There were about 30 people in the train. More than half of them are foreigner tourists who were also coming for the White water Rafting. Their spirit was high, and all happily chit chat with one another. Most of the railway is next to the Padas River, so you could see the river condition clearly. Besides, you will see small houses, grass field, hills, fruit plantation, dense forest along the path, a typical rural view of Sabah.
I don’t know why they call this “White Water” Rafting coz the color of Padas River looks more like Teh C (Milk Tea). After an hour, we reached Rayoh, the ending point of water rafting. This was the place where we would stop for a short while, kept our personal belonging in the lockers there, changing cloth. After 10 minutes, we all got on the train again to go further up to Pangi, which is about 10 KM away. The only thing I brought along was a diposable waterproof camera. No more digital camera from this point on.
Now is the rainy season. So the Padas River was quite deep and “fat”, carrying large quantity of water and sand. Everyone relaxed and enjoyed watching the river.
As the train moved closer to the upstream, the current seemed to move more swiftly… Everyone got excited. I can see the words “Not Bad Huh” written on their faces.
But what we saw later started to exceed our comfort zone. The closer to upstream, the more Padas River revealing its angry and violent behavior, as if it was hungry for a sacrifice from a ritual. Our hearts were beating as fast as the rapids, when we realised how strong they are. The train moved quite fast so I only managed to shoot a few photos. The wave below looks like a huge washing machine.
Our laughter and smiles gradually vanishing and everyone stopped talking and stared outside the window. The Wah and Wow expression on their faces were replaced by fear. The rapid in the photo below looks like many snakes moving. As you can see, its waves can bite you from any direction.
We saw more and more rapids like that. And the next one always looked more shocking and sound “louder” than the last one, even in the train. The silence and tension were growing. At the end, we only heard train howled in pain and moved slowly to the destination, Pangi, the starting point of the rafting. I did not exaggerate anything. We were quite worried and scared at that moment. The waves may look small in the photos above but keep in mind that the river is very far away from my camera.
My blog about the White Water Rafting in Padas River is very long, so I decide to split it into 3 parts. I will publish one article each day. Some tourism sites have posted article about Padas River with a few documentary photos. But they don’t really show you how the Padas River looked like up-close. I hope I can show you more here.
The story started when my aunty from New Zealand, and also a water-sport lover, would like to do kayaking at our islands during her long holiday in Sabah. I thought, “She is an experienced kayaker so she must have seen the world-class beautiful sea view in New Zealand. She comes here to see sh*t kah?” That’s why I proposed to go white water rafting. She was quite pleased with the idea, so we headed to Padas River yesterday.
Chinese says, “You can bully the mountain, but never mess with the water.” I don’t know why I had such a crazy idea coz I don’t even know how to swim (a old drought duck, hehe…). Padas River actually means “Spicy River” (Pedas). From the name itself you already can imagine that it is not a “mild temper” river. This Grade III and IV river, during the rainy season now, can easily capsize your boat and drown you. This activity is very challenging and always listed as one of the top 10 things you must die do in Sabah. The full day trip costs about RM150 – RM180 for locals, and that includes two-way transport (by train, van), use of rafting equipments, briefing and BBQ lunch.
A few notes about rafting at Padas:
1. You do not need to bring drinking water. You WILL drink a lot of river water, which is full of minerals. It is quite impossible that you do not fall out of the boat. Be ready to enjoy the feeling of drowning. You will survive anyway.
2. You don’t need to know how to swim to join this activity. In fact, in its high speed rapids, swimming skill is also no use.
3. Try to have heavy breakfast before you go. The so-called refreshment provided by the tour operator are only watermelon and water. Lunch time is at 2 PM, after the end of rafting.
4. Cut short all your fingernails and toenails. You will not wear any shoe on the boat. I almost broke my toenail during rafting. Very painful…
5. If the survivors say they hit by 4 and 6 feet high waves, they are not joking. I personally experienced it…
6. Even though this sport carries risk, it is quite safe. But it is a bit dangerous if you get panic easily in water. I heard someone died bcoz his leg was trapped by the rock under the river.
In the morning, the travel agent transferred us to the train station in Beaufort. There were 7 tourists in our group. They are from Czech and Estonia (East Europe). After 90 minutes, we arrived the train station. While waiting for the train to arrive, we walked around. To be frank, the train station looked odd to me. The ticketing counter is on 1st floor, not the ground floor. I remember a Taiwan TV channel was documenting the Padas River trip and their actor also could not find the counter. Note the sign is not written in English. The malfunction toilet door-lock… the old trains that look more like big piece of scrap metals at junkyard… Come on lah, maintain these things a bit lah ok…
The train arrived around 10 AM. We all got on the train to begin the journey.
