Borneo?.......Go on then!

I got off the plane in Kota Kinabalu (or KK), Borneo in a far too excitable state, having travelled by bus, boat and train for the last three months I was beginning to forget that contraptions existed that travelled faster than 40 mph and the plane ride was something of a novelty. I travelled really really far in under 3 hours as opposed to my usual 12-15 hour multiple-vehicle palaver to get not very far at all. Alright!

I had heard nothing but good things about Borneo from a variety of people so as I only had 10 days here, I pulled my finger out and tried to experience as much of it as possible. I travelled from KK down to Semporna, diving central! Where I stayed in a floating hostel just off the mainland...very cool!

The nightbus down was less so, back to the reality of inefficient travel the bus decided to leak ice cold water on my head (fingers crossed it was water anyway!), as it bumbled on, in the middle of the night to nicely take me out of my stupor (sleep was impossible). To make matters worse I was mocked by the ticket sellers on account of my hair which has yet to be chopped since my departure from Leeds. Already having been likened to shaggy from scooby do by the ladies who sold me my camera in KL, that was endurable, but I protest to being called Justin every two minutes during my hour-long wait for the bus (referring to Justin Bieber) by people who speak less English than a five year old! It was quite amusing though and I gave some banter back......I then went and bought a hat.

The diving in Borneo was one of the highlights of Benjamin's trip a few years ago and he was the main force in my decision to come to Borneo, at this point in time he was getting nervous that he oversold it and my expectations would be too great to live up to, no pressure!........100% not true. Good work dude, I never doubted you and enjoyed every minute!

The diving was mind blowing, hard to explain but I would liken it to being thrown in a tropically warm aquarium. There were hundreds of different weird and wonderful things to see and several different kinds of each species; octopus, trigger fish, puffer fish, sea snakes, moray eels, spotted rays, lionfish (like the one in Deuce Bigalow), batfish, nemo's, peacock razor fish, giant grouper and a thousand other fish, shrimp, crab and coral to observe. The highlight for me though were the turtles. I saw upwards of 30 turtles on my 3 dives (one of which I blagged for free-bonus!). I lost count, both green and hawksbill, feeding, sleeping/resting, I was even swimming alongside one within touching distance at one point! Not all just average turtles though, that anyone who has seen one will tell you aren't small. I saw 5 or 6 giant green turtles, the largest weighing upwards of one and a half tons and a good 12 feet long, and that's not just my giddy over excited over exaggeration, that's coming from the dive master!

I could go on all day about how amazing it was but I will restrict myself to the rant above, in summary it was bloody good!

After diving I returned back to KK on another beautiful nightbus and had some chilling out time, accidentally coming across a cinema....several visits ensued....oops. I had a valid excuse though, I had to treat my body like a temple (I may have accidentally gotten drunk and ventured out once but it was entirely not my fault so I don't think it really counts) as I was gearing up to climb Mount Kinabalu the 20th highest point on earth (thanks Wikipedia!).

The climb meant leaving my bed at 5am, not fun, in order to make it up to the hostel, 2.7k from the summit, before dark. This was successfully achieved and an early night was desperately needed, my fitness levels did not, as I had hoped, improve miraculously out of nowhere and it was a difinate trudge at one point or another!

A night time trip to the toilet, an outbuilding a good 25 metres from my dorm, armed only with flip flops and my pants, in the rain, meant I spectacularly exposed myself to a very shocked and amused Japanese family of climbers in the next dorm. I reasoned that it was the middle of the night and it was their fault for staring out the window at silly o'clock thus acceptable to be in such attire. Getting back to my room however I realised it was only 8.30pm and they had only just made it to the check point.....whoops!

At 3am, yes 3am! We set off for the summit hopefully in time for sunrise! Now I understand the appeal of this, you are pretty much guaranteed an amazing event/view at the top (although the rain the previous day had made me nervous of not seeing a right lot) but trekking up and literally rock climbing, grasping ropes and propelling yourself up near vertical obstacles frequently seems silly at the best of times never mind in complete darkness!

Reaching the summit before dawn however was spectacular, a superb sunrise was witnessed as well as a lightening storm in the distance that was actually below us, very surreal! And all the gruelling effort paid off and was well worth it. Standing on top of Borneo and looking out at a panoramic view of a truly spectacular landscape is something I would recommend to everyone!

My next adventure took me on a boat cruise. It was genius planning on my part (or sheer luck, I choose to believe the former but please form your own opinions) due to the lack of need to walk anywhere, my legs at this point were, and still are for that matter, pretty useless, steps take the piss and I am sure I look as hilarious as every I saw, pre-climb, hobbling about that I chuckled at! My muscles have definitely waved the white flag, hopefully they will forgive me soon.

The cruise was one aimed at seeing proboscis monkeys, found only in Borneo (they are the ones with elongated noses that someone less mature than me might liken to a gentleman's member) and see them I did. They were jumping between trees and feeding close to the banks. Me being the brilliant photographer that I am was unable to capture any of this but it was very very cool, you'll have to take my word for it! We also saw loads of common monkeys that were playing in trees with the babies causing mischief going up the river, as well as thousands of glow flies on the return journey once the sun had set and darkness had descended. Natural Christmas-tree-like bushes popped up everywhere as well as the occasional bat. The sun set wasn't terrible either.

All in all a very enjoyable trip that incorporated some truly brilliant bits and pieces that I will not forget in a hurry. As my last blog came from the departure lounge on route to Borneo, this one has been penned at 30 000 feet on route back to KL, from which I will journey north back into Thailand for my birthday celebrations at yet another full moon party. This one shall have no fewer than 7 friends from home in attendance, a mixture of rugby lads and uni boys....giddy and, most probably, irresponsible times await!

Borneo, check! Thanks for tuning in, hope this blog finds you well and you've enjoyed the read. Stay tuned for my birthday antics.......if I survive them!

Luke. X