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8D7N Sabah Adventure (17 - 24 June 2007) by Wong Weng Hooi and wife Chew Ai Tuan |
Yong Lee Min writes - many thanks to busy Wong for taking time to prepare this diary of the trip. Wong and wife Ai Tuan first trip with Yongo was in Nov 06 on the Yunnan & Tiger Leaping Gorge Trek. They were instrumental in getting together this bunch of Penangites, many of whom are visiting Sabah for the very first time.
Wong Weng Hooi writes - Our group of 17 is made up of close friends and their immediate family. There are 8 males and 9 females. This trip is led by Rachel who went over to Sabah 3 days ahead of us.
Sunday Jun 17 Penang to Kota Kinabalu
Our Air Asia flight AK852 arrived at KK on time at 12.35 pm. Rachel, our guide was there waiting for us. After checking in to our rooms, we went for lunch at one of the food court in a shopping complex. We took the whole afternoon checking out the Filipino market which is just 10 minutes walk from our hotel.
We had a grand seafood dinner at the Ocean Seafood Village . We also had a surprised birthday party for 4 of the members whose birthday fall in June. Thanks to Rachel for ordering the birthday cake in advance. We continue the party at our tiny hotel room with sweet rice wine which I bought at the Filipino market early in the afternoon. The wine was so good that everyone decided to buy more for the next few days.
Pick your lobster ./ Group with birthday boys and girl
Monday 18 th , 2007 Kinabalu National Park & Poring Hotsprings
After an early breakfast we hopped on to our vans and headed for Kinabalu National Park . We took a guided tour on one of the trail s in the National Park. We also had a glimpse of the highest peak in South-east Asia .
Our lunch at Kundasang is mainly vegetables that we bought at near by fresh vegetable market. After lunch we headed to Poring. It was raining quite heavy at Poring and we had to wait for the rain to stop before the hike up the canopy walk. It was quite a strenuous hike for some and a disappointment at the end of the hike. Most part of the canopy walk was closed for maintenance. After the hike, we had a welcomed soak at the hot springs . We had a simple dinner across the road. This restaurant offers not much choice but the food is relatively cheap compared to KK and Sandakan .
After dinner we gather ed at one of the chalet for party. We had more rice wine tonight. I bought ten bottles at the Filipino market early in the morning before breakfast.
Soaking at Poring hot spring /. Guided walk at Kinabalu National Park .
Tuesday 19 th , 2007 Sandakan
Not a good start today. There were no water supplies to our chalets. All of us had to use the dormitory's facilities. At the time we left Poring at around 7.30 am there was not a single restaurant or shop opened. We had to travel almost 2 hours to the nearest restaurant for breakfast. We continue our journey for about 3 hours to Sandakan . We had a brief visit at the Australian War Memorial Park before we checked into our hotel. After a good lunch at the hotel lobby, we walked about 20 minutes to Agnes Keith House located on a small hill top overseeing Sandakan bay. Next to Agnes Keith House is a typical English Tea house where we had our afternoon tea break. We spend the afternoon at this place playing lawn polo. In the evening we had another splendid seafood dinner at Ocean King Seafood Restaurant.
Group at Agnes Keith House / Playing Lawn Polo
Wednesday 20 th , 2007 Sepilok Orang Utan & Kinabatangan Proboscis Monkeys
We visited Sandakan 's biggest fish market in the early morning. We checked out after breakfast and proceed to Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary. We were just in time for the morning feeding session. After seeing the feeding of Orang Utan, we decided to do the 1 hour trek up to the water hole at this park. We had a late lunch at a nearby restaurant and move on to our next activity, river cruise on famed Sungai Kinabatangan. We saw lots of Proboscis (long-nosed big bellies) monkeys and Hornbills on this river cruise.
