Sunday March 27 – Day 2 Sabah Adventure – Drive to Tanak Nabulu

We all gathered in the hotel lobby at 9:00 a.m. anxious to start our trip. We had a fairly short drive, about 2 hours, out of Kota Kinabalu into the mountains covered with a jungle of rich green vegetation and carved with trickling streams tumbling over the rocks to the valleys below. The main road was a pretty good two lane road; the traffic was like a wagon train crawling up the hillsides. The road got smaller and smaller until it turned into a very narrow dirt road going up a very steep mountain, then we were heading back down into a valley and turned off the road, went over a bridge, and onto a concrete path wide enough for one vehicle and we were in the tribal village of Tanak Nabulu. 

We tripped out of the bus into the Community Hall to the beat of a band playing local music. We were greeted by the town dignitaries, and offered cold tea and sweets made from sweet potato. We were then allocated to a “foster family” and met the foster mother who led us back to our “foster home” where we met the foster grandfather and the little kids. After settling into our room, we ate lunch downstairs at a big dining table in their kitchen. Once again, another delicious meal.

The home was quite large with a sitting area downstairs where you could watch TV, and a dining area attached to an adequate sized kitchen. The toilets were regular toilets, with a washbasin where you could brush your teeth and wash your face before bed. Behind us and unseen, were some curtains which I believe is where the family slept. Upstairs, there were about 4 bedrooms which were set up for home stays. We had one of the bedrooms and two guys from our trip had the other. Then on the same floor as the bedrooms was a wide covered balcony where you could sit and relax and listen to the noises and animal sounds coming from the village.

Around 2:00 p.m. we met our guide Oswald and set off on a jungle walk – a practice for Mt Kinabalu!! We climbed up a steep, dirt path no wider than a 10” plank with mud steps, rocky steps and tons of rusty brown leaves which seemed to have some hidden oil on them which made it real easy to propel forwards or backwards in a jerky movement while trying to catch your feet below. All around us was magnificent growth, rubber trees and bananas on the lower slopes, moving up to taller trees of secondary growth. The bottom of each rubber tree contained an old tin can to catch the rubber as it seeped out from the bark. Several times I stopped and stared at the vast mountain above us that we were to climb in two days time, and the immense lush green vegetated valleys and mountains all around us. It was a National Geographic picture.

It was hot – about 34C – and 70% humidity and it felt like being in a wet sauna. We came down the mountain and headed straight through the village to the river, a little dryer than normal due to the hot, dry, season they have been having. We suffered the pebbly bottom and walked to the deepest part which was about my hip level. The village kids were there, the bus drivers, were there, ourselves, and other villagers were there all crowded into this small swim hole and crouching or kneeling to make believe it was deep like a swimming pool! The little kids dive bombed in around us regardless of the shallow water, the little girls coyly came up to say “hello” and the little boys played with some of the guys in our group. It was a happy scene.

Then we went up to the house to relax for a few minutes and to get ready for dinner. We sat out on the balcony at our foster home and listened to the dogs barking, the cockerels crowing, and the little kids laughing and playing. Contentment. The village is not as undeveloped as the villages in West Africa, and not as developed as our villages in Australia, Britain or Canada. Houses ranged from 2 storey to one storey and were built of concrete block or wood siding and tin roofs. Each had its little fenced garden in which you could see some greens growing, maybe a cockerel in a wire netting cage, some hens, or dogs or cats or all, and flowering bushes, plus the new looking pickups and cars in the driveways.

At 7:00 p.m. our foster Mum led us back down the concrete path to the Community Hall and shortly the male band in their dark jackets with gold stripes struck up their gongs to a regular rhythm. Clapping all around when they stopped. Then it was the ladies turn: they introduced the delicious dishes they had cooked for a buffet dinner, and we piled up our plates.

After dinner, we had an opportunity to try out the gongs, and with the help of the lead band player working with one of us as “leader" and setting the beat for us to follow, we played a simple rendition of their local music!  Next, there was a dance show. First the little girls and then the women showed us their local dance skills, accompanied by the gong players.

