THE TRAVELS AND PHOTOGRAPHY OF WFOGG: kinabalu

After climbing the Mount Kinabalu, on Sunday evening Zuzana went back to Kuala Lumpur. But as I still had one week before the trip to the interior of Sarawak, on Monday morning I decided to go to the Sabah Tourism Board to ask for sponsorship. At that point I was already quite used to asking for it. I had a meeting with a woman there and she told me that she would call me in a couple of days.

After that I decided that in the afternoon I would go to Sandakan, in the eastern coast of Sabah, to take some pictures in the areas around. I went to the hostel, I packed everything, I went to the bus station and I took the first bus leaving to Sandakan. At night I was already there looking for accommodation; I found a hostel with a clean dorm at a reasonable price and I went to bed.

On Tuesday morning I planned everything I was going to do during all the days I had in Sabah. First I went to the Sandakan Tourist Office and later I took a walk on the city looking for travel agencies to see what they offered. While walking the city I found the travel agency of a local photographer called Cede Prudente, I got his telephone number and after a short conversation we decided that we could meet in the evening.

In the Tourist Office I got information about places near Sandakan, especially about Turtle Island, Sepilok (the other rehabilitation centre for orangutans) and the lower Kinabatangan River, one of the areas with widest wildlife diversity in the region. But the most important thing I got from them was the address of the offices of the Yayasan Sabah Group in Sandakan. This governmental organization is in charge, among other things, of the management of the conservation areas of Danum Valley, Imbak Canyon and Maliau Basin. These areas, in the interior of Sabah, are the biggest natural reserves of the state; and visiting Danum Valley was one of the things I wanted to do.

So the first thing I did as soon as I left the Tourist Office was going to the offices of Yayasan Sabah Group. As I told you, I am very used to asking for sponsorship, but this time, since I already spoke with the Sabah Tourism Board in Kota Kinabalu, I only went there to get information.

In ten minutes I arrive there, I tell my eternal story about the Spanish photographer, and one minute later I am sitting in the office of a very nice man called Barnabas who is asking me to tell him about what I am doing. I tell him in short what I do and I also tell him, among many other things, about the trip I am going to do in Sarawak sponsored by the Sarawak Tourism Board and that I have been talking with the Sabah Tourism Board… but just as a part of the story. I don't know what happened, it must be that I tell the story very well, because Barnabas started to say that it is very interesting and that he has a program of homestay in Karamuak, a small village in the upper Kinabatangan and that it is a very good promotion for him.

In a couple of seconds Barnabas has already called the 6 people of his department and I look at all of them standing in his office. I was sitting in front of Barnabas desk while he was telling them my story and he is asking them about how much time I would need to see what they do in Karamuak. After a while everything is clear, on the next morning I will go to Karamuak, they will cover all the expenses and there will be three people coming with me to assist me in all I could need. But... If I just wanted some information...

I also asked them about the conservation areas I wanted to visit, which is why I went there, but the time you need to visit them is too much for me, so I will have to leave it for the next time. In fact I asked if one week would be enough to visit Maliau Basin and the answer was "roughly to cross it". Ok, with the time I had then, it is not possible.

When I left the Yayasan Sabah Group offices, I went to the office of Turtle Island. To be able to visit that island there were two problems. The first one is that you have to book quite in advance, and by now you must have noticed that I can not do plans in advance because I don't know where I will be at any time. And the second problem is the price. Going to Turtle Island usually costs from 120€ just one day and one night, besides, travel agencies usually book for a minimum of two people, so I would have to pay double the price. Sometimes you can bargain the price, but in a destination with such a high demand… impossible. So my only option is asking them to let me go as a photographer in exchange for some photographs. After talking with two people they told me that it is not possible. Well, what can I do, not always everything is going to be ok.

From there I went to the office of the photographer, Cede Prudente. While I was waiting for him I took a look on his pictures, some of his books he had there and his postcards, they were very good. When he arrived he gave me some advice about what should be interesting for me around there. After talking with him I thought that it could be a good idea going with him to the hostel he is running in the lower Kinabatangan to see some more wildlife, and when a bit later he told me that I would have a special price, we agreed that when I came back from Karamuak I would go to his hostel.