After the river cruise, the group divided according to their assigned Orang Sungai homes in Batu Putih village. This home-stay program (started in collaboration with World Wildlife Fund WWF) was alien to all of us and a cultural shock. There is no pipe-in water supply and fresh water is precious. I thought my assigned home was bad. I had to wait for about 10 minutes to fill up a 5 gallon pail for a bath. The 2 ladies assigned to another home were even worst. Their toilet is without door and no water tap inside. They were given only 3 water containers of about a gallon each to do their washing and bathing. The night seems very long at Batu Putih. The experience of staying with Sabah 's Orang Sungai reminds us not to take things for granted especially food, water and the conveniences we have in our present homes.
Batu Putih Home-stay / Orang Utan at Sepilok
Thursday 2 1 st , 2007 Semporna
After a long night every one woke up very early. We had a simple home cooked breakfast and then we visit the grave museum inside lime stone cave s . It was amazing how ancient people carried the coffins 30 meters up a near vertical lime stone hill into these caves.
The 1.00 pm bus to Semporna only showed up at 3.30 pm . It was late evening when we arrive d at Semporna. After checking in at the nice Dragon Inn water chalet, we gather for dinner. Guess what? More s eafood dinner again.
Dragon Inn water chalet at Semporna / Live seafood Dragon Inn Restaurant.
Friday 22 nd , 2007 Sipdan and Mabul Island
The breakfast given by Dragon Inn was extremely little, only 2 slices of bread and a cup of coffee. We had to supplement with a packet of nasi lemak each. Our speed boat to Mabul arrived at 9.00 am . It was still drizzling and the sea was a little choppy. We left our luggage at Mabul home stay and went straight to Sipadan. The weather turned fine when we arrived at Sipadan. The old abandoned Sipadan Resort still standing and now used as a rest area. This island and Kapalai is now guarded by Police and Army. We spend the whole morning snorkeling off Sipadan. The water was crystal clear and the corals were the most beautiful ones I have ever seen. We had packed lunch and short break before we head back to Mabul for more snorkeling. A few of us spend the late afternoon walking around the small Mabul Island and enjoyed the sunset. That night, we had good Bar-B-Q fish for supper provided by John, a Master Diver.
Sunset at Mabul / Mabul Water Bungalow Resort
Satur day 2 3 rd , 2007 Kapalai Island
It was raining heavy, the sea was rough and our morning trip to Kapalai looks doubtful. The rain stopped at about 8.30 am but the sea was still rough so we decided to take another walk around the island. We were lucky, the weather improved later in the morning and off we go to Kapalai. Kapalai is a small beautiful atoll with only one resort, built on stilts. It was an ideal place for snorkeling. The water is shallow, crystal clear and abundant marine life. We left this beautiful atoll at 1.00 pm and headed back to our ‘little resort' at Mabul for lunch. Our boat picked us up at 4.00 pm and we arrived at Semporna just before 5.00 pm . We had an early dinner at Semporna before moving on to Tawau Airport for our 9.25 pm flight to KK. Every one of us cursed and swore at MAS when it was announced that our flight to KK is delayed 2 hours leaving at 11.30 pm . It was almost 1.00 am in the morning when we reached our hotel in KK.
Beautiful Kapalai Resort / Corals in Kapalai
Sunday 24 th , 2007 Kota Kinabalu to Penang
We slept about 3 hours and left the hotel at 4.30 am to catch our 6.30 am morning flight to Penang . We arrived at Penang on Air Asia, a surprising 20 minutes ahead of schedule.
Comments from two members
Welcome back Leemin from Eastern Europe. Rachel did an outstanding job. All of us had a wonderful time with her. All of us are still talking about the trip and some of the experience we had will stay in our memory for a long time. Wong Weng Hooi
Truly agreed, some of us are not really suited for this type of trip (my `girlfriend` nearly `pengsan`, and me panic like hell ) but overall we all had a wonderful time together. Thanks for the great your great itinerary and also not forgetting Rachel for being such a wonderful guide. We enjoyed Rachel company very much. Cheng Swee Tiang
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