At the end of the show we were each given a number and paired up with a local dancer who showed us the steps and the rhythm of their local dance and so we all had our chance to demonstrate our skills. One of our group is a university dance teacher. Her performance was easily the best of all the visitors…and maybe even of the local dancers too!!

Soon it was time to head to bed. Oh yes, I forgot. We are in a muslim country, so much to the chagrin of the guys on the trip, there is not much or maybe no liqueur around – at this village anyway! Ray went off to bed, and I sat for a little longer chatting with the two other guys in our homestay group and watching football with some of the family members. Haven’t worked out the relationships yet, or who all lives here: maybe Grandma/Grandpa, Mum (Dad is with the police in Kuala Lumpur - it is customary for the men to leave the village to find work), Mum’s brother and wife, Mum’s two kids, some cousins – at least!!

Saturday March 26 – Day 1 – Sabah Adventure – Meeting

We met our Intrepid tour travel group in the Dreamtel Hotel lobby at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 26. Oswald Rompingas is our Sabah guide. After a proficient introduction to the dos and donts of the trip, we headed down the road in a convoy to a restaurant for dinner. There are 16 of us in total – all from Australia, Britain, and Canada. Mixed ages and sexes and it looks to be a fun and pleasant group. In the time it took to sit down at the table and order drinks the conversation flowed easily between us all.

Dinner was delicious – we each ordered a dish – a plate of succulent pea sprouts, a squid dish, fried chicken, and butter chicken at our table. The butter chicken is nothing like it is served in Canada but instead of chicken in a sauce it was dry noodles with maybe cheese crisped around them and little pieces of chicken. It was all very tasty.

Thursday, March 24 – Perth to Kota Kinabalu

Some people are “morning” people and love getting up in the early dawn. I do not. When my alarm went off at 2:30 a.m. I felt as if I was shoving my body up through mounds of earth to get to daylight! We left the apartment at 3:30 am and drove along ghost city highways straight into a bustling airport. Perth airport does not have any “quiet time” such as in Toronto, it is 24 x 7!

So, at 4:30 a.m. in the morning we checked in to Air Asia to be told we had to pay $1120 in excess baggage. We were allowed 20 kilos each and we had 69 kilos. Yes, we have two bags each – that is about 20 kilos plus 15 kilos for our backpacks.  I just about landed flat on my back on the floor. So, trying to remember you achieve more through being respectful than releasing a barrage of expletives at the airline attendant, we told Air Asia what we thought of that. But what could we do? It wasn’t as if we could dump our luggage in the middle of the departure hall and head out with one bag. Anyway, we moved on to the counter where we were supposed to make the payment, and an angel appeared from the heavens and said she would reduce the amount by about $1000. She explained that our travel agent should have booked the two bags in at the time of making the flight booking and then we would have paid a little extra for the second bag…which is of course as it is with most airlines. We still had a ridiculous amount to pay, but it was $1000 less!! This was also the airline that asked us for our security questions on the credit card at the time of booking. Have you ever heard of that before? Personally, I think it is one big sham on the part of Air Asia, and needless to say, we will NEVER fly with them again.

At 5:50 a.m. we loaded onto the A330-300 and powered up into the skies for our 5 ½ hour flight to Kuala Lumpur.  We had a 2 ½ hour lay-over during which I think we walked every inch of the corridors in the KL airport leaving us about 25 minutes in which to eat breakfast and lunch….oh yes, you had to pre-book your breakfast on line with Air Asia which of course we hadn’t done so weren’t able to get anything for breakfast on the plane, and then caught our connection to Kota Kinabalu in Borneo. The other negative issue with Air Asia is they give you the choice of emailing your boarding pass, or printing it when you get to the airport – you know, how they do it in Canada. Ray checked the box to have it emailed. When he received the email it said to print the boarding pass and if you had asked for the boarding pass to be sent by email there would be a charge to print it at the airport. Really!  If there is any sense in that, I fail to understand it. The attendant in Perth told us that in Perth they did not allow the use of an electronic boarding pass so she had to print it out anyway. She also printed out our KL boarding pass, so we never got to find out if we could use the electronic boarding pass in KL or not. By the time we got on the plane we were feeling pretty silly!! We have travelled around the world and never had these issues previously…..but I guess there are always new things that come along to challenge the brain!!