With these plans for the next four days, and realising that I didn't have much more time to visit anything else around there, I decided that after visiting the lower Kinabatangan I would go to Miri, where my trip to the interior of Sarawak should start. Since I still had a couple of extra days and I needed to leave the country to renew my entry (as a tourist you can only stay for three months in a row), I thought that instead of flying from Kota Kinabalu to Miri I could pass through Brunei, so I could also take the chance to see it.

At the end of the day I had already planned all I was going to do until I reached Sarawak. That night I went to the cinema with a girl who was in the same hostel. There was not much to choose from, since you have to forget about all the Asian movies because Malay subtitles are not very helpful. We finally ended up watching a romantic comedy that I don't even remember the title, I only remember that I expected it worse. At least cinemas were decent, and a cinema evening is always a pleasure.

I woke up early in the morning and when I arrived to the offices of Yayasan Sabah Group, everything was ready. The driver, the three people coming and me, we all got into the four-wheel drive car and left towards Karamuak. After driving around 120 km on the road through palm oil plantations we took one of the many tracks disappearing into the palm trees. It is at that moment when you realise why Malaysia is the second producer of palm oil in the world. It is not something I had never seen before, when flying, for example, but somehow being for such a long time in between all those plantations makes you really realise it.

During many years, the logging industry and palm oil plantations have been the two biggest reasons for the deforestation in Malaysia. When travelling across all those plantations, it is difficult not to think that once all that was the rainforest.

It is not easy for me just to mention this topic and not to say anything about it.

Those of you who know me know that I love nature, wildlife... I recognise that I feel a bit sad when I see such a wide surface which is not rainforest anymore. And know that I write you back from home, I can assure you that I miss the rain forest. During the last months in Malaysia, the extremely long rain season last year didn't allow me to go to the rainforest as much as I would have liked, but the few times I could get close to it and listen slightly to its sounds... It fascinated me again and I kind of felt like home.

During all the time I spent in Malaysia, I spoke about the problem of deforestation with several people, especially with Cede Prudente, the local photographer I met in Sandakan, who collaborates with World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). So, even if I don't have much information about it, after listening to all of them, my opinion is that these days it is necessary to understand these industries without which Malaysia could not keep the development status which has. As far as I know, Malaysian government created new laws to prevent further deforestation, creating protected areas and preventing the decrease of the surface of the rainforest. Let's hope it works.

During our trip in between the plantations I was asking from time to time the driver to stop so I could take some pictures; since they were there to help me, every time I asked him, the driver would stop or turn back to take me to the place I needed. After a long way crossing plantations and rain forest we reached the area which Yayasan Sabah Group manages. But… What does exactly Yayasan Sabah Group do?

This organization was originally created to manage the logging industry in the State of Sabah in a way that all the population could get a benefit from it, specially in order to support their education. But nowadays its activities are not limited to this sector; its different departments manage different areas such as conservation areas, oil palm plantations, gas, petrol or biotechnology among others. In this region, through the Community Forestry Centre that they manage in Karamuak, they run two main activities: ecotourism and, most importantly, helping the local communities to survive in the new conditions the live in. People living here used to live from the rain forest and the natural resources they got from the river. But now the environment is not the same as it used to be and they have to adapt their customs to the new resources, such as palm plantations to produce palm oil.

That first day they showed me the facilities they had in several places, all them were quite nice and were located in beautiful places.

They also showed me a place with a few small waterfalls where people go to have a bath, but don't think it was a place where you could really swim.

Finally, we arrived to Karamuak; the woman who managed the centre was waiting for us. I was given the key of my place and as soon as I left my backpack she took me for a walk so I could see all they have there and how they used it.

In that centre they have several classrooms that they use for two different purposes: they teach the locals how to use the new resources and give them basic education; and when they have visitors, they show them how the area is and how it is managed.

In the centre they also have the different accommodation facilities for the homestay programme. These homestay programmes, which you can find in several places in Malaysia, try to stimulate rural tourism. The idea is to visit a village, spend some days there together with the local people, seeing their customs, and enjoying their hospitality. People in Malaysia are very kind, especially in rural areas. A homestay programme usually consists of basic accommodation in small villages where some activities are prepared for the visitors so that they can get to know better how the locals live. And it is also one of the best ways of getting to know the real popular gastronomy.

