra took us to a river through the mangrove where we went in small boats to collect traps his friend had set out the night before. We caught 15 more crabs but I pulled in the biggest one! This one was a beast, and the same kind as the one that lives in the forest. He must have ventured into he river. We cooked three of the crabs and had a picnic with the freshest crabs ever. They were cooked by placing the live crabs directly on a fire. I felt terrible for the crabs, boiling is probably an easier death.

Biggest crab of the season

Lunch time

That afternoon we went into Kudat, the closest city and then off to another beach near the Tip of Borneo. We watched some people surfing and then headed off to the very Tip of Borneo with Corbra, Michael and Zizi.  The tip is a rocky point with very strong wind which divides the South China Sea from the Sulu Sea. We walked out and explored the rocks taking pictures of the crabs and rock formations. As we took some pictures two local girls asked me to pose with them. They only came up to my shoulders. I am so tall here. Chris and I both stick out. We are the only people ducking in the markets and stores. The tip is beautiful and there are three sea caves only accessible during low tide. We couldn't see them as it was high tide. With sunset still two hours away we went back to Kudat and then to the first beach we had been dropped  off at the the lovely traditional longhouse. Michael took us out on the rocks there and we found a baby sea snake, black and white. They grow much much bigger and have venom fifty times more venomous than a cobra. If you are bitten you die within minutes. Too fast for anti venom. We saw another sea cave you can only enter at low tide. Cobra joined us and we climbed to the mouth of the cave from the other side. It was really wonderful down there although a rouge wave almost took us out, awesome!

Tip of Borneo

We took the previous picture up there on top of the sandstone

Chelsea and CC

Traditional Long house

Sea snake, very deadly but this one is a baby

Top entrance to cave, tide was too high to enter sea side

That night we had BBQ chicken, beef and two kinds of fish. It was a feast! The BBQ is a giant wok with charcoal and a wire mesh on top to hold the food. We also had fresh mango juice which is my new favourite. As there is no growing season everything is available all year round, very unlike Canada. A group of traditional dancers joined us for dinner and performed for us after dinner. Due to a death in the family the gong players were unable to attend so they danced to recorded music. The dance is slow and rhythmic and the costumes are beautiful. We were allowed to try on the costumes but we are much bigger than the Rungus people. Let us just say the pins held the top on luckily and Chris could easily have pulled a Hulk. I think we looked beautiful. I will admit, I am not used to six girls helping me change while wearing only underwear and being over a head taller.

BBQ......mmmmmm!

After the dancers left the karaoke party started and they demonstrated traditional dancing to modern music. We slept well that night.

This morning we went to the Sunday market and saw all the local produce and fish. Chris bought long beans which are like our green bean, only two feet long. We then went to a nearby village where they make gongs. We played some gongs and had too much fun causing a ruckus. We headed back to the Homestay where we had a crab lunch and chicken soup with local rice wine. The Sabah rice wine is amazing! We would have likes to take some home but you can only buy it if you know the guy who makes it. Customs wouldn't approve. But if you get the chance, try it one day.

Gong making shop

Gong maker, the locals tell us not to mess with the women of this village as they are strong

World's largest gong

After lunch one of the house cats caught a snake and almost dragged it into the house so there was lots of screaming going on. The last thing we did before we left was plant a tree. Chris planted a durian tree and I planted a rambutan tree. The house has many fruit and veggie trees planted by visitors. As this was going on toe large monitor lizards rani not the pond in a rush, most likely fighting  over territory. There are so many animals here.

We had a wonderful stay with Cobra and his family. The Misompuru Homestay is a wonderful place and the only way you should see Borneo.

Love,
Chel
Xoxoxo

Kuala Lumpur, no Koala Bears in sight

We arrived in Kuala Lumpur (KL) on the fanciest bus either of us has ever travelled on. The double decker had seating on the upper level with only three seats per row, with so much foot room and reclining room that the chairs almost fully reclined! Fancy! Woohoo!

We found a reasonably priced hotel behind the large shopping mall we had been dropped off at and explored the area for a little while. Unfortunately when I tried to pull Malaysian Ringgit from the ABM, my account was locked. The task of calling the bank would consume our next two days.

The first evening we walked in the rain to Chinatown to have Indian food. The food was nice and we walked back to our hotel, still in the rain. Next time I ask Chris if we should bring our raincoats with us and he says no...pack it anyway.

