THE THREE ALPHA TRAVEL

Malaysia (Borneo) had not stricken me as much as Indonesia did but the need to go there was imminent – this time I was to arrive in the peninsular part and spend some days in its capital; Kuala Lumpur. The reason was that we needed a Visa for Vietnam and the nearest embassy to Indonesia was there.

The classic KL photo, the Petronas Twin Towers

I was told that Kuala Lumpur was worth a visit but as always when it comes to big cities (and especially capitals) I did not believe it 100%. After nearly a week of being here I have to say that I really like it! The main reason is that it is easy to walk around it – even the presence of cars and traffic is not that bad. In many places the trees are of the primary forest that used to be there before the city (big old fellows hanging over you). It has a nature reserve, a very nice and highly educational National Museum, embassies from all over the world (useful when travelling) and much more that make it a great brake when passing from countries like Indonesia to the north, or the other way round.

In Wednesday 22th of July we’ll be flying to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. Kuala Lumpur was definitely a very good handful of “civilization” and a re-fueling station and I would more than recommend it to anybody that wants to visit.

One thing is for sure for Malaysia – as it is for most of the places of the world that are running to catch the modernization train; don’t read old books about it before you go. You know it. It is not going to be like that. But in the same time the hidden hope is there. A pocket of resistance? Some good luck that will bring you closer to something authentic? Difficult. I had ruled out peninsular Malaysia knowing that it only has one national park. I did not want to visit Kuala Lumpur neither. Now they both seem reasons why I should have gone and not the opposite. Also I ruled out a friend’s invitation at Tioman island offering free accomodation for some days and of course if I had gone I would have enjoyed first-class diving. Instead I followed my instinct (or was it my knowledge?) and yelled out; Borneo here I come! Did I do good? Yes, I reckon… I always thought that all the places are worth visiting. The world is full of people that pay money for visiting a place and demand from this place to meet their expectations or else they complain. This is maybe exactly why Borneo has a limited future…

Now in Borneo I saw great difference between Sabah and Sarawak. I can now say that Sarawak is more to my liking. Kuching is a city with character. And with its Kelabit Highlands, Bario and the longhouse treks (of which I have done none) it still has some places untouched of the typical tourist hand. In Miri I sacrificed Mulu National Park for a sailing experience. I do not regret it. What I would have changed maybe would be the visit to Sabah. There I understood why they are separate states! They take their tourism industry very seriously – that much that they treat both travelers, tourists and anybody else the same. I did not like that. Overall if you want to visit Borneo (and you should) do yourself a favor and do it ASAP. The people are great and it is one of the safest places to be too. But I would suggest one thing. Do not support the big companies with your money – even if you have lots of it. Most of them are linked to “evil” organizations like logging and petrol companies. Borneo needs everything BUT those. I might be a dreamer, but traveling is a responsible thing. Borneo people are used to the bad type of tourist so try and be a good one

Sabah… a place of many promises for a traveller and a nature lover. Thirty years ago this statement would have been totally true but nowadays it seems its jungles, its tribe-people or its animal life have been hiding – at least from me. Again I have to say that doing the sailing in Miri made me spend many days that would else how go to finding what I was reading in the books about Borneo. Of course no regrets there but still; some places just put you of…

Bus in Kota Kinabalu

Kota Kinabalu (also known as KK) is not the worst of the cities I have been to. It is actually pretty nice! It has a remarkable museum, a nice enough mosque, it is known for its sunsets at the promenade, its Sunday markets and it is a good place for placing your headquarters when about to explore Sabah (or what’s left of it). I was also lucky enough to catch one of the two days of the Harvest Festival (Gawai Dayak) being held in KK and so learned some things about the tribesmens’ traditions… The people are very friendly and smiley and I have made some good friends while here. From its nearby “attractions” I went for two; the Kinabalu National Park and the Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park.

The Kinabalu mountain is a very famous destination with a widely-known 4000m peak to all the fans of trekking and mountain climbing. There I planned of spending 3 nights. Instead of climbing the peak though, I found myself walking every other trek in the park but Low’s Peak. The reason; it was too damn expensive! The cheapest option was to pay about 700 RM – which translates to roughly 150 Euro… that for a mountain that you climb yourself is just too much! Maybe if I was carried to the top I would have thought about it a second time In any case, the equivalent of Forestry in Sarawak is called Sabah Parks here in Sabah and they are responsible for the mess. What makes the price so… spicy is the accomodation options in the middle of the trek – you have to do it in two days. Even if you wanted to do it in one day (which is an option too) thus cutting down your costs (and maybe your knees afterwards too) Sabah Parks says; only 4 people a day are allowed to do it… I wonder why. In any case the market is responsible for giving business to those people who have triplified the prices in one year and nobody says anything. I would not give them my money. The rest of the trekking around the park (the free option) was OK but in times I had to climb more pipes and hoses than jungle – they just don’t care. Kinabalu will soon fade away in my memory I reckon and this is a shame because the place IS very beautiful… As to be expected I did not spend 3 nights as I had planned - I spend two days walking the rest of the trails and one night in a hotel outside the park. Then I went back to KK. Having some time I decided to go and see another National Park.

The Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park is basically a group of five islands along with their coral reefs very close to the shore of KK. It is administered by Sabah Parks too. Being a bit cautious about what I was about to see I decided to make a day trip to two of the islands; Sapi and Manukan. People were snorkelling away and day-trippers like me with their families or their other half were having a stroll. Everything seemed normal and then I tried to go for a swim… In both islands the sea was so dirty that not even me (that I don’t usually mind it) did not have a dip. How could people snorkel and get their children to do the same? Maybe because they had paid to be there already… In any case in both of the islands I followed the trails and tried to find an alternative but without success. I did see two huge monitor lizards though… near a huge pile of rubish trying to find food.

Tomorrow I will be flying to Thailand. I do not know what to expect – although I have a lot of feedback but I guess is what you make of it. To do that though you have to have the options and in Sabah those options seem to have long disappeared for the traveler.

In the last post I mentioned Hans and Rose. Well that is who I met when I flew from Kuching to Miri. They let me live on their boat and even fed me in many occasions – I would have to be their crew while they were out sailing looking for a particular ship wreck. They are a couple from Australia and the last two to three years they are based in Miri doing what they love most – treasure hunting with their yacht.

Mapping for shipwrecks

The deal was ideal. Free scuba diving and food and shelter. In exchange I would have to help with navigation, knots, ropes and all those skipper-related tasks that are needed on the boat while on the sea. Gladly we were joined by Roy, a British gentleman that had way more experience than me – lucky for them. Thus I learned some things about that too!

We had to wait a bit while Roy could say that he would come with us. The days in waiting, I read, visited the Niah Caves (see previous post) and used the free Internet provided on a 3G network on board! Who would have imagined it! Living in the boat beforehand gave me a head start and when on the sea I had no problems adjusting to the whole up and down, right and left movement of the vessel – which proved quite a problem for Rose. I got to know a bit more about the “yachties”, the community of people travelling and living in their ships. I always thought of them as rich with a lot of free time but it is not necessarily always so. A good example was – yet another – Australian couple, Stu and Lisa with their son Fletcher that joined us, arriving in the marina of Miri and staying there for two days. I wish them well wherever they are Overall a great experience and a great way of travelling – offering yourself as crew in peoples’ ships. It can get you a long way!

At the end we might not have found a shipwreck or a treasure but for me it was already a priceless experience. I hope we all meet again sometime; who knows… at a marina somewhere in the world. Until then safe travels and may the right wind blow on your sails always!

Kuching means “cat” in Malaysian. I knew this from my time in Indonesia when many people would call the street-cats like that. Also Kuching is the capital of Sarawak (the one of the two districts of Borneo) and luckily it still conserves its charm. I bet twenty years ago it was even more charming and traditional but hey, what is it being saved completely from the “progress” and the concrete jungle development?

A big "kuching"

Sarawak as such, was part of the sultanate of Brunei about 200 years ago until the British (yes British again!) James Brooke or Rajah (King) James Brooke as he is known was given it.  He and his family was around even until 1941 when the Japanese invaded it and held it for about four years. Its independence was given by the British, that ruled it again after the Japanese, in 1963 and therefore formed Malaysia for the first time along with Singapore, Sabah and North Borneo the same year (Singapore became independent two years later).

I enjoyed walking in Chinatown and Little India part of Kuching, which along with the docks and the museums areas are a good glimpse of what Kuching could have been in the past. The food was great and the accomodation cheap enough. Being my first touch of Malaysia I was happily surprised but of course no comparison to Indonesia; the people are clearly more well off here and more neutral when it comes to their reactions to foreigners. Their economic situation has to do with the palm oil industry, that has destroyed so many forest areas and it still does, as well as it keeps numbers of endangered species in the same low level as years ago. When reading old stories, Kuching was the place of rest for many adventurers and explorers. Today it is a good stop before one starts visiting Borneo’s many National Parks – and up to a point I would do the same thing.

I later found out that not all cities of Borneo have characters as well as not all National Parks of Borneo are worth visiting… Stay tuned for more