The dinner was lovely but there was too little time to catch up. Su Yin invited me to write six random things about me. I thought I’ll briefly share this one experience I had three years ago.

A few years ago, I went trekking at Maliau Basin in Sabah. It was a life-changing experience.

Back then, Maliau was the last remaining virgin rainforest in Borneo. Every fallen tree trunk was covered with rich, velvety and soft moss. The animals were curious, cautious but unafraid of us so they came out to view us. The dark green jungle was filled with orchids, birds, insects, snakes, orang utans, and much much more. I felt wealthy beyond measure, the forest is endlessly abundant. Until today, I still love all life forms. I am not one of those who prefer dogs over cats or cats over dogs because I feel that every animal is an incomparable treasure.

My new Dutch Shepherd Dog, Charise, arrived from the Philippines on Friday. I don’t have any recent photo of her, here is one taken by her trainer when she was two months younger. Look at her, so eager. :)

And a video, also by her trainer. The girl can run!

She is so precious.

However, by the time I received her warning, it was too late. We were only two days away from a night there and we didn’t have any back-up plan. Bravely we checked in at Kinabalu Pine Resort and gladly we discovered, they must have had a bed bug fumigation before we came. We slept well.

It wasn’t perfect though. The hot water heater did not work so we couldn’t shower at all!

Nic was pleasantly surprised by how beautiful this resort is. It looks and feels like a five-star hotel but costs only RM135 per night. Our room is incredibly spacious with comfortable twin beds and a large patio with a view of Mount Kinabalu for us to hang out.

After we had settled down however, we discovered that the water heater wasn’t working! Since it is absolutely freezing at 2000m above sea level, I had to abandon showering again!

We woke at about 10am and enjoyed a good breakfast at the resort restaurant. The food was surprisingly light and delicious. I ate scrambled eggs, toast, sausages and baked beans while Nic had a plate of fried rice (Nasi Goreng).

We enjoyed the cool mountain air but the restaurant did not have a good view of the mountains. We couldn’t extend our check-out time either as the resort is fully booked for the next group of customers who could be arriving at any time.

After packing up and checking out, we hung out for a while more to snap photos of ourselves all over the place. :smile:

We had originally planned to go from Mount Kinabalu to Kota Belud, Kudat, and Tanjung Simpang Mengayau but since the hotel’s hot shower was not working, we decided to stop by the famous hot spring in Pedas for a bath.

The hot spring didn’t look like what we had expected at all. There wasn’t any natural earthen hole with sulphuric water springing forth. It was more like many tiled swimming pools that you can fill up with sulphuric hot water out of a normal water tap!

Since there wasn’t too many tourists around, Nic and I quickly found a pool for ourselves, filled it up with spring water, and soaked. I played around in the water for a bit. Nic looked visibly relieved when I finally suggested we leave. *hugs*

I scrubbed myself thoroughly in the proper shower room with a creamy and fragrant L’occitane shower cream that Nic’s older sister had given me before the trip. On the way out of the hot spring, we stopped the car to buy a coconut drink!

Mmmm… what an excellent cool down after the steaming hot bath, although a pina colada would have topped that!

We headed back to Kinabalu Park. After examining the driving map closely, we discovered that Tanjung Simpang Mengayau is more than 300km away so we abandoned the idea of journeying there.

For the rest of the day, we just enjoyed the beautiful views of the mountains.

Our photos didn’t do the place justice though. I realized how awesome it is when Nic wondered out loud if he could bring his keyboard here to compose orchestral music!

We wished there is a nicer cafe or tea house where we can hang out at while soaking in the view, similar to the one in Cameron Highlands. It was rather challenging for Nic to enjoy the view while driving and keeping his eyes on the winding road.

We did discover a local cafe in a nearby village in the end. The tea that was served was rather bland but we were just glad to have a place with a view to relax.
In the evening, we drove back to Kota Kinabalu, shopped quickly at the Philippino market, then drove to the airport. The car rental guys came to collect on time, we checked in and arrived home in Singapore at about midnight.

I had such a memorable trip and feels so thankful to have the perfect gentleman to share my holiday with. I do look forward to many more shared holiday experiences with Nic.

At Beaufort, Mr Tay took us to a busy restaurant that serves scrumptious roast pork (Char Siew and Siew Yok).

It was belly smacking good. Mr Tay said hello to a lot of people whom he knew while Nic and I were busy eating up our food.

