Linangkit Cultural Village (LCV) is located in Kampung Selupoh (Selupoh Village) in Tuaran, about 40 minutes drive from Kota Kinabalu. Linangkit is a unique form of needle work and handmade decorative embroidery using interlacing knots. It is used to decorate and join seams by Lotud, who is a sub-ethnic of Kadazandusun and have a population of nearly 10,000, most reside around Tamparuli, Telipok and Tuaran areas.
LCV offers a platform to display the colorful culture and mystical history of Lotud tribe. Lotud is very famous in their skillful weaving, and personally I think their traditional dress is one of the most beautiful and elegant costumes in Sabah. That’s why the Lotud dress is the favorite choice for beauties who compete in the annual Harvest Festival Queen beauty pageant (Unduk Ngadau).
With striking red, gold, silver, white and black colors of the dress, Lotud girls always become the center of attention and most photographed target in any cultural fair.
Same as other indigenous people of Sabah, Lotud people also live in longhouse, but the difference is – each Lotud longhouse only hosts one family. The longhouse in LCV is in fact a “treasure house” with many antique items of Lotud people.
Linangkit Cultural Village (LCV) is open daily from 9am to 6pm for tourists, but you are advised to contact them (Tel: +60 88-787382, Mobile: +6013-8803738 / +6012-8667236 (Mrs. Alice Tee Jilan)) at least 3 hours in advance to make prior arrangement (for guided tour, food, cultural show, etc.).
Upon arrival, you will be taken to a traditional Dusun Lotud longhouse, where you could gain better understanding of the culture and the lifestyle of the Lotud. The house has a good collection of ritual tools used by Tantagas, the traditional priestesses of Lotud. Nowadays, many indigenous people are converted to Christians and Muslims, so the mystical practices is gradually fading.
There are many interesting items inside the longhouse. A guide will tell you the story behind each item. Actually, they don’t allow photo taking in exhibition area, so I only list a few here…
For example, the hundred-year-old “Gusi” jars above are for housing the spirits of the ancestors. Lotud would appease them regularly. Many heard strange noise or human voice in the jars at night.
Above: an accessory for warrior. They believe this gives them strength and magical power.
Above: a symbolic ritual tool used by Tantagas as a “torchlight” to see in “other” world.
Above: Lotud was once a headhunter. Each hair cluster means one head.
Above: they have good collection of old decor and items, which remind me of the era of my grandfather.
There are lot more stuffs. I’ll let you to find out there.
As I am always attracted by pretty Lotud girls, they teach me how to spot a single by looking at their costumes. Look at the photos below. You may flirt with the Lotud girls that wear belt that has no black color (first photo).
But if you see black color in their belt, that means she is not available (see photo below).
Please visit Linangkit Cultural Village to see the most beautiful tribe of Sabah today!
The ferry of Sabah is neither high-tech nor luxury, but some tourists find it very interesting. If you drop by Kuala Penyu town, may be you can try the free ferry ride, which operates until 3pm. There is another bigger ferry in Menumbok (going to Labuan) too.
Kuala Penyu Ferry
(Note: This ferry is No Longer in Operation. The following is just old story)
Kuala Penyu town is about 115KM away from Kota Kinabalu city. This area is not well-developed. The only reason tourists come here is heading to Pulau Tiga (Survivor Island), the snake island.
Above: old shoplot of Kuala Penyu town.
For tourists who return from Pulau Tiga trip, you may drop by Kuala Penyu town to check out the 50+ years old wooden shoplot. The huge bird nests in the shoplot is also quite a view because the house swifts come back to build their nests generation after generation.
Above: The Membakut River is about 200 Meters in width. There is no bridge so ferry service is the only mean to connect both sides.
You would see a long queue of cars waiting to board at the ferry behind the Shell petrol station. The ferry is small and slow, and only able to take 7 to 9 cars per trip. You will have to wait for your turn for over 20 minutes (it would take longer time especially in weekends when there are many cars). If your car crosses to other side (Ulu Membakut area) by ferry, it will cut down the travelling distance back to Kota Kinabalu by 15KM?
