North and NorthWest Borneo - Short Summary

Introduction.

Commencing 14 Oct from Singapore, we covered Brunei, Sabah and Sarawak over 17 days. On the 18th day, 31 Oct, we finally reached Entikong, the border of West Kalimantan Indonesia. Overall we drove over 3000km. What I have wrote in my blog ( novice at work ), was just to give a few pictorial views of the interesting places we came across. The diversity we saw changed my entire perception of Sabah and particularly Sarawak . Now that i have seen it for myself, I reccomend that visits to these places , as they are pleasant and educational.



Brunei - 400,000 people

This was like homecoming to me as I was working there as a Milatary Adviser between 1986 to 1992. All my friends were more than helpful. Besides lavishing us with dinner parties , golf game, and chit chats, and durians, we picked up many invaluable informations on what to expect in our venture into North and NW Borneo.


My impression : Brunei went thru tremendous changes over the last 17 years. Buildings and extensive super structures and road networks with connectivity highways making travel so fast easy and interesting. 6 stars Empire Hotel is a must stay in Brunei. The Palaces are also "must see" but you can only do it during Hari Raya which is "Open House " for people to wish the royalties Selamat Har Raya. Muara is as busy as ever with Kg Ayer bustling with life and with new shopping centers at BSB. Better news - Traffic has eased quite significantly, thanks to the new roads and highways and the dispersion of Ministries and offices.

All my freinds looks the same, young as ever. Must have been the clean and healthy environment and a slower pace of life - unlike Singapore.


In Temburong , we manage a visit to the jungle base training camp. Old timber buildings have to give way to half brick buildings to prevent further decay , but maintaining the same rustic field camp to help toughen up our young city boys. NS men still have their stories to tell esp when they have to tell their children later on. Wireless network is available . At Bangar town it is a lot nicer with newer building and little parks and Rest Houses for visitors. We were unfortunate for not being able to visit the " Ulu Ulu Retreat Centre " a 2 hr river crusie from Batang Duri across the " rapid ". Was told of its tranquility and peaceful natural environment -Well !! always another time.

Sabah and Sarawak
To get to Sabah from Brunei was a bit more work for tourists. We clocked 8 to 10 stamp chops onto our passport going from Brunei to Limbang , then into Temburong, Brunei, and then out to Sarawak and then Sabah . For the people of Brunei and Sabah and Limbang Sarawak, they have eased this off by just having to show just their identity cards. Getting onto ferries was easy, fast and affordable at RM 8 to RM 10.

Sabah - Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan, Denum Valley and Semporna - 3m people
Took about 8 days to cover the 4 towns that stretch for some 1500km, at our own pace. Going into KK via Tawai and Beaufort, you get to see the kampongs of Sarawak. Market acitivities starts early and the roads leading in was clean and straight. An easy 2 hrs drive to KK town.

KK town , as expected, was clustered togeether along the beachfront. 4 stars Hotel Promenade and many others were easily spotted along this beachfront and seafood restaurants were a plenty with bars and alfresto outlets which magnetised the youth and tourists in this friendly town. KK museum was a good place to visit to better understand their history and the people manning the tourism center were really courteous and helpful - kudos to Sabah tourism.

Mt Kota Kinabula with the beautiful sunset and the cool air was a welcome sight after travelling along the plains for 5 to 6 days. On the way up and also on the way down to Sandakan, durian stalls lined the country road. Scaling Mt Kinabalu preoccupies many tourists and the youth. The less adventourous takes to beautiful golf courses teeing off from mountain peaks downhills and along the natural contours. What was more revealing was the number of Roman Catholics churches which can be spotted every other 2 to 3 km, sometime less, for 200km. We later learned that every tribal kampongs have their own Catholic church.

Sandakan, rich and well organised, the town was easy to move around. Our stay at Swiss Seafront hotel was reasonably priced at RM160 with breakfasts for 2 thrown in. Seeing " Orang Utan " at Sepilok was fun. Also there are other attractions along riverlines, old churches and temples to further educate on the racial coexistence between the different races and tribes in this area.

Denum Valley, difficult to reach but "no pain no gains " best describe the awaited peaceful natural dipterocarp forests, home to some 300 species of birds alongside other wildlife. Qigong in the early hours during sunrise on a suspension wired bridge is an experience for absorbing negative ions from the running river and the hugh trees giving off Oxygen amidst misty clouds. A bit of adventure will bring you to see wild elephants that moves with their faily of 8. What a lucky sight and number when we saw them taking an evening stroll. Logging trucks carrying trees that are as long as 100 ft are also seen coming out in loads of 6 to 8 trees. While logging activities destroy many of the tropical plantations, the authorities are also taking steps to reforest them in Denum valley reforestation areas.

Semporna. The road leading from Sandakan to Semporna are lined with Oil Palms along mountain ranges for the next 200km. What a sight as we learnt that Sabah is the largest Palm Oil producing state in Malaysia. semporna itself is a small fhing village, but the draw is world reknown diving island SIPADAN. Coupled with Layang Layang island, Kapalai island and Labuan this area draws divers from all over the world. Looks like a more detail visit i I do take up diving.

Sarawak - Limbang, Miri, Bario, Bintulu, Sibu and Kuching = 2m people
Limbang town - pretty small and hamed by Brunei from both side, this town is like no -mans- land. Wonder how East Malaysia communicate and support this sleepy but quite colorful town centre.

Miri town however changes my perception of Sarawak. Rich and beautiful Miri is well organised. Hotel Grand Palace at RM $230/night with free Wi Fi, breadfast and in town center we are able to have afeel of the vibrancy of this town. What amuses most was a U -sign traffic light. Banks and ATMs were also easily available and timely , after we unloaded our cash in Brunei and Sabah.

Bario Asal the original longhouse was the draw that took us for a 45mins flight into this famous Rice plantation famous for its sticky Bario Rice. A night at the longhouse and attending morning mass at the SIB christian groups at 5.15 am added one for tour memo. Religously,every longhouse will have someone knocking a wooden bell at 5am to signify wakee time to attend mass. Charismatic in nature, the choir and band will play soft praying numbers to lead you into the morning prayers. A pastor will then read the bible and do the Homely to be followed by testimony and prayer wishes for the day to begin. What a cohesive community of 800 people.

Bintulu, where we pass thru boasts of its brillant architecture and new houshing estates - All Landed properties. The richeness of these people cabn be further witnessed from the lavishness of the Crristian cemetary that we chanced upon.

Sibu. The largerst wet and dry market, 400m x 100m and 3 storey high, this is the congregation point for the 200,000 odd people. With churches and temples strategically positioned in the town center and along the fringes, the hype but peaceful co-existence was witnessed by people crowding all the coffee shops and sharing their tales and exchanges of ideas, espn a sun morning. With a rich shoreline, Sibu also has a port and a ferry terminal. Night markets continue to bring the people together in the town centre, but beware of the hardworking car parking attendants .

Kuching. The capital of Sarawak. This town has a lot more high rise office complexes . Population of about 1m with 700000 living in and around town, Kuching should be a good area for my lantern show -"Hello Kitty in Kuching " ?? We stayed for 2 nights at Hotel Magherita at RM 170/night with breadfast. Sited alongside a river, the view was really good. Unfortunately it rain both the nights we were there - forcing us to stay indoor. However it gave us the chance to take a break after trodding over 19 days and also to prepare to take on the more ruggered terrain in Kalimantan, Indonesia.

Overall.
Brunei 400,000, Sabah 3m and Sarawak 2m. Oilrich, oil palm plentiful and natural resources in such a big area. The potential , if developed further, will make these areas even more enticing for tourists . The cultural mix is also more well spread , more diversified. Very much different from West Malaysia