Firstly, I apologize for the delayed update but between crazy river rafting, monkey sightings and the very strenuous job of evenly sunning ourselves I just didn't have time. But, as I sit in my POD (this will be explained later) in Kuala Lumpur I find myself with some time and a handful of entertaining stories to divulge.
So, on arriving back in Kota Kinabalu from our 3 very challenging days on Survivor Island we decided that making it back onto mainland required a treat of some sort, so, naturally, we went out in search of food. With full bellies topped off with apparently the best cheese cake Michele has ever eaten we watched another glorious sunset and headed back to the lodge for some much needed rest and relaxation caused by the tasks of eating and balancing hammocks.
We finally had an opportunity to sleep in as our day trip pick up was only at 2pm. After eating breakfast we found some time to squeeze in another cheese cake and a quick round of shopping before heading out on a 2 hour bus ride to get to the river where we were to enjoy a cruise through the jungle.
We saw some proboscis monkeys, more lizards and bugs galore but something still seemed to be missing from our pleasant river cruise. After much pondering we finally found what these Saffas were short on...drinks!! Now, when you travel you will learn many new things on a daily basis. The very hard lesson we had to learn out there in the middle of the jungle on a murky river was this: It is not universally known that a successful river cruise is achieved best when serving alcohol on board. Now, who would have thought? So, there we were, in the jungle, on a river looking for monkeys with nothing to blame our ridiculous behaviour on. What were we to do? We were sober, the monkeys were camera shy and we had no excuse for secretly filming our fellow travellers as if they were wild animals...the best cover we had for our behaviour was to put on Aussie accents. Once this was achieved our behaviour seemed to be acceptable...
After some adventurous filming on the river it was time to do what seems to have become our number one priority since barely surviving survivor island....EAT!! After hopping back in the boat for a night time cruise to see some fire flies light up the mangrove forest we were back in the bus and on our way back to KK.
The next day consisted of a cultural village near the city where we spent some time being educated about the aboriginal head hunting tribes of Sabah Borneo and a trip to the Urang-Utan sanctuary to spend some time with the most human like of all monkey. We were told that they were 96.4% like humans which I disagree with as I know a lot of humans that would up that percentage. The cultural tour started off with sampling the different stages of the brewing process of traditional rice wine...needless to say we instantly loved this village and will recommend it to everyone. All in all a greatly educational day which officially crossed off one of two days in the month we planned on being sophisticated backpackers. Well, as sophisticated as learning how to make Traditional Malaysian rice wine can be.
It was time for our America friends to join our adventure which meant that it was time for our White Water Rafting day. Now, being the brave souls who defeated the monstrous eight legged guest in our survivor island shelter we were ready and excited for the experience. We got on a bus travelled three hours to reach a train used by the locals to get to the small village on the river where we would start our rafting. After surviving the sweet sweet aromas of chicken shit given off by the village we were ready to get into the water but before this could happen our river guide, King Kong, had to give us the safety briefing. Nothing on earth can create the kind of fear we experienced (even as the seasoned-eight-legged-guest-killing-warriors we were) than a safety briefing which lasted 20 minutes, seemed very serious, with a lot of instruction on what to do WHEN falling into the rapids and, due to the English accent of your guide, all you could understand was “safety briefing”, “don't panic” and “Let's go”. So there we were, fully briefed and knowing less than what we started with. Now by this time Michele had almost peed her pants, Jessica was hyperventilating and even the American's were silenced (Yes, it's possible). We now realized the smell in the village was, in fact, not from the chickens but from the many travellers who had soiled themselves at this exact moment in there adventure. After crossing the first set of rapids, which apparently weren't rapids but some rough water, we came to a still patch in the river. At this point we were told to get into the water (which was murky and in the middle of the Borneo jungle) to show our guide what we had learned in the briefing. This swim would have been better used to clean out our fear induced soiled underwear as we had no clue as to how we could survive being thrown out of the boat or even worse being trapped under a capsized boat while in the rapids. After our dismal survival performance we agreed, as a team, upon one thing and one thing only: Stay in the boat by any means possible. Secretly we had also accepted that, had the boat capsized, we were all well and truly screwed.
Our rule of staying in the boat was a success as we made it through several stretches of large rapids without meeting death by water covered rocks. By this point a few of us had developed the kind of arrogance that comes with being an eight-legged-monster-killing-rapid-riding-warrior. David, my American accomplice, and I decided that it was time we proved ourselves as men. We agreed to take on King Kong's challenge to swim through a stretch of smaller rapids using the safety information we had learned. Needless to say we managed to prove ourselves...as nothing more than stupid. Swallowing gallons of infested jungle water we dragged ourselves coughing and spluttering back into the boat, having our egos stroked and boasting of our conquest of rapids no bigger than a Maltese Poodle...ah yes, the picture of true manliness!
After the long trip home us Saffas agreed that we had officially done more physical exercise than the entire nation of Taiwan and thus deserved an outdoor massage of every kind on offer. About 2 and a half hours later we dragged ourselves back to the lodge and went to bed.
Due to sheer exhaustion from the previous days activities we (Saffas and Americans) agreed that it was the perfect day to hop on a boat which would take us to one of the many islands around Borneo for some snorkelling and sunshine. Now, before you class us as lazy I will have you know that working on an even tan on a tropical island can build up quite a sweat and, therefore, shall be classed as physically strenuous labour. The island waters were also home to some ferocious man eating fish that would get their toothless jaws on anyone who got to close.
After a full day on the beautiful island of Sappi we headed back for some shopping and a final meal together with David and Michele as our time on the Island had come to an end. We wished them well on there trip back to Taiwan as we went off to bed to get some rest in before our flight to Kuala Lumpur....
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