Above: there is no gate barrier at the front and rear of the ferry, look scary to me.
Finally it’s our turn to board the ferry. In the 4-minute video below, you can see the ferry is powered by an engine to move along a metal chain to other side. The cars are also tightly parked, only inches to one another.
Above: if you can’t wait, you can pay a small fee to get a “water taxi” to send you to other side.
Update (year 2012)
This ferry had stopped operation since the opening of the new bridge to cross the river. However, some villagers are still using water taxi to cross the river.
Menumbok: Ferry to Labuan
Note: The photos below were taken 5 years ago, they might be outdated.
About 40KM at southwest of Kuala Penyu is the Menumbok ferry terminal.
Above: Labuan is only 8KM away from Menumbok. You can even see Labuan from Mempakul Beach of Menumbok.
Above: the ferry travels between Labuan and Menumbok is far more bigger and it is not free. To transfer you and your car to Labuan, the cost is RM80 one way if I am not mistaken.
Someone even proposed to build a bridge to connect Labuan and Sabah. Personally I don’t see such need. I guess such bridge will only benefit the contraband smugglers the most, lol.
Photos taken in Kuala Penyu and Menumbok, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo
Before I introduce this place, I want to show you two photos below. 1st one (below) is the photo of afternoon sun blocked by haze. You can tell the haze is really dense.
Next one is the photo of our city attacked by haze. The haze from Kalimantan every year is really a nuisance. Such pollution not only affecting our economy, it also damages our health. Don’t you hate it?
The place that I’ll talk about has very close relationship with haze. The title has said it. It’s Klias Peat Swamp Field Center (KPSFC), 10 KM south-west of Beaufort. When you drive pass Beaufort toward the direction of Sipitang town, a few minutes later, turn right to the junction with the sign “Kg Luagan”, follow the main road, then you need to turn to two junctions again, to Jalan Luagan and Jalan Sanginan (see Location Map).
Soon you will see the sign “Hutan Paya Gambut Klias” (means Klias peat swamp forest), drive another 3.5 KM on a gravel road and you will reach Klias Peat Swamp Field Center.
Peat swamp forest is wetland with a layer of decomposing organic matters, such as dead leaves and plant material, up to 20 Meters thick. Waterlogged soils prevent dead leaves and wood from fully decomposing, which over time forming acidic peat (pH 2.9 – 4), giving a typically dark brown to black colour to the water – hence the name ‘blackwater swamps’. An estimated 1.54 million hectares of peat swamp forest still remain in Malaysia (but going fast!). More than 70% are in Sarawak, less than 20% in Peninsular Malaysia and the rest (over 2/3 are in Klias) in Sabah.
Importance of Peat Swamp
Peat swamp forest is highly diverse with as many as 927 species of flowering plants and ferns recorded in Borneo. It provides sanctuary for migratory birds and home to more than 60 endangered animal species such as Orangutan, Proboscis Monkey, Sumatran Rhinoceros, Asian Elephant, Tiger, Civet Otter, Storm’s Stork and Wrinkled Hornbill. Arowana, a very expensive aquarium fish, also lives in peat swamp. Peat swamp forest is also very important for our nature tourism, as many tourists want to see proboscis monkey and fireflies, which live in our peat swamp forest such as Klias, Weston and Garama
That’s why Sabah Forestry Department gazetted 3,630 ha of peat swamp in Klias as Class I protected forest reserve. They also open KPSFC in 2006 for conservation and research of peat swamp forest. FYI, the peat swamp of Klias is over 5,400 years old and the peat can be as deep as 13 Meters!
Above: the reception building of KPSFC.
