Venturing into the Unknown

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Borneo Orangutans!

So the next leg of our adventure began with our transportation from Kinabalu National Park to Sandankan, where our accommodation was booked for that night. Sandankan was a 4-5 hour drive and we had planned to catch a bus from the Park HQ. However, the bus did not show up. We met two other Malaysian guys who were waiting for the same bus, so the four of us hitchhiked to Ranau… bad idea. The bus to Sandankan did not show up until 8pm and we couldn’t find any taxis that would agree to take us because they were all too tired. This was the moment Courtney and I took advantage of the “we’re pathetic, blonde, American, girls… please help us!” play. So we convinced a taxi driver to drive us all the way to Sandankan… It was a trade off though because we were honestly concerned that we were going to die on this drive, because he drove like a bat out of hell! We were driving on a very narrow road with huge potholes with ginormous trucks coming at us from the other direction… not to mention the fact that we were both EXHAUSTED and sore from the hike that day.

Getting to Uncle Tan’s B&B was an amazing feeling. Not only was it nice to get out of this insane taxi, but also it was nice to be greeted by friendly faces and a warm bed. We checked in, showered and crashed. We awoke the next morning and grabbed breakfast and then headed off to the Sepilok Orangutan Center!

Sepilok was definitely one of the highlights of our time in Borneo. We got our tickets and headed in. On the way we ogled over some baby orangutan pictures. We want to adopt one!

We walked out to the viewing site where they feed the mother orangutans. Sepilok is a rehabilitation center whose goal is to reintroduce orangutans back into the wild. Many of them were injured or orphaned and brought here to heal and be prepared for release. The center is huge and the best time to see the orangutans is at feeding time for the mothers to help balance out their diet and make sure they’re getting enough to feed them and their baby. We waited for a bit and finally the first female arrived.

Soon after, the second female and her baby arrived.

At first we throught they were greeting eachother, but no. It turned out that the second female was the dominant one and chased the first female away. The poor thing just hung around for half an hour waiting for the second female to finish so she could get some more food…

She was so patient!

The sun broke out of the clouds and allowed me to capture this gorgeous moment...

However, just as soon as it came, it disappeared and began to downpour. Most of the crowd dispersed but Courtney and I were so in love, we had to stay and watch. Lucky for us, it allowed us to capture another incredible moment: the orangutan umbrella!!!!

After it stopped raining, we also caught her on film traversing one of the tree lines…

kissing her baby…

and scratching her back!

By far, this was one of the most amazing days of our entire trip. We fell in love with these unbelievable animals and had a blast exploring and learning about the center and it’s residents… the beautiful orangutans!

Mount Kinabalu!

We got up early in the AM at took a 7am taxi to Kinabalu National Park. Courtney was feeling better and we were psyched to get our legs moving and to conquer the mountain! During the 2-hour trip we got some great views of the mountain from the road.

After we arrive at the park HQ, we got registered and assigned a guide. Julius, our guide was such an incredible guy and very knowledgeable about the mountain and Borneo in general. He briefed us on the route and after a transfer to Timpohon Gate, we took off on the trail!

The weather held off for a bit and we had a nice sunny and pretty hike up for the first 4 km. Julius told us all about the mountain and pointed out some cool flora and fauna including the famous pitcher plant!

It was at about 2,700m (almost 8,800 ft.) when I started feeling the altitude and the air thinning. It was a pretty strange feeling, like there just wasn’t quite enough air to fill my lungs. So it took some adjusting… Nevertheless, the relentless uphill and the pounding headache started slowing me down and making me doubt why the hell I was doing this. Plus the instant onset of hard rain did not help. After lunch at 4km at Layang Layang Hut, we pushed on through the rain through the last intense and steep 2 km. We arrived at Laban Rata Resthouse exhausted and drenched! The positive from the rain was that there were some beautiful waterfalls down the side of the mountain.

We arrived at the resthouse at about 3:30pm after around 5.5 hours of hiking. At 4:30pm we had dinner and I was fighting hard against a headache. We immediately went to sleep so that we would be rested for the 2:30am start for the summit. Little did I know AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) was setting in, and I spent the night with a throbbing head, chest pain and a hard time breathing. Super fun and no sleep! Thank goodness I was not alone, one of our roommates was going through the same thing. Misery loves company!

We woke up at 2am and had a quick breakfast and headed for the summit at about 2:45am.

After about 1km Courtney pushed ahead and the Julius hung back with me as I slowly made my way up the trail. My symptoms were not easing up but I was determined to make it to the top. Despite the physical and mental battle with myself, I still fully appreciated the beautiful clear night sky and amazing stars as we were hiking, and the beautiful sunrise plus incredible views after the sun had risen.

So after about 3.5 hours, 2.7 kilometers, 900 meter elevation gain, lots of rests and throwing up, Julius and I hit the summit just after sunrise.

Proof that at 6:20am, Julius and I arrived at Low’s Peak, the 4,032m summit of Mt. Kinabalu!

It was freezing and I was beyond done so we took some pictures and headed down. We booked it and made it to Laban Rata Rest house just 15min after Courtney. I hit the bed for 30 min and after some persuasion from Court, we continued back down to the Park HQ. It was a very wet and exhausting walk down, consisting of A LOT of rain, sore legs and an amazing fall down some wet, slippery stairs for Courtney that resulted in a black bruise the size of a melon on her butt. We were literally walking down the trail and stairs like old women… must have been a pretty sight. We arrived back at Timpohon Gate and caught a shuttle back to HQ.

