Travel blog of a digital nomad
Mt Kinabalu is in the Malaysian state of Sabah in Northern Borneo. You can see the mountain from Kota Kinabalu (about 80km away) and it is even represented on the Sabah State flag. At a height of 4,095 metres, that makes it almost twice as high as the Australian continents highest peak (Mount Kosciuszko at 2,228 metres).
Travel Photo Gallery: Kinabalu National Park
Sabah State Mosque, Kota Kinabalu – Malaysia.
Gunung Mulu National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo. While it is not far from the city of Miri, there are no roads from Miri and the boat there is costly and slow. So the easiest way there is to fly.
MASwings
MASwings is a subsidiary of Malaysian Airlines and operates regional flights in Malaysian Borneo. As they serve smaller airports they use Turboprop aircraft.
[MASwings ATR 72-500 at Mulu Airport]
The Flight
A newspaper and a free drink is offered on this service. Milo. Now there is a drink I haven’t had for years.
[Free drink and newspaper]
The flight from Miri to Mulu is just 30 minutes. You hardly get time to crack open the Borneo Post before the descent begins. Not that you want to read the paper. Look out the window and check out the wild land of Borneo. When you look out the window you can see why flying is the best option to Mulu. Down below is prime jungle and a winding river that makes for a 12 hour journey from Miri if you went by boat.
[Flying over jungle]
Tickets
My schedule was changing often so I didn’t buy a ticket until a few days before the flight, but I still managed to get reasonable priced tickets. If you book in advance there are flights available for around 30 MYR ($10USD).
Sometimes weird and wonderful things happen when you travel. I had a good feeling about Malaysian Borneo the moment I arrived in Kota Kinabalu. I ended up spending longer in KK than I had intended. I wasn’t in a hurry to leave and things just kept happening. On what was meant to be my last day there I sent a text message to the travel agent who arranged my bus to see Mt Kinabalu. From that text message we went out for dinner that night.
At dinner my new friend Tania was telling me about her family and how she comes from the Dusun tribe of Sabah. She mentioned that her cousins wedding was on the next day and then asked if I wanted to go as well. I said I would love to go. I had a ferry ticket booked for the next morning, but that was easy enough to change, and I would have taken the loss anyway.
Then it occurred to me that I had nothing to wear. Afterall I’m backpacking. In the tropics. I don’t have formal wear, even when I am at home with a full wardrobe. I mentioned this to my friend, and she said:
“Oh that’s ok, I’ve got something for you to wear”.
Now, when I was in China I learnt that it is a fallacy that westerners can’t learn Chinese because they are tone deaf. If you are not deaf, then you can hear tones. For example, take that last sentence that was said to me:
“Oh that’s ok, I’ve got something for you to wear”.
Say it to yourself in an innocent, matter-of-fact manner.
Now say the exact same sentence in a devious trouble making manner, chock-full of tones.
The way it was delivered to me the “oh” was elongated and the “I’ve” was emphasised. The tone was so devious that alarm bells should have been ringing. It did register with me, and I thought maybe she has a nice floral Hilo Hattie style Borneo shirt I could borrow. I left it at that.
So I said yes I will go, and the next morning I was picked up by Tania and her brother, who drove us to the family house. Their home is in a kampung (village) which lies in the shadow of the great Mount Kinabalu. The family house is a small farm, with cats, dogs and chickens roaming everywhere and the back yard consisting of rice fields.
[Kinabalu view]
Later on in the day I went with Tania and her brothers down to the river for a “shower”. Just a bar of soap in the clean waters running off the mountain.
The Wedding Day
The next day the family house was the base for the wedding party. The actual wedding was about 200 metres down the road at her cousins house. We originally weren’t even going to go as Tania had to go back to work, but luckily her work let her off at the last minute.
There wasn’t much for me to do in the morning so I was sitting around with the rest of the guys watching DVD’s while the girls were doing each others hair.
After lunch everyone started getting ready and the wedding party entered the room with their magnificent costumes on.
[Dusun Girls dressed up]
I was wondering what to wear but I noticed that everyone else who was attending the wedding was wearing jeans and t-shirts, so I needn’t have worried about not getting dressed up.
Then at the last minute, Tania’s dad came over and lead me to the costume wardrobe. Oh how convenient, they just so happened to have a big size jacket for me. I tried to turn down the offer, but they were having none of it. So I said yes, coat me up, but first let me go to the toilet, as once this thing goes on I don’t want to try and work out how to take it off.
The jacket went on, then the bells, belt and other bits of flare. Then to top it off was the winged hat.
[In costume]
Wow, what a costume. I felt truly honoured to take part in this.