The next day we had our best complimentary breakfast yet, Malaysian fritters, sliced apple, mystery spread and toast plus coffee and Tang. We then walked to the Petronas Twin Towers to go up them. Unfortunately they only allow 900 people up a day and tickets sell out before 8am. So hint to anyone going to KL, book online beforehand so you are guaranteed a place. I guess I will have to pretend to be Catherine Zeta-Jones and scale them another time.

From there we walked around KL and had a lovely lunch of Nasi Lemak, the national dish. After spending the entire day trying every pay phone we could find and asked to call the bank collect we had given up. Fortunately I reached them by Skype that evening and straightened everything out. Thank you to my parents for helping me figure out how to reach them, you guys ROCK! Silly bank, not much point in telling them where you are going if they freeze your account anyway.

That evening we ate on a street of restaurants which served up delicacies like bull frog kabobs, and maybe grilled rat, still not sure what that was but we stayed clear of it anyway. It was packed with people and we could tell it was a popular spot.

So many strict rules at our hotel!

Monday morning we had a second wonderful complimentary breakfast but instead of the fritters we were served a lovely noodle dish. We spent sometime booking our hotel near the airport that evening and onwards at our next travel location (Hint: airport was needed). We had lunch at the mall food court by seeing how much we could buy for a set amount, this had been our favourite budget game in Singapore. It worked here too, but we can't go back because Chris might have taken someone's expensive chicken dish by mistake leaving them our cheap veggie one. Oops!

The KLIA Ekpress was a cool way to get to the airport and from there we took a shuttle to our brand new hotel. At first it looked like it would cost us the same price to get there as though we had taken a taxi from the city. When Chris was finally able to call and cancel our reservation for something closer, the guy at the hotel was so upset he sent us a shuttle right away. Weird sort of airport hotel I guess but the rooms were brand new and awesome!

Malaysia is a Muslim country so pants are a must for me. Neither one of us want to offend anyone.

Chel
Xoxo

Death By Satay - Singapore

Somewhere along the way in Thailand, we decided we no longer wanted to bus it south to Singapore, and we would fly there instead and then work our way up to Kuala Lumpur by bus. After several amazing days in Ko Lanta, we decided to make the journey by boat to Phuket so we could fly to Singapore.

We arrived in Singapore around 1 In the morning. Right away I could tell that the pace of the city was a little slower and it would be a lot easier to get around. A bus brought us to our hostel, that's right....in order to maintain somewhat of a budget here, we had to stick to hostels (in our case Beary Best, a teddy bear themed hostel. I know it's a little weird, but it was clean a somewhat affordable). The drive to the hostel was cool as my first look at Singapore was at night all lit up. Immediately you could see some pretty cool buildings and an amazing body of water and rivers running through the city. We reached the hostel and had the 4 bed room all to ourselves ( which we had the next day and night too. Score)

Day 1; our mission in Singapore was to go to the legendary Raffles hotel and have a Singapore sling at the long bar, the bar that invented this drink. This was the first thing we did and at 27 dollars a drink, it was well worth blowing our daily budget on two drinks. A quick note, a daily budget of 50-75 cad dollars may work in Thailland, but be prepared to multiply that by about 4-5 in Singapore. For those of you that know me, we can use the beer scale. A beer in Canada at a bar will cost 5-6 dollars, a beer in Thailand would cost about 2 dollars, and a beer in Singapore......$15....no drinking in this city.

To fill the afternoon we toured the city by foot, mainly around marina bay, the body of water I mentioned earlier. This brought us to the Merlion, an iconic mermaid lion mixed statue that spits water out of its lion mouth into the bay. Singapore is extremely hot, so we sat in the shade watching the Merlion for a bit. We then walked around the bay towards the Gardens By The Bay, our next intended destination. This lead us to one of he largest, most high end malls I have ever seen. We saw some jewelry in a display case with a price tag of over 30 000 000 and the exchange rate is comparable. That explains all the Bentleys, Rolls Royces, Ferraris, Aston Martins and so on I had been seeing.

The Gardens By The Bay is a massive 101 hectares garden which contains two all glass conservatory buildings (each around 2.5 acres). These structures are architectural masterpieces that won many architectural awards in 2012 (I think it was 2012). The buildings are divided as follows: one (called Flower Garden) containing vegetation from seven parts of the world and the other, called Cloud Forest which replicates the cool moist conditions found at both 1000 meters and 3000 meters above sea level. Our time touring these was very educational and I can appreciate the amount of engineering that went into dividing the buildings up to allow all these species of plants to grow together. When we left the conservatories, it was dark and it was cool to see the large 101 hectares of garden all lit up on our way back to the high end mall (the entrance to the gardens).

