We decided to spend the final week of our two-month trip in Borneo Malaysia. We visited Peninsular Malaysia earlier in our vacation, however Borneo has a much different feel to it. It is really laid back here, and the physical geography of the island allows for many outdoor activities. We arrived to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia from Hanoi, Vietnam late on Sunday night. Monday we took a bus to Sandakan, which is located along the east coast of Borneo Malaysia. Here, we booked a 3-day/2-night Borneo jungle trek along the Kinabatangan River.
At the beginning, I was a little bit unsure of how this jungle trekking activity would turn out, however by the end, I loved it. During our stay in the jungle, we had 4 river cruises and 3 jungle treks (2 or which took place at night). There were 6 of us in total (3 couples) that were all backpackers, so it was nice to have a small group, and we all got along really well. The river cruises basically involved us sitting in a boat that either travelled upstream or downstream for an hour or two. The first couple of river cruises we got to see various types of monkeys, birds, and a moniker lizard. However, the 3rd cruise we got to witness wild elephants alongside the riverbanks! They were pygmy elephants (not as large as regular Asian elephants, but still big nonetheless!) Our tour guide even let us out of the boat and get onto the riverbanks to get a closer look at them. Everyone who comes to this jungle basically wants to see elephants, however we were told that they are only visible every few days. The walking jungle treks were a little less exciting, but we still got to see many frogs, grasshoppers, spiders, and at night we saw a snake and an owl.
I was really happy I got to experience the jungle, as it is something that I had never had the opportunity to do before. It was just a really neat experience to basically live on the banks of the Kinabatangan River, and literally sleep 100 feet away from the jungle!
We left Thursday morning to head to Semporna. This city is well known for its nearby dive and snorkeling sites. We decided that for the last few nights of our trip we would stay in a nice hotel (SeaFest Hotel) which is the only 3-star hotel in the entire city. We are staying right at the waterfront, and the room is a couple of steps up from many of the places that we have stayed in South East Asia! Tomorrow we are going snorkling at the nearby island of Mabul. Then we catch an overnight bus back to Kota Kinabalu to catch our flight to Manila on Sunday afternoon. Monday morning is departure day, to return to the Great White North.
Hard to believe that tomorrow is basically our last free day to spend before two days of airports and flights. The trip seems like it just started yesterday!
Stay tuned for a post-trip blog.
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