After lunch, it is another two hour ride back to Kota Kinabalu. After about 24 hours with us, Mr Tay still hadn’t run out of fascinating stories to enthrall us for the journey home. By this time, we had gotten past stories of his childhood at Weston to his adult experiences in London. One-third of the stories are amazing descriptions of food that he’d savoured.  :lol:

We were supposed to pick up a rental car at Kota Kinabalu and head off for the mountain, but we enjoyed Mr Tay’s company so much that we decided to cling on to him until late evening.

He took us to his house which he had designed himself. We really love his airy high ceilings. Nic love the entire house.

My favourite part is the open platform on the second floor. This gives me a good glimpse into Mr Tay’s heart. He explained that he created the open platform as a place for his children to work and play so that they would not be closed up in their rooms. This way, he will be able to build a relationship with them and communicate even when he is downstairs.

I think Nic is most impressed by Mr Tay’s extensive CD collection. We lazed on his couch, Nic had his eyes closed as he listened attentively to the jazz music while I busied myself browsing through the gourmet food magazines piled on the coffee table.

We decided to ask for our rental car to be delivered directly to Mr Tay’s home so that we would not have to get out to collect it.

This rental car company is an excellent recommendation from the staff at Borneo Backpackers. It costs only RM140 per day for a Proton Wira Automatic after heavy negotiation. Since the company does not have a city location, their service includes delivery of the car to where ever you like as long as it is in Kota Kinabalu.

For RM20 extra, we could even drop off the car at the airport before flying off which is what we did. Interestingly, all I got from Borneo Backpackers is a mobile phone number to book this service. I still do not know the name of the company or the people behind it.

After receiving the car at 7pm, we drove out with our new car to the nearby pub for karaoke!

It turns out that both Nic and Mr Tay have voices that are truly crowd-stopping. Nic sang from Air Supply’s repertoire and pulled through the high notes successfully. Meanwhile, Mr Tay sang AND danced beautifully from Frank Sinatra’s collection. We saw many people gawking at him in unbelief. Truth be told, we ourselves were gawking at him in unbelief.

Even though we had such a fun time, we left the Karaoke early as we didn’t want to drive too late in the night on an unfamiliar road to Mount Kinabalu.

As we strolled to the dining area for breakfast, we caught a glimpse of two giant grasshoppers perched on our food!

It turns out to be a single strand of palm leaf folded into the shape of grasshoppers. A souvenir by one of Mr. Tay’s staff.

We really appreciated this personal touch and carried it back to decorate our place in Singapore.

Again we were served generous portions of kampung food and coffee. On top of that, Mr Tay had brought a loaf of sunflower seed bread from Kota Kinabalu which we lavishly spread with a good dollop of butter and coconut sauce (kaya).

After breakfast, we went for a traipse in the jungle. The land area that Mr. Tay had inherited is approximately 23 acres but we only walked for about half an hour.

We visited the carnivorous Nepenthes plant which comes in a lot more shapes and forms than I knew. From tiny ones that grow in grouped clusters on the ground to purple bowl-shaped ones to hanging trumpet-shaped ones, to plenty more variations. It is totally different to the ones we grow in Singapore or Peninsular Malaysia.

According to Mr. Tay, the juice collected at the bottom of the cup makes really good hair gel but we didn’t try.

Other plants we stumbled upon, the cancer-defying lingzhi mushroom, floating aquarium greens that is home to the infamous frogs, and a few glowing orange fungi on our boardwalk.

Nature trail time is over, we packed up and left Weston for a belly smacking good lunch at Beaufort.

Nic and I got so excited over the big platters of chili crab and ginger steamed prawns that we decided to delay our shower and tuck into the food immediately.

Again, we ate overlooking the scenic panorama of a dusky skyline, emerald green mangrove trees and the calmly flowing river. Such an extravagant view and I forgot to snap a photo, forgive me!

The Vengeful Prawn

It was quite difficult to eat so much good food, observe so much beauty, and chat so much about everything we have experienced that day. I some how managed to pierce my tongue with the pointed head of a prawn I was sucking.

To think I have spent my life avoiding painful treatments such as tattooing or body piercing or armpit hair plucking, only to end up with an accidental tongue piercing!

At that time, the piercing didn’t stop me from living my life to the fullest but three days later, the pain would get so brain-numbing that I had to reduce myself to cold porridge, water soaked oatmeal, and milk cornflakes only. Worse of all, I wouldn’t be able to roll my tongue to pronounce my “R”s so my rulers became loolers and slow loris became slow lolis.

