Trip to Malaysia - part 3

Third week - top end


We flew in to Kota Kinabalu and on the flight YD had been reading the guide book and decided that heading straight to Sandakan was a good idea, so onto the bus we hopped, straight from the airport. . We arrived in Sandakan just before midnight and had to wake up the guy behind the counter.  He said the room was 80 but would give it to us for 75 and then the following day when we said we were moving out because we found something cheaper he took it down to 60.  clean air conditioned, hot shower (own bathroom), and the clothes are at the laundromat.  I also purchased some sneakers and a box of 100 bandaids.
The girls had been talking about a car rental and after a bit of negotiating a small car was reserved for the following morning. It was 108rm for the day so was a very good deal (with insurance, thank heavens) and a full tank of petrol was 50rm.  So eight o’clock we picked up this tiny car (manual) and set off toward the orangutang sanctuary.  YD was navigating with a couple of different touristy maps that didn’t quite meet up. I just buckled up and sat in the back seat wondering if this in fact was such a great idea. Pulling into the car park at the orangutang sanctuary right on time for the feeding I conceded that renting the car had in fact been a good idea. You had to pay for every camera, so we just paid for ED’s camera, and then proceeded to walk down the boardwalk half expecting it to be the same as the last one, where the orangutangs would not come to the feeding station.  Suddenly I saw movement in the trees and a mother with her baby hopped onto the guard rail right in front of us! Wow!  The guides made sure that we stayed back at least 20ft, and then a huge male came lumbering down behind us to join her.  Eventually at the feeding station there were five mothers with babies, one male and one female. What an amazing sight - that hour passed in a flash, all of us totally mesmerized by these wonderful creatures, and once the food was finished they lumbered away....

 We had to hop into the car in a  hurry to make it to the proboscis monkey feeding station and only just made it. By the time they had had their fill, all of ED’s memory sticks were full and she had not brought her computer to download the photos.  Conundrum! we still had plans to drive to Kinabatangan river and take a cruise.

 So back to the hotel we headed to pick up the computer.  Passing a restaurant the subject of food came up and ED pulled over the side of the highway and told me to cross over, get food and she would pick me up on the way out of town!  Luckily it was an Indian restaurant and I got some lovely vegetable rosti - a bit of a change from the rice and curry we had been eating.  Ages later ED pulled in and I jumped into the getaway car and once again we were off!  Oh dear, then ED noticed that the car was overheating!  We pulled into a church parking lot and opened the hood - luckily ED had the number of the rental guy and called. (travelling with a mobile phone is definitely a great idea)  “Oh we never told you to turn on the lights so that the engine fan would come on. - Ok wait there”   Our rescue crew arrived, topped up the water, showed us how to turn on the fan, and once again we were off.  It took a full two hours to get to the Kinabatangan river and as we pulled in they seemed to be shutting up for the night.  We negotiated an incredible deal and climbed aboard a boat.  What a lovely ride that was, the sun was just setting and we saw monkeys, an orangutan, hundreds of birds, and a monitor lizard.   Then once again it was time to pile back into the little car and head off down the bumpy potholed road.  After stopping for a bit to eat at a roadside restaurant the girls both thought they had smelled petrol, and indeed the petrol gauge suddenly seemed to drop.  A quarter of a tank, and it was still a long way home.  It got very quiet in the car as we drove down the lonely dark road - any gas stations that we did see were closed.  “Lord please just let this gas last until we find an open gas station” I prayed.   90kms later, we pulled into the most welcome gas station I have ever seen in my life.  We were almost home!  They picked up the keys as the bus was pulling out of the terminal the following morning. That’s right, we were off again - this time to Semporna - the stepping off point to some of the most beautiful diving in the world.   We booked into a hostel and set off to find a good dive company, and eventually ED decided on sipidan diving, and we would go with her on the first day to snorkel. My bathing suit had not come back from the laundry so I set out to find something suitable to swim in!  It took about an hour to get to Matabuan, the island where we were going to be diving, and our first snorkel was right off the beach around the jetties.  then the boat took us out to another nearby island and pointed out an exposed sand beach leading to a tiny island off the end.  “That goes under at low tide - so it is virgin beach right now.”  We snorkelled out and then wandered down towards our own little island.  When the boat came back for us I asked him if I could just have the camera and ten more minutes, please?  He obliged, and YD finished off her little sandcastle with hermit crabs guarding the moat, while I got some photos of our beautiful little island. 

 The next place to snorkel was absolutely stunning reef - the best I have ever seen - so many wonderful fish and colorful coral.  Then another guy called us over saying he had seen turtles, but I was not so anxious to go where he was as it was very deep.  So a very kind turtle came right in front of me (within touching distance) he sort of turned of on his side and gave me a smile before swimming off again. Be still my beating heart :)  we all climbed back onto the boat for the trip home very, very happy with our days adventures.   The  following day while ED went to Sipidan, the world famous best scuba diving in the world we wandered around Semporna, but YD decided we were not going to do the same thing the following day.   Early morning found us at the fish markets negotiating with a boatman who offered to take us out to Sibuan for 60 ringgits.   No lifejackets, little wooden boat crashing through waves to an island one hour from shore.  What on earth were we doing?

 In the end we spent a marvellous couple of hours hanging out on a pure white beach and lounging in the clear water, and getting a bit sunburned, and then he delivered us safely back to the fish market dock. Safe and sound. We had already checked out, so no shower..... Salty and tired we all hopped onto the overnight bus back to Kota Kinabalu, but it wasn’t quite overnight and we found ourselves at 4am looking for a place to stay!  Once again my very clever daughters got out the guidebook and had us safely ensconced in a dorm an hour later where we could catch up on some much needed sleep.  This was our one and only day we went shopping and the girls bought pearls, and I bought a mortar and pestle, and we shared one last meal together at a rainforest cafe after walking through  a Chinese new year street festival.   The next morning we said a tearful goodbye and I went off in the taxi to begin my flights back to Singapore, then Darwin, then home.  The next day YD began the same process after she and ED had negotiated one last trip on a tiny boat out to sit on a white sandy beach and swim in the clear water.  ED enjoyed a few days in Kuala Lumpur and then it was a short trip home for her.  Our exciting wonderful crazy adventure had ended.  Left are the wonderful memories and photos, and possibly still a little beach sand still stuck in one of our shoes.