National Parks near Kuching, Part II

Arriving Bako was a small challenge of course. First to find the bus (and arguing with some taxi drivers about the price) and then the 1 hours ride to the Park Headquarters and then the exhilarating boat ride (47Rm)to the park itself. I was lucky to get Andy as a companion from the Headquarters and share the boat with me. I was feeling miserable when I arrived and Andy did his best to cheer me up.

The arrival at the Park was hot and the reception where we got our keys was kinda messy. Felt more like the personnel were not really coping with the amount of visitors there was during the days. This was also seen in the hostels. It was incredibly hot on our room (there were 2 fans, but still) and the windows need to be closed because of the nasty monkeys. Also, the room of four beds was filthy. I don´t know when it was cleaned the last time, the floor was black and the previous guests had left a huge amount of trash (empty water bottles, tissues, paper) under the beds. The toilets were malfunctioning and the showers were gross. During my trip, this had been the only time I had been upset about the filth. The 2 Canadian French girls I shared the room with were making my mood better, as well as Andy, Anna, Greg and Dounglas and others later on. I owe them big time!

Anna told us later that on arrival she did not get any information about the monkeys, or anything else for that matter. The macaques were the worse. they knew when there was just the right amount of people at the canteen, and then they stroke. Even if Andy was starting to be very qualified with the slingshot the canteen personnel used to scare the monkeys off. The problem with the monkeys was simply the ignorance- the day visitors thought monkeys were cute, started taking pictures and became easy targets with their snacks and water bottles in plastic bags in their hands.

Also, some people would have appreciated the info about really needing GOOD TREKKING SHOES around the park. We saw far too many day trippers wearing only flip flops, and that was just not healthy. Water was also needed more than average, because the heat was almost unbearable at some points. 1 liter per one hour, at least.

So, the overall view of the Park facilities and information was not too impressing. But the walks were! A massive amount of plants, wild flowers, various landscapes from mangrove forest to "moon scene" was present. The walks were well marked and one had to write down the track where one went indicating both leaving time and arrival to the facilities. The night walk was also a nice thing, but the groups tend to be a bit too big. The walk that I took part was a bit uninteresting because it was too hot, and the animals were deep in the forest. Andy told that the previous night walk had been more than excellent. I was not complaining because I had a nice chat with our guide.

When the temperature dropped, the proboscis monkeys arrived to the facilities and made it a joy for everyone.

Kuching recommendations

It is a beautiful morning after along night rain in Kuching. I am sitting at the airport Starbucks, having my morning coffee and feeling incredibly lucky to have been in this city. Definitely, I will come back. As I am too exited about my flights home, I`ll just leave you with a lists of recommendations about some stuff I forgot before.

The airport is buzzing with the participants of the Rainforest Interhash and event I had never heard in my life before this. The hashers arrive around the world with their own clubs to run, and drink beer afterwards (the drinking club with a running problem) and seem to be very familiar, friendly and most groups wanted to adopt me immediately. Funny though, they have their own hash-names for the event, it is discouraged to use ones own real name.

The Constitution of the Hash House Harriers is recorded on a club registration card dated 1950:
-To promote physical fitness among our members
-To get rid of weekend hangovers
-To acquire a good thirst and to satisfy it in beer
-To persuade the older members that they are not as old as they feel

Apparently Hash events are a South East Asia thing, started as far as in 1938 in Kuala Lumpur by a group of blokes.

Ok. Back to the recommendations.

Books

The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby (the same guy who wrote High Fidelity)

For the rest of the trip I decided to buy the John Irwing´s latest one "Last night on Twisted River", trusting that his charm will kick in this time as well. Then I bought also the new "traveller bible" after Life of Pi has been read over, Aravind Adiga´s "White Tiger". I have seen it now in the hands of many packbackers, so, I will have a go.

And whoever hangs around Green HIll in Kuching could go to test these places;
Aha Organic, an organinc cooking restaurant, VERY GOOD FOOD.
The Junk, restaurant, EXTREMELY GOOD FOOD.
Black Bean coffee, my place to have THE coffee in the mornings

Weird animals

National Parks near Kuching, part I

And finally some text in here too.
At the moment I feel lazy and even if I did wake up early enough to get myself to the famous Sunday Market of Kuching, I decided to sleep long (and maybe start to get used to the rhythm back in Finland). I still have the time for Sunday market when I get back from my last visit to National Parks.

My first stop was Gunung Gading National Park. A one and a half hours ride by bus to Lundu town and then a walk for half an hour. I was lucky to get there by nightfall and did a short walk around the forest before settling down to my hostel room. I was the only guest and facilities were good. I don´t mind bringing my own food and preparing it in a good kitchen and afterwards enjoying it on the porch, accompanied by writing a letter to Wajska. The next morning it was raining and there was no guides around, but the park personnel told me directions how to see the Rafflesia and I took my change to discover the world outside the plank walk. It paid off, as you can see in the pictures, and I did not even step on the buds!