They took me to see the different types of accommodation they have, and I was taking pictures of them. Then she took me for a walk around the centre, and even if the centre is not in the middle of the rain forest, it is not a bad place for a walk.

Karamuak is quite in the interior of Sabah, but even though you can reach it by car (better if it is a 4wd) and it is not really in the middle of the deep rainforest, which makes it seem to be more developed than other villages, it still has its limitations. For example, this girl was waiting for an sms.

Mobile phones are hanging there because it is one of the few places where, from time to time, there is a bit of mobile network coverage. Even like this, after 15 minutes, she left without any message, leaving the mobile hanging there, where they are all the time… unless it is raining.

In the evening I had some free time before dinner, and from the car I saw a place from where I thought I could see a nice sunset, so I decided to take a walk by myself and enjoy the sunset.

I arrived there before the sun set and I had time to take a couple of pictures. It was a pity that there were not more clouds because the place was nice and quiet. But even if it wasn't the nicest sunset in history I spent a very nice time there.

After that, and before it was dark (remember that there is no electric power in the middle of the rainforest), I walked back to centre for the dinner. One of the girls who came with us from Sandakan was the cook, although I guess she had more tasks to do. She was not the only one cooking there, there was always somebody helping her, but you can be sure she knew what to do in a kitchen. It is not that she cooked anything really sophisticated, I guess that all she cooked during the time we were there were normal dishes for them, but I really liked them all.

In the next morning we went to a hike they normally do with the visitors who come to the centre. Close to Karamuak there is the mount Tingkar (this time it is only 768 metres above the sea level). In 1962 a helicopter crashed on its top, and the pilot and the geologist who was with him had to walk all the rain forest down the hill until they reached Karamuak. It is the peak which you can see on the photograph of the sunset.

It usually takes about 2 or 3 hours to climb it, and it didn't really seem to be very tough to me, but I was a bit more trained after the last two weeks in Mulu and climbing the Kinabalu. But one thing is for sure, from all the hikes I had done so far, this was the most "real" from all of them. In both parks, Mulu and Kinabalu, the trails are a bit crowded and it is easy to follow the path. This trail was not so "touched", in fact, the guys going first had a machete and sometimes they had to re-open the path, clearing the plants that had grown in the middle. Don't think this was anything like Indiana Jones though.

After three hours walking up the hill and stopping to take pictures, we reached the top. Once we were there we took our meal packs and sat close to the helicopter to enjoy the food and the views.

When we arrived back to Karamuak, again soaked in sweat, of course, I took (yet another) shower and sat to have a rest for a while in the terrace of the hut where I was staying. I think they gave me one of the best ones.

That evening they took me to meet the "mayors" or the "chiefs" of the village. I was told that there are 2 chiefs (changing every few years) who are in charge of different tasks related to the village, the relation with other governmental institutions and who take decisions to solve small problems of the people of the village.

Apart from these two people, I was also introduced to a third person. They told me that he was the owner of the plantations and he was in charge of improving the access roads to the village and several other small projects.

I think there is a difference in between them.

Alterwards we went back to the centre for a ddinner. Here, as in the Iban Longhouse, I was the first one eating when the meal was ready, and after I finished, the rest of the people started to eat. Of course I was telling them that it was not necessary to do it like this and that I preferred them to eat with me. That night I told them that I would like to have the dinner all together because it was my birthday and I would like to celebrate it with them, even if it was only having dinner all together. That night the power generator didn't want to work, so we had a nice birthday dinner under the light of the candles.

It is funny, I remember how, when we were finishing the dinner, I could hear them at the end of the table talking between them to sing the "happy birthday", but they had some problems remembering my name (here, in this kind of trips, people usually call you "sir"). This happens to me quite usually in Malaysia. In the end I think they felt a bit embarrassed and didn't sing anything. I felt as happy as if they had singed it.

The next day they showed me what Yayasan Sabah Group had done in the village until then. Thanks to them now in Karamuak there is, among other things, a small jetty, a church (you would be surprised how many indigenous people in Sabah and Sarawak are Christian), a small medical centre and several schools for boys and girls of different ages.

