Borneo, Borneo, Borneo!

Our first country done, we headed to the airport to fly to Borneo, an island comprising of three countries, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia. One of the most notable things about Borneo from the air is the number and size of the rivers that crisscross the country. Although, I guess that isn't surprising seeing as it's largely rainforest!

Our first stop was Kota Kinabalu (known locally as KK), which is at the top of the Malaysian part of the island. The guidebook did not lie when it said KK is not renowned for its beauty. Even the view of the sea from the viewing platform is mostly hidden behind ugly concrete tower blocks! That said, the guidebook also mentioned the friendly locals which is something we also experienced. KK used to be owned by the British and to protect it from Japanese invasion during WW2, the British burned everything to the ground before retreating, except for a small clock tower and the old post office building which is now the tourist information centre. So you can understand why the place is so concrete!

We checked into our hotel Eden54 and then wandered over to the sea front to watch the sunset. Supposedly the sunset is meant to be stunning from KK as there is a vast expanse of sea out to the west, however it was cloudy so we didn’t get to see much! The main thing we noticed is the hundreds of birds that appear at dusk, chirping away and flying between the trees. It’s incredible! We wandered around the weekend food market before opting for a local speciality, Bak Kut Teh, for dinner, which is pork ribs in soup. It was very tasty.

The next morning we caught a speedboat over to the island of Gaya, which is just off the mainland. The boat ride was like being on the Thames Rib boat, super speedy but you didn’t feel entirely safe! We spent the day on one of Gaya’s beaches, swimming with the fishes and doing quizzes. The fish were incredible, although very bold as they kept chasing us away from their homes and I swear one of them headbutted me! While we were waiting for our boat home, we were entertained by a shoal of fish being attacked by some killer tiger fish. They were all clustering together and then jumping out of the water whenever the tiger fish approached. It was amazing to watch.

After our second failed attempt at seeing the sunset, we went for dinner at the local fish market (to be covered more in the next food blog). On our way home we discovered an outdoor space that had been turned into a Christmas market selling lots of recycled gifts. There were 30 pillars, each painted on one side with an inspirational person from Sabah (the northern Malaysian region of Borneo) and the other side with the artist’s impression of themselves. It was really interesting reading about all the people and why the artist had chosen them. There was also some live music to enjoy.

Mount Kinabalu

The main reason for our stay in KK was our Christmas climb up Mount Kinabalu. After checking out the Sunday market, which was a bit overwhelming due to the heat, the number of people and the lack of breakfast beforehand, we packed up, and headed to the shopping mall for lunch (air-conditioning is a great invention!). We then waited an hour for our transfer to the mountain. Maybe it was just because it was Christmas, but our overall impression of KK was that it was very congested, hence the hour delay.

We had opted for the three night, two day climb of the mountain in the hope that we would be better acclimatised and suffer less from altitude sickness. So our first night we stayed at 1600m at the entrance to the national park. We were bunking in with three other people, a British couple living in Hong Kong and a French guy. We also met a Dutch guy in the room next door. All were very friendly and we spent the evening having dinner and playing Monopoly Deal. It was surprisingly cold, possibly due to the rain, but that is to be expected in a rainforest!

After a rather broken night’s sleep due to many wild animals making noise during the night (must remember to wear earplugs!), we rose at 6.30am on Christmas Eve to meet our guide and start our long walk up the mountain. Mount Kinabalu is 4,095m high (in comparison, Britain’s highest mountain, Ben Nevis, is a mere 1,345m) and the climb is done in two stages. The first day you walk 6km (sounds easy, right!) but up to a height of 3,272m. The second day, you get up at 2am, climb the remaining 2.5km in the dark to the summit at 4,092m ideally for the sunrise, before climbing all the way back down to 1,866m where the trek starts.

We met our guide Freendy, a local man who has been hiking up the mountain for 16 years. Only 139 people are allowed up the mountain each day and each group has to have a guide. The five of us who had shared a room started off initially together but gradually separated as some were quicker than others. The walk starts off in tropical rainforest which is hot and humid but means there is a rich abundance of flora to observe, including mosses, ferns and pitcher plants (carnivorous plants). There are also many extremely bold squirrels that enjoy trying to steal your food at the various huts on the way up.

Despite steps being put in to help with the walk up, the mountain is anything but easy. As you ascend, you start encountering more alpine flora and the climate does get cooler and less humid. The main challenge is the altitude, as it gets steeper the higher up you go meaning you need to rest more to recover your breath as the oxygen gets thinner. The last km is by far the toughest and took about double the time to cover as the other kms did. Finally, after six hours of hiking, we made it to Laban Rata guesthouse which was to be our home for the night.

After some much needed refreshments and a long sit down, we got to observe a stunning sunset (finally!) from above the clouds. It made the day’s trek worth it. Being Christmas Eve, after sunset the staff handed out candles to everyone and put on a show of Christmas songs and carols. It was such a lovely thing to watch, and after the day we’d had, quite emotional, particularly when Santa came round handing out sweets!

Due to the very early start on Christmas Day, we were all in bed by 7pm. After another broken night’s sleep (this time because one of the girls in our room got altitude sickness and was sick every couple of hours!) we woke at 2am and after a quick breakfast donned our head torches and started climbing. With James having suffered a lot from altitude sickness the day before, it was now my turn. By the end of the first km (2 hours of walking later) I was feeling incredibly rough and wasn’t sure I could continue. But after being sick and having a rest at the check point for 20 minutes, I felt much better and able to continue. That said, the climb itself didn’t get much easier. By this time, we were so high there was no vegetation and you were climbing up a sheer granite rock face with a rope for support. It was pretty cold, so gloves were definitely needed. Again, every few steps were a challenge, particularly as the last 50m is the steepest of the lot, but at 7am we finally made it to the summit! We were lucky enough that we got a bit of a view before the mist rolled in and then it was time to descend.

We made it back to the hostel in half the time, a combination of it being easier to go down, less stops and rain making us walk quicker! We had a couple of hours rest in the bunk house, giving us time to have some breakfast and open our Christmas presents before continuing the final descent. While going down was easier as the gradient got less steep and there was more oxygen to breathe, by the end we were very tired, could barely walk and then were faced with a load of steps to get to the finish! But we were very pleased to have completed such an epic hike and it’ll be a Christmas that lives on in the memory for many years to come. In total, over the two days, we took 10 hours to climb up the mountain and 6 hours to come down. The sign below did not lie!

After grabbing some lunch in the restaurant at the bottom (which was down some steps - so cruel!), we caught our transfer back to KK. We rounded off our wholly unconventional Christmas with a dinner at the local Little Italy restaurant - to be fair, James did have turkey ham on his pizza! After dinner, we crashed out back at hotel Eden54, ready to take our flight the next day to Kuching in Sarawak, the southern half of Malaysian Borneo. Merry Christmas to everyone back home!