I got a ride back to Lundu town with some workers going to the town office, got back to Kuching, and there had to negotiate a ride with a taxi to Kubah National Park.

All public transportation is very poor to that direction and the information just is not given to foreigners! The normal price for a one way trip is 40Rm and one old guy asked a taxi for me to take me there for 35Rm. That taxi guy was nice enough to give me his number to get myself back, but I found my own way, as you´ll read from the following chapters. Ok, all good when I reached the Park, only it was raining heavily, but what the heck, I got a real RAIN FOREST experience. The night was pretty much as I expected; alone in the hostel (which was even nicer than the previous one) but not as alone as I thought in the beginning...

I went to bed after inspecting the wounded grass hopper on the wall. I spotted a HUGE bug on ceiling over my bed, but I thought to leave it alone, because it might never bite me. I was too easy on that one...I woke up after some hours and the THING had made it´s way to my head end of the bed and was about to take the few steps and tangle in my hair. With the help of the kitchen tools I managed to get the bug (after a 20min fight, boy it was strong!!) out to the porch! Then I slept the rest of the night without interruptions. Hah, and the French guys in Kuching were talking about small bed bugs...

The next day started with less rain and I thought to get myself through the most popular Watefall trail. It was humid,and it was also scary to walk though the jungle on my own, thinking about all the animals that were probably lurking behind every tree, I just could not see them. The first encounter the previous day had been a red tailed squirrel, today it was a wild cat or a skunk on the road. I also saw a few smaller than small squirrels around the trees, big and colorful butterflies, a lot of insects and the flora was amazing. It took me more than 2 hours to reach the waterfalls as I was so intensely taking photos of everything.

On my way back I run into 2 other humans! I was surprised, and those people were staying in the hostel with me. They were from France, apparently, but they never told me that...It was a very awkward feeling to sleep under same roof with people who totally ignored you. It is a common, unwritten law among travelers that you at least say something to the people in the common area. You do not have to be the best friend in any way, but show some respect to the others, just say hello and tell/ask where you´re from and maybe change a few words about the trail or something, or leave the others think that at least they can ask something if there is a need to. That was a very strange encountering indeed and it did leave me with a lot of thoughts.

After the 2 nights I started my trip back to town. I thought to try my luck with hitchhiking back. At first I took a ride with a man who took me to the main road intersection and from there I got a ride with beautiful lady Sallyanna. I bought us drinks on our way back and we had a good conversation! She promised to take me shopping some local Sarawak layer cake next weekend before I start my trip back home!

Now, to the shower. Which actually reminds me about the toiletries I brought with me and wanted to test on my trip. Here we go; a topic for a new blog entry.

Kalimantan Borneo ~ Sangatta

I have been thinking about my whole trip myself after Simone and I separated. I try my best of luck down by the memory lane and write about the trip before arriving in Kuching. To make the story more interesting to my dear readers, I will write it topless.

Since Simone left I was just trying to calm down, relax and get better. Before she went on her way, we did another trip to another hospital and to yet another doctor. THE hospital was one of the most expensive in town, with a nice lake inside the building, swan boats, fountains etc. The female doctor made the dame examination as the previous one, gave me a prescription, and this time the medication was mixed by hand and then put into small capsules, to be enjoyed 3 times a day. Unfortunately it was not that easy.

The next day I was still weak an my head was only slightly better. During my stay, I had been to Pondok Bambu- restaurant down the road next to our hotel, and got to know Helena who run the restaurant. After Helena, I met his brother Tommy, later another bro Hanz and their mother... They all suggested me to see a lady who is good in curing illnesses using traditional methods. There I went.

The modest Muslim lady was concerned about my situation and really wanted to cure me. She gave ma a good traditional massage with herb oils and some chanting. Later she took me into their living room saying she wants to give some more treatments. Tommy translated to me that she was asking what have I had wrong with my stomach lately... The lady took some more oils, herbs, vegetables like onion and carrots and made a mixture of these. With the mixture she then treated my joints and ears and finally pulled the bad spirits out of me. She told me that I had been crossing some bad energies on my way in Borneo and those had started to follow me, that was the reason of the headache. The next morning I should feel better and if not, she would treat me again. She also said that if I did not come to see her now, my travel would have stopped there.

The next morning the headache was gone, and still is.

The rest of the time in Sangatta continued with good conversations, drinking good coffee with friendly laughters. I was totally adopted by this wonderful Chinese family and the sisters from Warung Bone3. I was almost spoiled, getting free coffee, breakfast, food, took me to fishing, gave me rides on scooter...you name it. I wish I am able to give as much of myself when I have some visitors the next time!