After the walk through Karamuak I was taken to fish a bit in the Kinabatangan River… well, or rather to see how they fish, I confess that I am not too keen on fishing. They also showed me a bridge that Yayasan Sabah Group built over the Kinabatangan River and we went to another village where they had more projects running.

After having lunch there was no more time for anything else, so we packed our stuff and went back to Sandakan so that I could be there before 6, when I had to be in the agency of Cede Prudente.

During those three days in Karamuak for sure that I didn't visit the most spectacular landscapes in Malaysia, but I did experience a part of the country that you miss if you only visit the typical destinations. I met really charming people and, above all, I really had a great time. And that –when I look at it from a distance, after a long time as I see it from here, while I am writing this, that– makes me appreciate it even more.

So if one day you come over here and you feel like spending some days in a different way, I really recommend you to pass by Karamuak.

miércoles, 18 de febrero de 2009

Kinabalu National Park

This is the other Park of Malaysia that, together with Gunung Mulu National Park, which has been included in the World Heritage list by UNESCO. In it you can make many things, as Tomaš and me did when we were here. But from all those things, there is one which is the most important thing you can do at Kinabalu National Park. Because the Mount Kinabalu, with its 4095 metres high, is the highest peak in South East Asia, or at least that is what is written in many places, but depending on where you check it can be even the fourth one in this list.

Zuzana and I like hiking mountains, so when Zuzana knew that she was coming to Malaysia and she looked for some information about the country, she decided that one of the things she wanted to do was climbing the Mount Kinabalu. It was then when we decided that as soon as she had a long weekend we would try it.

As I told you, the Muslim New Year (the Hari Raya), coinciding with the end of the Ramadan, is one of the most important holidays of the Muslim year... no wonder, as a professional big eater as I am, if I was not allowed to eat during daylight for a whole month, I would also celebrate the day Ramadan finishes. Obviously, the Hari Raya, in a Muslim country as Malaysia, means public holidays, more precisely two days of public holidays, which, this year, were Wednesday and Thursday. Just on Thursday the week before Zuzana knew that she was going to have the Friday off, so she called me to ask where she should book the plane ticket for those five days.

I was going to spend the Hari Raya in Kuching with Nadim, the local photographer, who had invited me to go to his neighbourhood to see how it is celebrated there. Zuzana called me on the phone ,but just at that moment I was dying trying to climb the Pinnacles. Digi, the mobile company I use here, has no coverage in the Pinnacles, as in many other places, but even if it had had it, I don't think I would have had the strength to take the mobile out from my pocket.

Zuzana could not contact me and she booked the ticket as we had spoken before, that we would climb the Mount Kinabalu. Two days after, when I came back to the headquarters of Mulu Park, I met in a path one of the girls working in the offices and she told me "Hi, Zuzana called you and she said that she is Singapore and she will be arriving to Kota Kinabalu on Wednesday morning". Imagine my face at that moment, when somebody tells me that sentence in the middle of the jungle. So the Hari Raya in Kuching was not going to be possible and I will go climbing the Mount Kinabalu instead. ¿You see? Changing plans again, I can not plan anything.

I called Anddreas to see when we can make that trip to the interior of Sarawak. Then Zuzana and me got in touch as we could (between Mulu and Singapore) and we decided that as soon as Zuzana arrived Kuala Lumpur on Sunday she would book a plane ticket for me to fly to Kota Kinabalu.

Once in Kota Kinabalu I tried to book all we needed to be able to climb the Mount Kinabalu, but of course, in a long weekend like that, everything was fully booked for the three days when we could climb it.

Even like this, Zuzana and I decided that we will go to Kinabalu Park on Friday morning with the first transport leaving Kota Kinabalu and we will be at the waiting list, in case somebody doesn't go and there are some free places.

To be rested before climbing the mountain, we decide that on Wednesday we would just take a walk on Kota Kinabalu to see how they celebrate the Hari Raya. People wear traditional dresses, men and women, and the city becomes full of bright colours wherever you go. Besides, there are many celebrations where people wear their best clothes.

