As part of the training in Miki Survival Camp, Mike, our guide, introduces a fun way to fish crabs without hook and fishing line.
All you need is a bamboo stick with split end to hold a pieces of unwanted meat such as chicken skin or fat. Later we learn that earthworm works the best but you need to tie the worm to the string so it won’t break apart.
Then we go to a small stream nearby to fish for crabs. Though we don’t see any crab in the water, we know they are hiding under the rocks and in the holes.
What we need to do is to place the bait near the possible hidden spot of crabs. The crab will be attracted by the bait and come to pinch it. Once you feel the pulling force from the crab, just slowly withdraw the stick.
You will see crab being lured out of the hole, follows the bait and try to get a hold of the meat. Once you are sure that the crab pinches the meat firm enough, you can pull it out of the water.
See! Mike got a greedy and stupid crab! However, it’s not as easy as it looks. I try a few times but the crab escapes. If you fail to fish it in first time, the crab will become cautious and may not dare to hold onto the bait.
Mike and Jimmy got 4 or 5 crabs in less than half an hour. The crabs are in bright orange color, very beautiful but quite small.
All freshwater crabs in Sabah are edible. Mike cooked these crabs with oyster sauce. The smell is so nice. The meat tastes good too though it’s not much.
Gontong, our dog, also enjoys the crab shells left over by us, so funny.
You may watch the 90-sec video of crab fishing below:
Minitinduk Gorge is the ancient gateway to Mt. Kinabalu, as it is on “The Hugh Low Trail”, an original summit trail used by documented first male climbers, Sir Hugh Low (1851) and Sir John Whitehead (1888), and female climber, Lillian Gibbs (1910), of Mt. Kinabalu, the highest peak of Malaysia. After another “tourist” trail opens in 1924 (by R.F. Evan and Sarel), climbers / tourists are no longer using this trail located in Kampung Kiau (Kiau Village) of Kota Belud district.
Last month I joined a 2-day-1-night camping trip organized by The Sabah Society to explore the gorge. The weather was good for the past few days until we departed in the afternoon, but the heavy downpour didn’t hold us back. By 2:30pm, we reached the junction to Kampung Kiau (Kiau Village), which is a few Kilometers (KM) after Nabalu and 29 KM before Ranau, and where we met up with Mr. Martin Moguring, our guide from Kinabalu Park. Dr. Ravi, the co-writer of the book “The Hugh Low Trail”, is the organizer of this trip.
Then we drove to the school in Kiau Village, which takes another 30 minutes. We parked our cars in the village and walked to the starting point, just a stone throw away from the village. We were told in advance that we will cross multiple small rivers, so most of us were wearing short. Our group also hired 3 porters (Rony, Abinus and Bengent) to carry some of our bags and supplies.
Jungle Trekking & River Crossing
The distance from Kiau Village to Minitinduk Gorge is only 3.5 KM and take about 2 hours of trekking. For the first day, we walk 3 KM to Sambatang Cave and camp there. The second day we walk from the cave to the Gorge, which is only 500 Meters away. FYI, the gorge is in a private land outside of the Kinabalu Park boundary.
In the beginning, we passed through the farmland, mainly consists of paddy, maize, ginger and other food crops.
Pretty soon we entered the secondary forest, characterized by dense undergrowth. It is still raining so it’s very humid in the forest and this “activates” the little brown forest leeches that live in deeper jungle and love wet environment (and our blood!). There are not many of them and most are only 1cm in length. I had seen forest leeches 5 times bigger in primary rainforest, so these tiny-sized blood suckers didn’t bother me. I didn’t even feel that I got one leech bite until I saw my leg bleeds.
Though it’s a newly generated forest, there are still potential dangers around. Like the harmless looking plant in photo above, its leaves are poisonous and able to make your skin really painful and itchy when touched. But there are many “good” plant too, Martin shows us some plant that can be used as food, preservatives or herbal medicines by local people.
As I’m an experienced hiker, the trail is not rugged and I consider it as an easy walk, not strenuous and challenging at all. Most of the time, we moved on the nature trail adjacent to the Kadamaian River and its tributaries such as Kolapis, and there are about 10 river crossing. But I’m not so used to river crossing. After heavy rain, the rivers rose, turning swift and deep.
Though the depth of river only reaches our knee level, the current is strong enough to push you down if you don’t stand firm. The worst thing is the murky water caused by heavy rain, we can’t see the irregular bottom. We had to cross slowly, probing the depth in front with one foot to avoid stepping into deeper water. I almost fell into the icy-cold water with my camera once.
My best advise is – Trust NO rock and boulder near the river. They all look deceptively safe to step on, but they offer zero friction, after being “waxed” by the river for a long time!
Our socks are soaking wet. Only Dr. Ravi walks with happy dry feet. He also shows us his simple solution – just drill a hole on the shoe for draining of water, lol.
As we were moving further up the river, the boulders get bigger and bigger and see more and more cascading streams, the characteristics of river upstream. The water is so clean, unlike other milk-tea color rivers caused by excessive logging in upstream area (e.g. Padas) of Sabah.
Sambatang Cave
Finally we reach Sambatang Cave at 5:30pm!
Actually Sambatang Cave is a cavernous space under an overhanging huge boulder. It can accommodate 3 to 4 people.
