Ko Phi Phi, Krabi

The Phi Phi archipelago is what dreams are made of.  As we stepped off the ferry onto Ko Phi Phi Don, we left reality behind and walked into paradise.  We literally dropped our bags and scrambled to the water, disappearing along the coastline on a kayak to explore secret beaches nestled at the base of the towering cliffs.  The compact town was a peaceful retreat when we returned to eat and sleep, it's tiny car and scooter free streets lined with restaurants and boat companies. A gibbon dressed in dungarees rode past us on a bicycle with his owner.  We were spoilt with beautiful views over the bay from our hillside bungalow.  

 

Longtail Boats, Ko Phi Phi Don

We rose early the next morning to catch our privately hired longtail boat to Ko Phi Phi Leh before the tourist crowds were even stirring.  Our excitement was palpable as we approached the sheer limestone cliffs.  

Ko Phi Phi Leh from Longtail Boat 

We were guided into the water by our guide Nu as we anchored in a small bay.  The famous Maya Bay we had come to see was just a short swim and climb away he promised us.  As soon as we jumped in we were blown away by the life under the water as we suddenly found ourselves swarmed by colorful fish. We climbed up onto the rocks with the help of a complex web of ropes, and stumbled eagerly through the camp site and along the sandy path to finally reach 'the beach' that we had been dreaming of for so long!

Maya Bay, 'The Beach'

We swam and took photos with barely anyone else around, in a private haven almost completed surrounded by limestone pillars.  When we finally returned to the boat Nu was relaxing and waiting to take us to his favorite snorkeling spots, including Shark point!

Snorkeling Paradise 

One of the Secluded Bays, Ko Phi Phi Leh

Six hours later after being in the water all morning, we headed back to Ko Phi Phi Don to catch our ferry back to Phuket, sunburnt and satisfied and feeling very privileged.

Fish Food 

We got some incredible underwater camera footage, we promise to follow this post with a video soon!

Patong, Phuket

It was a long day of traveling to reach Phuket from the island of Ko Phangan.  After the slow Raja Ferry ride we had a long bus ride ahead and only reached Phuket Town well after dark.  The bus stop was still a good distance from Patong where our accommodation was, but a sweet local girl advised us on a safe taxi to take and was even prepared to barter for us.  The taxi involved winding up and down a steep hill at furious speeds on the back on a ute.  Needless to say Patong beach was a welcome site. Somehow we'd managed to find a flash hotel at less than hostel prices and enjoyed the luxury for a whole week while we planned the next part of our travels.  We spent our days keeping cool in the hotel pool.  At night Bangla Road came alive and offered endless entertainment and street food at tourist inflated prices.

Full Moon Party, Ko Phangan

 We travelled by train, bus, plane and ferry to reach our first Thailand destination on the party island of Ko Phangan. We were rewarded with a beachfront bungalow surrounded by coconut trees and hammocks on the picturesque Baan Tai beach.

We never had to walk far to reach a restaurant and started sampling Thai classics including Massaman curry and Phad Thai straight away.

Our Ko Phangan stay centered around the Full Moon Party! Dressed and painted in fluro we partied with thousands of people on Haat Rin Beach. Along with the ridiculously cheap bucket cocktails, there was an endless supply of amazing food including the best grilled chicken kebabs!

Marc took along his GoPro for the night and while it's impossible to completely capture how crazy this night was, this video shows some of the highlights.

PS. As always, watch it in HD!

Kuala Lumpur

We suddenly found ourselves surrounded by skyscrapers and non-stop traffic, in the fast paced city of Kuala Lumpur.  Despite this, we never seemed to be far from a park or avenue of trees in this city that remains one of the greenest in South East Asia. 

Petronas Towers and Park 

Navigating by street signs proved fruitless with many confusing discontinuous streets.  Following major landmarks and pedestrian signs was more successful.  We explored the inner city on foot, passing some of Malaysia's iconic landmarks.  

Masjid Jamek, the oldest mosque in Kuala Lumpur 

Sri Mahamariamman Temple

We stayed right in the heart of China Town (around the corner from the famous Central Market), where daily life included a vibrant mix of culture, cuisine and cheap brand rip-offs!

Petaling Street, China Town

Our stay coincided with Malaysia's 50 years of Independence.  In the weekend evenings we caught the train to the Petronas Towers and joined the crowds in celebrating.