Nic had such a fun time imitating my short-tongued speech, so you know how compassionate my man is. Sigh…

The Fireflies Battled The Mid-Autumn Moon For Glory

Any way, we started eating before dusk, and by 8pm, we still hadn’t finished! However, this is the time that Kunang-kunang (fireflies) appear to beautify our world with their shining bum-bums, so we licked our fingers clean and switched off the lights.

The fireflies were fascinating, they were everywhere around us, some even came on our arms and shoulders. We walked out to the boardwalk to view them on the mangroves but when we came back to the lodge, we discovered our very ceiling is twinkling brightly!

The locals explained that it is usually a lot more firefly-filled had it not been for the moon peering down so brightly at us. So remember, do not visit fireflies when the Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching!

The Haunted Toilet Room

After the unforgettable firefly experience, we finally decided to get ourselves cleaned. About three minutes after gushing myself with a generous spray of hot water from above, there was a power AND water cut! I was left soaking wet and in complete and total darkness.

Thankfully, I hadn’t started soaping myself and Nic was quick to rescue with a small beam from a plastic torch light. Truly he is Aaron, the bearer of light. :lol:

Half an hour later, the power and water supply returned. This time, I waited with the torch like a fireman while Nic had his turn with the shower. However, it turned out that he didn’t need my rescue services. Oh well…

Meanwhile, I convinced myself that the three minute water gush earlier was enough to wash off all the sweat and mosquito repellent, and that citronella oil, unlike the chemical laced Deet, is absolutely harmless to the human body.

The Triple Strength Storm

Similar to Borneo Backpackers, our room is another six bunker dormitory but this time without air-conditioning. Its lofty ceiling with spacious ventilation kept us cool and comfortable enough.

That night, there was a windstorm, a thunderstorm and a rainstorm all at once. We heard an impressively loud crash as though a tree had caved our roof in, but couldn’t see any visible damage. I soon fell asleep.

The next morning, Nic and Mr. Tay told me that the three-storm combination followed by an aftermath of croaking frogs deafened them throughout the night. Nic didn’t realize I had flung our windows wide open before switching off the lights so he couldn’t do anything to reduce the volume.

I was so surprised to hear of their interesting night. Like a newborn baby, I had slept through the storm

What fun! Wish I could join them…

We observed them for quite a while using a pair of binoculars. Their playfulness is sooo inviting.

A few minutes away from the otters, we discovered a lone Proboscis Monkey.

It is a tough life being a male Proboscis Monkey. According to Mr. Tay, one male have to serve 15 to 20 demanding females. If he fails to please all of them, they will kick him out and take in some other Proboscis.

We discovered this one all alone. He didn’t even care that we were so near him. Suicidal perhaps, poor thing.

Later, we would discover a few Proboscis communities. We even saw cute little swinging Proboscis babies. These communities are a lot more wary of strangers though, they fled when they discovered we were watching.

By the way, there are wild crocodiles in the river, and it so happens that on the day we were there, this was in the local newspaper:

Please don’t tell Nic’s parents. I don’t want to be considered a bad influence. :lol:

Next, we went crab fishing. On the way, we passed by some competition.

According to Mr. Tay, fishermen here would go fishing for a day, sell the catch for RM80, then rest for two days.

There is more than enough crabs to go around, so we don’t have to worry about competition. Meanwhile, we passed by a small river village.

The lifestyle is simple here, but unlike in Vietnam or Cambodia, they could choose to work harder and earn more for their children’s future. I guess priorities are different here.

Meanwhile, our shy Philippino boat man who looks Sabahan and speaks Sabahan demonstrated how to catch crabs.

It is only a small net, but there is a huge fish carcass hanging in the middle.

This is how we’re supposed to cast the net.

Nic had a go at it, then I had a go. Between the three of us and about twenty nets, we caught one big mud crab.

According to Mr. Tay, we only caught one crab because it is the wrong time and tide for crab fishing. Thankfully, we didn’t have to rely on our own catch to have provide food for  the dinner table later.

Interestingly, we noticed Mr. Tay discussing business deals for his Kota Kinabalu based architecture company on his Celcom phone. That must be the strangest place to be conducting business. Nic too did some work using Maxis GPRS but only after we got back to our dormitory.

The river cruise ended just as the sun was about to set. When we got back, we were surprised by a enormous trays of steaming hot Chili Crab and Ginger Steamed Big Headed Prawns. There were also vegetables and rice et cetera but who cares.