Since the daylight is vanishing, we quickly setup 3 camping tents on the flat area near the cave.
According to the porters, Sambatang Cave is an ideal natural shelter, even the heaviest rain can’t flood the cave.
The porters collected some wood and started a camp fire to “smoke” the cave, as the smell can keep creepy animals such as snake and centipede away from the cave. I’m so happy to keep my feet dry and warm.
Light not only attract insect, it also draws human. After having instant noodle as dinner and a few rounds of hot coffee, everyone squeezes into this small cave to warm themselves up with camp fire.
Night Walk
When I started to see bugs crawling around the cave, I decided to take a night walk to check out the bug party in forest.
Above: a stick insect pretends or thinks that it’s a stick.
You can hear a lot of frog calls near the river.
Same as frog, toad is everywhere too.
Above: This little green frog is almost invisible on the green fern.
When the night is late, I go to bed in Sambatang Cave, which is also the place the early explorers like Sir John Whitehead and Lilian Gibbs spent their night before heading to the summit, as described in their chronicles more than a hundred years ago. Do remember to bring floor mat and sleeping bag if you plan to sleep inside the cave. Torchlight / LED headlamp is needed if you want to do your business in dark night. The night was so cold that I can feel the chill in my 7°C-grade sleeping bag.
What’s for Breakfast?
My biological clock waked me up at 6am next morning. I saw the porters busy preparing breakfast. From their happy smiles, they must be waiting for something really tasty.
Out of curiosity, I take a look what is inside the pot. Oh dear, those are the frogs they catch. No wonder I saw them searching for something along the river last night. Well, I was there hunting for frog photos but they hunt for the frog meat.
Then they grill the frog over the fire. Please note that only certain frog species are edible as some are poisonous. You can find the edible frogs for sales in local native market called “Tamu”. Species such as Limnonectes ingeri (greater swamp frog), Limnonectes kuhlii (Large-headed Frog) and Limnonectes leporinus (Giant River Frog) yield high demand as food by local people.
Above: almost done…
They gave a frog leg for me to try. Being open-minded and “adventurous”, I eat it. To my surprise, the frog meat is so sweet and tender. It is slightly chewy but taste a lot better than chicken, trust me.
Minitinduk Gorge
After breakfast, we leave our bags in cave and head to Minitinduk Gorge, which is only 500 Meters away. 15 minutes later, we exit the dense canopy and see Minitinduk Gorge is right in front of us! Minitinduk means “the meeting of two beaks” in Dusun language. The gorge looks like a twin towers less than 50 feet from each other, with Kadamaian River flows between them. Someone believe the gap is even narrower and both sides almost touching each other in the past, as a legend says a Kiau couple can jump over to the other side, when they try to escape from a group of headhunters from Bundu Tuhan.
We take a group photo with banner. We look so small in the photo. The gorge is about 150 feet in height. There is a theory saying that the gorge was once a waterfall with a lake at the bottom. One day the waterfall collapsed and creates the gap that bisected the hill, based on a historical record that there should be a lake under Mt. Kinabalu but is never found.
Inside the gorge is an opening with Kadamaian River flows between the vertical rocky cliffs. Even though tourists nowadays don’t use this trail, the Kadazandusun people believe this is still the holy trail for the spirits of the dead to go to their final resting place, the Mount Kinabalu, and this gorge is the gate. It sounds scary when our day of visit coincides with the Chinese ghost festival day.
The water of Kadamaian River is from Mt. Kinabalu. It looks cleaner than our tap water and nice for a dip. Too bad I didn’t bring my swim trunk.
If you follow the ancient trail further upstream, you can reach the summit trail of tourists at Lowii or Paka Shelter of Mt. Kinabalu. On the way, you will see super-huge Kadamaian Waterfall. Someone estimate the height of Kadamaian Waterfall is about 250 to 350 Meters and could be the tallest waterfall of Malaysia.
Enough with photo-taking, we left Minitinduk Gorge. It is really a nice trip over the weekend.
We packed our backpack and go back to Kota Kinabalu city at 11am. Personally I would like to thank The Sabah Society members who spent months of research to retrace this historical trail. You may watch the 6-minute video on our trip to Minitinduk Gorge.
Reference “The Hugh Low Trail: The Quest for the Historical Trail to the Summit of Kinabalu” by Dr. Ravi Mandalam, Dr. Chin Shui Hiung and Christopher Chin, published by The Sabah Society, Jan 2004
Photos taken in Kota Belud, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo
Owning a car is a “symbol” of freedom to most school leavers. I’ve gotten a taste of freedom at 9 when I got my first bicycle. With a bicycle, 5 KM radius around my house was my territory. I could go fishing and exploration far away from home (parents). Even today I still like bicycle, as it is environmentally friendly and a good exercise. Not only that, I can get in touch with the big world on a bike, because I can see, smell and feel the surrounding. No matter how expensive your car is, the driver is locked in a small space inside a car.
Last month I was invited to join a cycling day trip around Kuala Abai of Kota Belud town. I accepted it without second thought coz I loved to feel the freedom once again. The cycling trip was nearly 30 KM on the countryside road. Since we are beginners, the ride is mainly on flat ground with mountain bike. The organizer got our body height to adjust the mountain bike, so we could peddle with our legs fully extended. Cycling with squatting position is inefficient and waste energy.