From the house Tania and I lead the wedding procession down the road to the wedding reception.
At the wedding the bride and groom take their seat in the house, and everyone comes in to give their good wishes. Anyone who has a camera is the official wedding photographer.
[Wedding party]
Everyone in a costume then went outside where there was some dancing to be done. None of it was rehearsed. I just worked out the steps as you go. Can you imagine a wedding in US/UK/OZ unrehearsed. It was so casual and seemingly stress free.
I felt a bit odd being a part of the wedding party, but I have been told since that it is common to be invited to weddings in Sabah. I have also been told not to turn down an invitation to a Dusun wedding. I tell you, I’m so glad I didn’t.
The village of Teluk Gedong on Pangkor Island, Malaysia.
The train station at Ipoh’s old town, known locally as the “Taj Mahal of Ipoh”.
Monorail and KL Tower, Kuala Lumpur – Malaysia.
Pulau Pangkor (Pangkor Island) is on the West Coast of Peninsula Malaysia. It’s close enough to Kuala Lumpur to make it an accessable stopover destination. This was how I ended up here. I had a week in KL enroute to China. The beaches of the East Coast would have left me rushing to get there and back, so Pangkor was the best option.
- Pasir Bogak Beach: Pulau Pangkor -
Beaches
When people talk about the beaches of Malaysia, it’s the islands of the Peninsula East Coast that rate the highest. If that is the case then I have got to get over there one day. I mean have a look at this “average” West Coast beach.
- Teluk Nipah Beach -
Pangkor is half a day from KL, so it can get busy on weekends and public holidays. This was a public holiday crowd.
- Pasir Bogak Beach Crowd -
Wildlife
Pangkor’s most famous wildlife residents are the Hornbill Birds. It’s quite common to see them swooshing around, they they make a great squawk, which is what I want to hear in a tropical paradise. Some of the guesthouse owners feed them so it is not uncommon to see them sitting around populated areas.
- Hornbills -
Monitor Lizards are common as well.
- Monitor Lizard -
The island interior is a jungle, and no jungle in Asia is complete without monkeys. Fortunately you don’t have to go into the jungle to find them.
- Monkeys -
The island also has beach goats. Of course.
- Beach Goats -
Accommodation
Most of the budget/backpacker style places are around Teluk Nipah, which happens to have the best beach. It’s not a big scene at Teluk Nipah, as most backpackers head to the Perhentian Islands or Thailand before coming here.
There is a good range of accommodation options in Pangkor – from budget guesthouses to resort style hotels. As I was just passing through the region I wanted to stay in an honest-to-goodness Southeast Asian guesthouse. One with an outside bathroom and cold water shower, and Geckos on the ceiling. I found what I was looking for at Nazri Nipah.
- A-Frame Accommodation -
Stopover
If you have already been to the islands and beaches of Thailand then you aren’t going to see anything new here. Most visitors here are day tripping locals. I met some British travellers here who were holed up on Pangkor for a week while their Visa to India was being processed in KL. If you only have a few days in Malaysia or you waiting around KL and you want to rest your heels in some sand, then Pangkor is a ideal option.
When I arrived at my hotel in Kuala Lumpur late at night and it was too cloudy to see out the window. This was the great view I got when I woke up.
Firefly is a regional airline based in Subang, Malaysia. Before coming to Malaysia I had not heard of Firefly, but they are actually owned by Malaysia Airlines, which anyone who has been to an airport has heard of. Firefly operate to destinations in Malaysia, Indonesia (Sumatra), Thailand and Singapore.
I took a flight with Firefly from Singapore to Subang, near Kuala Lumpur.
Firefly operate out of the low cost terminal in Singapore. While the airfares are cheap, they are not considered as a low cost airline. They offer free onboard snacks, assigned seating and 20kg free checked-in baggage allowance. Firefly are a point to point airline, so like a low cost airline there is no connecting flights service.
The Firefly fleet is made up of ATR 72 twin-turboprop aircraft.
Being a regional aircraft and operating out of the smaller budget terminal in Singapore meant that check-in and boarding was very quick. Flying time from Singapore to Subang is about one hour.
Subang was the Kuala Lumpur Airport before the current KUL airport was built. It is now only used by regional airlines. There is no bus service from Subang, but it is close enough to KL to make getting the taxi an economical option. There is a taxi voucher desk at the airport where you prepay your destination.
If you are planning a trip to Southeast Asia, it’s worth having a look at the Firefly destinations for travel inspiration.
Note: This trip was sponsored in part by Firefly.
Related: Firefly offer Holidays To Kuala Lumpur.