KLCC Park, night displays

Sepilok, Sabah

Even after we had seen orang utans in the wild, we still decided to go and explore Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre for a day.  Although tourists normally have to watch the amazing apes from a distance, we got up close and personal with one inquisitive female.   Watch our youtube clip below.

This place does an incredible job rescuing orphaned and injured baby orang utans, all too common in the rapidly expanding palm oil plantations.  They are rehabilitated over many years, taught all the basic skills they need to survive in the wild.  The infants are completely dependent.  As they grow and learn they are slowly introduced to larger and larger areas of the surrounding forrest as their bonds with humans weaken and they begin to fend for themselves.  There's the buddy system too, where stronger orang utans will look after the weaker ones.  This program has been so successful that there are now rehabilitated females with babies, and we were lucky enough to see one!  Once fully independent (5-10years), selected individuals are relocated by helicopter to Tobin, a large area of unspoilt forrest close to Danum Valley.

Female Orang Utan with Baby, Sepilok

A short walk from the rehabilitation centre is the Rainforest Discovery Centre where we did a canopy walk 10m above the ground, and a trail walk that led us to the 'Sepilok Giant'.

Sepilok Giant

It was so incredibly hot, but the gardens were beautiful and it was a great way to spend our last day in Sabah, Borneo!

Sungai Kinabatangan

The mighty Sungai Kinabatangan is Borneo's longest river, a whopping 560km of winding chocolate-brown water. It is surrounded by lush rainforest (and palm plantations) teeming with animals and birds. Our guide, Gary, had been working on the river for 14 years and had a keen eye for spotting wildlife, and endless knowledge about what he could see. Our first river cruise was our most successful. We were only 5minutes into the boat ride when we spotted a male and female orang utan. This is a rare sight. The male orangutan or 'wild man of Borneo' is usually a lone traveller and leaves the female to bring up her babies on her own. 

Male Orang Utan in the Wild, Kinabatangan River  

We saw plenty of proboscis monkeys, which can only be found in Borneo.  They are named for their large protruding noses, the males in particular.  They live in large groups, with one alpha male and the rest of the group females and babies.  Their large round bellies also distinguish them from the other monkey species. 

Female Proboscis Monkey, Kinabatangan River 

 Our third lucky sighting was the pygmy elephant.  At first just a single animal, and then two whole herds!  This is Borneo's largest mammal, and yet the smallest elephant in the world!  It was absolutely captivating watching them so close to the rivers edge.  Two of the males had tracking devices attached on collars around their necks.  We were told that this was to help keep the elephants safe, as they are prone to entering the palm plantations.

Pygmy Elephants, Kinabatangan River 

We also added the following to our list of sightings:  crocodile, silver-leaf monkey, pig-tail monkey, long-tailed macaque, hornbill, various eagles, kingfishers and graceful egrets.  

The river itself produced fish for the local people, and prawn traps were carefully placed and marked by plastic bottles.  

Our night jungle walks were exilarating!  We had local village people guiding us and pointing out sleeping birds perched on low branches (including oriental dwarf kingfisher, flycatcher, spider hunter, giant pitta, bull bull and robin).  They also helped to pull leeches off our clothing and gumboots at regular intervals.  Unfortunately we couldn't seem to find the reclusive Western Tarsier).  

Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher

Extra Large Daddy Long Legs 

We also did a day jungle walk, trekking through thick mud.  The walk ended at a picturesque lake which was conveniently filled with tiny anchovy fish that nibbled at our feet and the bread we had taken along to feed them.  We didn't do this for too long though, after the guide told us to watch out for crocodiles.  

After two long afternoon and early morning river cruises scouting for wildlife, we ended our Kinabatangan stay by planting a native tree (Rambutan) next to the lodge we had stayed in.  Again, the local villagers guided us, and gave us a board to paint out names on.  The tree will hopefully bear it's delicious fruit in ten years time or so.  

Rambutan Seedling, Bilit Adventure Lodge 

Sandakan, Sabah

The views on our flight into Sandakan were incredible. The stark contrast between ancient rainforest and modern palm oil plantations was eye opening. Sadly Sandakan was once the site of the Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in WWII and the starting point for the infamous death marches. Today it is Sabah's second largest city with a rundown centre but a pretty waterfront filled with restaurants and hotels and Sabah's largest fish market. Boats are plentiful.

Sandakan Waterfront 

Sandakan serves as the gateway to nature on the east coast. Our plan was to head south to Bilit, a small village on the edge of the Sungai (river) Kinabatangan.