After a short briefing in the morning, we loaded our mountain bikes on a truck. There was a truck to keep our pack-lunch and water in the icebox (I called it “Ice-Cream” truck haha). This truck would follow slowly at a distance behind the cycling group, in case of emergency. Then we departed to Kota Belud.
We reached the starting point in Kota Belud after an hour. You know you are in Kota Belud when you see many cattle roaming on the road. They are always on the way, but motorists should not horn them. Or they will turn panic and run like mad cow, endangering everyone on the road.
To avoid absorbing heavy dose of UV ray from the sunlight, we put on our sunblock. We did some final test on our bikes then off we went. Luckily my legs still remember how to ride a bicycle. That brought back my childhood memory! I can even hold the steering with one hand, taking photo with another (don’t try this outside your home).
Oh ya, above is my mountain bike that lent by the organizer (Fieldskills). They say this is imported from Australia and costs a few thousands Ringgit.
This bike has gear setting next to both handlers to control front and rear wheel chains, for different speed and strength. Honestly, I find it more complicated than my car. Anyway, you can always try to play with the control, to get maximum speed and comfort.
This is a typical sport bike that has no seat padding. I was not wearing a cycling short that has padding and chamois (“shammy”) under my butt. During the bumpy ride later, I was like being sodomized by this egg-crusher seat (just kidding). Because of the extra weight from my camera and bag, my butt was quite painful at the end. Next time I will eat more to get a fat ass for extra padding.
Thanks to the good weather. The sky was so blue and I enjoyed the breeze on the bike. The road in countryside is small but not many cars. Shortly I saw a beautiful river.
As I didn’t want to be left behind by others, I took most of the photos on the bike. I only stopped when the view was really scenic. Actually there is always a staff cyclist follows behind, to take care of those slower movers like me.
Besides paved road, about half of our cycling trip was on bumpy gravel, dusty and sandy roads. It was quite an “egg-crushing” experience. Luckily mountain bike is designed to deal with irregular surfaces. Its absorber kept my eggs intact.
We also needed to keep alert for those “land mines” (cow dropping) that seemed to be everywhere.
We passed by Pantai Emas (Golden Beach). I didn’t know Kota Belud has such a long and beautiful beach. It is a private land. I think this area can be sold to big hotel for millions. You can see Mantanani Island from there.
Everything is green in countryside, and it becomes a picturesque place with blue sky. There was no busy moving cars and noisy people around, so the time was like frozen, so relaxing that I wanted to play guitar to sing a song or something.
Cycling under the scorching sun for only an hour, everyone was already hot and tired. We stopped briefly at a local grocery store for a short break. We did not even reach quarter way yet. The villagers here were very friendly. They even waved hands at us.
For many years I didn’t cycle around, I live in city, and sharing busy road with cars only means danger. One of the cyclists told me that he ever tried to cycle 11 hours to the Tip of Borneo (in Kudat town). That’s 200 KM! Sound so crazy. If I were him, I’ll cycle with wheelchair the next day.
Sabah doesn’t have any cycling lane for the bicycles. On the road of Malaysia, road users are “expected” to give way to whoever is bigger than their vehicles, so cyclists get the least respect from the trucks, buses, motorcycles and cars. Government is also like that, they even remove the pedestrian lane to expand the road for the cars.
You can see many cattle along the road. Cattle is not meat eater so they will not attack human. But just don’t get too close to their calf. I believe Devil also doesn’t take meat, as any animal with horn is a vegetarian.
You know you are in a “kampung” (village) when you see people let their livestock roaming freely. If you scare the chicken, they will try to outrun you, heheh.. You also know you enter a Muslim village when you see no dog. Most Bajau people in Kota Belud are Muslims.
We also smiled and waved hands to every villagers we saw along the road. We were acting like peace ambassadors, bringing peace and love wherever we went, haha..
Then we needed to cross a suspension bridge on a wide river.
We got down and walked our mountain bikes to other side of the river.
Then Simon, an advanced biker, showed us the “right” way to cross the bridge. He just ride over this 100-Meter bridge. To beginners like us, this is such a WOW stunt.
We enjoyed our pack lunch under a tree shade about 12pm in Merabau Village. Gee… it was such a hot day. I drank two bottles of 100Plus to rehydrate myself. Though we were only halfway and exhausted, our spirit was still high. It has been an interesting and fun experience.
After a short rest, we hit the road again. We even cycled inside a banana plantation. That again reminded me of my naughty boy childhood, when I cycled to any corner, like nobody’s place. The good thing about bike is you can reach any narrow path that no car can get in.
Kota Belud also produces lot of paddy (rice) so do expect to see many paddy fields.
There is a small cemetery next to the road, I don’t know what the white decoration means. Is it a Muslim or Bajau tradition?
We passed by wooden, cement, suspension as well as steel bridges.
The afternoon sun was getting hotter, again we took a nap under a tree around 1pm. This is not a race, why rush to finish the trip, right? Then we heard distant thunders, a dark and dense cloud was coming to our way slowly. The sky became shady, but it was more pleasing for cycling.
