Hi all,
So at the end of the last post I'd just arrived in Semporna for scuba diving. On my first night there I went for drinks at the hostel bar with a guy in my room and some other people he knew. There was a band night on and it was a leaving do for one of the guys that worked there, so it was a good atmosphere. After the hostel bar shut we went onto this local kareoke place which was very strange! A good night though! After a few hours sleep I had to be up for the theory part of my diving course, I was not feeling great to say the least, but just about managed to get through all the videos and tests. The next couple of days I spent in the sea diving around Mabul island and it was really good, I saw turtles, eagle rays, an octopus, a massive grouper fish (Amy - like the ones we saw in the aquarium at vinpearl!) and loads of other fish. I've now got my diving qualifacation and can dive to 18m, so hopefully will do some more diving later on in my travels.
From Semporna I went back to Sandakan for my flight to Bali. I arrived in Bali at around 10pm and had a bit of trouble finding a place to stay as it was quite expensive (for Asia). Ended up settling for this place which was a bit of a dive, later on when I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth I saw 2 cockroaches on the back wall, I was not impressed! I decided against brushing my teeth! In the morning I woke up with lots of little red spots on my face, which later turned into big spots! Not entirely sure what was in my bed biting me as they weren't mosquito bites, but it wasn't pleasant! I got out of there as quickly as I could to find somewhere else to stay! Managed to find the place where Emma was staying, the girl I'd met at the mountain, so I checked in there.
We spent the day at the beach and I decided to give surfing a go. There are loads of locals on the beach offering surf lessons for cheap, Emma had done it the day before so we went and found the guy that taught her, who hadn't made her pay in the end as she didn't manage to stand up! So I went into the sea after a quick breifing of how to stand up on the board, tried to get on the board the wrong way round initially, which the guy found highly amusing. Anyway after a couple of attempts I managed to stand up, and continued for a while trying to master it! It was all going well until on one go I realised I was heading towards this guy who was lying on his board, also learning to surf, and I didn't really know how to steer myself away from him. I then fell off and my board went flying straight into the back of his head....oops. I think it was pretty painful for him, and after trying to apologise for a while I told my instructer than I didn't want to continue. There were lots of people in the sea learning at this point, and I was scared that I would hit someone again, or that someone would hit me. It all seemed a bit dangerous, I'm sure those boards could cause you quite a lot of damage! Anway my instructer persuaded me to get back on, so I kept on going for a while, but was a bit shaken up and had lost my confidence, so I didn't carry on for too long. So yeah surfing was fun but I think I'll stick to body boarding!
That night me and Emma went for a night out in Kuta, which is basically like Magaluf or somewhere for Aussies. After spending the next day hungover on the beach, I booked a boat to take me to the Gili Islands the following day. Arrived there that evening and it was a really beautiful island, very relaxing compared to Kuta, especially as there are no cars or motorbikes on the island, only horse drawn carriages. However there's still quite a lively nightlife there. The next day I went on a snorkerling boat trip around the islands, which was really nice, and I met some British girls who I went out with that evening. The next day I had to get back to Bali for my flight to Darwin, the boat trip was not ideal as it was very rocky and I was feeling a bit delicate! Apparently a few days ago a couple of boats doing the trip for gill islands to Bali sunk and people on board drowned, so lucky I didn't leave a few days later! When I arrived at the airport that evening my flight had been cancelled. Initially I was annoyed as I'd wanted to change my flight to a couple of days later, and had been rushing to make it back for. However we got put up for the night in a nice hotel right on the beach, and got free dinner and breakfast at the hotel. So it wasn't all bad! Last night in luxury before becoming very very poor in Oz!
So I got on the same flight the following evening after relaxing by the pool all day, and arrived in Darwin early the next morning - will fill you in on Darwin in the next post!
Bye for now,
Julia xxx
Saturday, 24 September 2011
Friday, 9 September 2011
Singapore and Borneo
Hello all! After saying that I wouldn't do a blog, I've realised that actually it will be quite a lot of effort to write to you all individually, so here it is!
I began my trip in Singapore last Wednesday, I didn't arrive at the hostel until late, so pretty much went straight to bed. The hostel was actually pretty nice compared to what I was expecting, and it had air con which was a big plus as it was so so hot there! So the next morning I got up and went out to look around the city, I did a river tour which was alright, nothing spectacular. I noticed the very strict rules in the city - I got told off for eating a McFlurry at an MRT station, which I thought was strange. Later I saw a sign which said the fine for eating on the MRT is $500 - 250 pounds! Lucky escape for me!
