My long awaited trip finally arrived. I didn’t really sleep well, must be over excited about the trip. The fear and anxiety started to kick in as soon as I lifted my 10kg backpack onto my back. I made a quick check again at the weather forecast to see what we’re up against. Looks really wet to me. The best time to climb Mount Kinabalu is supposed to be in the month of March to April. Our weather’s going crazy. All I could do was to pray that the weather forecast was wrong.
Anyway, checking of my checklist one by one, I assure myself that I have everything I need for the climb. It was around 6.20am and I was anxiously waiting for my two friends to arrive. My mum offered to drop us at KL Sentral and from there we would board a bus to LCC Terminal. We arrived just in time to make it for the 7.00am bus. At around 8.30am, we arrived at LCCT. We could have arrived earlier if we took the more expensive Skybus. We didn’t have a choice by the way, the bus conductor took us for granted that we were boarding their bus, tore out the ticket in advance, grabbing our bags and pushing us into the bus. They made so many drop-offs before reaching LCCT.
Check-in was protracted, but it gives two of our other friends, time to join in our queue. We were one of the very last to check in. At 9.25am, we lifted off to the far east of Malaysia, Sabah the Malaysian Borneo. The flight was a pleasant one and the weather was good so far. Upon touch down, we collected our bags and were greeted by one of Borneo Eco Tour guide. There we were taken to our backpacker lodge, Borneo Backpackers.
We were lucky enough to have a room big enough to fit all 10 of us. A short rest and we headed out to the city for lunch. It started drizzling but we continued on to the jetty for our boat ride.
The boat was like any other speed boat ride, but it was still great. I love it when the cool sea breeze hits your face, though my camera didn’t feel the same. It was really difficult to take any pictures as the boat was going up and down throughout the whole journey. We pass a couple of island (sorry no photos to show) before reaching Pulau Sapi where I had to pay a RM3.00 entranced fee to get into the island. It was worth it though, to me. I get to snorkel around as long as I like.
The water wasn’t as clear as I expected and there were a lot of dead corals around. Ok, the fishes weren’t that fantastic too, because most of them seem to be bleach out. What happen to their colors? Anyway, I said it was worth it to me cause I really like snorkeling, seeing the fishes swimming around you (and biting as well. Guess my leg hair looks like worms to them! Haha). I should have taken one of my friends offer to go diving lessons with him. I would have gotten my license to DIVE by now. By the way it cost us RM10 for the snorkeling gear.
While everyone was skipping rocks (I wonder why?), I continue snorkeling as long as I could. It gets really cold when you are not moving. A warning though, we spotted a couple of jelly fish around. They were small though and luckily none of us need to be peed on.
The weather took a change a little and it started to rain a little heavier. As we waited at the jetty for our boat man to come pick us up, we had our usual craps and laughter. The foreigners there were actually entertain by Samantha’s finger puzzle game (or whatever you would like to call it) I somehow couldn’t figure out the logic to it.
At around 5.30plus I think, our boat man came to transport us back to Jesselton Point. This is where the fun begins really. We’re all wet. We’re all cold. We’re traveling at high speed and its raining. Take a guess. With winds blowing directly at you it was freezing cold. On top of that, the gentle rain suddenly feels so violent. Rain drops smacking your face at high velocity. It hurts. We made full use of our life jacket, not to keep a float but as a shelter to the rain. Somehow or other, we seem to be a bunch of “Happy People”! We were laughing all the way back.
Photo by Samantha Chin
Photo by Samantha Chin
I love this part. We headed out searching for a seafood restaurant and ended up at Port View Seafood Village located at The Waterfront. Everything you eat here is absolutely fresh as you choose your meal from the aquarium.
The rest of the night was fairly relaxed. We visited the Warisan Square, where most of us were doing window shopping before returning to our backpacker lodge. Somehow the night was always young and before you know it we were all out again having a drink.
p/s: Ill try to put more pictures, so check back.
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