The very over-rated beach :(

A refreshing drink/ice-cream treat after a stupidly long walk!

So after about 2 hours of walking we made it back into town and downed as much fluid as our bodies could take and although we were wearing sun cream we were burned and a little dizzy from the heat. Also, just to prove how hot it was, when we got back we jumped straight into the shower and my bikini bottoms elastic had melted and stuck to my skin! Later, after it had cooled down a bit, Jess and I took a walk around town for an hour or two leaving Chris back at the hotel as he wasn’t feeling great to check out flights before going back to the riverside restaurant for some tasty seafood in the evening.

written by  chrischarly on May 26, 2011 from Mukah, Malaysia
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Passage through SE Asia
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Chris looking deep in thought

This morning we checked out, which I was delighted about and took a taxi to the bus stand to go to Mukah which one of the locals was very excited about us going and said that it ‘has beaches like Hawaii’ and although we doubted that he had ever been to Hawaii we appreciated the gesture! So we were pretty excited especially as it didn’t seem like an area tourists generally visit. The bus journey was a little bumpy but we managed to book front seats having 2 to ourselves so it was a comfortable ride. After 7 hours we arrived and got dropped off in the outskirts of town but without a taxi insight, map and anybody who spoke decent English we were unsure of which direction to head in so finding accommodation was a challenge.

Jess chillin'

After about 40 minutes walk though we came across a little gem that was really cheap, free Wi-Fi and in a good location close to the river, although we had yet to find the beach?!

The river branching out to the sea

Boats on the river outside a tasty seafood restaurant

At the entrance

Well the scary lady that we stayed with only got more scary and irritating today but I cannot be bothered to list all the reasons to why today as it would take too long and make for a huge blog entry, but I’m sure I’ll include some of the highlights.

Dreading the 8.2 km walk

We woke up prepared to go on our trip this morning to Niah Caves about a 1 ½ drive away. They found 40,000-year-old human remains and artefacts here that are the oldest found in SE Asia, so quite impressive! We managed to eventually book our tour through ‘scary lady’ and we were really looking forward to going although it would be a lot of trekking, 8.2km to be precise and as my knee isn’t completely healed I was a little worried. Once we got outside we were expecting to see a mini bus to take us considering it was a tour, but no a miserable taxi driver was waiting outside to greet us with a disgusted look on his face and said, ‘You’re late’ and so the drive continued in silence... Thus the tour we had booked was in fact just a taxi ride and with no tour. Anyway, we were determined to not let it dampen our day so found our own way to the caves once we arrived and the driver sat and waited for us in his car.

Us about half way to the caves

Along the side of The Great Cave

The beautiful walkway to the caves

Vines hanging down from the trees

Inside The Great Cave

Me, sweaty and exhausted, yet not even half way!

A pretty bird

An pretty plant

Just inside the entrance of a cave

The entrance to one of the caves

Climbing up a shed load of steps

A bright red centipede hiding

A very spiky plant

Lighting up the way with our head-torches

Finding some light

About to go into pitch black

Inside a cave

Looks like the cave was being held up by just 1 stick!

Me 'wowed' by the tree

Amazing roots from a tree

It was a long trek but most of it was shaded and on a slabbed platform outside the caves but inside it was quite dark and slippy as the ground was just layers upon layers of bird and bat poo. However, we did have a great yet tiring day; as it was so humid, so on the way back after getting some much-needed lunch I just passed out in the back of the car. Chris also was exhausted so decided to find himself a quick beer when we got back and I walked to our room to chill for a while. I unfortunately left the key with him, so had to ring the doorbell to get inside; something ‘scary lady’ was not happy at all with and glared at me in such a way, I’m actually surprised she didn’t punch me before telling me off as if I was 6 years old! By this time I had had enough so made a vow with Chris and Jess that we would be checking out first thing in the morning!

written by  chrischarly on May 24, 2011 from Niah, Malaysia
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Passage through SE Asia
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The mosque over the river

Today we had a bit of a lie-in and then met our friend Laura to go for a walk around Bandar Seri Begawan.

The pretty village

Water village

Walking around the water village, the biggest in the world

Our driver

Me enjoying passing through the water village

A shell garage

Filling up with petrol on the river

Local boys going for a late night swim

A fire station on the water

Early evening we decided to go on a boat trip around the river managing to haggle the trip down to 15 ringgit (£3) and saw probiscus monkeys, fireflies, the Sultan’s Palace and went through the water village again. Photos didn’t however turn out great as it was dusk but well worth the trip.