On my last night I wanted to help on my own to promote Pondok Bambu. I told Helena to ask her youngest brother to make some flyers that I could give to people while walking to the hotspot with my laptop. People were REALLY amazed to see a WHITE person handing out something and they were curious...I haven´t heard yet if someone came after the promotion but I hope to find out soon. I mean, what the heck- those people were shouting after me anyway, why not get some fun out of it.

~ ~ ~

The day when I left came too soon. I was crying on my way in the bus, because it was again a stress to be moving after such a nice time in a small town, even if I did not see the orangutans - I got something 10 times better; FRIENDS.

Wind cave near Kuching

Wind Cave Natural Reserve

Sangatta fishing trip

from Samarinda to Balikpapan and Pontianak

Arriving to Kuching. It is quiet. No one is calling after me, but I almost shout out loud. A WESTENER! Another, one more...many. The first joy is gone. I have been thinking how I might look like in the eyes of the local people, now I know: ridiculous.

Today in Kuching I have seen in one hour more white people than in the whole time in Kalimantan, where it was us 2 (Me and Simone), The Team America at Pulau Derawan and some random Swiss guy who had been sailing up the river with a boat transporting timber (getting material for his thesis).

The past week needs the own posting, but some info about my previous leg of the race around Borneo. Started yesterday at 06.00.

Samarinda City Center-> anghot (small van made to a bus) to bus terminal (30min)
Samarinda bus terminal -> bus to Balikpapan (2 1/2 hours)
Balikpapan bus terminal ->anghot to Balikpapan Airport (20min)
Balikpapan -> to Jakarta by Lion Air (2 1/2 hours)
Jakarta -> transfer flight to Pontianak, by Lion Air (1 1/4 hours)
Pontianak airport -> city, private transportation (!!!) to the Bus Terminal (time...)
Pontianak -> by night bus to Kuching (10hrs)

Arriving in Kuching at around 07.00 the following morning. Only a bit tired.



Now, I have the Air Asia ticket to my connecting flight in Singapore, 2 weeks left and I can start to think about home. But first, some jungle, some beach, some culture, some museums.

AND I have;
Working wireless in my room,
A warm shower
A western sitting toilet AND toilet paper
Hostel management speaks English
It is quiet
Beer from the front desk ( ice cold)
NO ants or other bugs
Kitchen with facilities
Electricity 24hrs

Bus from Berau to Samarinda

09062010 Sangatta blog entry

Life takes surprising turns.
Our morning duties included a stroll to post office. We were not lucky. The prices to send a parcel to Europe were outrageous; a letter 100g was “only” 13€...and not to mention my snorkeling equipment that would have been 91,05€. Insanity. Not even in Finland mailing stuff is that expensive.

Later, in a good faith, we took the bus from Berau to Samarinda, but ended up having a ride from HELL. Sitting our way on the front seat, we were able to keep our eye on the road too clearly. Pavement ended every 20m, the mud holes were huge and there was one retard-(un)helping hand-mechanic-type of thing sitting next to the driver and laughing all the time when we hit the ditches and he also surely needed a hearing aid based by the loudness he used his voice. Our driver maybe had won his drivers license from the lottery of the mentally AND physically challenged people, where he probably got his car helper as a bonus gift. Anyway, he had some talent indeed. He mastered skillfully to aim the bus to every single hole on the road. He also started racing with another bus driver, almost hit the other bus and in the end hit a massive ditch that made the passengers to be thrown all over. Finally he hit another big ditch and broke the bus. It was of course nice to see the milky way again for the 45 minutes they fixed the engine.

Simone took tranquilizers for the rest of the trip and we decided to take the next stop at Sangatta to sleep over. The total travel time by this far had been 14 hours. My headache had gone worse (had had it for 5 days already) and I wanted to get some medicine prescribed by a doctor. We stopped at a small restaurant. At that moment I could not even think anymore. We asked everyone for help, and the only answer we got from men, was that there is no hospital in the town (...where there was a big company for the coal mining industry?!?). The restaurant girls were a lot more helpful; they gave us the address and phone number for a hospital and after a minute told to give me a ride to there! Leni drove me with her scooter to the hospital and waited for the whole examination before drove back to the restaurant. I got the medicine and was offered a bed to sleep while waiting for Simone.

Meanwhile Simone had been eating, having a coffee, talking with the girls and arranging a hotel room with the help of these nice ladies. She was awake more than 24 hours. We slept quite ok from that afternoon until next morning.

Today I have been talking with the sisters who helped us, with the help a dictionary and drawing. I also went to eat to a nearby restaurant and met there a wonderful Chinese Indonesian lady who spoke good English. She told that the word had been spread over that there are 2 Western women in the town. I was also talking the local police officer and we even discussed beyond the normal small talk- more than countries, climate, my age, my health, my marital status...we talked about money, traveling, planting trees for a safe income in the future, racism against the Chinese community in here etc.