Kota Kinabalu City Bird Sanctuary (KKCBS) is a must-go place for nature lover and photographer. At KKCBS you can see many weird wildlife and plants that are very different from the rainforest. I have been there for many times, and each time I would see new animals (yeah, new photos for my collection).
I have been trying to trace some hard-to-see wildlife such as mud lobster, water snake, monitor lizard, certain rare birds, and sting ray, but still cannot get their pictures. They are either moving too fast or hiding very well. Until now, I think my photo collection is still not complete enough to give you a full picture of what are there. Actually the photo gallery below was already complete last year. I will go ahead and publish them first. Hopefully very soon I can publish part two. BTW, there are 2 panoramic views that allow you to see the Mangrove Forest in 360 degree.
If you want to do bird watching, try to be there at 8 AM, when the park opens, or between 4 PM to 5 PM. I heard that they will open as early as 6 AM, in the future, the time which has the most birds searching for food in the mangrove forest. One of the main attraction is the fiddler crabs. They are very sensitive and alert. You need a lot of patient to take pictures of them. The male fiddler crabs got a huge claw as weapon and sexy symbol. The fiddler crabs are so colourful and special that I decide to put up another photo gallery just for them. It is the same gallery that I published last year (but didn’t blog about).
Finally I went to Kota Marudu, my first time being there. Before I departed, I asked my friends and family what are the places of interest in Kota Marudu. All of them looked at me with blank face. Ok then.. I took a mini-bus, after 2 hours, I arrived Kota Marudu. Gee.. there was a power blackout. Luckily the electricity was back after 15 minutes.
Kota Marudu is a small town with some blocks of shop houses, and surrounded by sea of coconut trees. At first I saw nothing unique about this town. But in the evening of second day, around 6 PM, the view shocked me. I was walking to the venue of Pesta Jagung, and I saw thousands of birds all over the sky and wires, making hell lot of noise. Seem like there are more birds in this town than people. I didn’t bring my cap so I ran as quick as possible to avoid being bombard by bird sh*ts. Just check out the photos below.
There were some games in the first day of Pesta Jagung. I participated in the blowpipe competition. Using a blowpipe to hit a corn 20 feet away is easier to say than do, and it was windy that day. I got 3 darts but missed it totally. In fact, after 3 rounds by 20 participants (each with 3 chances), we hit the corn the 3rd time. I won nothing but taste the saliva of 20 other participants left on blowpipe. Goodness, I kissed 20 guys indirectly…
Guys, you should thank Smoke Head again for bringing you more photos of Sabah beauties. The Maize Beauty Fashion Queen Pageant is the highlight of Maize Fest. This is the 5th time this event is organized but probably the first time you can see these online. If you look at the photos closely, you will find that the pretty ladies were wearing “jewellery” made of corn leaves and seed.
You are busy, and your friends will come to Sabah soon. They never visit Sabah before. To make them feel welcome, you want to show them around for 0.5 or 1 day. You scratch your head and think, "KK got any interesting place meh?" I believe all of us had experienced this situation before. So far I haven’t seen anyone wrote a guide to make our lives easier. Probably I can start a list here. 🙂
Since this guide is for busy people, below are my criteria to select a site:
1. It must be near to KK (less than 1 hour drive). That’s why Kinabalu Park is out.
2. It is a place that opens almost every day or at least regularly.
3. Can go there yourself without tour operator.
4. Tour only takes a few hours. No overnight required.
Place
Interest
Remark
City Tour
(Yayasan Sabah, Sabah State Mosque, City Mosque, UMS, Poh Toh Tse Buddhist Temple, Atkinson Clock Tower, Tanjung Aru Beach)
General
–
Local Food
(Anjung Selera – Likas Bay, Anjung Senja – KK City)
General
–
Shopping
(Centre Point Sabah, Wisma Merdeka, Wawasan Plaza, KK Plaza,
Central Market)
Open daily from 9.30am to 5.30pm. Elephant Ride: 10.30am – 11.30am and 3.30pm – 4.30pm only
If you plan properly, you can even go to 4, 5, 6 places in a day. To make the list more complete and useful, please post your comment if you have any other recommendations. I believe many of you know KK a lot better than me.