The flights were uneventful, reasonably smooth, and on time. We unloaded in Kinabalu around 5:45 p.m., our baggage was waiting for us on the baggage turntable by the time we walked to the baggage hall, and as we walked through the doors after customs, a guy approached us and it was the driver for our transfer to the hotel. All very smooth……..and hot!! We were hit with a wall of heat and hmidity when we walked out of the air terminal, I think the temperature was around 33C but with the humidity the “feel like” must have been pretty high. It will take a little time to get accustomed to that and we are hoping that up at 12,000/13,000 feet the temperature will feel a little cooler!

We sorted ourselves out in our room and then decided to head out for dinner. We asked the front desk for some suggestions and along with an Italian restaurant, and some pubs on the waterfront, the chap mentioned local food in the market. So we headed out and found the Seafood Market within about 10 minutes slow walk from the hotel. This was a huge big covered square, with fish tanks around 3 sides and tables and chairs set up in the middle. The various vendors displayed their brightly coloured awnings over the fish tanks, and there were people, and vendors, and tables, and chairs, and live fish everywhere. What a cacophony! So we walked in, and took a look around; we saw menus on the tables and there were chicken and vegetable dishes too. A “batista” came up to us and in a mixture of English and sign language he explained the set up. We sat down. I ordered fried chicken with ginger and spring onion and rice, and Ray ordered 100g of tiger shrimps with rice. A woman approached us with a beer menu and the first one I saw was “Royal Stout”….I chose that and Ray chose Carlsberg. The stout was delicious, but after our experiences in Australia I have taken to checking the alcohol content of beer before I order. Too late, I checked the bottle and it was 8%....now to me, that is high for beer. Ray’s was 5%. We had a great evening. The seafood market was eclectic, colourful, and the food tasted amazing.

March 19 to March 23 - Perth - Fremantle - Rottnest

Saturday March 19 - Perth to Fremantle
On Saturday morning we picked up the rental car and drove less than an hour down to Fremantle. We went to do some food shopping and then checked into the apartment we have rented for the next five  nights till we fly to Borneo. It is quite suitable and we have done a big wash, and vegged for the remainder of the afternoon. In the evening.we ate in which is just great after eating out so much. 

Sunday March 20

The next day, we had a relaxed morning then headed off down to the Fremantle Market. Busy, colourful, and quite fun!! We are staying in a really funky area, and we love it. The buildings are interesting, there are tons of people, and the lanes and shops are neat. The restaurants are all packed to over flowing. It really is an Aussie phenonomon.

Later in the afternoon we drove over to meet Brendan and Marietta (Sue Kearney’s son and his wife) and their two little girls. We ended up in a restaurant nearby. They fed the girls pasta and chips, and shared a pizza. Ray had a tea, and I had a black coffee. We had a really great time time. Marietta was really lovely, and both she and Brendan were so relaxed and seemed to enjoy our visit. The little girls were quite sweet, busy, but no problems at all. Brendan told us we had to drive down to the river and so after we left them we did just that. The River Swan I believe. It was so beautiful. The river was really wide, we had a beautiful view of downtown Perth (just like the view from the Toronto Islands over to Toronto), and the area was one of large beautiful homes, and avenues of trees. Truly lovely. 

We drove back to the apartment around 7:00 p.m. and decided to go and check out the ferry terminal where we will catch a ferry to Rottnest Island on Tuesday. So, we ended up investigating the harbour area. It is amazing!! We loved that too. We noticed a tall ship's mast behind the ferry dock and went to investigate. There was a tall ship with all kinds of people crawling over the rigging and working around on the ship. As we stood looking at it a woman came up to us and started chatting (people are very friendly here!!). Her daughter had just spent the day crewing on the ship, and there she was high up in the masts.

Monday March 21 – Fremantle Gaol

We had a relaxed morning: uploaded some blog posts, did emails etc. then around noon we walked over to the Fremantle Prison. This is our third prison tour in 4 months – Alcatrez, Port Arthur in Tasmania, and now the Fremantle Prison, so we are becoming experts about the lives of convicts and prisoners, their crimes, their attempts to escape, and their successes as contributing and creative members of society.