And when I got back to the hotel, Simone called me that she saw a mother orangutang with a baby!

From Tawau to Pulau Derawan

03.06.2010 Pulau Derawan

Route so far with Simone;
Tawau (boat, 130 riggit) →
Tarakan (speed boat, 80 000 IDR) →
Tanjung Selor (kijang, shared 70 000 IDR) →
Berau (kijang, 50 000 IDR) →
Tanjung Batu (speed boat, shared 50 000 IDR) →
Pulau Derawan

The route less traveled, not anyway to the direction we are on our way. I feel it harder to trust people after Malaysia where a traveler was only a dollar sign on locals eyes. The trip went fine, and people are more trustworthy and in Berau we really felt like home. The town was very well coming, people as sunny as the weather and helpful even without a common language. We were able to find a nice net place (NetBoyz) where I sent my last blog entries. When we got back from our mission to find working fast internet we found a karaoke place that sold beer. There we went. The beer was warm, of course, cost us 35 000 rupees a bottle and the place was dark, of course on that as well, and the people were singing well. And of course the karaoke videos were the same awful as in every country, cheesy with all effects you can get from the editing program. The karaoke lady had an extremely tight outfit for her age but she was nice to ask if we wanted to sing. We did not. Later the singing turned to a disc with some ok electronic music and strobe lights. A young female approached us and asked us to dance. We did not do that either and soon it was the time to go because it was closing time at midnight.

The next morning we had good luck. We were standing with our equipment outside and trying to decide the direction to walk. A car stopped, a man rolled the window open and asked where we were heading to. He took us to the kijang stop without taking money from us and organized us a ride with some locals. The kijangs in Berau leave from the same spot as they used to, in front of the Hotel Central Graha that was at the time under construction. The trip this time was cheaper than noted in LP.

The kijang ride to Tanjung Selor was a long one. It felt like being back home a driving through the rough hilly and curvy roads in Eastern Finland country side! Only the trees were bigger and the jungle was taking over the road where it could. In Tanjung Selor our driver and the locals arranged us in the same speed boat with them.

In Derawan we first met a guy, John, we met on the boat from Tarakan. John got us to stay 3 nights (50 000Rs per person, per night with breakfast) in a home stay at his sisters house. The reason for this was the long weekend holiday, and the 200 people visiting from Tarakan. The house was nice, our host an d her kids friendly, and in the toilet (in here, toilet with a pool of water is called mandi) pool they had fish to keep it clean.

Derawan is a small island and one can walk around in less than in a hour. The electricity runs only from 18.00 to 06.00 and mostly people hang out on their porches before the tv´s are switched on. The local spare time event for women is volleyball (on main street there´s one field) and the guys play soccer. Kids seems to be very hooked on colorful plastic hula-hoops and running around greeting the visitors (Hello Mister). Atmosphere is totally laid back, palm trees, giant bats, turtles (Hawkbill) in the water, full moon etc. A little paradise. And the ice cream man driving around with his scooter and sound system. There is a small amount of trash in the water, but in basic the water is very clean.

We also wanted to see some other islands and do some good snorkeling, and when I met and American couple, we came up with a plan and John helped us out. We paid 450 000Rs per head on a trip of 3 days on a fishing boat. Normally a speed boat for a day would be something like 800 000Rs..so we got a good deal for that one. Douglas was speaking Indonesian and we rolled up the anchor.

Even though we did not get too friendly with the Americans we had an excellent trip! Our first stop was Pulau Sangalagi. We stopped twice to snorkel and the second time was a dream come true - we swam with Manta Rays!! Not with one or two, but there were tens of them! Flying easily through the blue, right next to us and then diving again. Our captain and his son were good in spotting interesting things and tell us about islands (through Douglas). In Sangalagi we confronted THE LOST. There has once been a fine dive resort, but for some official hassle with permissions and money the place was closed down, but it was like a ghost town. The only occupants were lizards and insects, as well as hawkbill turtles that arrive every night to lay their eggs on the island. There is a hand full of inhabitants taking care of the turtle nests and the hatchlings and to keep eye on the visitors. It is not allowed to sleep on the island, but somehow we got the permission (thanks John!) and we slept on the jetty, under the milky way and full moon, and under us on the water was some glittering shining plankton as if the stardust had fallen from the skies. Big small things. I was happy. And Simone smoking a cigarette in the night next to me was happy too.