That evening I went to the night safari which was pretty cool. They put on a couple of shows which were entertaining, one involving the animals and one fire show. On the bus on the way back I met a girl from Oxford, Kate, and we went for a drink when we got back in the city. Drinking in Singapore is really expensive, I got half a pint for 4 pounds! Anyway we chatted for a while and then went back to our hostels.
The next day I flew to Kota Kinabalu (KK) in Borneo. Again I arrived fairly late at the hostel - not as nice as the first one, I think my expectations had been set too high! However it was a lot more sociable and I met a few people that evening and we had a drink at the hostel. The next day I spent trying to figure out plans for my time in Borneo, a lot of things it seemed you had to book in advance and were pretty expensive. That night I had dinner at the night market with a couple of people from the hostel, and then back to the hostel for a couple of drinks, where we were joined by a few others, and ended up staying up until about 5am.
We had to get up reasonably early the next day as we'd planned to go over to the islands close by KK. We also had a quick look round the Sunday market before we left. Spent the day relaxing and the islands and snorkeling. There were a lot of fish around so that was cool, and I got to test out my waterproof camera case, the pictures underwater didn't come out great, but I wasn't expecting much, at least the camera remained dry! I got bitten by a fish, or not bitten as they don't have teeth, but I felt a sharp pinch which really made me jump and made me scared to keep snorkeling! And it left a little red mark on my leg! Damn fish! Diving later on could be interesting....
I left KK the next morning and got the bus to Kinabalu National Park, where I intended to climb Mt Kilabalu. However, when I arrived there, having not booked it in KK, it was fully booked for the following day. So I had a bit of a walk around the park anyway, they had a lot of walking trails around the mountain, and would maybe do it the day after. That evening I went for dinner with the girl staying in my dorm, Emma. Whilst eating we were invited to join a big group of locals that were staying in our hostel, who were having drinks and a barbeque. We went over after we'd eaten and it turned out to be quite a laugh, they were all playing ukeleles (those mini guitars) and after a few drinks everyone was singing along. I went to bed and left Emma with one of the guys who she ended up kissing!
So the next morning I woke up (really cold - it was a lot cooler up by the mountains) and decided that I might be a bit hungover to climb the mountain anyway, and I didn't really want to hang around another day to wait to do it as there was nothing else to do there. Emma was getting the bus to Sandakan to see the orangutans, so I decided to go with her. The 6 hour bus journey was not ideal, as soon as I sat down - at the back of the bus as it was the only space, I felt ill. The roads were pretty bumpy and windy, and drinking cheap wine the night before probably didn't help. When we got on there was a man throwing up in the toilet, making the bus smell lovely. I was trying desperately to not be sick, mainly as I didn't want to have to go into the disgusting toilet, but I failed. Emma was also sitting next to a little boy who was being sick, and the mum was hanging up bag of sick on the seat in front of her - lovely! So all in all not a pleasant trip! When we arrived we shared a taxi with a german couple to Sepilok where the orangutan rehabilitation centre is. The accomodation we stayed in was in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by forest. All the buildings were wooden huts - we stayed in a dorm room. Again though there was not a lot to do around here! So we had dinner there and went to bed quite early.
The next morning we got a minibus to the orangutan place, as soon as we stepped onto the boardwalk which went around the park, we saw an orangutan, it came up really close to us and I got some good pictures - see below. At one point it came on to the boardwalk - separating the group in two, Emma was in front and I was behind - we watch as they nervously started walking faster and faster and eventually broker into a run as they were chased by the orangutan! This was hilarious to watch, but I think the other were pretty scared and shaken up! As even the tour guide looked worried and had told them to run! Somehow I think this would not be allowed in England! We went on to the feeding platform where someone brought out food and a few orangutans came around. There were also lots of little monkeys around - I think proboscis monkeys but not too sure. They were getting really close to people and seemed happy to have there photo taken.
Yesterday I arrived in Semporna where I am planning to do an open water diving course, starting tomorrow, for 3 days. Semporna isn't very nice as a place, and there not a lot going on, but hopefully the diving should be good! It's supposed to be an amazing place to dive - Sipadan, nearby, is rated as third best dive spot in the world, although you can't do the open water course there so I don't think I'll get to go unfortunately. The surrounding areas are supposedly still good though.