The prison was constructed as a convict gaol by prisoners in 1851 to 1859 and  in 1886 became a prison for local prisoners.There was a massive riot that ended in guards being taken hostage and a fire that caused $1.8 million damage in 1988. It was closed in 1991.There were stories of attempted escapes, but I can't really remember how many were successful - around 6 or 7 I think, if that.

In the evening we headed to the supermarket to buy some dinner, and came back to the flat and had another home cooked meal.

Tuesday March 22 – Rottnest Island

On Tuesdaywe took the Rottnest Express over to a small island off the west coast in the Indian Ocean. We had checked out a place to park and the location of the ferry the night before and headed straight there in the early morning. We parked the car and headed to the ferry terminal. It had moved! It wasn’t there! I said it was one way, Ray said it was the other way! Eventually I asked a guy on a bike, and he told us where it was. We had parked in a different car park! We couldn’t believe our stupidity!!!

Anyway, the ferry was just a passenger ferry and it sped smoothly across the water like a bullet. About 30 minutes later we arrived at Rotnest, picked up the bikes we had rented which also came across on the ferry, and rode off the jetty to explore.

The first issue I had was trying to get used to riding a bike with an extra 7 – 10 lbs on my back (my backpack with camera and lenses, swim stuff, hat, glasses, etc.). So the initial part was a little wobbly!! The bikes were aluminium and after our mountain bikes at home it felt as if we were floating above the ground as opposed to pedaling a machine on it!  I couldn’t really tell much difference between the three gears which made the uphills a little tough, but it was all good exercise!

We arrived on the island at 9:00 a.m. got a map from the Visitor’s Centre, and headed out of the busy activity area. For the rest of the day we travelled steadily along paths, or roads, that curved up and down and around the craggy coastline through the coastal heath and the constant onshore breeze. I felt good at the beginning because like seasoned runners we started into the wind believing that at the end of the day when we were heading back to the ferry the wind would be behind us; but because we are runners, we weren’t surprised when no matter which direction we cycled in, the wind was always in our face!! 

As we rode along we learned about the various shipwrecks caused by the angry ocean which had smashed the early unsuspecting ships against the rocks. One in particular, the “….”, broke its moorings in Freemantle and ended up being broken up on the rocks just off shore by Rottnest. You can still see a couple of pieces of  it close in to the shore. We saw three lighthouses, but as we headed towards the third, we decided that we were lighthoused out! There were also various pieces of art work mounted in coastal viewing areas.

The best part of the trip for us, was at the top of just about every mini-climb of our undulating road, we were faced with another brilliant view overlooking a cove or bay, filled with golden sands and rocks, and turquoise blue oceans, and flanked by the beauty of the coastal heath vegetation. Some of the coves were deserted, some had been discovered by other cyclists. One we took a swim in the ocean and relaxed on the beach in the sun while we at the packed lunch I had prepared. All took our breath away, and we just wanted to look, and look, and look some more so that the images would be etched in our memories.

Another highlight of the trip were the Quokkas. A guy I spoke to told me what they were and the story goes that when the first settlers arrived in Rottnesst, they found these little creatures and thought they looked liked rats, so they named the island Rottnest, the Aboriginal word for “little rat”. In fact the creatures are small wallabies and have the very sweet, inquisitive faces of the wallaby, and they “hop”! Despite numerous signs asking people not to feed them, they do. The only consolation is that I did read an article that said they were adapting well to their new environment of visitors and that the main threat to their existence is the lack of Aborginal burns which create the new, succulent shoots that they originally lived on. They are very brazen and come right up to you to ask for food, to investigate your back pack, and just to have a little conversation with you. Very sweet indeed.

We loved being able to ride the bikes through such amazing scenery, stopping when we wanted to admire the views and absorb the beauty  of the land and the birds and animals.