The Bajau people in Kota Belud is the most colorful indigenous tribes of Sabah. They love bright colors such as yellow, red and green. This reflects on their handicraft as well as their houses. If you visit Kota Belud, do pay attention to their traditional stilt houses in different colors. Even though many wooden houses are replaced with cement houses today, they still keep the interesting design and colors.
It started to rain heavily after half an hour. Worry that my camera got wet, I handed it over to our Ice Cream truck. I peddled quickly in the rain. On the way, we saw some cattle taking shelter in veranda of a small shop. It was so funny but the camera was not with me. I got totally wet in the rain, but it also washed away my tiredness. In fact, it was only a few KM left, and we were back to our starting point at 2pm. This ended our trip and we went back to Kota Kinabalu (by car, of course).
Here is a story about myself. Due to a near-to-death cycling accident in Peninsular Malaysia, I didn’t go cycling for many years. Many years ago in Christmas Eve, I was cycling on a road in high speed. Without signaling, the car in front of me made an abrupt left turn. Too late to brake, my bicycle knocked on the left side of the car and the tremendous momentum threw me and my bicycle over to other side of the car. In second, I felt that the world was spinning and I landed on my back. My back was so painful that I thought I would die. Laying on the ground for nearly a minute, finally I managed to stand up. I remember the “Oh sh*t! Oh sh*t!” face of the driver. Only my elbow suffered minor bruise and no bone was broken. He drove away after I assured him that I was fine.
Actually it was partly my fault too, I don’t blame the driver coz my bicycle had no light and I didn’t wear any reflective safety vent, so it was very hard to see me at night. Anyway, just to share the lesson with you. If I landed on my head, the force was enough to break my head. So a helmet is a must for cycling. Nowadays, there are more and more hit-and-run drivers in Sabah after they learn that police has problem to trace them. And also thanks to JPJ for cultivating so many “Kopi-O” licensed drivers on the road, turning driver license into license to kill. In other countries, it is very hard to pass driving test in first time, unlike Malaysia. So be extra careful when you have fun cycling in city.
Photos taken in Kota Belud, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo
“A bay full of corals” is my first impression of Usukan Cove in Kota Belud district. In fact, the rich diversity and density of corals in Usukan Cove reminds me of Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park 30 years ago, the time when the corals were in pristine conditions and found in shallow water only a few feet away from the sandy beach, before they were spoiled by thousands of tourists nowadays…
To go there from Kota Kinabalu, just drive in the direction to Kota Belud town. After an hour, you will arrive a roundabout, just follow the brown signage that says “Jeti Ke Pulau Mantanani” (Jetty to Mantanani Island). Then you will see second roundabout (Kuala Abai), follow the junction at the left, and you will arrive the entrance of Usukan Cove Lodge within 10 minutes.
On the way, you will pass by a white steel bridge built by Japanese to transport the copper that they collected from Mamut Minefield about 30 years ago. The locals call it the “Japanese Bridge”. The funny thing is – it is a one-way bridge in arch shape. Cars entering from both directions can’t see each other until one of them reaches the top. One car has to give way (by reversing back) to the car that comes up to the top first. The traffic volume is low so the locals seem to get used to such inconvenience.
Usukan Cove Lodge offers basic and economic accommodation, from bunk-bed room (2 to 4 beds) to sea front twin-bed room (Online Booking available). These building were used to be the staff quarter of Shell who has oil rig off Mantanani Island. A tour operator took over it in March this year and turned it into a lodge. Though the rooms have no attached bathroom cum toilet, they are clean and cosy. The lodge is able to host maximum of 50 people, so it is a suitable school retreat location. Many European tourists also like this quiet place, because other islands such as Sapi and Manukan are too crowded and noisy to them. But frankly, the beach area there is quite small.
Snorkelling is the best choice of activity due to the rich corals in Usukan. Diving is available but you should not expect “too high” coz in rainy season, the flowing river nearby would make the sea water a bit murky and poor in visibility. One of the highlight is the “Christmas Tree” coral, which I believe is a tubeworm. Turtles and seahorses were spotted here before but not common. There are about 4 dive sites in Usukan, and 3 wreck diving sites for advanced divers.
The density and size of the coral reef is remarkable. The boat dropped me in Usukan Reef and Icy Point for the snorkelling. The Usukan Reef mainly consists of hard corals. Each species seems like gathering in large clusters. I saw large areas of big plate corals and stag-horn corals. In Icy Point, I also saw mainly hard corals, with more mix of soft corals and sea grass. The sea water in Icy Point is a bit funny. In one spot I felt warm, but moving a few Metres away I would feel cool, probably that’s why they call it Icy Point. The corals come in different shapes, like big boulders, brain, hand, pyramid, sponge and flower. Though the shore is quite a distance away, the water was shallow and the corals grew quite tall. I had to be careful so I would not destroy the corals by accident.
Above: Diving / Snorkelling sites of Usukan Cove
The sad thing I noticed was the coral bleaching. About 10% of corals here were showing sign of bleaching. You can even see these white spots (bleached corals) clearly from the boat. This was not present two months ago. I saw a big and white “coral tree” underwater. Its look was so stunning, like a big snowy tree with ice branches. But the corals were dead actually, a heart-broken but beautiful scene.