We also decided that on Thursday we would go to the islands that you already know close to Kota Kinabalu. Since I had already been there and I also wanted to spend the day with Zuzana not been worried if I have to take a picture here or there, I gave myself tha day off and I left the camera in the hostel. Obviously, since I don't have the camera, when we are in Sulug Island (the "desert" island where Tomaš had his foot incident), we see a beautiful gecko besides our bags which I can't take a picture of. Well, at least I leave you here a small video I took with the compact camera that Zuzana takes in her job, so you can see a bit of the island and the small gecko.

That evening, coming back from the islands, it started to rain, but one of those funny tropical rains. When we arrived to Kota Kinabalu we were already soaked, so we decided to go walking, better said, running to the hostel. I was really funny, when crossing the streets the water was up to the calf.

On the next morning we are at seven o'clock in the bus station ready to take the first whatever going to Kinabalu National Park.

As soon as we arrive to the Park we go to the offices and we ask if there is any free bed in any of the mountain refuges, but... nothing, everything is fully booked, and without a reservation in a refuge it is not allowed to go up. Almost everybody already arrived and there are not much places left, but anyway we put our names in the first position for the waiting list. Moreover, the woman in charge of the accommodation is one of those cold people who don't care if you ask if it is possible to sleep on the floor in the café; the expression in her face doesn't change at all, there is no way to convince her.

It is supposed that people arrive at 10, but we have to wait until noon in case there is any delay. After one hour we ask again... nothing. We are not going to get anything from that woman, so I try to ask somebody else. As soon as I see that the woman is attending anybody else I go to the desk to ask another girl, who looks nicer, if there is any cancellation, even if I know that there is not because we are the first ones on the waiting list and they would have told us. When she tells me that there is no cancellation I ask if there is any other way to go, even if there is no free place in the refuge. Then she tells me that they can't do anything about it, that it has to be authorised by the chief of the Park Rangers. This is what I want to know, who can allow us to go, who can take the decission.

Then I go to the counter where you have to pay the Park taxes to ask for the chief of the rangers, waiting for a moment when there is no queue, but there is always somebody. Then I go to the entrance of the Park rangers' office and somebody comes to ask what I need. And here I go again, I give him my business card and start the speech that I have so well prepared: "I am a photographer from Spain...". The man calls the chief of the rangers, who comes and he tells me that there is an agency managing the "via ferrata" in the Mount Kinabalu and they have some places reserved for them, that I should talk to them to see if we could get any of them.

We go to the office of the agency and they tell us that they have free places but that we should contract any of their activities. Well, it seems that things are getting better and we will be able to go up after all. When we are getting out of the office of the agency my telephone rings, it is from the Park office, there has been a cancellation of two people. Yes!

We talk with the girl of the travel agency which had the cancellation and we decided to keep the two beds. We pay the Park taxes, we look for a group to join and share the expenses of the Park guide and the transport to the beginning of the path (you can start from the offices but believe me, it is not necessary, the normal trek is enough) and we move off.

Climbing the Kinabalu. The general opinion is that it is not as tough as the Pinnacles, but that it is also quite demanding. You start climbing at 1886 metres high and that day you walk 6 Km until the refuges, which are at 3272 metres high (don't do the calculation, I tell you, it is 1406 height difference). On the second day you climb to the top, but there is a small detail, you climb to see the sunrise from the top of the Mount Kinabalu, at almost 4100 metres of altitude (if you are lucky and it is not cloudy, in Mount Kinabalu you never know). So what you do is starting the hike at 2:30 in the morning, yes, you read well, at half past TWO in the morning. The objective is to ascend in a bit less than 3 Km the 823 metres to the top and be there at 5 in the morning to see the sunrise. After that you go back to the refuge, where you have lunch, and then you hike down to the starting point; in total 2229 metres of descent.

So, let's go.

During the first day you walk through all the different kinds of vegetation which exist in Kinabalu Park. At the beginning you start hiking in the rain forest, but when going up, the weather becomes more fresh, humidity decreases and the jugle turns into a forest, and slowly, the forest becomes less and less thick and changes to the typical high mountain vegetation all surrounded by bushes. Clouds change and move very fast here, it is probable that during the ascent you can see
all kind of images as a resutl of the mix between them and the Sun.