  That night we completed our second mission in Singapore, which was to break the Johnson Satay record at Lau Pa Sat, the most Satay stands I have ever seen on a street. Previous record was 48 and the new record is 60....Death by satay.

Day 2: On arrival, we noticed a brochure showing the Tiger brewery (Asia Pacific Brewery) and this became our plan for day 2. We took a subway and public bus to the brewery. At the brewer the tour was 45 minutes followed by 45 minutes of beer tasting. The tour was a lot of fun, they explained how the brewery started as Malayan Breweries in the 1930s and how it was a joint venture between Heineken and Fraser and Neave. We then walked through the brew building where I saw a 2-3 story grain mill (I think DeGroot and myself need this for our beer making). Finally we watched a quick video of the bottling facility and went to a room where they let each person pour their own beer from a keg and drink it (not me though cause I was able to get the trivia question correct, I was served... But I wished I was able to pour my own). This concluded part 1 of the tour....on to the beer tasting.

I've done a few brewery tours and beer tastings and general the tasting consists of a sample platter of all the beers the company brews. This beer tasting trumped the traditional beer tasting as we were taken to the corporate bar, and started out with a half pint of the local Tiger lager. Then they mentioned that rest of the tasting would be done in quarter pint glasses. I walked up, had a pint of a strong beer they brewed and asked how many more samples we had left as I wanted to space out the samples over the 45 minutes. The bartender looked at me, laughed and said "you have 45 minutes to have as many samples as you want of whatever beer you would like"....NOW THAT IS HOW YOU HOST A BEER TASTING. The Tiger brewery came through for us in very expensive Singapore. furthermore, because we chatted with the bartenders, they gave us about 15 more minutes until their manager came back.

Beer tasting bar (small portion of it)

Chelsea enjoying a Tiger Lager

That evening we decided to walk the city again to say our goodbyes. We went back to marina bay, the bay surrounded by the city and were fortunate to be there at the same time a pretty large light show and fire display was going on. It was a great way to say good bye. Singapore was one of the cleanest, friendliest cities I have ever been to and a great stop on our trip.

Malaysia here we come! (Check back as there will be more Singapore pics when we can post them)

Ko Lanta

We made our way by train to Surat Thani and proceeded to take a series of buses and minibuses until we reached Ko Lanta. We tried to get government bus tickets but kept being sent to the tourist bus. We finally agreed to take it just so we knew we would get there, and as soon as we paid, they just bought us a ticket on the government bus anyway. Once we reached Krabi we assumed we would be taking a boat to the island of Ko Lanta, and comically enough we were wrong again. Instead the packed minibus boarded two car ferries and we arrived at our hotel on Kantiang Bay.

After spending the previous two days travelling (and one sketchy night in a hotel in Surat Thani) we were so relieved to be at our destination. We sat at the hotel restaurant and ate and drank the evening away while listening to waves roll on to the beach.

The first full day on Ko Lanta we went for a full day snorkelling excursion to Ko Ma, Ko Ngai, Ko Something and Ko Mook.  We took a longboat out which is a nifty little boat. They essentially take car engines and rig up a long drive shaft to a propeller which is thrown on the back of the boat. This gives them power but also deafens the occupants since the engine is right behind the seats at head height. Our first is land destination was Ko Ma, and it had some beautiful fish. Chris was able to get some amazing photographs even though the rainy season water is not as clear as it could be. We will try to upload some but we are experiencing technical difficulties on our end. There were some clownfish, a bright blue tang, some yellow and black stripped angel fish, And my favourite fish of many colours which I have never bothered to figure out what they are called.

fish swarm

this guy is too cool for the others

From there we went to Ko Mook where there was a sea tunnel we treaded through and it lead you to the most beautiful paradise. The cave opens  up into a deep well in the island with maybe fifty meters of rock going up all sides. The waves come in the sand beach and the vegetation  is fantastic. The Thai's used to use it to get bird nests before the pirates took over as a hiding place. It was magical there. Our tour group swam in separately but the other groups all formed a conga line to the pulled through. I am glad we did it our way, swimming in complete darkness was amazing. The waves made a roaring sound in the cave, I sounded like tigers were swimming with us.

shows conga line going into cave (picture not the greatest)

After we made it through the cave, it was so cool!!!

We then ventured onto Ko Something for some more snorkelling and then on to Ko Ngai for green curry lunch and some beach time. Talk about a beautiful location!

hmmm, how did he get on our beach?

Our lunch spot on Ko Ngai

That evening we went for a lovely dinner at a restaurant up the road from our hotel. No cheap street food here, kind of a bummer. We had a lovely dinner then fell asleep at 8pm after the full day in the sun.