Due to global warming, the corals of Peninsular Malaysia are badly affected and they have to close down 12 dive sites. Now the coral bleaching is slowly spreading to Sabah. It is not a local issue, as other Sabah islands in west coast (in South China Sea) are also facing the same problem. In fact, the pollution from our mainland has been stressing the corals, global warming is just the last stack of grass that crushes the camel.
Then I went “deep sea fishing” in the sea 20 minutes off Usukan Cove by boat. Ehem… it was only 14 Meters in depth, not really deep. The “real” deep fish fishing is going for the depth of over 30 Meters. This tour operator does take hardcore anglers to real deep sea but that’s another package. It was so nice that the workers prepared everything for us, the fishing rod, hook and bait, making our lives so easy.
Can you believe it? In 3 minutes, we got our first fish! I thought we were only lucky. But from there on, we got fish in every 3 minutes. That’s not my case though. At first my fishing line entangled, then my fishing hook stuck in a rock, no fish for 30 minutes but the bait was gone, my fishing became “feeding fish”. Then a worker taught me a tip, I had to release my fishing hook all the way down to the bottom, not letting it dragged in the mid water or surface.
Above: blue-dotted stingray that has venomous sting
The tip really worked! Within 20 minutes, I got 3 fishes, two blacktip groupers (red color) and a Jackfish (silver color). One of us even got a puffer fish and another got blue-dotted stingray. The capture of blue-dotted stingray caused a brief moment of fear onboard coz its sting is venomous. I’m not sure about other countries, stingray is considered a delicacy in Sabah. Its meat is quite delicious if you don’t mind it gets a weird “chemical” taste (can mix it with lime juice to cover the smell). The sea was a bit choppy, so I walked like a drunken man on the deck. Btw, it is perfect to enjoy some beer while fishing. After an hour of fishing, we returned to Usukan Cove Lodge with our fruitful caught and they cooked the fishes for us.
Above: They cooked our caught as dinner. I hope this is steamed though.
We started our river cruise at Kawa-Kawa River at 4PM, to look for playboy of Borneo. I mean the Proboscis Monkey, which has many wives and always in “ready” mode to mate. On one side of this 15-Meter-wide river is human settlement and another side is mainly mangrove and nipah forest. Since the proboscis monkeys are used to people, they are relatively less elusive and we can get really close to them.
Proboscis Monkey has the habit of spending the night on the trees next to the river in the evening. For them, riverside is the safest site to stay away from predators at night. About 4 to 5 herds of Proboscis Monkey were spotted at Kawa-Kawa River. But there is no guarantee we can see them. Luckily we found 3 groups of them despite the poor weather.
Besides long-nosed monkeys, we also saw crab-eating macaque (long-tailed macaque), monitor lizard and many birds such as oriental darter, white-bellied sea eagle, little heron, blue-throated bee eater, white-collar kingfisher, frigate, doves, egrets and bulbul. After we exited the estuary of Kawa-Kawa River and on the way to Abai River, we were rewarded by the magic moment of the sunset.
Above: a male proboscis monkey showed warning then ignored us
Then we proceeded to the mangrove forest of Abai River to look at firefly around 6:40pm. Normally there should be hundreds of them. Unfortunately, that night was rainy and bright with moonlight, the most inactive time for firefly, so we only spotted a few twinkling fireflies in the riverside. Weather is not something we can control so nevermind then. Anyway, I had so much fun that day and would call it an excellent trip.
Many know Sir Hugh Low was the first European who conquered Mt. Kinabalu in 1851, but most don’t know Lilian Gibbs was the first European woman who reached the summit of Mt. Kinabalu on February 24th, 1910. Lilian Suzette Gibbs was born in London, England on September 10, 1870. She led a botanical field expedition to Mt. Kinabalu and identified over 15 new plant species. Below is the trail she took. Even today, this trail is not considered as a “tourist-friendly” route. Later she was awarded the Huxley Gold Medal and Prize by the Royal College of Science for her research contributions.
After 100 years, a group of five ladies, from The Sabah Soceity, decided to re-trace the original route taken by Lilian Gibbs. They spent a night on the homestay hostel next to a church (Chapel St. Ireneus) in Kg. Kiau Nuluh (starting point of the climb), Kota Belud, on 20 Feb 2010. In the next morning (21 Feb 2010), they would attend a ritual ceremony before the climb. As a member of The Sabah Society, I was also there to support them and to witness the historical moment.
For those who read my previous blog, you would know that I joined the Miki Survival Camp last year, so this was my second time came to Kg. Kiau Nuluh (Kiau Nuluh Village). I arrived Kiau Nuluh at 3:40pm on 20 Feb 2010, it was still early so I took a walk around the village.
Though a bit shy, the people here are very friendly and always smile to you. Most of them talk to one another in native language (Dusun). In fact, this is the typical look of “real” Sabah village. Since some politicians started to give citizenship to foreigners about 30 years ago, the mushrooming villages in Tawau and Lahad Datu are full of foreigners. They talk and behave differently (some even have very “geli” look).
Hey, it’s Gurak (the dog I met in Miki camp). She looked slimmer and still ran around with the kids around plantation. Miki said she miscarried, so she was a bit weaker. Poor Gurak…
Very soon it turned dark, the climbers had a fellowship dinner with the Kg. Kiau Nuluh villagers and members. There were two short blackout. According to the locals, the drought caused the nearby river to dry up thereby affecting the power supply from hydro electricity.
