Well Hello Borneo

Thank you temazepam for another great night’s sleep. Though I awoke at 4am and basically dozed on and off until my alarm at 6am I started my day feeling rested. I did a poll on the trip group chat yesterday and a good handful of the other ladies are on my flight to Borneo this morning. While getting ready to head to the airport, a message came in that our flight was delayed 2.5 hours; from 10:25am until 12pm. Knowing that flight times change I still wanted to get to the airport at the normal time and met my driver in front as planned for my 7:15am airport transfer. Waiting for the elevator I realized I was rocking a solid “Laura Croft” look.

Domestic airport security at Kuala Lumpur was a breeze with no line and nothing having to come out of the bag. Easy as can be! Except for the size of my carry on suitcase. I know that I push the limits with it and was pleased to get this far with carrying it on each plane. I’ve had gate agents questions my carry on size in the past but never security. Until now. I saw the officers pointing at my bag before it came off the conveyer belt but they seemed to let it go. I pulled it off and I was affixing my pack to it and making sure I had everything another officer came over and asked me again to confirm that was carry on. I assured him that it was and that I’ve carried it on planes all over the world. He asked me to follow and led me back through the metal detector to another officer. They both eyed my bag and I again kept assuring them I’ve always taken it carry on. The other guide nodded ok and they released me to be back on my merry way.

KUL’s domestic terminal is sorely lacking in amenities. At 8:30am my only food options were Burger King, Dunkin’ Donuts, and some random pastries from the ZUS cafe coffee shop. I wandered through every corner of the terminal looking for more choices but nope. I am not ashamed to admit that I gave in and had a Burger King Whopper for breakfast. And it was good.

After inhaling my whopper, I headed over to ZUS cafe for a latte and settled in at a little cafe table to wait for the delayed flight. The chat group was aflutter with activity as everyone was navigating their way through the airport and sharing their sagas; one women left her passport on the last plane, two others had to spread out their carry on into multiple bags to meet carry on standards, many were thankful for the delay as they would not have made it otherwise. I put out a message that I was at ZUS and one-by-one strangers who I’ll be sharing the next week with showed up and my little table grew from one to seven as we all shared tales of our travel and started getting to know each other.

Hearing tales of others’ hardships with carry on bags at the check in counter, I was prepared that my bag would likely end up gate checked. I HATE having to check a bag on my way to adventure but at least it was the last flight. I silently stressed as I presented by boarding pass and with great relief no mention of my bag was made and I walked onto the plane with my carry on fully intact as carry on.

Lunch was served and was surprisingly good; though my chicken satay was the tiniest chicken satay skewers ever at two skewers each consisting of barely two bites of meat. I mixed the peanut sauce and accompanying bag of peanuts into the rice and it was satisfying. Pro-tip: if you are on a flight with a meal service and you can select your meal in advance you will get served first! Less than three hours later the plane touched down in Borneo. Honestly, it didn’t look very impressive or interesting flying in.

Even though it was a domestic flight we still had to go thru a customs check (and got a passport stamp!!!) but it was less than a three minute wait in line so no biggie. Our driver was waiting as planned and loaded all of us into one van and all of our bags into another for the two hour drive from Sandakan to Bilit to spend our first two nights at the Sukau Greenview Lodge. Our guide let us know that since we were late we’d be missing the river cruise activity that afternoon but since that hadn’t even been on the schedule it wasn’t something we knew about so it didn’t matter; though I did have some FOMO disappointment.

Rain started to pour about halfway to Bilit and I double-checked my seat belt as the driver maneuvered flooded patches of road. I was still unimpressed when the driver told us we were only five minutes from the lodge; so far Borneo is lush and green but doesn’t feel special or particularly distinctive. The van stopped in front of an open air lobby and restaurant situated on the bank of the river with a row of small cabins on the other side of the narrow road. We piled out of the van and were ushered to the front of the lobby area where the receptionist stood with a pile of keys in her hand. And mass confusion. On this group trip there was no single accommodation option available due to the limited availability of accommodations so everyone had been matched with a roommate and the list had been sent to us in advance with the name of the stranger we’d be rooming with. With our head guide out on the river with the other half of our group, the receptionist struggled to figure out who was supposed to be with whom. Finally we organized ourselves and since her list had the name of my roommate, who was already there and out on the boat, I grabbed one of the other ladies to room with because I simply wanted to get into a damn room and put my stuff down.

To say that I was saddened and disappointed upon opening the cabin door is an understatement. This is the jungle of Borneo, there is no high end five star accommodation, but the trip had indicated that all our lodging would be three stars or better; this was a solid one. The room had two twin beds with a towel and tiny bottle of water set on each, two little chairs, and NO SHOWER. That’s right. No shower. The bathroom contained a sink, a toilet, and a handheld shower mounted on the wall of the bathroom. No stall. Just a wet room. I no longer wanted to be in the room and wandered back outside.

We had been told that the cruising half of our group would be back in roughly half an hour so I stood outside, looking at the brown river, watching stray dogs play, and chatting with the other ladies. The cruisers finally returned and everyone greeted each other and then it was just kind of awkward standing around and small talk for an hour until dinner. Many of the people already knew the group host or others that were on the trip from the host’s previous trips but for those of us that knew nobody, it was awkward. I guess I should say for me it was since I can’t speak for others but it seemed that I wasn’t alone in that feeling.

Dinner was served family style and included giant grilled prawns (which had to be shelled), grilled chicken skewers, rice, and greens. It was surprisingly good. At the end of the meal the host finally got around to making remarks and had us go around the table to introduce ourselves and share why we’re on the trip. Our guide, Kurt, then reviewed our itinerary for tomorrow; we are to meet at 5:45am for toast and coffee before heading out for a sunrise river cruise, after that will be breakfast, a one hour jungle hike, lunch, an afternoon cruise, dinner, and then a night cruise. The cruises are the equivalent of game drives on safari as the banks of the river are how to spot the Borneo big five.

Kurt imparted some very important information including that we needed to wear long pants for the jungle walk due to the leeches. Oh shit, I didn’t pack any long pants! With lows of 70F the entire time I’m in Borneo and no directive on the packing guidelines to bring pants the ONLY pants I have with me are the thick merino wool leggings I flew in. This is a major fail; I am going to sweat my ass off wearing those. As Kurt ended his remarks to send us off for the night he reiterated more important information; do NOT go near the dock or the water at night. There has been lots of crocodile activity lately. Oh, well that’s awesome.

Before leaving the restaurant to turn in for the night, my originally assigned roommate asked if I was ok with the new room assignment. I had thought they had put someone else with her in my place but at this point she had the room solo. One traveler had cancelled, leaving an empty spot. I told her I was fine but then asked a very important question; does your room have a shower? She looked at me like I was crazy for asking and confirmed. I felt crazy asking her to confirm that it was for real a real shower. I explained to her the situation in my room and told her to come see. Upon seeing how my bathroom was configured she confirmed that she does indeed have an actual real shower so I packed up my bags and told my new roommate sorry but I was out. And now, here I am, in my room with my originally assigned roomie and a shower. Now, I’m not saying it’s not absolutely disgusting and leaking everywhere but it’s a real shower.

With today being a mostly nothing but travel day it means I’ve had three full days lost to travel getting here. Finally, the fun should begin tomorrow!