Our next day started early around seven o´clock. Anchor up, and to see some more islands. Kakaban was our destination. An island with a lake inside that hosts millions of non-stingy jellyfish. An adventure, a weird little ecosystem. It felt like floating in outer space, the skin colored jellyfish all around, big and small making their way up and down and all the directions and the sun rays making lines between them. Snorkeling through the mangrove roots is another story to tell. We were lucky to reach this destination before the Chinese divers who were loud. Later we docked on Maratua island for the night and some more snorkeling. This time we swam with green turtles and slept on a jetty again, without the plankton but with some local youngsters playing guitar next to us, and one eagle ray swimming by our boat. That evening we had a good night story together with the Americans by discussing the cultural differences.

Back in Derawan we changed our home stay to a guesthouse on the water. A bunch of colorful little huts on stilts (shared room with own toilet with shower 150 000Rs per room). Daily sights on turtles, grabs, trumpet fish, juvenile bat fish, lion fish under our housing and not to mention the most romantic sunsets, while we are washing our laundry... On our first night though the laundry was not so easy task, since the house keepers are renovation for the high season and the water was off due to some plumbing experiments.

From Tarakan to Berau

27.05.2010 Berau

Our trip continued this morning from Tarakan. Again, do not trust LP. After finding out the previous night that the maps are totally shit and apparently the writers have never been to Indonesian Borneo, we were “German” enough to get out boat tickets on the previous day. We signed in a hotel ( Hotel Taufiq, shared double 50 000 Rp) on the main road quite near the harbor where the local boats leaves.

Wake up at six, to the boat at 07.00. The taxi took us the long way to the pier and tried to get 30 000rp instead of the 6000 plus entry fee 2000 to area. Boat Tarakan- Tanjung Selor took about 1 ½ hours.

At Tanjung Selor we were told that there was no frequent bus service anymore to Berau (after 2008) and all we could do was to get a kijang- shared car with multiple seats to our next destination. It was 70 000Rp per person and that included our “foreign bonus”, locals paid 50 0000Rp. The ride was nice through the curvy jungle road and one eating stop in between. During the stop we got offers to be photographed again, and some even took photos of us without our promision. I took the liberty to get angry, because the locals do not do that to anyone else...I should think about saying that Finnish culture or religion forbids to take photos of people. The ride took us 3 ½ hours approximately.

In Berau we tried to get to a nice hotel by the river bank, but it was closed and on construction. After the lunch I ran around for a place to sleep and found one posh hotel (read, expensive) Hotel Berau Plaza...but, air condition and A REAL SHOWER ( very refreshing) made me sleep a 5 hour nap after 2 very sleepless and very very sweaty nights. Tonight we walked to a local eatery and had nice dishes of Gado-Gado, a plate filled with vedgies, boiled egg, chips, tofu, rice cake and topped with spicy peanut sauce. A good evening dish, nothing too heavy and I have to say that the evening is cool and the people are much friendlier than in the previous towns, AND we are forced to learn Bahasa Indonesia.

Tarakan

26.05.2010 Tarakan, Indonesia

I promised to write about the trip information to the Indonesian side.
DO NOT TRUST LONELY PLANET BORNEO.

In Tawau Indonesian Embassy I met my new travel friend Simone. A nice German girl and we kinda run into each other many times and I decided to go with her straight to Tarakan and skip Nunukan all together. It was tough indeed to get the info about the boat to Tarakan. THE book (Lonely Planet obviously) told one thing and the people other. We went to harbor at 09.00, and there we were told that the boat does not leave until noon. It did not, so, both LP and internet info was wrong again. We went through the immigration and waited the rest of the time. Half past eleven we were loaded in the boat. It was the boat called Indomaya Tiga and the cost of the trip was 130 Ringgits. The trip took about 4 hours, a bit less.


Today we went to a park really in the middle of the city. 9 hectares mangrove forest with shady benches and wooden walks. At first we were upset to see one monkey in a cage and then another, probosics monkey, in the cage...but then, we saw some real things. THE MUD CRAWLER! A bit later I confronted some monkeys that were really nasty. One jumped to hang from my backpack and tried to bite me, but let go when it ripped a small towel pouch out. We were almost done with the forets when ge encountered the ones we were there for; the famous Dutchmen (the locals call probosics monkey the Dutchman because of the appearance) with their pot bellies and big noses, right after we had thought they only said there to be ones, just to get people coming to the park. I was super happy!

I am getting annoyed by the men in in here. It seems again that everyone wants money from you or to take a photo of you without even asking your name or telling theirs first. “Hello mister” is the normal greeting in here for us both, Simone and me.

Top five ways to start a conversation with a Westerner female.
1.“Hello Mister!”
2.“I love you”
3.“Where you go?”
4.“Which country?”
5.“ a photo?”


We also got our brand new Indonesian Idol phone cards.

Tawau

23.05.2010 Tawau / Blog entry on my computer

Finally alone. Finally on the road again.