The path is easy to follow; the only problem is that the people who built it were either very tall or very lazy, because the steps sometimes (too many time) are as high as your knees.

During this day you are meeting everybody coming down after reaching the top (or maybe not). Since we had to find the accommodation, we started quite late, and we are meeting the last people coming down. They look really tired, so we realise that the walk is going to be long.

During the hike we stopped several times, to eat the picnic pack that the travel agency gave us, to have a rest, to drink some water... it is very interesting, you talk with people, where they come from, why they are travelling... in this part of the world, in South East Asia, there are many people travelling for long periods of time, from 2 months to several years. I imagine that if you come in an organised trip, it will be more difficult to meet them, but if you are not so "conventional" (just a little bit less) you would be surprised of how many people do this kind of things.

Finally, in the evening, we arrive to "Laban Rata", the refuge where we have the beds reserved. The pack we have with the travel agency includes meals at the refuge: the dinner for that evening and the lunch for the next day after coming back from the top. Both of the meals are buffet, and you can be sure that we appreciated it, and it is not just because of me, that I love eating, but recovering the energy spent during the day and getting ready for the next day is really important.

Laban Rata, together with other refuges, is in the area where almost everybody who climbs the Mount Kinabalu spends the night. They are several wooden houses in a privileged place. After dinner, you can come out to the terrace to enjoy the sunset over 3000 metres of altitude.

In a short time we go to sleep. Even if it is early (around 8 or 9 in the evening), it is not difficult to fall asleep, the day has been long and we are tired.

Two in the morning, we are so sleepy.

After achieving to move away from the bed and wrapping us up warm with all the clothes we have, we meet our group and the guide and we start the hike to the top. The day before, since I was a bit "fit" after the week before in Mulu and Zuzana was not so trained because in the office she doesn't practice many sports, we decided that I would take most of the stuff in my backpack. That morning we only took the small bag with the minimum necessary, so Zuzana said that she would take it. Without the backpack, only with the almost 5 Kg of my photo gear, I have to say that I felt like new, like a child, jumping from one stone to other. There was an area where there were some ropes to help yourself; I didn't care, without even touching the ropes, stopping to change lenses and trying to take a picture. My camera works very well in low light conditions, but at night, in the middle of the mountains... there is not much it can do.

Zuzana was quite tired, and thanks to the guide she managed to keep on going up. I took her bag and then I stopped running all around, but even like this I was quite fresh compared with other days.

We finally reached the top of the Mount Kinabalu, 4095 metres over sea level. And we took the picture, of course.

We did it quite well, I would even say that we were one of the first groups reaching the top. When we arrived up there it was getting light but it was still dark, so we found a place to have a rest and protect ourselves from the wind. Because of course, if you think about it, in the highest peak in South East Asia there is nothing in miles around to stop the wind. And being in the tropic doesn't make a difference, 4000 metres it is quite high anywhere. How cold that was! it doesn't matter how much you protect yourself from the wind, there is always some wind blowing around you, and your t-shirt is wet.

After a while, at the break of dawn, we could admire sunrise from the top of the Mount Kinabalu.

Don't think that taking this picture is just grabbing the camera and shooting. As soon as your hands are out of your pockets they are frozen. And when you have been taking photos during half a minute, with all this cold wind blowing, you don't feel anything at all. There was a moment when I had to take the pictures with the middle finger because with the index one I had no sensibility at all and I didn't know were the shutter was.

After a while we started the way down. Much better than the way up, besides, since you go up at night and then you go down with daylight, it is absolutely different. The Mount Kinabalu is not in a big mountain range, is like a single mountain in the middle of nothing, so the views are amazing.

At ten in the morning we were in Laban Rata again. Since we had time enough, we decided that, instead of going down immediately, we preferred having lunch calmly, sleep a small one hour siesta and then walk the rest of the path.

So we did. After the siesta and packing again, we started the way down to the head offices of the Park. Then, as it had happened to us the day before, we were meeting all the people climbing to the refuges to reach the top on the next morning. We were always trying to encourage them and make them see that it can be done.