We tried some local traditional dishes. Got my sour bambangan fruit. I tried some tuhau too, but I still don’t like the smell. The yam rice was wrapped in big kinta leaf and tasted good. This is how farmers pack their rice and bring it to the field. It will last for many hours without turning bad.
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After the dinner, the lady climbers were presenting an info sheet, which would be inserted into a glass bottle and hide in Low’s Peak, like what Lilian Gibbs did 100 years ago. Photo Above: from the left, Rina Jamieson, Catherine Chu, Vicky Ng (expedition leader), Jane Chong and Tengku Puteri Soraya Tengku Zainal Adlin.
The all-lady expedition team consists of 5 climbers, namely, Vicky Ng (leader), Tengku Puteri Soraya Tengku Zainal Adlin , Catherine Chu, Jane Chong and Rina Jamieson, one Sabah Parks guide (Rossiti Maineh) and 3 porters (Ritah Moguring, Lotuim Lumadan and Nuriah Lunsin). All of them signed on the info sheet that was inserted into a small glass bottle later.
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Since they are all lady, they decided to use a bottle from kitchen. This is a preserved beancurd bottle made in ShenZhen China.
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Sealing of bottle done. Now it is hidden in Low’s Peak. Next time you climb the Mt. Kinabalu, you can do a “treasure hunt”. The bottle hidden by Lilian Gibbs is still not found. So now you know there are two “secret” bottles hidden in Low’s Peak.
Click the picture above if you want to see what is written on the info sheet. It contains the trail map and info of the expedition, name list and signatures of the lady team members.
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It is bed time.. The little hostel could not accommodate too many people, so I had to sleep outside the room. As a frequent traveller, such arrangement is not a problem to me. Only that I was attacked by mosquitoes, and waked up by the people who walked past me to go to the toilet outside the hostel. I didn’t sleep really well.
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21st Feb 2010: we were greeted by a nice view of Mt. Kinabalu in the next morning. The sky was clear and the weather seemed good.
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7:20AM: after a breakfast, the climbers were busy packing their backpacks. Each of them carried over 10Kg of weight. The 3 porters carried nearly 20Kg of supplies. These porters are tough ladies, and they were always in top 10 runner list of Mt. Kinabalu climbathon.
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Look at the photos of other Mt. Kinabalu porters above if you still have doubt. On the way to the summit of Mt. Kinabalu, you will see many of these porters overtake you and walk faster than you, though they carry very heavy stuffs. The climbers also regularly trained themselves for a long period of time in Tun Fuad Stephens Park. They ran a few laps up and down the hill of Tun Fuad, with 5Kg of weight. If you ask me to join the expedition, it would be a suicide mission for weak people like me.
7:50AM: after the group photos, the climbers departed for the climb, but there was one last thing they needed to do before the ascent. A bobolian (high priest) would perform a ritual ceremony for the climbers. Now everyone walked to the ritual site, which was done inside the forest next to Kg. Kiau Nuluh.
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Finally we arrived the site of the ritual ceremony. The old man, who dressed in black, was the bobolian. He was already there with the offering ready.
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The bobolian would appease the mountain god of Mt. Kinabalu and pray for a safe journey for the climbers. The offering included 7 betel nuts, 7 eggs, 7 rolls of tobacco, etc, and there were six white chicken. Ok, everyone would tell you there were 7 chicken. But I counted carefully twice and found only 6 chicken. Probably 7 is a special number in Kadazandusun, so everyone presumed there were 7 chicken without actually verifying the number.
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When the group settled down, the bobolian started to pray for the climbers. The prayer took more than 10 minutes. I can’t understand the native language. Later a climber said the bobolian was requesting for protection from the spirit and would go after them if any harm was done to the climbers. Something like that lah. This sort of blessing ritual is common in Sabah. Before any big expedition and sport events that would be done in wilderness, bobolians would be invited to perform a ritual.
Then six chicken were slaughtered to complete the blessing ceremony. The assistant of bobolian did the first 5 kills and Vicky Ng, as the expedition leader, did the last one. The bloody photos are inside the album. Do not look if you don’t think you will be comfortable with the scenes. Blood spit everywhere and even got on my lens and pant.
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One by one, six white chicken were slaughtered. Each chicken didn’t seem to aware of what was happening to their peers, until it’s their turn. The ladies also didn’t dare to watch and turned their heads away. After they returned from the expedition, they said all of them heard cackling sound in the bush behind them during that time. Whether it was the spirit, nobody can tell. Well, may be some will say they need to “see” the spirits to believe that spirits exist. Well, you can’t see oxygen then why you believe you inhale oxygen?
Time to say goodbye after the ceremony. The climbers, guide and porters departed for the climb at 9:30am (20 Feb 2010). They successfully reached the summit of Mount Kinabalu at 14:20 on 24 Feb 2010, and came back safely. Congratulations to the ladies, you memang Boleh (can)!
Another late post from me about the Tamu Besar Festival happened from 24 to 25 October 2009. I first went to this annual event in year 2005 and always wanted to come back, coz it is one of the most colorful cultural events of Sabah. Too bad I missed it for 3 years for some unavoidable circumstances.