I am happy about my decision to leave Semporna. All on all it was not my place, and definitely not my place to go through Dive Master training. Sweden has not paid me anything yet, and I am sort of money. The rest of the trip will go with strict budget.

I am not having second thoughts anymore about Dive Master training. I am going to do it, some day, if not now. I have to admit that my expectations of my own stamina was wrong. I have to face the fact that almost 35 years old may not recover 15 kilos weight loss that happened over 2 months, in a very short time. The exhausting weather did not help nor did the sun burns. I was also surprised how easy it was to make me upset during the Rescue Course. It has been said that it is the best course there is...but I could say that for me it was like living hell. Every morning getting to the boat to Mabul from Semporna just made me more upset and I had lost all my ability to enjoy diving as well as learning something new. It was a horrible experience, nothing more. Still I think I have some abilities that a good DM needs. I believe I am a people person. And my Rescue Diver burn marks are fading day after a day.

Nella and her mother joined me at breakfast. I suddenly felt too shy to speak German, but I tried my best at that moment. I need a bit more time to be fluent. However, I was capable to communicate in some way, still I was not satisfied.

When I went to pick up my bags from hostel Ebu said that she is sorry that I was leaving. Both she and Lady Gaga (one of the reception young ladies) hugged me and hoped to see me again. For them, I could go back. It seems that I have been the one of the guests to be talking with them the most. One guy opened up one evening and told about some of his bad experiences, some others as well. I did not see Linda or Helen to say good bye to them.

Seems that the Semporna hostels small ants have been hiding in my backpack and now they cover my bed again. It feels strange to have my own toilet and shower, not to have a bar downstairs and not to have a wireless internet connection. I enjoy it. I enjoy the soda water I was able to find in a supermarket. I enjoyed the Pizza Hut triple cheese pizza with no regrets. Three weeks without cheese, and now that I am sailing to south, no one knows when I am able to get cheese again. Yes, I am fairly easy to please.

Peeling and leaving

It is time to say good bye to Semporna. Pay all my bills and hit the road again to south, to Indonesian state Kalimantan. All my friends are about to leave as well, so, I decided also to move on.

Unfortunately not with Nella. She got her symptoms back and flew her mother on an adventure of a lifetime. Her mom has arrived today and I am hoping to meet her as well.

I also found out that my sunburns are the second stage burns and they need 2 to 3 weeks to heal. Not very nice. At least not when it is combined with mosquito bites. After the water bubbles on my skin; I am now peeling off and look totally disgusting. I have been trying to hide myself under long sleeves both outside and in the water.

Today I made some unfortunate money transfers that did not get through. I was able to pay my hostel, but the diving is now waiting. Hopefully the transactions will show tomorrow, and I am able to go. I did succeed with the money transaction with some other money though. Nella gave me a huge bunch of bills in an envelope and told me to hand them over to some Belgian guys that would arrive by boat from Mabul resort. The Belgians had given Nella almost 1000€ worth of money to be exchanged by the time they arrived and she asked me to deliver the amount. Now it is out of my hands, the guys got their money and everything is ok. I have been really thinking that while travelling the people tend to help more with that kind of things and REALLY trust. I have been loaning my stuff all over and today I need to get them back together again for packing, but it does not bother me too much, because, me too, I trust. And besides, why not, if I have a book that can help someone, if I have a laptop that someone can use in a cafe to read the news and emails, why not?

Crossing borders to Indonesian side seems to be made quite hard. No information anywhere...at the moment I am going to get there to see it myself, how to get from Tawau to Tarakan and then later on further. When I find that out, I will put all the information online to help someone else who is making the same trip!


So, making the long story short, I will continue with diving stuff. I made through the Rescue Diver Course. And the first aid. Then I needed some time to think over what I was about to do. I decided to take a few days of fun diving and see, if I got back to myself in the water. I did. I did not make it ll the way to Sipadan, but I dot not regret it. There was a lot of talk about the experience in there; some said it is totally over estimated, some said it was the best dives if their lives. For me, I think everything after my night dive will be less interesting.

The night dive was amazing. I was diving with Flem, and his 2 Advanced course students Luke&Kate who were taking their night dive specialty. It was great to somehow take part in the course, to remember what are the important things and just listen. When we descended, Flem asked us to sit on the sandy bottom, to turn off out torches by pointing them closely to our bodies and then play with the water. The water was full of curious shrimps. And when you waved your hand in the water, they flashed as if they were fireflies. Beautiful. When we started our very slow dive, we discovered the incredible amount of crap that people throw to the water. Millions of plastic bags hovering in the water among the jellyfish that were size of a bucket, diameter something like 50cm. Ouch! We saw huge boxing-shrimps, crabs of all kinds, sleeping fish etc.