Other people you pass by when going down are the porters. As I told you before, meals at Laban Rata are buffets, and there are many people climbing the Mount Kinabalu everyday. Somebody has to take all that up there, and for sure it is not going to be by car. Local porters, men and women, carry big, better said, huge backpacks or just packs on their backs. And they climb up to the refuges on their sandals, flip-flops, whatever. So when you see them, then you realise than it could be much worse.

In about 4 hours we were back at the begining of the path and we took the minivan to the offices of the Park. There is another meal waiting for you to recover all the strength you left in the Mountain during last two days, it is also buffet, of course. After lunch we went back to Kota Kinabalu with some other people we met during the way up and down.

In Kota Kinabalu, that night, we decided that we deserved a feet massage. It was really relaxing. And the next day, one more session of islands to finish the recovering process before Zuzana goes back to work on Monday, and before I continue with my adventures.

One last thing. If any of you is thinking about climbing the Mount Kinabalu, you should know that there is another option than the one we did and most of the people do. Every year there is an event called Climbathon and that you can imagine what it is about. It is a race consisting on climbing up and down the Mount Kinabalu, running, of course. It is 21 Km long, like half marathon but a little bit steep, in fact, if you think about it, the accumulate different of height is negative (according to the map race). People usually makes it in a bit more than two and a half hours, so it shouldn't be too difficult.

So, come on, who wants to try?

martes, 30 de septiembre de 2008

Borneo

How long since last time, is't it?

I am sorry you have some dealy from the spanish blog, but I don't have so much time here in the hostels in Borneo.

But honestly I think a lot of you all, this blog thing is really nice, I feel that I can talk to you directly and with the pictures I think I can tell you more than I could only with a big massive mail. The only thing I don't like is that it takes me a longtime to update it and I can not do it as often as I would like to

I am going to tell you the important things and a bit in short, because when I started to write a draft in the notebook I take with me, and when I had already wroten two and a half pages, I realised that there was no point in it and that the best option is writing it directly. So, since I am writing you from Borneo I think the best I can do now is telling you how things are happening here. The rest from Kuala Lumpur I can tell you later on, and moreover I have not here the pictures from those days.

So let's go all of us to Borneo!... In Borneo Island there is a big part wich is the Indonesian part. There is another part in the north with is the Malaysian part, where you can find two of the therteen states of Malaysia: Sabah in the northeast and Sarawak in the southwest. And in between these two states, in the coast, there is Brunei. Here you are a map, so you can see where I am going.

On Tuesday November the 9th, Tomaš and me took a plane flying to Kota Kinabalu, in the west coast of Sabah. Already on the plane, when we were looking through the window, we could already see what we were going to find here.

The first days we had some things organised with a travel agency. Let me tell you: In one of my visitis to the offices of Tourism Malaysia I got the contact of one Directive of a travel agency with clients in Spain to know what was more convenient for me to visit here in Borneo. They are helping me and the only thing I had to pay was an excursion we made with them; for the booking of the hostel in Kota Kinabalu, all the advises to visit places in Borneo, or the organization of my trip for the week after with another travel agency, they didn't charge anything at all.

So we arrived to Kota Kinabalu, we went to the hostel were we had the booking, then we went to meet the guy from the travel agency here, and after talking to him we decided that on the next day we were going to visit Kinabalu Park and on thursday we would visit some islands around here.

That night we walked a bit around the city. There is not much to see in Kota Kinabalu, but it has a night market which is the one I liked the most so far. There you can buy fresh fish cought during the day, fruits, vegetables... and there is also a part in which you can seat and eat something.

On the next morning, the people from the travel agency pick us up to go to Kinabalu Park. We got into the minivan and we were incredibly stinking insect repelent, of course, everybody noticed it as soon as we entered. It was funny.

The excursion was ok, a bit touristic but acceptable. You know I like more travelling on my own, but Kinabalu Park is not exactly close to Kota Kinabalu and if you want to go by bus, in one day, you probably won't have time to see all we saw. We were walking a bit through the botanical garden and one of the paths of the park while the guide was explainig us about how aboriginal people use the plants from the rain forest. Taking a good picture in the rain forest is a bit difficult, here you are one which is a normal one, but at least for you to know how full of plants this is.

After that they took us to see what is considered the biggest flower in the world. It is the flower of a plant called Rafflesia and depending on the spice it has bigger or smaller flowers, but in any case much bigger than daisies.