Opening Hours & Contact
GPS Location: 5.325683, 115.673054 (see Location Map) Mon – Thu: 9am-1pm, 2pm-4:30pm Friday: 9-11am, 2pm-4:30pm
Closed on weekends Tel: +60 87-208101, +60 87-208102 (Note: If the phone numbers don’t work, you may call the mobile phone of Center Manager, Mr. Christopher Matunjau at +60 17-8101070) Facebook:kliaspeatswamp.fieldcentre
Above: the hostel in KPSFC can accommodate 16 to 30 people. Of course tourists can visit this place, but it’ll be better if they can bring a very knowledgeable tour guide, someone who can give them very good interpretation talk. Sadly, most tour guides in Sabah have 0 or poor knowledge on wetlands ecology.
Above: our bedroom in the hostel. The room is quite comfortable and equipped with air-conditioning. There is a big male and female washrooms in the building. Overall, the place is clean but the toilet is poorly constructed. Not only that it is very small, a few doors also can’t be closed properly, making you wondering why those people didn’t monitor the quality of the construction.
You can watch the 1-minute video below if you want to get a feel of the surrounding of Field Center:
Then we were shown a short video briefing in the reception building. The vegetation of Klias is a mix of peat forests, mangroves, nipah swamps, freshwater swamp forests, open marshes, heath forest and dryland forests, one of the most diversified and outstanding examples of peat swamp forest in Borneo. Klias is the largest peat swamp forest of Sabah, located on the delta of the Padas and Bukau rivers. At first glance, it does not look like an impressive attraction. Unlike a lively and flowing river, what you will see is a stalled brackish river with unpleasant smell.
You may click the picture above to see the layout of the Field Center. All necessary facilities are in place, except a restaurant.
Luckily visitors do not need to step into the mud and swamp to explore the peat swamp forest. You can walk on 2.7 KM of wooden boardwalk to get close to peat swamp. The walk takes about 2 hours and the starting point is just behind the reception building.
In early morning and late afternoon, the boardwalk is a nice place for bird-watching. You would see hornbills and woodpeckers. A rare Hook-billed Bulbul bird can be found here. Sometimes the bird watching guides bring tourists to look for birds here. I only saw glossy starling, dollar bird, kingfisher, imperial green pigeon and Hill Myna. Do bring a binocular if you plan to see birds.
To my surprise, there are many tall trees in this area. Like the Kapur Paya (Dryobalanops rappa) in photo below. It is endemic to Borneo and can grow up to 55 Meters tall. It is a threatened species due to its value as a commercial hardwood “Kapur”. Kapur Paya was not the favorite timber in the past coz its log sinks in the water. But when timber price goes up today, it becomes the feasible target of logging.
Above: there are many interpretation signs (in English) along the boardwalk for tourists to self-educate themselves.
Haze from Peat
Ok, let’s come back to the haze and peat swamp things. How are both related? Heavily packed with centuries of decaying organic material (i.e. dead wood & trees), peat swamp stores a huge quantity of carbon. A 10-Meter deep peat swamp can store about 5,800 tonnes of carbon per hectare, compared to 300-500 tonnes per hectare for other types of tropical forest. When peatlands are drained, dried, and burned for opening up new land for plantation such as oil palm every year, they emit over 3 billion tons of CO2, more than 10 percent of annual CO2 emissions, contributing to global warming!
What is shocking – dry peat swamp forests are very vulnerable to fire and produce the most carcinogenic haze. Fires in peat swamps are extremely difficult to extinguish because the fire can smolder deeply underground for YEARS, even after surface fires are put off by rains, creating haze that regularly haunts Southeast Asia. By now you should know why Indonesia has problem to stop haze.
After the planters drain and dry the peat swamp, they will burn it to clear the land for oil palm plantation. Imagine tons of carbon, which was locked under the ground for thousand of years, suddenly free and escape into the atmosphere as Carbon Dioxide… DISASTER!!!
There is only a self-catering kitchen in the Field Center, but that’s not a problem for our wonderful ladies who can cook. We had a great BBQ dinner! But I need to warn you that there are many mosquitoes in the evening and they can bite through my thin socks! Remember to bring insect repellent.