Mount Kinabalu Video

Here's our video of the Mount Kinabalu climb, Make sure you watch it in HD!

Palau Mamutik, Sabah

After our mountain climb, we definitely needed some time to recover. So we headed over to Pulau Mamutik, the smallest of five islands comprising Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park, just a short boat ride from KK.

We passed the stilted water village on Pulau Gaya, home to many Filipino immigrants (some illegal).

Pulau Gaya Water Village 

Mamutik was only 300m of beach end to end, but the bath warm water was swarming with inquisitive tropical fish and coral gardens.

Entrance to Pulau Mamutik where we paid our conservation fee

We had to abandon our private shady beach spot, after massive monitor lizards decided we were encroaching on their territory.




                                 

A huge thunderstorm blew in at incredible speed making for a fun boat ride back. By the time we got to the wharf we were saturated!

Mount Kinabalu, Sabah

Getting to the mountain proved an adventure in itself after we hopped onto the wrong bus and ended up travelling in the opposite direction. By the time we finally arrived in Kundasang, it was raining heavily, getting dark and the temperature was significantly lower. We stumbled into the closest lodge and paid the higher than usual price to secure a good sleep before our climb. As a bonus the lodge also ran a cheesecake shop.



We woke to the most beautiful view of the mountain and valley, both excited and anxious to reach the Park Headquarters to make an early start. Mount Kinabalu is Malaysia's first UNESCO World Heritage Site, and has the largest variety of carnivorous pitcher plants in the world.

After a fair bit of paperwork we collected our packed lunch, ID cards and finally met our local guide, Rose. She had been climbing the mountain 2-3 times a week for 6years! Her advice was simple: go slow and conserve oxygen. Oh and to hire the walking poles we quickly became heavily reliant on!



We climbed continuously for close to 5hours, stopping only for brief water breaks and high calorie snacks (highly coveted by the fearless squirrels). The local porters put us to shame, completing their DAILY ascent in 2.5hours, carrying up to 40kg on wooden boards on their backs. They were responsible for transporting all the supplies to and from the mountain accommodation.

By the time we reached Laban Rata Resthouse at 3,273m, exhaustion was setting in. We refuelled on the endless buffet food provided and watched the sky turn crazy colours above the clouds.



After a short sleep and our first breakfast, we started climbing again at 2:30am. This time we had only 2.7km to cover but 822m of altitude to gain. We scaled near vertical surfaces of granite continuously for 3hours. Temperatures were close to freezing and we were guided only by torchlight and a white rope. And Rose of course! We crossed the safety checkpoint showing our IDs, following a line of glowing head torches. Towards the end it became pretty desperate as we literally forced the final steps, using the last of our energy to reach the summit (Low's Peak at 4095.2m). We arrived just a few minutes before the sky started to light up.



The 360 degree views were breath taking! As the sun came up, the mountain cast a huge shadow across the island reaching all the way to Kota Kinabalu and the South China Sea.



We hustled for a photo with the official summit sign.



Then the slow and careful decent began. At first it seemed so easy in comparison but the pain quickly set in with the repetitive impact on our joints. We stumbled frequently, our fatigue evident. Harness free abseiling down the steeper sections was fun!





After a second buffet breakfast the descent continued. For a total of 3.5hours! It was a lot easier to breathe, and Rose wanted to know all about New Zealand. She taught us a lot about local life. We shared our packed food with her and took her advice to buy a can of 100plus at the bottom to help us rehydrate.



After a final buffet feed (endless food!), and a farewell to Rose and our Australian dorm mates, we headed back to KK, exhausted and elated.

Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

Our midnight arrival into hot, sticky Sabah was quick and pain free. There didn't appear to be any formal customs to clear on our transition from Indonesia to Malaysia. Just a quick stamp and we had free 90 day visas added to our passports. Our first impressions of the capital Kota Kinabalu (KK) were of a very laid back and forward thinking city. The wide footpaths and lack of scooters were a sharp change in scenery. Despite the expanses of water surrounding the city there didn't seem to be any beaches! The picturesque waterfront was packed with food, fish and handicraft markets. KK is famous for it's cheap seafood, and passion for karaoke! Each day ended in a roaring thunderstorm - a pattern we repeatedly forgot to plan for. English was widely spoken, as was Chinese and Malay (helpfully similar to Bahasa Indonesian).