Our second full day in Ko Lanta we went elephant trekking and visited a beautiful waterfall and bat cave. We rode a beautiful 30 year old elephant who may have been called Toe,but with a deep tone and maybe a silent 'ng' in there. They kept telling us his name and we clearly kept mispronouncing it until they just gave up. He took us for or a lovely walk along some very tight trails and to give him thanks on Thanksgiving we fed him a bowl of bananas, which he ate whole.

After visiting Toe we walked to the bat cave and waterfall through the pouring rain with our guide. We stopped by the bat cave and saw the little fellas flying around and a few roosting. We also played some tapping music on two cave stalactites, okay maybe that was just me, but my song was pretty darn good! Our guide told us about some of the trees and once we reached the water fall let us look around for a bit. The falls were beautiful and the rain had stopped so we took our time. On the way back we saw a lizard and some more elephants.

After our busy morning we went for a lovely swim in the bay at our hotel. The water in the ocean was warm but our swim was cut short by the arrival of monkeys to the beach. We got out if the water to get to our shoes before any monkeys did. Later in the afternoon we even had a monkey on the roof of our bungalow!

The rest of our Thanksgiving we spent wandering around the village of Kantiang Bay and eating almost everything we came across. We discovered 'pancakes' which are green and made of egg which the lovely lady then covers with chocolate sauce. This was the only street food at Thai prices available here. For dinner I enjoyed a Thanksgiving Mee Grub while Chris enjoyed a large Thanksgiving squid on the BBQ, Thai style.

On Thanksgiving Monday we stayed around the hotel enjoying the beach and the waves. I convinced Chris to go back for pancakes and we ate, okay I ate, three more for lunch. After two busy days lounging around for the day was a nice break.

Chel
Xoxo

(I just wanted to let everyone know that we are struggling getting pictures on the blog. The iPad can only upload them from the camera roll so all the loaded camera photos can not go on for some reason . We will try to upload some eventually but we do not know when that will be.)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone back home.  We are thinking of the turkey, stuffing and all the delicious food. Eat a second serving for us. We are thankful this year for our family and friends that have supported us.

I guess the view from our window will make up for missing out on the festivities.

Our best view yet!

Greetings from a beach bungalow in Thailand!
Chel and Fish
Xoxoxo

Prachaup Khiri khan

After Bangkok, we visited Prachaup Khiri Khan, which was about a 5 hour bus from Bangkok. Bangkok was the busiest, no rest city city I have ever seen and the three days there was enough to get a little taste of it. It's like Toronto, only filled with people. Mai, Chelsea's friend recommended Prachaup Khiri Kahn for a more relaxing time and she was right.

We were dropped of at night in the middle of the city. No clue where we were but we knew we wanted to check out Maggie's Homestay which was recommended in the lonely planet guide. Unfortunately it was full that night, however the lady who greeted us told us to stay at the hotel right up the road and come back tomorrow. We did so and the next day were able to get a huge room at Maggie's. This would be our hub for the next two days. After we left we equated Maggie's to hotel California as it seemed people checked in with the intention of staying the night and 8 months later were still there. Not us though...I made Chelsea promise. At Maggie's we met a drug smuggler who had written a book which I now have, as he stopped by to tell us his poetry. We met George, the Aussie travelling the county by motorbike who helped us a lot over our stay. We met An, Maggie's Australian helper who kinda looked over the place, and Mike (from Miami) and his girlfriend Chang who we shared stories with. All wonderful people who we ate with at the tasty night market.

Our awesome room at Maggie's Homestay

Our room inspector

The city itself lies inside the central bay out of three large bays meaning there were mountain/hills on either side. One side had a airforce base with a beach and the other a mountain/hill with a temple on top controlled by in my opinion a bunch of monkeys.....no really! And this is how we split our time there, one day at the beach, the other at the temple fending off monkey attacks.

The day at the beach was a 4 km walk through Thailand's Air Force base to one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen, I'll let you be the judge (pic below). The water was amazingly warm and we saw bunch of crabs scurrying around and diving into their holes when they saw us.

The beautiful Ao Manao beach

The day at the temple... well I had no idea what to expect as we were told to watch out for aggressive monkeys that steal things. I grabbed a large stick and that seem to keep them away. The temple was not as far as the beach, but the amount of steps we had to climb in the heat was a great way to drop a weight class. The view from the temple was surreal and we really felt the beauty that everyone speaks of in Thailand.

Well that kinda sums up Prachaup Khiri Kahn, a quiet city with plenty of great little attractions, but be warned. If you check in you may never leave. Onward!!