After heavy meal, a few of us decided to do a night walk. FYI, you may request the ranger to turn on the light along the boardwalk (but we didn’t). With the aid of torchlight, we walked quietly and saw termites, bats, frog and big millipede. The starry night is also a great feature here.
You would see wild animals such as wild boar, civet and badger at night, but you have to be very lucky. Guess that was not our night, though we could sense that this forest was very lively in the dark.. No wonder there are some old stories that warn children not to play till dark because the “tembuakar” which roams swamps and rivers on Sabah’s southwest coast will subdue them. Indigenous communities claim the creature takes on 44 life forms, appears after a heavy storm, is capable of uprooting bridges and can overnight “eat” grasses that clog rivers.
However, this monster has more reason to be afraid of human because new studies by Netherlands-based Wetlands International conclude that 20 percent of all Malaysian palm oil is produced on drained peatlands. They even say peat swamp will disappear from Sarawak state by the end of the decade if the destruction does not cease.
Conclusion
In Sabah, I see blue sky almost every day. I thought the beautiful sky would be there for me forever, until the haze from open burning turns our sky into grey color. Only then I realize that we should not take our environment for granted, or we will lose it forever.
In the past, Weston is the first town to have a railway station in Borneo, but it is under-developed and remain a seaside village today. Now tourists find a reason to visit Weston, as it is one of the three places offers wetland eco-tourism in Klias Peninsular to see long-nosed monkey, besides Klias and Garama.
Weston town is about 3 hours drive (125 KM) from Kota Kinabalu city and accessible by paved road. You will pass by Papar, Bongawan and Beaufort towns on the way.
Last month I joined a river cruise tour in Weston. I arrived Weston around 10am and our guide, Richard, and his boat, were already waiting at the jetty. It had been raining every day that time, so I was so glad that we had sunny day. For a start, we had a river cruise tour on the Weston River. The wetland here is mostly intact and well-preserved. Unlike the brackish and lifeless water in peat swamp of Klias and Garama, Weston wetland is a wide river with flowing murky (like color of milk tea) water.
Compared to Klias and Garama, Weston wetland is located at downstream and closer to the sea. In fact, its estuary is where Padas, the largest river of Sabah, ends as the meeting place of sea and river. As tide level changes daily, so is the depth of the water. We can see some lands exposed during low tide, with mangrove trees growing on it. During high tide, about lower half of these trees will be submerged into the water. A funny view but these vegetation have the ability to live in such intertidal environment.
Within 10 minutes, our boat spotted the first proboscis monkey. It’s a female monkey foraging at the river bank. Crocodiles also live in Weston River, but most are concentrated in further upstream, so this monkey is safe.
Then we saw about 4 herds of proboscis monkey (about 4 to 8 monkey per group) on the trees next to the river. Each group is dominated by a male proboscis monkey with big nose and belly. Proboscis monkey is one of the biggest monkey species but they are very elusive. They fled into the forest before our boat could get closer, so a binocular would help a lot.
Besides monkey, you can spot some water birds such as kingfisher, egrets and Lesser Adjutant.
Weston is rich in seafood too. We saw some fishing boats in the river, and a few of them were checking the fish traps.
Surprisingly, as an old town, the river of Weston is not really dense-populated. We found wooden houses of fishermen scattered along the river. Richard says the contour of the river always changes, so I assume any area near the river is not suitable for permanent settlement. Due to land clearing upstream, more silt is carried into Padas river, and this would affect the course and flow of the river.
Klias and Garama wetlands have beautiful peat swamp forest, but I think Weston has the densest and most beautiful view of Nipah forest. Someone told me that nipah tree is an invasive species and very easy to plant. You can see nipah tree in swampy area and wetland in Sabah.
Does nipah tree sound so unfamiliar to you? In fact, most of you (Malaysians) have eaten its fruit. Its popular name is “atap fruit”. Chinese calls it “水椰” (water coconut). The sweet Nipah fruit is a common item served in dessert called Ais Kacang or “ABC” (acronym for Air Batu Campur, literally means “Mixed Ice”).
