We went to the bus station to grab an early bus to the Sukau junction. We were taking a gamble and hoping to make the trip in one day. We got the Budget Express bus at 7.30am for 30 ringgits. It was by far the cheapest offer we got and the bus was nice. It took us just under 4 hours to make the junction and we got down wondering if we would make a connection. Luckily there was a local van who would take us to Sukau for 20 ringgit and we were there by lunchtime. We stayed in Sukau B&B for 50 ringgit a night (you can get 40 if you haggle and stay a few days). It was a fairly painless trip and its worth doing it yourself as we worked out it cost us around 500 ringgit for 2 doing it ourselves. It would have been 800 with a tour group and you control your own itinerary and timings when you do it yourself. You can skip the pointless night boat trips and walks. Though a Dutch couple did see orangutans on a walk. The place is super peaceful and we got instant noodles for lunch in the only restaurant in Sukau. That cost 4 ringgit each for a couple of packets. The internet cafe had two prices (one for locals and double for tourists). That was a bit shitty but seemingly par for the course in Malaysia. We joined Greenview Lodge for an afternoon boat trip, which cost 40 ringgit each. We saw lots and lots of proboscis monkeys and long tailed macaques. Not as close as at Bako, but still loads. We also saw our first wild orangutan with a baby. That was an awesome experience, even if my old man eyes make it difficult to see at distance. We saw 4 types of hornbill, including the rhinoceros hornbill. We saw pig tailed macaques, which are quite big and a python. Impressive. That was just in two hours. You are guaranteed to see a lot of wildlife here, but we were mainly here for the elephants and we had no luck on the first trip. Still we had seen a lot of wildlife and both the place and the river were beautiful in and of themselves. When we got back we saw a red leaf monkey and baby in the trees right by Greenview. We walked back and had dinner surrounded by bats and loads of flying insects. Nice place.
We decided to take a trip with Sukau B&B in the morning and it was slightly more expensive at 90 ringgit for the boat. We had it to ourselves though and only had to stop and look at things that interested us. Its nice to mix it up. They took us upriver and into one of the river's tributaries. Here we saw a darting bird, kingfishers and lots of different types of bird life. We saw another snake, pig tailed macaques and proboscis monkeys. We saw some water monitor lizards and even a flying lemur that had missed its jump and was crawling out of the water, clearly a little traumatised. We got lucky as I get the impression you don't often see them. We chilled in the afternoon and got ourselves some instant noodles again for lunch. Don't forget to book your dinner in advance or you will end up with some crappy food. In the afternoon we took yet another boat trip with Greenview and saw all the usual monkeys and loads and loads of baby long tailed mcaques and proboscis monkeys. We also got lucky enough to see an alpha male orangutan who seemed to have dribbled shit all over himself. Still no elephants though. It was stick or twist and we opted to stick and leave the next day. We spoke to some people later on and they didn't see any elephants so I don't think we missed anything. Its an amazing place to see wildlife though, especially birdlife and primates. You can't really leave disappointed. We met two Dutch couple at dinner time and chatted with them as they had just come from the Philippines. One couple had the same wistful way of speaking about the Philippines that we do when talking about Vietnam, so it left me super excited to go there. Can't wait to get there when we leave tomorrow.
In the morning we got a bus with Greenview to 'mile 32' for 25 ringgits. We had even been given a lift to Greenview from our place when they had almost made us late finding change. We got dropped off and there was an immediate bus to Kota Kinabalu. They wanted 55 ringgit. Mental. Its 52 all the way from Lahad Datu. We eventually paid 35 ringgit and that seemed reasonable. If they don't budge on the fee just wait for the next bus as one bus will eventually take you for the right price or just hitch hike. We checked into our old hostel in the middle of nowhere and grabbed a burger king after almost starving to death in Kinabatangan. There's not much food there. 4 fucking days in KK. Far too much time for a boring city.
There was still no rafflesia so that was one avenue to kill time taken away from us. We killed time online and I wrote to the whale people regarding seeing the humpbacks in the north of the Philippines. Still no reply. We went to see Jack the Giant Slayer which is better than I thought it was going to be, but the lead actors are wooden. We went to a bar to watch the North London derby and they kept it open until 2am so I could watch Spurs beat Arsenal 2-1 and hopefully open up a big enough gap to qualify for the champions league. We shall see. It shows how little I trusted them that I refused to pay until the game had finished. Malaysians are probably my second least favourite people after the Laotians.
We did nothing the next day. Chatted with an Aussie girl in the hostel about Papua New Guinea as she had spent 3 months there and loved it. Should be good for the next trip. We also talked about Australia and she said that if you don't drink or smoke then we should be able to save a lot of money. We watched How to lose friends and alienate people. Was not that funny but watchable.
Our penultimate day of boredom. I went into town and kicked my heels for a while before we went to the big outdoor public swimming pool. We had been told by the tourist information people that there was a waterpark for 20 ringgit or the Hilton pool for 70 ringgit and they were the only places to swim. Conveniently they forgot the 5 ringgit monster olympic public sized pool. Fuckers. Its a really nice place to swim. I even asked some locals where it was when I was close to it as I walked there and they said they didn't know of a pool, then laughing and chatting in Malay they pointed in the direction of the pool. They had understood me. Fuckers. They don't want you to go out of the tourists designated areas in Malaysia. I found it though. I will be happy to leave here. We met Rich from the diving in Semporna for dinner with 3 Swedish girls and had a really nice time. Just went for a drink afterwards and chilled.
Today we got up late. Last day in Malaysia. Fuck I hate flying. Lets hope its quick. After watching the film Flight this will be our first flight. Should never have watched the film. We found out yesterday why there were so many soldiers on the roads. Some people from the Sulu Archipelago had invaded Malaysia and there was now a mini conflict. It goes to show how you read about these conflicts in the press and it scares you off a place. Well I can tell you that this conflict was going on for over 2 weeks before we even knew it was happening and we went right through the town twice by bus without even realising. Just goes to show. Good job we did not take the ferry to Zamboanga though. Would have been very dangerous. I enjoyed the wildlife in Borneo, but I wouldn't come back. Didn't like the people enough. Finally its time for the Philippines. Couchsurfing tonight in Manila. Looking forward to it.
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