Final days in Sabah, Malaysia

So as most of you will have picked up I’m a little behind on this bog thing, especially as I am currently now on a train leaving Scotland. When I know look back on what has occurred since the last week it almost seems serial, though I think that sometimes this is the wonder of traveling.

So my last few days in Sabah before I took the what seemed like marathon trip to Edinburgh goes as follows.

Sepilock

This place was really the main reason that I took the trip that I did. Why you ask, well its simple that’s where I got to see orang utans! Sepilock has Malaysia’s only sanctuary of these wonderful creatures. The sanctuary they are based in is huge and is as close to the wild as they will get. For many of the oran untans after 7 to 10 years of rehabilitation they get to return to the wild. The public are lucky enough two times a day to get to see some of the creatures when they offer food and those that are interested come out to eat it. All I can really say about the experience is that I really just felt in awe of them and had to try and restrain myself from constantly clicking on my camera as it took away from the just being in the moment and enjoying them.

The afternoon was spent at the Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary which was an expensive but well worth expensive option. Sadly however it is in the middle of one of the thousands of Palm Oil Plantations. These monkey’s are honestly the strangest looking monkeys with their long nose that almost looks human like. What impressed me about this was the way the mothers took such good care of their young. The young were also connected to them and when they sense any danger it was impressive how fast they can move. While there I also got to see the silverback monkeys. These monkeys have such character and are full on. They clearly have the view that everywhere is there’s and they have rights to whatever they see.. Thus if you have food keep a watch out!. I was lucky enough to see very up close two of the six babies that have been born in the last year. The special part about this, is that they had to be around 2-3 months old as their colour had yet to change from gold to a dark silver.

Back in Kota Kinabalu
The next day was a traveling day back to Kota Kinabalu (Aka “KK“) where we went to our seaside resort. Sadly, I could only admire the view and not the water due to there being a high number of jellyfish. My next two days were all about water, beaches and sun.

The first was spent on a private island about 15min boat ride from KK. There I got to just chill out and enjoy the heat, sun and the view, Oh and yeah there was also snorkeling which was first off the beach and then later in the day off the boat. Also noteworthy of mentioning were the giant lizards that inhabit the island. My guess would be that they had to be at least 40 to 65kg in size. Again it was a time where I became very attached to clicking the camera.

The second day was about going scuba diving for the first time. For just under $NZ100 it just seemed like an opportunity that was not to be missed! Sadly the weather was not as good as the first day, though when you 6 to 12mts under water that all becomes irrelevant anyway. I overall loved the experience and was really surprised just how relaxed I was about the whole thing, well all but the going into the water backwards off the boat part anyway. It really did feel like another world under there and was far more impressive than I had imagined it to be. All was topped off to by being able to a large turtle up close just handing out on a rock about 8mts under water! If only scuba diving was not so expensive I could really see myself being a regular participant in this sport.

 

My last day in Sabah was a low key one, which was helped by the poorer weather. Though when I reflect on it now, it was just what I needed. As I then had four airports and over 20 hours of transiting ahead of me. With that in mine, here are my latest airport reviews.

 

Koata Kinabalu

Bathroom cleanliness 7



Functionality 4

Facilities 7

Decor 6

Staff 6.5

Food venues 7

Duty Free 6.5

Dubai

Bathroom cleanliness N/A



Functionality 8

Facilities 9

Decor 9

Staff 6

Food venues 9

Duty Free 9

Heathrow

Bathroom cleanliness 6



Functionality 6

Facilities 7

Decor 36
Staff 7

Food venues 6.5

Duty Free 6.5

Edinburgh
Bathroom cleanliness 5



Functionality 4

Facilities 5


Decor 5


Staff 8


Food venues 5


Duty Free 5