Above: the semi-transparent and oval-shape nipah (nypa) fruits. The fruit is sweet with chewy texture, taste and feel like jello candy.
Above: nipah fruit is a nice addition to Mixed Ice dessert.
But what Weston most famous for is its crabs. For unknown reason, the crabs from Weston taste sweeter and more chewy. Even my mother knows this and ask me to buy some from Weston.
Another popular seafood of Weston is the freshwater prawn “Udang Galah” ( “大头虾” in Chinese). You can fish this prawn with specialized fishing hook. Normally the fishermen throw some rice in the river, after a while catch it using the fishing net. You can buy directly for cheaper price from local fishermen in Weston. In fish market, Udang Galah is sold for RM20 (about USD$6) per Kilogram. Unfortunately, due to overfishing, the crabs and shrimps in Weston are getting less.
At the end of our morning river cruise, we stopped at the jetty of Weston Wetland Resort, which has its dining area and reception building built next to the river. We were welcome by a fat and friendly cat, aww… so cute.
Below is a 5-minute video of our river cruise tour and Weston Wetland Resort. Sadly, I notice my video has very low click rate. Now I’m not sure if I should waste my time making video next time.. 🙁 At first I thought it was a great idea..
After taking some coffee and pineapples as light refreshment, Richard wanted to take us for a “pitcher plant” walk in a forest nearby. I thought I was the smartest one in the group. Assuming that it might be a “mud” walk, I was wearing short sleeve shirt and short pant, without knowing that I was totally unprepared what was coming next..
The 5-minute walk on the boardwalk allows us to take closer look at the nipah trees, without getting ourselves wet and dirty in the flooded swamp. However, the boardwalk is not well-maintained, so I had to watch my steps for missing plank.
Then we came to a bush area with dense shrubs. Wow, there are pitcher plant (Nepenthes) everywhere. Some are hanging on the shrubs and there are carpets of pitcher plant on the ground too. We have to be very careful of our steps. Pitcher plant is also called “Monkey Cup”, but it has nothing to do with monkey though, except that it looks like a miniature cup used by monkey.
Some are smaller than finger… This is Nepenthes tentaculata I think.
There are a number of nepenthes species around this small area. The one above is Nepenthes rafflesiana if I’m not mistaken.
Overall, we saw 4 or 5 species of nepenthes in just a small area. The one above is Nepenthes ampullaria, the highlight of our Nepenthes Hunt. Cute, isn’t it?
For those of you who plan to visit the Weston Wetland, you need to prepare for horse fly, an annoying blood sucker. I saw no horse fly in Klias and Garama but there are plenty of them near the Weston River. Horse fly is so persistent that they keep following you until you kill them or they are done sucking your blood.
There were more than 10 horse flies following me. According to Richard, my clothing in dark nature color attracts horse fly. Horse fly would not come near to people in bright color dress. In one case, one of his visitors killed 40 horse flies. When I didn’t pay attention, the horse fly cut a small wound on my exposed skin and fed on the blood. I ended up having 4 or 5 bites. They said the bites would become really itchy on next day and they were right. The worst thing is it will get worse if you scratch.
Normal insect repellent can’t drive horse fly away. One of my friends introduced me the repellent spray above. It is really effective against horse fly but this spray is not available in Malaysia shop. What you can do is to dress in bright color and cover your skin as much as possible with long sleeve and pant. Horse fly may carry parasite or disease, so don’t take it lightly.
Richard showed us his resort, but the room and accommodation is not ready yet, as of this writing.
We had our seafood lunch in Weston Wetland Resort. I remember my Sabahan friends and I once ordered shrimp in a restaurant in Peninsular Malaysia. We laughed when we saw the dish, coz the shrimps were so tiny that they are only qualified for making dried shrimps in Sabah. Sabah is blessed with abundant and “big” seafood, is because of our well-preserved wetlands (e.g. mangrove, coral reefs), which is a nursery and breeding ground for our seafood. Remember, our mangrove forest and swamp are not wasteland, they are important supply of our seafood.