The crabs and prawns would have been enough to feed twelve people but there were only three of us to lick the trays clean!

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Mr. Tay turns out to be a really warm and friendly foodist which is utterly compatible with us. He bought us lunch at an excellent hawker about fifteen minutes drive from the city centre. It is so popular that by the time we got there at about 1:30pm, most of its food were fully sold out. Still, everything that Mr Tay ordered were utterly delicious and we ate like gluttons!

Arriving At Weston

After lunch, Mr. Tay drove us two hours in his Japan imported 4WD to Weston which is on the east of Sabah near Labuan island. Even though it was a long journey, we were enthralled throughout with Mr. Tay’s fascinating stories of growing up Sabahan.

Weston turned out to be an incredibly small town with only one small school about half the size of my house called Sekolah Kebangsaan Che Hwa. This is where Mr. Tay was educated before he got a scholarship to study architecture in London! Shows that it’s not the size of the school that matters.

Perhaps Weston is just as famous for its swampy wetlands as its historic 100-year-old jetty that was heavily used by Japanese and British troops during the Second World War.

Here’s a photo of me by my bags at the jetty.

From here, it is only a 2 minute boat ride to our lodge which is actually Mr. Tay’s ancestral home. We had 23 acres of undisturbed wetlands all to ourselves.

It’s Tea Time!

Upon arriving, we discovered that the “resort” staff had prepared hot coffee with local fruits and kuih. The dining area is cool and breezy, and faces a panoramic view of the skyline, the mangrove treeline, and the river waterline. It took my breath away.

Unfortunately, I was too busy absorbing all of it to snap a photo for you to see.

The Atapchi Lesson

The fruit above is actually from the Atapchi tree. Bet you never knew where the atapchi in your ABC came from. Here’s how it looks on the inside…

See the atapchi in the middle? I give up on winking. This is how it looks before you chop it off and split it open.

I should have swung the thing like it’s a World of Warcraft weapon but I didn’t think of it at the moment. During a boat cruise later, we discovered how an Atapchi looks like when it’s still happily attached to its tree.

There you go, that’s the Atapchi lesson.

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On Friday, we arrived Kota Kinabalu at about 9pm on a budget Air Asia flight. I had pre-arranged a private room at Borneo Global Backpackers for RM66.

It looked rather pleasant from the outside but after seeing the room, Nic wondered if it is worth saving the money since a three-star budget hotel would have costed only RM150.

The private room turned out to be a typical dorm room with six bunker beds that we could have all to ourselves. The bed sheets are mismatched and the bathroom is not attached which honestly didn’t bother me, but it was not for Nic.

Even after I introduced the freely available computer with broadband access in the common area, and emphasized how such conveniences would not be available in a five-star accommodation, he was a little quiet with his views.

We went out to a nearby cyber cafe where Nic replied an avalanche of e-mails on a frustratingly low-tech computer.

After work, we went for a moonlight stroll in the city and came upon a Bah Kut Teh stall near Ang Hotel. A few days later, we would discover from the local grapevine that the best BKT stall in Sabah is near Jesselton Hotel. Still, we enjoyed our BKT meal before walking back in the cool of the night.

The next day, I woke up at about 7am and by 10am, I had explored from the South West of the city to the North East and back again thrice! I even hiked up a small hill to have a peek at The Signal Tower, a Sabah landmark that few would normally bother to visit.

Meanwhile, Nic experimented with the shared computer in the common area and to his delight found it to be bug-free and very speedy. I was thankful that this place is beginning to rise in his opinion.

While waiting for Mr. Tay of Weston Wetlands to pick us up for lunch and the journey to Weston Wetlands, I lazed on the pillows of the common area and watched Nigella Lawson cook up drool-worthy meals on Discovery Travel & Living…

Since I intend to live my life to the fullest, I refuse to sulk in a corner about this sudden change of plans. That means I have two options left.

1. Go on with the trip on a solo journey
2. Have a fabulous weekend in Singapore!  :smile:

Personally, I favor the first option as I have a genuine bond with this part of the world. It’s been a long time since I’ve been to Borneo, and even if all I do is stay for four days in the city centre, shop for exotic pearls, and eat tons of seafood, it will still be a wonderful experience.

Further more, I get to blog photos that say, YES! Here I am! In The Land Beneath The Wind!

Hmm… to be discussed with the boyf…