After a while Flem pointed out a flamboyant cuttlefish and we took our time to follow it with our torches. What happened was, that it lead us to some seahorses and stopped something like half a meter from them. At first it was tough decision to decide which animal to look at, but when the seahorse started giving birth to some little seahorses, it was an easy choice. A very very very rare sight!! This will be hard to beat at any dive. Maybe a manatee would be the next one to be wait.

Rescue Diver!

Now I finally reached the test of a Rescue Diver! Last night I was very tired but happy. I got another Dive Instructor, Flem from Denmark to guide me through the day. He did not quite understand why I was put through another day...and after all, his positive guidance totally helped me to do everything nearly perfect. I good positive comments about my calmness and my excellent buoyancy! He said that I can be happy about that. Also, I figured out a way to count my rescue breaths (a Finnish stupid poem) and completed the rescue safely on the Jetty. The 2 "hell dives" were not near the hell we went through during the previous days. Flem said it should be just in a proportion of sanity. I feel more confident now, but I still have to do some thinking.

This morning I had a short chat with Ric (one of the owners) and decided to get myself on some fun dives for the next 3 days just to relax. Leanne (instructor) said I should give a go on the DM. However, now, checking my bank account balance I am not sure if I have the money to to that, and I have only 6 weeks to complete if I started. It might not be enough taking in consideration my skills in learning...well, still a few days to think about it.

I got suddenly another offer. Yesterday at Mabul (the place where we did our courses, one of the resort islands) I sat on a table with a Swiss lady. She confronted a very unpleasant surprise on her 30th birthday; a decompression Illness on Sipadan on her first dive. Great. She spent her birthday in decompression chamber in Semporna hospital. What a great way to spend a special day. Memorable indeed. Then, she was told that she is allowed to fly in 2 weeks, but later it became 6 weeks. No risks, and she is kinda now stuck in around here. She is not advised to go KK, because of the altitude the bus takes on the road next to mountains. We had a nice chat during lunch and she asked if I wanted to go with her by boat to the Indonesian side.

I have been doing some searching now, and found an island of Derawan, where there´s good diving and great beaches, and a very slow way of living. On the way I could see Raflesias, probosics monkeys and other stuff...And the best part would be that I have a buddy to travel with. Don´t know how well we could get along, but then we could go separated.

A very tempting idea. Road less travelled.

Oh, my.

Yes. I feel like a huge failure. And I know I should just think about not to demand this much of myself...but still. I cannot remember a time in my life when I have felt like I am not able to do anything right. No excuses, I suck.

It was overwhelming. I was grilled much more than other students. I did not pass the course. I have to do one day more. My stress reaction kicked in big time, paralyzed when I had to do something, and apparently, when I did react, it was always something wrong. I try to remember what Sari wrote me about her Dive Master course. That she was almost tortured, but she survived it. And I, I keep thinking about my first days when I was learning to be a lighting technician...my help then was to have a very supportive teacher. I should stop comparing myself with other to this extend.

It does not help if I am painfully honest about stuff. Well, on the other hand it does help because I can talk about my problems and there has been a lot of help offered. I have also allies; Swedish Linda and American Helen are just adorable. With Linda we discussed a lot about atmospheres in here (weid for a new comer) and about the whole Scandinavian behavior. It seems that in general we ARE slower to to react and act on things. In Finland the way is almost to neglect when something is happening, maybe as a survival mechanism. Then again, facing fears should be a moment of self growth. Also, all my readers who have met me while travelling cannot say that I was lacking care for people or that I was unfriendly...but apparently these skills I failed to show on my course. Weird isn´t it?

All in all the last 2 days of the course was fun (except the fact that I burned myself badly of course, and decided to take this day off to cure my skin, think stuff over and take my day 4 of Rescue Diver tomorrow). We played scenarios in real time. The moment we four students stepped out of the boat in Mabul, there were about 10 victims already in the water and we needed to rush to rescue them. At first, like I normally do, I just stood there thinking "are you kidding me"! The second scenario was in water on a "fun dive". Ash, Ben and Big-Ben shot down in a second and started acting like fools, and fools that were totally drunk. They stole each others fins, took their weight belts off, started opening our tank belts so our tanks were not secured anymore and then took of all in different directions. Big-Ben even tried to put a stone fish in his pocket and other Ben assisted himself out of his BCD took the octopus in his mouth and rode on his tank as if it was a horse.


After lunch we had zero time to get to water and save both of the 2 Bens who had been seen on the right side of the Jetty but now were missing. A drowning victim will get a brain damage in 10 minutes, we had to find them in that timeline. The last dive was also a fun dive and the DMT´s and Ash were only mentioned to play around for a few minutes, but decided that it was cool to play along a bit longer..and it was 30 min. During that time and a bit after we saw five huge turtles from close,a ghost pipe fish and one fish that Ben claimed to be a star gazer.

The other Dive Master Trainees had completed their course and they had a "final snorkel test" last night. A bucket of booze through a snorkel until they puke. Not really my idea of having fun though, but the others were having hilarious time.

The beginning in Semporna

After the long period of stressing, carrying stuff, hailing a taxi, getting to bus I was finally sitting in a long distance bus from KK to my final destination Semporna, in the North East corner of Borneo island. During my ride I slept a lot getting rid of my jet lag but had the opportunity to observe the Mt. Kinabalu as we drove next to it and also the many many hectares of rain forest cut down from the places of new palm oil plantation and factories. Razor sharp edges and lines of emptiness on the same spots that used to be lush forest with diversity and undergrowth.

The first night was sleepless as I tried to get adjusted to heat by switching off the air condition...at the moment it works fine without!

My first course morning in here started with my beloved rain. I woke up too early and went for a walk. The night shift guys were asleep in the computer lounge, so I did not want to wake them up and decided to sneak out from the restaurant door where people were preparing for our breakfast. I took a walk down to the water, took pictures and enjoyed the fresh air. As usual, I was the only westerner awake at that time. I had a confrontation with the police; the guys scrolled down the car windows and said good morning. The morning market was busy, and the local good-transportation method used was wheel barrel.

On Monday morning I went to the dive shop as advised and got a boat ride to Mabul, a resort island where me and Freddy (young Brit) took our Emergency First Response course. The place was super, the instructor Ash was nice...but the mean frustration kicked in. I felt like I was very bad, it looked like I had never known any English in my life and I was totally confused with the masses of new words I had to learn, and as usual I did not give myself nothing but hard time. Yes, passed the test, but I was still feeling bad about all the confusion. Ash tried to cheer me up by finding me an extra place to Sipadan fro next morning and convincing me that I should take another day off. I decided to turn down the Sipadan offer (yes, it was tempting...the previous day 2 whale shark spotting, but as my contact lens solution was in my hostel room...the choice was made easier) and to study today. I of course did my first plunge into the water, went snorkeling and it was relaxing, also saw 2 white pipe fishes!

Getting back to village was indeed a good choice! I met some more people, some employees and some DMT´s (Dive Master Trainees) that gave me a peek to what it was going to be. The Swedish 'soon to be' DM, told me that she had felt the same as me for the first 3 weeks after her arrival. Keeping up with English language can be hard for a non native, and sometimes the natives just cannot see the struggle. I felt so much better after talking to her. Things will sort out, eventually. The next task will be the 3 days on a Rescue Course with bad diving scenarios.

EFR course was an easy one, to my luck, but it is getting tougher from now on. I should focus more on having fun and not stressing out. And hopefully the Rescue course will be the BEST as everyone keeps telling me, and I certainly hope that the Videos are better than with first aid. Maybe the only thing I learned from that is that I should carry disposable plastic gloves, eye shield and ventilation barrier as well as a bio hazard waste bag at all times to prevent getting infected by HIV or Hepatitis B or C, if you get into a situation where I need to give first aid. Of course this is in America. Where else can you can get a law sue after helping someone? Well, on our course we learned the most valuable lesson and a sentence of all times; “ Hello, my name is ----, I am a emergency first responder. May I help you?” And when said no, you just walk away...

At all times, you should STOP, THINK and ACT. My name is Katja and I am a emergency first responder. 

Task done!

Testing the durian ice cream. 

KK and electricity

A quick decision to run after Ally, share a taxi with her, almost get crazy with the cab driver, but finally ending up to the right hostel. Now I have already (or unfortunately) had 2 contacts with Finns..last night at bar I saw a friend of a friend that I knew to be arriving here at the same time. The radar was excellent this time, I spotted the Finns easily and had a fun night.

Right now I also got a Finnish guy sitting next to me in our hostel lobby. And I helped out a French guy with his electricity adapter if there is anything you want to know about electricity abroad, maybe  the best page to find out is http://users.telenet.be/worldstandards/electricity.htm


Yesterday, almost at my arrival I got a friendly shower from Mother Nature. When travelling, I usually like rain. It makes me feel that things are real. The life in here is real and not as if I was in a nice sunny postcard. One has to adjust to what Mom Nature has to offer. In here there are no big shopping malls to be lost in during the rain and no metro tunnels to hide from rain. It is just a human (nature) confronting the poring rain and flooding streets.

The picture is from my last (arrival night). Kota Kinabalu sunset and the local taxi boats leaving from the dock. Tomorrow I hope to reach my final destination. Today I got a friendly voice to talk to over the phone. At least there is someone who misses me enough to call me once in a while. Also, thanks for the comments as well as the FB comments. I like that, you know!