Before we said bye-bye to Weston, we had another river cruise near the exit of estuary (river mouth of Padas), where we can see Brunei in front. Do you see the light area in the sea, in photo above? The water there is only a few feet deep. We had too many people onboard so we didn’t move further or we would risk our boat stranded in shallow water. Yes, you are correct that the last photo is the land of Brunei.
Near to Beaufort town and 1.5 hours drive from Kota Kinabalu city, Klias Wetland is the biggest peat swamp forest of Sabah. As Klias is the habitat of wildlife such as proboscis (long-nosed) monkey, silver-leaf monkey and firefly, it attracts thousands of tourists every year. I have tried river cruise in Klias wetland a few times. Basically what the tour operators do is – they put the tourists sitting on a small speed boat, cruise along Klias or Garama River, to spot for monkey on the trees of the river bank. At night, they will bring tourists to see fireflies.
However, OIB Tours (Only in Borneo) now offers a totally different new experience. Personally I call it an excellent example of Blue Ocean Strategy (which create new niche and make ordinary competition irrelevant). They turn a 80-feet wooden fishing boat into a tourist house-boat named “Kunang-Kunang” (means Firefly), the first deluxe river cruise tour in Sabah.
Though I was invited, I had no idea what they meant by deluxe river cruise. At first, we need to travel 2 hours by land to their riverside base camp in Garama. FYI, Klias and Garama are adjacent to each other and both are the rivers in Klias Wetland (Peninsular).
We get out of our bus and walk about 10 minutes on a boardwalk to reach Garama Base Camp. The starting doesn’t look luxury. I am perfectly ok with the walk, but I dislike oil palm.
We took a short tea break at the base camp of OIB.
Then we got onboard on small speed boats and started our river cruise at 4:30pm.
Above: our guide, DJ, looked for monkey.
Above: a group of tourists saw the proboscis monkey. Compare to Kilas River, the Garama River is smaller and have many narrow maze-like network, but you can get closer to the monkey.
Above: we spot a few herds of proboscis monkey at the riverside.
For me, this is quite an ordinary river cruise like most other travel agents offer. You may watch the video of “ordinary” river cruise below. Later you can compare this with the deluxe river cruise:
After 30-minute of river cruise in Garama River, we are transferred to the 80-feet house boat “Kunang-Kunang” in Klias River at 5pm:
Above: everyone is so excited and check out the boat. The dining and resting area looks big.
Kunang-Kunang is a double-deck boat. It can accommodate 30 to 50 people, really great for private party and company annual dinner. You may have a wedding party onboard too. Sound much more fun than those formal and boring functions in hotel.
Above: introduce to you the captain of Kunang-Kunang. He is blind actually. Haha, just kidding..
The view from upper deck is so nice! See the lush mangrove forest behind them?
Another photo taken on upper deck. You can have a very open and 360 degree view of Klias River.
The boat moves slowly and very stable, none of us got seasick. Everyone was as happy as a kid on this big boat.
You may watch the 5-minute video below to have a 360-degree look of both lower and upper decks:
Kunang-Kunang was once a fishing boat, of course you can try fishing on it.
If you are lucky, you may catch “Udang Galah”, an odd-looking big prawn from the river. It is edible and sold for RM20+ per Kilograms in market.
For me, I prefer to do nothing and just enjoy my beer, hehe..
There were many small tourists boats passed by. We can see from the faces of these tourists that they are so envy and want to be on our big boat too, lol.
Due to cloudy weather, the sunset that day was not so spectacular but we still had good time anyway.
After sunset, we saw non-stop traffic of flocks of “birds” on the sky. See the small dots in photo above? They kept on coming. When the day turned darker, they fly lower. I notice that the way they fly is very strange. These are not birds.
They are flying fox (fruit bat) and hundreds of them flying over our boat. I didn’t know Klias has flying fox. You can see it at the end of my last video.