Without my malfunction wide angle kit lens, I was partially “handicapped” and only shot with a 70-200mm tele lens. Luckily I was still able to bag some good photos. The photo of a Dusun Tobilung girl above is my favorite. Coz of less ideal lighting condition, I tried 20 times to get this.
Tamu means Native Market in Sabah. Very week (usually morning of Fri, Sat or Sun) the traders, from different businesses and villages, gather in Tamu and sell their products. You can find basically anything here, for examples, vegetables, meat, seafood, handicrafts, local food, drink, clothing, electronics, and toys. It is an open market and crowded. Locals also socialize and mingle around.
Besides attracting more tourists to tamu market, Tamu Besar Festival also showcasts the colorful cultures of Kota Belud, where Bajau, Iranun and Dusun Tindal people live. If you look for beautiful Bajau girls dressed in traditional Bajau costume, then you should not miss Serimpak beauty pageant.
Bajau people love bright colors, so you always see very bright red, yellow and blue colors in their handicraft and costume. Bajau people are mainly farmers and fishermen, they are also very skillful weavers and crafter. Tamu is the best place to shop for handicrafts (baskets, containers, etc.), knife, cloth and food made by Bajau.
Don’t miss the highlight of second day, the parade by hundred of Bajau horsemen. Bajau is skillful riders and they are also known as “Cowboys of the East”. Not only the horsemen wearing traditional costume, they also dress up their houses with colorful outfit. The show was supposed to start at 1pm, but the VIP late by more than 30 minutes. I find that the government VIPs love to be late, probably to purposely keep everyone waiting, to show that he is important.
Then the show began, and I didn’t stop clicking shutter. I loved to get some nice shots of traditional horsemen. But some of them were wearing sun glasses, and AHH!!! the Maggi banners are just everywhere! Many photographers were there too. We were checking out the lens of others, as if we were looking at someone wife. I am planning to buy new lens, but I spent RM400 on repairing my car, RM400 for apartment management fee, insurance, etc. this month, sigh… no money..
Bajau people can ride anything, includes buffalo. You should not miss their buffalo racing, they do it more for fun and laughter, so funny.. Buffalo has lower IQ than horse, so it is harder to control, especially making them to turn. It is not wise to use them as car then.
Whenever there is a car accident, there will be traffic jam. Even though the car in trouble doesn’t block the road, those busybody drivers will pass by slowly to take a closer look, without any intention to help, what the fuck. What are you looking at? 4D number or an “exciting” bloody scene?
Probably I should post a car accident blog there, so I can get many web traffic like traffic jam.
This accident, which happened around 5:30pm on 23 Aug on a hill road in Kota Belud, was a bit different. I was asleep on a bus. Then the bus came to a halt and I smelled very strong gasoline. In front of the bus was a long line of cars stopped by police.
Then I was told that a gas truck about 100 Metres away was on fire. Wow, gas truck on fire? Wasn’t it going to explode? As the fire got bigger, the crowd started to run and cars were back off further from the danger zone.
Feeling bored waiting, I just snapped a few photos. We were kept asking to stay away, coz the fire might cause the brake of the truck to malfunction. It would become a huge fireball sliding downhill.
After 10 minutes, the firemen arrived and put off the fire in only a few minutes.
This case was never reported in local newspaper, so I wonder if it was really a gas truck and what caused the fire. By the time the traffic was clear and my bus moved on, I was trying to take a look of the truck. But the container of the truck was removed. It is quite amazing that the truck itself still looks intact. That’s it. Thanks for watching MySabah channel.
Photos taken in Kota Belud, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo
I thought all the beautiful island in west coast of Sabah was gone until I met Mantanani Islands (Pulau Mantanani). Sapi and Manukan Islands? They are not even in top 10 most beautiful islands of Sabah (but they were, 30 years ago), and it is funny that most tourists flow to these islands. That would make them think that all islands of Sabah are dirty, polluted and lack of corals. Local divers also expresses their concern about the dwindling corals and fish species in Tunku Abdul Rahman Park. Due to increasing pollution and garbage from the shore (especially Gaya Island), very soon swimming in Sapi Manukan will be same as swimming in toilet bowl.
Mantanani is fairly accessible (prior booking with travel agent is required). Just drive 1 hour to the jetty of Kampung Kuala Abai in Kota Belud, then take a boat to Mantanani. The boat ride takes 40 to 50 minutes depending on the sea condition. If the weather is bad, they might cancel the trip. Mantanani consists of 3 islands, namely, Mantanani Besar (the biggest) Island, Mantanani Kecil (Kechil) Island and Lingisan Island (smallest). Above is the map to Mantanani. In fact, these islands are so tiny that they are not appear in most Sabah map. I draw the map myself just for you to get an idea, the shape and scale are not accurate, so don’t use it in textbook ye.
Above is the view of Kg Kuala Abai (Kuala Abai Village) fishing willage. To go to Mantanani, you need to arrange the tour with the island operator prior to the visit. I went 2-day-1-night with Mari Mari Dive Lodge (of Traverse Tours), the sole operator of Mantanani Kecil Island. On Mantanani Besar, there are a few operators such as Mantanani Resort.