I've booked my flight to Bali on the 14th, won't have long there as I'm flying to Darwin on the 19th, but looking forward to relaxing on the beach and the nightlife!
Speak soon,
Julia xxx
I began my trip in Singapore last Wednesday, I didn't arrive at the hostel until late, so pretty much went straight to bed. The hostel was actually pretty nice compared to what I was expecting, and it had air con which was a big plus as it was so so hot there! So the next morning I got up and went out to look around the city, I did a river tour which was alright, nothing spectacular. I noticed the very strict rules in the city - I got told off for eating a McFlurry at an MRT station, which I thought was strange. Later I saw a sign which said the fine for eating on the MRT is $500 - 250 pounds! Lucky escape for me!
That evening I went to the night safari which was pretty cool. They put on a couple of shows which were entertaining, one involving the animals and one fire show. On the bus on the way back I met a girl from Oxford, Kate, and we went for a drink when we got back in the city. Drinking in Singapore is really expensive, I got half a pint for 4 pounds! Anyway we chatted for a while and then went back to our hostels.
The next day I flew to Kota Kinabalu (KK) in Borneo. Again I arrived fairly late at the hostel - not as nice as the first one, I think my expectations had been set too high! However it was a lot more sociable and I met a few people that evening and we had a drink at the hostel. The next day I spent trying to figure out plans for my time in Borneo, a lot of things it seemed you had to book in advance and were pretty expensive. That night I had dinner at the night market with a couple of people from the hostel, and then back to the hostel for a couple of drinks, where we were joined by a few others, and ended up staying up until about 5am.
We had to get up reasonably early the next day as we'd planned to go over to the islands close by KK. We also had a quick look round the Sunday market before we left. Spent the day relaxing and the islands and snorkeling. There were a lot of fish around so that was cool, and I got to test out my waterproof camera case, the pictures underwater didn't come out great, but I wasn't expecting much, at least the camera remained dry! I got bitten by a fish, or not bitten as they don't have teeth, but I felt a sharp pinch which really made me jump and made me scared to keep snorkeling! And it left a little red mark on my leg! Damn fish! Diving later on could be interesting....
So the next morning I woke up (really cold - it was a lot cooler up by the mountains) and decided that I might be a bit hungover to climb the mountain anyway, and I didn't really want to hang around another day to wait to do it as there was nothing else to do there. Emma was getting the bus to Sandakan to see the orangutans, so I decided to go with her. The 6 hour bus journey was not ideal, as soon as I sat down - at the back of the bus as it was the only space, I felt ill. The roads were pretty bumpy and windy, and drinking cheap wine the night before probably didn't help. When we got on there was a man throwing up in the toilet, making the bus smell lovely. I was trying desperately to not be sick, mainly as I didn't want to have to go into the disgusting toilet, but I failed. Emma was also sitting next to a little boy who was being sick, and the mum was hanging up bag of sick on the seat in front of her - lovely! So all in all not a pleasant trip! When we arrived we shared a taxi with a german couple to Sepilok where the orangutan rehabilitation centre is. The accomodation we stayed in was in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by forest. All the buildings were wooden huts - we stayed in a dorm room. Again though there was not a lot to do around here! So we had dinner there and went to bed quite early.
The next morning we got a minibus to the orangutan place, as soon as we stepped onto the boardwalk which went around the park, we saw an orangutan, it came up really close to us and I got some good pictures - see below. At one point it came on to the boardwalk - separating the group in two, Emma was in front and I was behind - we watch as they nervously started walking faster and faster and eventually broker into a run as they were chased by the orangutan! This was hilarious to watch, but I think the other were pretty scared and shaken up! As even the tour guide looked worried and had told them to run! Somehow I think this would not be allowed in England! We went on to the feeding platform where someone brought out food and a few orangutans came around. There were also lots of little monkeys around - I think proboscis monkeys but not too sure. They were getting really close to people and seemed happy to have there photo taken.
Yesterday I arrived in Semporna where I am planning to do an open water diving course, starting tomorrow, for 3 days. Semporna isn't very nice as a place, and there not a lot going on, but hopefully the diving should be good! It's supposed to be an amazing place to dive - Sipadan, nearby, is rated as third best dive spot in the world, although you can't do the open water course there so I don't think I'll get to go unfortunately. The surrounding areas are supposedly still good though.
I've booked my flight to Bali on the 14th, won't have long there as I'm flying to Darwin on the 19th, but looking forward to relaxing on the beach and the nightlife!
Speak soon,
Julia xxx
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