When we arrived back at the built up area, we had a coffee/tea in the Dome and relaxed for a few minutes recalling our best experiences of the ride. Then we headed to the 5:00 p.m. ferry and journey back to Fremantle. The ocean had changed; it was no long calm. The swell had built up over the day and when we started out a member of the ferry staff was positioned on each floor of the ferry and announced that the journey would be rough and to advise passengers of the location of the “sick bags”. So, the first part of the journey was lots of fun, but it soon settled down, and though admittedly the boat was travelling much slower than in the morning, the last part of the journey was reasonably smooth.

That evening, after a quick shower, we headed out to The Local Hotel for dinner.

Wednesday, March 23 – Fremantle

In the morning I spent 2 ½ hours in the hairdressers having my hair cut and the roots coloured. Then in the afternoon we washed clothes, packed, checked in, got directions for the airport, and prepared to leave our little apartment in eclectic Fremantle.

We ate dinner out and headed to bed a little earlier than usual in preparation of our early start in the morning.

Friday March 18 – Day 10 – Big Valley Caravan Park, RosaGlen to Perth

We were up with the sun at 5:45 a.m.. I was toasty and warm all night but the canvas exterior of the swag was really wet.

The first stop was to the hospital for Claudia to complete the paperwork for last night’s emergency visit; then as we were ahead of schedule Annelies took us to Yallingup beach for 10 minutes. The weather is quite changed and I am wearing just about everything I brought in my backpack for this trip!

The highlight was our Ngilgi Cave tour. This was a a cultural tour conducted by someone of Aboriginal heritage who introduced us to the spirituality of the cave, the creation of man and how he came to be charged with taking care of everything on earth, the animals, the trees, and the plants. We went 360 steps down into the cave and saw all the stalagtites which grow at the rate of 1 cm per 100 years. It was a powerful experience being that far down in the earth with all the weight of the rock up above you and all the spirits of the “others” around you. Then we sat around the fire at the meeting place while Josh explained all the hunting utensils and showed us how to light a fire with the fire stick, and played three different types of didgeridoos. A fascinating experience which left us with tons of questions about the history and culture of the Aboriginals.

We had a lovely 15 minute drive to Meelup Beach for lunch. After lunch we strolled armong the rocks, said good-bye to friends on the other tour, and headed off to Simmo’s Ice Cream. Ray had a strawberry ice cream but I am ice creamed out – I think I have had 2 or 3 in Australia!! Had a cappochino instead and talked with the “ice cream eating emu” who stretched his long thin neck aggressively through the wire netting fence to attempt to grab your ice-cream. But, I foiled him!!

The last leg of the journey to Perth started about 2:00 p.m. and ended somewhere around 6:00 p.m. Annalies dropped us off right in front of the hotel. We checked in and headed up to the room on the 4^th floor. What were the things we most longed for? First, the thought of being able to relax in the shower without a queue of people waiting; second, the thought of having clean sand-free feet and not walking out the door of the shower into more dirt; third, the thought of being able to go to the loo in the middle of the night without a walk and the possibility of getting lost!!

We had a quick shower, and then walked over to the restaurant we were all meeting at for dinner. The hotel receptionist suggested we not walk, but Annelies had told us it would be a max 15/20 minute walk at our pace....so since she had been walking with us on various walks...we trusted her information!! We arrived at the Brass Monkey which was "alive" with activity....after 10 days in pretty remote territory it was quite a "shock"!! We had a good dinner and headed home around 9:30 p.m. with the potential of a nice walk through the centre of the city. What we saw was a ton of police cars and police all over. We couldn't figure out what was going on. We came across a large "paddy waggon". We wondered what it was all about. There didn't seem to be anything untoward going on, but all these police??? Anyway, we made it safely back to the hotel and the next morning I asked one of the young guys on the desk what was going on. He told us that sadly, this was the norm every Friday and Saturday night. Things just go so wild downtown, mainly due to all the drinking and drugs, that the only way to keep it under control was to have the police presence. Really!!! He told us that it was dangerous to walk around in the downtown area on those nights.....during the week was fine. Really!! We have walked around many South American cities which everyone tells you is "unsafe" to no avail. Maybe we have just been lucky. Anyway, it was quite an eye opener. The downtown Perth is really quite lovely with pedestrian malls, interesting buildings, and other fun stuff going on.