Lucky tourists would see dolphin in the boat ride. They usually follow behind the fishing boats. This is no guarantee and too bad I didn’t see any. Though it was a sunny day, the sea was so choppy that I felt the boat was riding on something rock solid and I got free shower from splashes. After 45 minutes, I arrived the jetty of Mari Mari Dive Lodge (MMDL). MMDL is built 400 Meters away from the shore of Mantanani Kecil. If not, tourists will have to walk extra 400 M from the island to jetty during low tide, which is too shallow for boat to enter. You can walk from MMDL to the island when it is low tide, but watch out for the venomous stonefishes and stingray that can hide really well in the sand. Better way is to snorkel to the island during high tide or ask the boatman to send you there. MMDL is a structure of 3 stilt houses joined together, i.e., a 4-room twin-bed accommodation, a dive lodge and a dining area.
Manatanani is also known as “Mermaid Island”, due to the presence of an endangered sea cow “dugong / duyung”, which is occasionally found grazing on the sea grass around the island. Sighting is rare and the most recent sighting was reported last month. Taking beautiful photos of Mantanani is so easy, coz everything is like a picture, the blue sky, crystal clear sea and white sandy beach… The visibility of the water can reach 20 Meters, so clean that as if it is drinkable.
Though very few Sabahans know about Mantanani, many tourists from Europe, Hong Kong, China, Japan and Korea had discovered this pristine island by words of mouth. You would be impressed if you see the photos. FYI, the dark patches under the sea are rocks and corals, in case you misunderstand they are something dirty.
The photo above is Lingisan Island, which is named after frigate birds that fly around there in the evening. Lingisan is very small and nobody lives on it. The big island behind it is Mantanani Besar. Personally I call it “flower pot” island coz of its round shape and dense vegetation on top. I was so curious what was inside its cave.
Before I came, I was not too excited about this trip coz I heard about the fish bombing activity in Mantanani, thinking that it was a degraded island. However, what I saw in snorkelling and diving was a huge number of corals like an underwater garden. Since the setup of a police base on Mantanani Besar, the fish bombing is greatly reduced. Some fishing boats like to come here to fish. There are over 15 dive sites in Mantanani, more adventurous divers can try out muck diving and wreck diving. You would see turtles, bumphead parrot fish, big stingray, giant clam, moray and eagle eel, nudibranch, finger corals and many other marine life.
The underwater current is quite strong under the sea. Instead of fighting it, divers can use the current as an “escalator”, go with the flow to “glide” above the corals. In one of the dives, my dive group was swept to 1.5 KM away within an hour! The boat man took nearly an hour to locate us. Honestly, I was quite pissed, but forgot it soon.
Besides the sandy beach, Mantanani Kecil has a nice view behind. You can walk to a small cliff behind the island and enjoy a bird view of its rocky shore (see photo above). The sea under the cliff looks deep and rough, so it is meant for watching only. There are only a few MMDL workers live on Mantanani Kecil, and they look after the power generators and water supply on this island. All communication is cut off on Mantanani Kecil, so no need to worry about phone call from your office. Kayaking is allowed if the sea is calm.
Mantanani Besar is a few KM away from Mantanani Kecil and mainly resided by local fishermen. The people there are very friendly and I saw some youngsters were playing volley ball in the evening. I visited there briefly to buy something, as there is no shop on Mantanani Kecil and Lingisan. Sadly, Mantanani Besar didn’t give me a good impression coz I saw rubbish everywhere on the beach. There were many cows wandering along the beach but too bad they were not the sea cow that I was looking for.
After the shopping, I toured around the islands and checked out the other side of Mantanani Besar. It is a rocky shore with interesting mushroom rock formation, probably the collaborative work of wind and water over years. I climbed onto the rock and walked around. The surface was slippery, rough and sharp, so I moved carefully with naked feet. Do visit this when you come to Mantanani.
Lingisan Island is the one I most eager to check out because of its big cave. A closer look reveals that it is not a deep cave and its bottom only submerges a few feet under the water during high tide. The staff told us that only swiftlets and bats live inside, and the owner comes to collect edible bird nest from the cave sometimes. It is a small but very unique island.
Sunset was approaching and we returned to MMDL. Everything was painted with gold color. Jesus light came out at north, later I had to call it a day. Most tourists only opt for day trip so most of them had left around 3:30pm. Unlike honeymoon couple who can make baby at night, I got nothing to do. But hey, this is a holiday, so I shouldn’t do anything right? Living in city for too long, I was not used to leaving my brain stops thinking for a moment.
Whole day of water sports already made me so tired. Surprisingly, Mantanani is supplied with 24-hour of pleasing sea breeze, so I don’t feel warm even in hot afternoon. I even slept a while on the veranda, just to enjoy the gentle wind, sound of ocean and freedom. The next morning I waked up very early to take sunrise photos and was rewarded by magnificent view of Mt. Kinabalu.
Hopefully government will gazette Mantanani as a National Park, so we could preserve its beauty and marine ecology for future generations to enjoy. There aren’t many pristine islands left in Sabah west coast.
However, with weak enforcement of Sabah government, who recently denied the presence of illegal coral mining that destroyed tons of coral reef in Tawau and release of effluents into Segaliud River by oil palm mills nearby, I am not so optimistic about our conservation.