We also enjoyed our dinner onboard. It has been a fun trip and I can see that everyone is really happy. So… you know what to propose to your company for annual dinner? 😉
After dinner, our boat started to return to Base Camp. Suddenly the boat turned off all the light. In total darkness, we saw many “Christmas trees”, which in fact are synchronized flashes from hundreds, even thousands, of twinkling fireflies congregated on the trees. There are nearly 50 of such “Summer Christmas Trees” along the Klias River. Though it’s the highlight, too bad I can’t show you any photo coz it’s impossible to take photos. A few fireflies even fly to our boat!
For pricing info and reservation, you may contact OIB Tours.
Earlier this year, I went to Membakut for a day trip. Thanks to Emily, I discovered the charm of Membakut. Membakut is a town about 80 KM away from Kota Kinabalu city and near to Beaufort.
There is a long paved road in Binsulok of Membakut. The road is in good condition and its end leads to a ferry terminal that brings you to Kuala Penyu. Driving along this road is a pleasure experience. Besides the scenic countryside view, the best part is the Binsulok River next to the road. The mangrove forest of Binsulok River is still in pristine condition. The dense mangrove is so green and beautiful that I pulled my car over a few times to take photos.
Mangrove forest is the nursery and bleeding ground of seafood such as fishes and crab. Needless to say, the river becomes the popular fishing spot for the locals. Whenever I went, I saw villagers carrying fishing rods. I think this river is also a great place for kayaking.
Mangrove trees really grow inside the water. The peculiar stilt root of mangrove allows the tree to breathe. Sabah has largest area of mangrove in Malaysia. However, very few knows that that’s why Sabah has abundant seafood. Sabah is a hilly state, so the mangrove area at the coastal (flat) area is constantly under pressure of development and will be clear anytime. If our mangrove is gone, so will our seafood.
Photos below: The trees look like being soaked in flood water but they actually survive well in such condition.
But what interest me the most is the sundew grows on the river bank. At first I know they are fallen fruit. A closer look reveals that they might the carnivorous plant that I’ve been looking for. I never expect I would see them in Membakut.
Then we came to a riverside hut that looks like a great place for fishing and relaxing. Unfortunately, it is very poorly maintained.
The plank on the boardwalk is in bad shape..
Centre part of the hut is sinking and would collapse.
To make thing worse, some idiots made camp fire inside the wooden hut, creating big holes inside the hut. I guess it’s the irresponsible act by the local anglers.
There is a toilet next to the hut. The door is gone…
If you follow the Binsulok River, you will find its water flows to the sea in Pimping Beach. That’s why the sea water of Pimping Beach is brackish in color and you will find foam along the shore and float on the sea, probably caused by the mixture of sea and river water. It was holiday but no people swimming so I assume the sea is not cool for swimming.
For those of you who have been to Shangri-La Rasa Ria Hotel in Tuaran, you would not miss the beautiful view of Mengkabong River (estuary) from a bridge nearby. In fact, that bridge is the most photographed point for Mt. Kinabalu, almost every photographers got a sunrise photo of majestic Mt. Kinabalu from this angle.
Anyway, personally I think that angle is “shot to death”, so I am not interested in photographing it at all. However, every time I pass by, I do think, “wow, isn’t that wonderful if I can do kayaking in that river?” And it did happen last month, but at a price of waking up at 4am!
Our guide, a friendly and gentle Japanese named Yasushi (but we like to call him “Sushi”), runs a kayaking programme at Mengkabong River. He picked us up in Kota Kinabalu at 5am, then we headed to the kayaking site in Mengkabong Village, which is in Tuaran and about 35KM away from the city. We arrived the village around 6am and have a coffee break in the house of a villager, Uncle Usop. Mengkabong Village is a traditional fishing village and most of the population are Bajau people. Many tourists come here to see the stilt houses on the riverbank here.
Above: cute devil of Mengkabong. The owner locks them up coz worry that they might fall into river.
Release of cute devil..
Dry langsat fruit skin
Above: locals burn langsat peel to remove odour and also believe it can calm the wind.