And to finish the excursion we went to a Canopy Walk, which consists on hanging bridgesd between trees, so you can walk at the highth of the braches. It is interesting.

When we got down from the trees we took a bath in the termal spring water swimmingpool around there.

Back in Kota Kinabalu, again a night walk and go to sleep.

The next day we went to visit three of the islands the Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park, very close to Kota Kinabalu. Well, what can I tell you... it is better if I show you a couple of pictures and you decide by yourselves...

I hope you are not seeing this from your job, so it is not too cruel.

This is Manukan Island, it is quite ok, of course, but on the weekend before we had been at Tioman Island which we liked a lot because the part of Tioman Islad in which we were is not crowded and full of tourist. So this island, which is very well prepared for tourists and there are more people on the beach, didn't impressed us so much.

After lunch in Manukan Iasland we took the boat to our next island: Sulug Island.

We did really like this island. Especially becuase this one, on the contrary as Manukan Island, is a "desert" island; the boat leaves you there and you tell the man on the boat at what time you want him to pick you up. Even if the beach was not the best beach I had seen ever, becuase it has many coral pieces and small rocks... how cool... imagine an island just for you with nobody else to bother you... I really liked it a lot. After some time three Italians arrived, but the island was big enough for the five of us.

But... not all could be perfect. After a while we both were in the water when something bit Tomaš on his foot. We don't know what it was, there are several theories but none of them is for sure. What is for sure is that Tomaš had never felt before something which hurted like that in his whole live. And Tomaš is not precisely the weakest person in the world. His foot began to swell and, since misfortunes never come alone, that morning I had gone into the water with my mobile in my pocket so it was dead (but absolutely dead, I had to buy another one on the evening). Of course none of the italians had a telephone, so Tomaš had to stand the pain until the boat came to pick us up more than half an hour after.

When we arrived to Kota Kinabalu we went to the hospital and then they inyected him several cocktails of whatever and he didn't have to stand the pain anymore. Here you are a picture I took the day after, when his foot was much better... can you guess which one it is?

In the meanwhile I went to the hostel to take his passport and his insurance. And later I went back again to take some clothes because it was better if Tomaš stayed during the night in the hospital to see that everything was ok.

But even from the worst experiences you can always get something positive, and that day Tomaš could experience the hospitality and kindness of the people here in Malaysia. When I went back to the hostel for the second time to take the clothes and buy the mobile (20€, just that, new one), the woman of the hostel told me that they were leaving at 7 and the hospital was in their way, so they could drive me there. When we arrived to the hospital she came out of the car and told me that she would like to enter at least to say hello and see how he was, and in the meanwhile her husband stayed waiting in the car.

Tomaš was not in the emergency area anymore and she was finding out where he was. The hospital was not from the third world at all, but beds were in big rooms like the ones you can see in some films. So after being some time with us she said that since Tomaš had insurance, why we didn't go to a private hospital where he would have been more comfortable. The thing is that when we arrived to the harbour we asked which was the best hospital in the city and we were told that this was the best one. So she started to make phone calls to her husband and ask him how we should do to change to another hospital. While Tomaš was talking to the doctor her husband parked the car and came up too, in case it was necessary. But the doctor understood perfectly and said that there was no problem for Tomaš to change to any other place. So then Tommy and Veronica (yes, both are Chinesse, as you have guessed) were finding out which was the best place where we could go and they drove us there, and that was not on their way home because it was at the other side of the city.

Even after arriving to the private hospital they stayed for some time with us until we told them that they could go home when they wanted.

I imagine that there is no need to comment. Tomaš was amazed about how nice they were to him evem if they hardly knew him since two days ago. To tell the truth, people here are in general very kind.

On the next day Tomaš came early in the morning to the hostel, bougth some flowers for Tommy and Veronica, we pack our stuff and we took the plane to Miri, which is Sarawak, in the coast close to Brunei.

Since it was friday, in the evening I went to pick Zuzana up to the airport, who was arriving from Kuala Lumpur. That day Tomaš stayed resting in the hostel hoping that his foot would be ok on the weekend, when we were going to Gunung Mulu National Park.

But this, I will tell you some other day, let's go step by step...