The next 360° Panoramic Virtual Tour that I would like to introduce is the Puu Jih Buddhist Temple, which is the highest temple in Sandakan. This is the second time I visit Puu Jih Temple. The first visit was more than 10 years ago, but I could not forget the breathtaking view of Sandakan Bay from there. For me, the whole building, from the door to the roof, is like a piece of art. The outstanding artwork is nicely integrated into the great scenery.
Inside you feel the greatness of the Buddha, when you walk outside, you feel the greatness of the world, then you feel great, haha.. Just a few hundreds meters away from Puu Jih Temple, there is a Di Zhang (God of Earth) Temple, which is surrounded by sky, mountains and forest. Really a nice concept. Puu Jih Temple is just a few KM away from Sandakan city. If you plan to take a city tour, you must not miss this attractive spot.
Hope the 360 degree Mount Kinabalu Panoramic views did not make your mouth wide open, cool huh? Before you close your mouth, I still have more Panoramic Virtual Tours to show you. Can you digest fast enough? 🙂
Yes, the next one is Monsopiad Village in Penampang. Monsopiad is the name of the most popular Kadazan headhunter, a legendary warrior who harvested 42 human skulls. In the past, the more skulls you owned, the more heroic you were. The headhunters believed that the spirit of the victim would trap in the skull and protected them. Today there is no more headhunter in Borneo, but you still can see the 300-year old human skulls displayed in the House of Skulls of Monsopiad Village. Monsopiad Village is one of the BEST tourism spot in Kota Kinabalu but is not very well-known among the Sabahans. Don’t know why…
Actually I feel a bit guilty to publish this virtual tour because it is so thorough and complete that — after you watch it, you can close your eyes walking in the village and know where you are, like you had been there. I have posted 150+ photos, 4 video clips, and 1, 2, 3, 4… 10 panoramic tours for this village. Goodness… I hope they will not kill me.
Video Clips of Traditional Dances
BTW, another thing that I would like to highlight is — I find that the Kadazan Sumazau video clip is the most popular download item of MySabah.com.
If you visit Monsopiad Village, normally they will show you Sumazau, Magunatip and Sazau (by Kadazan Papar) dances. For more video clips of traditional dances of Sabah indigenous people, you may check out my Pesta Kaamatan page.
Due to the heavy rain, my trip to Mount Kinabalu was painful. Fortunately I brought my raincoat. But my hair and jean were wet and the temperature was freezing cold. Actually I had already expected the bad weather so I had booked two nights of accommodation at Laban Rata. The first night I was staying in the Gunting Lagadan Hut (3,323m), which has no heater and is quite far away from Laban Rata Resthouse. To get there from Laban Rata, you need to walk 100 Meters of ladder up there. After I finished the climb to summit in the next day, instead of going home directly, I moved to Waras Hut (very near to Laban Rata), where I spent another night. This gave me extra time for contingency. Otherwise the bad day would spoil my photography session in Mount Kinabalu. I found that the rain usually came in the afternoon, so I climbed down at 7:30 AM on third day.
My comment about this trip is “The Mount Kinabalu and Kinabalu National Park are unchanged, like 10 years ago.” Well, if I say the nature is unchanged, it is a compliment coz it means the site is well preserved. If I say this to the park management, it is an insult. Yes, the park is not improved for over 10 years. I am a bit surprised that the BEST Sabah tourism spot is managed by the WORST organisation, Sutera Sanctuary Lodges (If you want to burn their office, it is located at ground floor of Wisma Sabah. And thank you).
There are so many positive reviews about the Mount Kinabalu trip. But I would like to criticise their management. Let me list a few of my frustrations:
1) Low Quality Mountain Guides
Personally I call them “Shepherd”. Basically they do not provide any service or guide you. They just walk around you. Half of the time you don’t see them. In year 2001, there was a young British girl wandered off the group, got lost, and died in Mount Kinabalu. Such a poor girl… Her father did not want to blame anyone. But… I believe this case is more or less the responsibility of their Mountain Guide. Still seeing the sloppy attitude of these guides, I’m afraid the same tragedy will happen again one day. If you bring your kids along, do always keep an eye on them, especially during the thick mist session (Aug – Nov).
If you move slower, they will push you. If you sit in the shelter for too long, you will hear them mumble “Go… Go… Go… Jalan… Jalan… Jalan…” beside you, like a cassette that repeats the same word over and over again. Someone told me that the good mountain guides are reserved for the foreigner tourists, and the locals will get the lousy one. Not sure if this is true. I did see a few mountain guides who were keen to show the foreigner tourists here and there, introduced what were along the trail.