The River Brunei

A firefly that landed on Chris' hand... Look closely and you can work it out

A tug-of-war game we randomly came across

When we got off the boat though, the skipper tried to rip us off by saying that it was 15 ringgit per hour and as we were gone two, it was double the price and certainly NOT what we agreed, so basically just laughed at him and walked off, which was a shame as we thought he was lovely.

written by  chrischarly on May 22, 2011 from Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Passage through SE Asia
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Me early morning waiting for the ferry to Brunei

We woke up far too early this morning to ensure we got first dibs in the showers and toilets as there’s only 2 per floor so we wouldn’t have to queue. We then skipped a vile breakfast before taking a taxi to the Ferry terminal and taking the Ferry to Labuan where we had to wait a couple of hours for the next one.

The ferry port

The second ferry we went on

Chris outside the first ferry

Once in Brunei, we took a bus into town and then found accommodation relatively easily and then decided to go for a wander in the smallest capitol city in Asia, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the smallest in the world!

Another photo of the mosque

The mosque at almost sunset

It takes pretty much no time at all to have a walk around and it’s pretty expensive here, so don’t think we will be spending loads of time here. But nevertheless it’s still a nice place to go and visit.

A crazy Manakin

Off on our 4WD adventure

Crazy Justine off across the swingy bridge

The river of browness

So confident, look 1 hand !

Slowly slowly

Difficult passing move

On the swing bridge

Coming down from the swing bridge

We woke up early this morning and had a curry breakfast before heading to Tuaran to stay with a Muslim family Justine has stayed with before. Of course, along the way we got lost once again but arrived not long after 2pm.

Cooking at our private retreat

Cooking out our private retreat

Cooking out our private retreat

Although it was a guestHouse, it felt a lot more like staying with the family at their own House as we were made to feel so welcome.

Amazing sky before the storm

Amazing sky before the storm

Amazing skies on our last night with Justine

In the evening, we cooked at made dinner for them, and it was amazing to have mashed potato again, and chatted the night away.

Justine chewing on beetlenut... yuck

Justine, Annie and her mum

written by  chrischarly on May 19, 2011 from Tuaran, Malaysia
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Passage through SE Asia
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Justine watching the Roti maker

Tea plantation

Through a rough track then we fing a bus stop ?!

We found an awesome roti restaurant again this morning, but didn’t really get anything we ordered but it still tasted good! Once again, as we were in a really small local town not even mentioned in the Lonely Planet so virtually non-existent in the eyes of a tourist, we got a load of attention from the locals before once again setting off for our next adventure.

Black squirrell eating bananas

Offroad adventurer!

Palm fruit off to the refinery

Another end of the road, great navigation Justine !

Extreme !

Offroad adventure

Getting a bit tricky

Palm workers suprised to see us

Justine leaving car whilst moving ?!

We drove on a windy road up North towards Pitas and then got lost, yes, again as we planned to do some 4-wheel driving and managed to find some pretty exciting roads before finally finding the right way and headed in search for a beach.

Beach at 2nd tip of Borneo

On the 2nd tip of Borneo

Amazing beach middle of nowhere!

We found the beach !

Through a palm plantation to the beach

So much so that there was nowhere even remotely close to staying so we relaxed and splashed our feet for a while before driving almost to the tip of Borneo to finally find somewhere to crash for the night in Kudat driving through massive thunder storms with practically no visibility of the road ahead. Scary!!

written by  chrischarly on May 18, 2011 from Pitas, Malaysia
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Passage through SE Asia
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Very local town

Gravel, not bumpy at all!

Boat building

This morning we woke up, found a cute local roti restaurant sitting with locals who spoke not a word of English so we got the chance to practice speaking the local language (Satu Kopi Susu= 1 coffee with milk) as well as just pointing and luckily, we got what we wanted! The locals all loved us and the pretty Muslim girls all wanted to have their photos taken with us especially enjoying the novelty of being with a pink and yellow haired Justine!

Car lost for a while we think !

Deep Borneon jungle

Strange insect, we discovered it !

We then checked out of our hostel and started our next adventure going around in circles due to getting seriously lost before doing some mega off roading and driving through a fast-flowing river, all of us being quite surprised that us as well as our car made it.

There was a road but then it rained

Lets just go for it and dont stop, whatever !

Nice offrad track

Roadside cafe, Borneon styley

We then made our way to Sabah Tea Gardens in Ranau to work out where we could stay the night from talking to the locals, before finally finding somewhere to sleep in Telupid, with dubious stains on the bed and cockroaches running about. Nice.

Amazing skies

Amazing skies