All in all, it was an amazing experience. It pushed me both physically and mentally, and allowed me to see an amazing part of the world. It was such an incredible mountain. The rocky slab landscape of the summit made you feel like you were on another planet… so cool! Still, it felt good to be done. Here is our “we’re finished!” photo with our incredible and short guide Julius! Not only was the mountain amazing, so was our guide. He was very knowledgeable, patient and kind. He put up with all our obnoxious questions and was so supportive.

We spent the next few hours peeling off wet clothes, drying off, packing and enjoying our complementary buffet lunch. Once we were dry, fed, and packed, it was off to our next adventure!

Monday, January 2, 2012

Borneo Blog!

Finally vacation time! Not necessarily the most relaxing vacation, but it has been an amazing journey through the jungles of Borneo! We have been seriously packing in the fun!

We left Dubai on the 26^th after Christmas. We took some clients out kayaking and spent the day prepping for our departure… but somehow Santa found his way to Dibba, Oman!

Paul (our boss) drove Courtney and I to the Dubai Airport where we hung out until our flight to Doha left. I had a super bad cold and accidently infected Courtney so we were both feeling exhausted and under the weather. We quickly arrived in Doha and boarded a flight to Kuala Lumpur, which was about 7 hours. Qatar Airways took good care of us, but we both were so congested and exhausted, so it was a flight filled with headaches, sniffling and terrible sleep. After we arrived in Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia, we abandoned our plans to explore the city, found a nice little carpeted area and crashed for about 4 hours. We needed it bad! Sleeping in random places has become a pattern on this trip… here is poor sick Courtney passed our in the KL Airport.

After our nap/coma, we boarded a surprisingly nice flight from KL, Peninsula Malaysia to Kota Kinabalu (KK), Borneo, Malaysia. If felt so nice to have finally arrived at our final destination. So we booked it to our hostel (Lavender Lodge), took a long hot shower and crashed. After a good nights sleep, I was finally feeling 100% better, but poor Court was still really sick. We spent the day in KK picking up some odds and ends for our trip, prepping for Mt. Kinabalu, and getting medications for Courtney. She spent the afternoon sleeping and I enjoyed an awesome walk around the city, a coffee at Starbucks and checked out the local wet market.

Veggies!

Fish Market!

Chicken out for sale… not sanitary??

Cute Malay Kids!

I returned to find Court awake and alive, so we both headed back to the wet market for dinner. It was such an incredible place! We basically just got a smorgasbord of local food, including chicken satay, fried noodles, a watermelon shake, murtabak and dumplings steamed in banana leaves (banana, coconut and tapioca). It was such a great dinner and a perfect start to our trip.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Prepping for Christmas in Oman

So it is just Courtney and I alone in the deserts of Oman... It's been a roller coaster for the past week, preparing for the departure of staff, either for good or just for the holiday. It was hard to say goodbye to good friends and to wrap our heads around the fact that we will be in Dibba alone. Our house is empty (clean for once... but empty) and we have found ourselves missing our messy roommates. It's been surprisingly emotional and sort of scary being in this crazy country alone, with only each other to depend on. But we are thriving!

But amongst the goodbyes and work, we have been craving some Christmas spirit! Needless to say, Christmas is not a huge thing here in Oman and the UAE. So in order to satisfy this craving, Courtney and I are creating our own Christmas in Oman!

Our mini tree and some Christmas treats provided by the amazing care package sent by my loving parents!

The Christmas pillow I HAD to have!

Some little tags that also came in the package...

Courtney's star!

Our lights and stockings! We didn't really think through the lights because they flash and play Christmas music at this annoying high pitch... but we love 'em anyway!

So that is our holiday masterpiece... Courtney and I leave on the 26th for our amazing 2-week vacation in Malaysia, Borneo and Singapore. We are going to hike Mt. Kinabalu, visit the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center, spend three days and two nights on a river safari on the Kinabatagan, celebrate Courtney's 25th birthday, relax on the beach and visit the Teman Negara rainforest. Then we will head to Singapore to spend some time with my parents and Em! We are super excited and ready for some legit R&R!

Merry Christmas!!!!

Flying in Oman!

So there is this amazing five star resort that is hidden in a bay nearby in the Wadi. It is called Six Senses at Zighy Bay and the only way to get there is by boat or through the wadi and up and over this insane mountain on a windy road down into this isolated, hidden bay. We opened an adventure center there and have three staff living at the hotel. So the other day, I was going to go there to visit a staff member for dinner and he told me that he would come and grab me in a bit. Thirty minutes later I get another phone call saying he can't come anymore but his friend Itsu was heading to Dibba to refuel the microlight and he would pick me up. I flew!

Here is the microlight that I took. It felt like I was being picked up by my own private plane!

Here is a video of us taking off and flying over the Golden Tulip Hotel. Notice the flying seagulls... beautiful!

View from above of an old abandoned village on the Dibba shore.

View of the Munsandam Peninsula.

Fishermen down at Smuggler's Bay!

Landing and freaking out some Six Senses guests... I'm pretty sure Itsu gets bored doing over 15 flights a day, and gets a kick out of pushing the limits with the plane. Needless to say it was a fun, stomach dropping, and breathtaking experience!

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Thanksgiving in Oman

We had an insane week of work and rewarded ourselves with a fantastic Thanksgiving feast. For many, it was their first. For the Americans, it required imagination and improvisation. Our guest list consisted of: