...Continued.
So on a bright and sunny day after a full Malaysian breakfast, we set out on a motorboat to Snake Island.
All along the way I kept asking the guide every 5 minutes or so if we were approaching Snake Island so that I can give myself ample time for mental preparation just in case a bunch of snakes in the water decided to jump out from the water to attack me.
But much to my disappointment we reached Snake Island without any incident whatsoever.
Upon arrival, our guide, Saiful didn't waste anytime and proceeded to hunt around for snakes for our viewing pleasure.
And after ~20 minutes of hiking around the coasts of the island (it's not a big island), he only managed to find one pathetic nest of about 10 snakes intertwined with each other nicely nestled under a few huge rocks. (second disappointment)
Probably due to his obligation as a guide to fulfil his duties and partly due to the fact that there were 5 squealing gorgeous ladies under his leadership(wanted to prove he was manly maybe), he proceeded to provoke and extricate a snake from under the rocks. With a 5cm-long stick.
While we watched with utmost tension and nervousness.....
Saiful winning the Man vs. Snake Battle
Saiful with his "trophy" (what a show off)
Probably because I was the one who was wincing and squealing the loudest and most obviously there, our guide- from- hell proceeded to chasing me around the island with the snake and a few times with the snake barely milimeters away from my face.
Breathlessly, I asked him whether these snakes were venomous or not.
AGain, the reply was a very evil grin. This time coupled with a distinct
NOD.
That was when my suspicion that our guide was devil reincarnated was confirmed.
Finally after much convincing on Saiful's part and my sister's part, I took a picture with the snake. Look at my terrifed look (right). Look at that evil face (left). It didnt feel that bad actually. The snake wasn't as slimy as I thought it'd be.
After our little "frolic" with the snakes Saiful took us to a sand pit just a few minutes' boat ride from the Snake Island for snorkelling. (This part wasn't included in the package. He probably thought this was compensation for frightening the hell out of me)
In my humble opinion, I thought the Sand Pit was like the best ever, most interesting place I've been to for my entire trip.
The Sand Pit was literally like a desert island. It's a tiny little island (sory I'm not good with acres or I'd provide measurements) with no plants, no traces of living things, with only silky smooth, white sand on it that makes your skin tingle when you step on it. (Tingle in a good way, not the painful way)
In fact, the entire island is a beach by itself!!
I can already imagine spending an entire afternoon on it, lounging on a deck chair with a huge umbrella, sipping iced-sangria and taking a dip into the clear blue waters all around every few hours.....aAh.....Thats what I call enjoyment.
UNfortunately, again, we were only given slightly more than an hour to snorkel around the sand pit and we were so excited by the mere sight of crystal clear blue water that we jumped into the waters the second the boat stopped.
So needless to say there are no photos of Sand Pit or of the breathtaking, paradise-like underwater world around Sand Pit.....
Note to self :
1. No more diving anywhere else apart from Malaysian waters
-corals are more colourful and fanciful around SE Asia
-Tropical fishes are more colourful, lifely, cuter, prettier, dantier and basically nicer to watch than European fishes which are big, clumsy, ugly and monochromatic (they're either grey, black, white, yellow or the most MOST exciting one--
striped lor)
-Waters in Borneo- the
best!!
- Clear crystal blue sea and silky white sand(smooth like baby's backside) that makes you wanna lie down and roll on it as portrayed in postcards are NOT impossible to find at all.
THEY ARE REAL.
THEY ARE IN MALAYSIA.2. Buy Water-resistant camera suitable for taking underwater pictures
3. Take PADI as soon as possible. If possible, like NOW.
4. Come back to Sabah/ Borneo once a year XD
After a very satisfying, visually orgasmic snorkelling session we travelled back to Pulau Tiga to check out.
more camwhoring before leaving the island....
Never climbed a tree in my entire lifetime....yes I have a very sad childhood.
One tip: Turns out climbing UP is not a problem; climbing DOWN is
It's never too late to indulge in what you've missed out you see..... If only I knew climbing trees were that fun I'd insist to my mom that I'd live on trees while the rest of the family lived in the house...
My Slam Dunk XD
After taking a day's rest ambling aimlessly around KK city centre, the following day we embarked on another adventure...
hohoho...
YEah man I didn't travel all the way across the South China Sea using MYR 500 for nothing...
Yes on this cloudy day, we were all booked and psyched up to conquer Padas River!!!!!!
(FYI for those who dunno, Padas River is graded 3rd/4th grade for white water rafters and as you can guess the higher the numerical value of the grade, the more treacherous the rapids are...3rd for rainless periods and 4th for rainy days....)
At an unearthly 8.30 am (anytime before 11am is unearthly to me) we were picked up at our residence by our guide, Misol and driver for the day, Tony.
And guess what?????
Joining us on our ride and also on our little whitewater rafting adventure were....
2 very cute Japanese guys!!!!!
......
Yes I know very anti-climax right...
you're probably puzzled by my excitement towards Japanese since I've never shown any particular interests in them before this.
But I was actually merely conveying and transmitting my sister's enthusiasm to y'all.
My sister is CRAZY about Japanese.
ANd I mean literally.
SHe loves manga and anime, she dreams about Japan almost every night, she's learning Japanese, she'll buy anything that says "Made in Japan" on it, she'll watch anything with anything/anyone born in Japan starring in it, she's even saving up cent by cent of her hard-earned wages just to go to Japan next year!!!!!!
So imagine her ecstasy when she found out that the 2 guys(quite cute) were from Japan and they were brothers as well!!!
I have to seriously say their presence made the whole trip a lot more bearable and fun! They were so cute and funny! Watching them interact were almost like watching a live anime playing right in front of us it was so freakin funny.
The older brother would keep abusing the younger brother by slapping, poking, jabbing him, messing his hair and plucking his limited facial hair. And the younger brother would be ignoring him, looking out of the window like completely unfazed by what was happening to him. And the "peace sign" Chinese photos they kept taking everywhere they go were just so funny.
All in all I was thankful of the company we had for the trip.
The enjoyable company we had made our trip of 3 hours on the road A LOT more bearable. It was 3 hours on the road to a small little town called Tenom.
On the way, our guide decided to take us to the Murut Cultural Village to take a look at his origins and his ancestors' way of life. According to my sister, a trip to the Murut Cultural Village usually cost MYR100 over and we are getting this for free!!!!! ^o^
(Hohoho~~That's why I've come to a conclusion it's always good to travel in a small all-girls group, especially in a group of 2 girls......you tend to get more "perks"..... XD)
He showed us how his ancestors used to make weapons, their headhunting activities, their marriage ceremony, their crafts, their dances, etc etc...it was a real eye-opnener!!
There was this particular "Tajau" (Urn) he showed me which was supposed to contain Tapai, Lihing or Montoku (different types of rice alcohol in Sabah) made specifically for weddings and he was playing a kind of quiz with us--if we got all his questions right he'd treat us to montoku and lunch--so he made us guess what it was. (Well turned out I still got my montoku treat later on anyway and lunch was included in the package. See? I said, evil guides)
I said it was an urn to contain dead people's ashes.
Bad, baaaaaaaad answer.
Probably not the best mistake to make to a guide who'll be responsible for your life for the rest of the day, and who happens to originate from a headhunters lineage.
He gave me a very exaggerated offended look and told us the real answer.
From that minute onwards I should've known my life was in danger.
Then from Tenom we had to take a train from the 70s to the starting point Pangi Station where our Guide's "rumah turun-temurun" ada kat situ......
That's the 70s train we took up the hills, pass valleys, over rivers.......
A view from one of the exits of the train. Right below is our destiny----Padas. If you reach out of the window you can touch leaves from the primary forest.
It was seriously the best train ride I've ever had in my entire lifetime.
Lots of time in the train also made us camwhore a lot haha~~~
FInally after about 5 hours of sitting on very bumpy vehicles, with very painful backsides we arrrived at Pangi where we were served light refreshments by our guide's family.
The house in the picture below is their family heirloom...apparantly a very typical Murut bungalow in the outskirts looks like that
Anyway after refreshments, our guide took out a very dubious looking bottle containing a urine-coloured liquid and beckoned to me.
Apparently he was keeping his promise of treating me to their traditional rice alcohol, the infamous Montoku....
Okay maybe very unhealthy urine- colour
ANyway one look at it, I should've probably known better than to put it anywhere near my mouth, or nose, even.
It didn't help when he calmly and casually mentioned the history of the said alcohol, that people have died due to alcoholic toxicity from drinking Montoku....
Because it is not commercially produced but domestically produced, tehre is no formally-approved way or procedure of producing Montoku, so the alcoholic content in each and every bottle can vary from 25% to 50% alcohol (which can kill)......
And he also kindly told me the bottle he was holding was unopened, meaning no one had tried it before.
My expression????
-_______-" " "
Then he proceeded to pour 1/10 cup for me. And looked at me as if daring me to drink it, while trying very hard to suppress an evil and triumphant smile as if to say "See I knew you wouldn't dare to drink it"
That was it.
I took it and gulped it down.
It was FOUL.
Then he laughed at my facial expression and offered to pour more for me.
I told him that was enough for me to remember it for the rest of my life and I gave him a gagging expression.
He probably took a pity on me and finally told me the secret to drinking it in a more bearable flavour.
Apparently you have to mix the Montoku in equal proportions with Coke to make it tastier, and not to mention, less LETHAL.
Then i was like, Then habis tu I drank it like, pure!!! WIll I die??????
The whole houseful of Muruts laughed at me and said that little bit will probably just make me fall into the river when I raft and feed the crocodiles..
Further -______-"""""
Sweat.....
"There ARE CROCODILES??????!!!!!!!!!!"
More laughs from the Muruts...
"Ya...buaya yang tak bergigi.....banyak....*chuckles*" Misol said.
(Meaning: "Yes.......Crocodiles with no teeth.......A lot........")
Little did I know soon I would find out what he meant by toothless crocodiles...
(The "gadget" to make Montoku with)
So after refreshments and my "drunkening up" session amidst lots of cheering from the Muruts, with "High" spirits (literally), we (at least I, because my sister didn't dare to take it and for some reason he only offered to the two of us), we set off on our rafts with Misol and anotehr guide.
You should've seen my sister's cross face when she found out that i had consumed alcohol before going for watersports.
"You could kill yourslef!!!! It's so dangerous!!!!"
Got this photo off another guy who was rafting as well.
Picture of annother team struggling at a rapid)
More rapids
A team almost devoured by the "Washing Machine" rapid.
My personal picture. Very badly taken. WHat do you expect, we had rapids to conquer ourselves too.
As evil as our guides were, I have to still commend them on their expertise in this field....They knew every nook and corner and rock of the river and they knew exactly how to lead our team of only 6 people to tackle all the rapids and led us to safety. (Normally a team consists of at least 8 people, and a vessel and contain up to 12 people)
There was only one instance when our vessel capsized at the most vicious rapid of them all--the Washing Machine (because it's supposed to act like the washing machine-tumble, spin, and toss--and you are supposed to come out of it all washed ).
Our guide expertly rescued all of us and all our paddles. Although he did confirm my initial fears of offending a guide...he refused to pull me up into the vessel even after pulling all the otehrs up.....and I had to pull myself, heavy wet clothes and heavy wet life jacket and all amidst the strong currents with him laughing at me as if watching a skit.
After the Washing Machine rapid everything else were a breeze...we learnt how to cooperate better amongst each other and the capsizing actually helped form a better bond and teamwork among us....as much as I hated to admit it...
Amidst all the bantering among us team members and the guides, and lots of attempts to throw me into the river (why me??), and lots of hitting (on my part, by the guide, with his paddle)(again, why me????), we arrived at the midpoint of our journey without us realising it....and it was time for lunch
After lunch we proceeded with our journey and our guide managed to finally throw me into the river.
Twice.
See I told you never to offend someone who's watching over you for the rest of the day. Like your guide.
ANd that was also how I found out the legend behind the "Toothless Crocodiles".....
They'll drag you into the river.....
Then we finally reached out ending point, the "hilir" of Sungai Padas......
"Hilir" of Sungai Padas....Looks deceivingly calm....Almost hard to relate it to the angry, life-threatening Padas we just had to go through...
We took the train again back to the town Beaufort and had to go on teh road for anothr 1 and a half hours before reaching KK at about 8.30pm all tired, weary, spent, wet and er, drunk. *blush* (I was force-fed with more Montoku-Coke cocktail at the end point *hiccup*)
The end result of this action-packed adventure??
A very "burnt" me, despite regular application of sunblock... :(
And that pretty much concludes the adventure part of my Sabah trip....The foodie part wll be coming up shortly :P
My takeaway from this trip has been very fruitful, to say the least. In this SINGLE holiday alone, I 've done parasailing, jetskiing, waterskiing, wakeboarding, kayaking, snorkelling, whitewater rafting and lots of swimming of course.
I shall not talk about the price cos moneytalk seriously dampens the mood :P
Another useful takeaway is, all guides are EVIL. Pure evil.
But what I also found out is that the people in Sabah are ever so friendly! Regardless of the race and religion, all of them have found a way to live with each other harmoniously and I mean really harmoniously, not in a political or fake way...
So if you ask me any further visits?????
DEFINITELY!!!!!!!
Anyone wants to go to Sabah anytime soon??