After having light refreshment, we started our kayaking on fiber glass kayak (2 seats). At first I worried that the kayak could capsize, so I only brought my old (spare) camera. Later I found that I worried too much. The Kayak is very stable and the water in estuary is calm. The activity is very simple and relaxing, we just paddle and follow the kayak of Sushi to explore the river and mangrove area.
Above: see the dark line? It’s the wide area of mangrove on the river.
Luckily the weather was good and the air was refreshing. The sky is lighten up by sunrise and Mt. Kinabalu becomes a beautiful backdrop over the river. Now I know why we need to wake up so early, to catch the breath-taking view in magic moment. FYI, you also can try sunset kayaking, the view would be less impressive but you can see the fireflies in mangrove. You can do fishing on the kayak too. This estuary is a mix of freshwater and sea water, so you could get both types of fishes. We saw oyster farm in the river, an evident that the water is clean.
Besides sunrise view of Mt. Kinabalu, the network of densely-grown mangrove forest on river is also fun to explore. The mangrove forest is so vast, and soon we are surrounded by walls of mangrove trees, as if we are inside a maze. I saw a pair of beautiful Stork-billed kingfisher. Btw, you should apply sunblock before kayaking. There are some mosquitoes in the mangrove, so you better bring insect repellant too. Anyway, according to the villager, the mosquito in mangrove is not dangerous and doesn’t carry terrible diseases such as malaria, though their bites are very itchy.
The last part of the kayaking is to navigate through the very narrow passage inside the mangrove. It is challenging but quite fun, and require team work of front and rear kayakers. Finally the kayaking ended at 8am. Frankly I don’t mind kayak until afternoon. Some of my friends are asking for such trip, if you are interested, you may contact Mr. Yasushi at 019-8109510 (Website (Japanese version): http://www.kayakdeborneo.sakura.ne.jp/). His clients are mainly Japanese but he welcomes local group to join too.
Before we leave Long Pasia, we check out the Heath Forest Garden nearby the village, only a 20-minute walk away. Taman Kerangas is a garden (private land) where locals put all the wild orchids they rescued from logged forest. There are over 320 orchid species found in Long Pasia, and the new species is still being discovered.
At first I thought Taman Kerangas was a well-maintained garden with all the blooming flora neatly organised and a place great for leisure walk. I was wrong. Taman Kerangas looks more like a forest, with muddy and steep trail, dense undergrowth vegetation and lurking leeches. I was wearing the last set of clean clothing for the last day and didn’t expect to get dirty. After walking nearly 1KM of dirty trail, and with leech crawling on my jacket, to be honest, I was quite angry.
Anyway, I still got some beautiful flower shots though not many orchids were blooming. Just remember to wear jungle outfit when you come here. Taman Kerangas is so near to the village, so it still worth the time to take a look.
Last Day
I enjoy my last peaceful morning in Long Pasia. Today we are going home, but I don’t really feel happy that it’s over. Instead, I feel a bit sad leaving. As a frequent traveller, I come and go, without leaving my heart behind in other places. I have a special feeling about Long Pasia, and I’ll come back again one day. I feel a connection with this place but not sure what it is.
We have a tea break in the living room before we leave. A black chick comes in, walk around and chirp. Lait says this chick has no mother and always alone. It seems to enjoy being our company and sit quietly on our lap, so Mary decides to take it home and name it “Pasia”. Lat also gives Nova one of his paintings. Seem like everyone got something. I also bag some good photos and sweet memories too.
If you would like to go to Long Pasia, please contact Mr. Eddie at 011-12017897. The attractions that I blog here is only a small part of Long Pasia. Long Pasia has many other attractions such as Tiger Hill, Hidden Lake, Maga Waterfall, Crocodile monument, etc. Since Long Pasia is far away, I strongly recommend tourists to have a longer stay. What’s the point of having a 3-day trip but spending 2 days on the road, right? You don’t need to do hardcore adventure like me, as there are many leisure activities such as river cruise around the village too.