2) Terrible and Expensive Food Make sure you bring enough cash. A 500ml water costs RM4.60. You better boil your own water in the hut. Remember to bring heat-resistant (not plastic) bottle / container so you can store the boiled water. Tea and coffee costs about RM8. There is only one restaurant in Laban Rata. If you don’t eat there, tree roots will be your only choice (and they know this).
One of the popular dish here is the Fried Rice. This was the first time I paid money to torture myself. Their fried rice is the hardest and the most expensive (cost RM12) in Sabah. It is so difficult to push it down the throat, so I kindly asked them if they could give me a small bowl of soup. They said, “No free soup. You must order it separately.” The soup will cost another RM8. Even the RM3.00 meal in the city comes with free soup. I wish I can throw their boss down the 4,095M mountain.
3) Lack of Heating
If a person takes shower with very hot water during summer, you will say that he is nut. Some huts do not come with heater and hot water. I wonder if their management expects the tourists to take cold water shower under the freezing temperature. I will not advise you to take cold shower even if you are strong. In case you got sick, the climb to the summit will become risky. I think the heater should be a basic facility coz everyone needs it.
The night is freezing cold. Bring extra socks and spare clothing to keep you warm at night. Do not count on their blanket. It is so thin and old. The blanket that I got looked like the same one I used more than 10 years ago, during a school trip to Mount Kinabalu (we also stayed in the same hut).
Because of the heavy rain, my jean, socks and shoes were wet, but I did not have the spare clothing (OH O!). The cloth will take days to dry due to the cold and humid air. I wanted to use the stove in the kitchen to dry my clothing. Then I saw a scolding notice “If you use the stove for purpose other than cooking, you will be fined RM200” (very smart). OK, what to do? Luckily I got a candle, so I used it to dry up my cloth. It worked! I could see the water vaporized from jean like white smoke.
4) Inconsiderate to Tourists’ Well Being
One of the worst experience was caused by their inconsiderate. After I returned from the summit to Laban Rata, I felt really sick. This was because my body absorbed too much cold in the heavy rain, the hut was too cold and I did not sleep well (no heater and warm blanket), and I exhausted all my energy reaching the top.
According to their policy, we should check out before 10:30 AM. I checked out at 10 AM and got ready to move to Waras Hut that I had booked earlier. Then their staff said that the check-in time was at 1 PM. I felt really ill and I needed a bed to rest ASAP, so I asked the staff if I could check-in earlier coz I was sick. She looked at my pale face, just haha and said NO. I had to wait for 3 hours then. I sat in the restaurant coz I was so weak. I wanted to vomit whenever I moved.
After one hour, I asked again, with begging tune, “Please… I was sick and I needed a rest badly. Normally hotel check-out time is 12 and can check-in at 1 or 2 PM. The small hut has nothing much to clean up. Would you please let me in earlier?” She just said, “We only got one housekeeper and your hut is the last one to be cleaned. That’s why it was slow.” I replied, “Then would you please request her to clean my room first, so I could move in soon?” She was speechless and looked at me with a “I am not keen. You must check-in at 1 PM” expression.
Nothing much I could do, so I sat quietly at a corner. During the waiting time, I noticed that whenever foreigner tourists approached her, she smiled like sunshine. She never forgot to ask, “Is there anything else I can do for you?” with seducive eye expression, as if she will not hesitate to lick their shoes if they ask. I believe these tourists would get different answer if they asked the same thing like mine. Finally I got my room at 1 PM. Laying on the bed, I thought I would be sent to the hospital. It was quite scary coz I traveled alone, and their inconsiderate made me felt very insecure. Fortunately I survived.
5) Take Nothing but Photographs. Leave Nothing but your MONEY.
At the park, besides paying RM70 for a Dumb Shepherd, RM30 for Climb Permit, and RM3.50 for Insurance, you also need to pay RM12.50 per way (RM25 for return trip) for the transport from National Park to Timpohon Gate, where you start the climb. I think the transport fee is too high. The distance between National Park and Timpohon Gate is only 5 KM. After paying so many fees, they should at least provide a free shuttle service. Instead, they charge overly high fee to rip off the tourists. FYI, RM25 can buy a bus ticket to go to Sandakan, which is more than 200KM away. What a joke I need to pay RM25 for a 10 KM trip. And they send you there with bus or van, not a big limo. With that money, I expected a plane though.
I believe some of you may have some bad experience too. Please feel free to share it here…
