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Part 56:Jungle adventure....
I had a few days to myself when Dan and Christine decided to have some quality time alone, so they decided to book a romantic river cruise - and who could blame them; It was their honeymoon after all.
The plan was to meet up with them after, but until then I was alone in Kinabalu.
It was quite nice walking around the night seafood markets and town sampling even more exquisite local delicacies like Nasi Lemak, fresh roti with dips, Soto bakso which was an Indonesian dish, the biggest king prawns I had ever seen in my life and barbecued lobster. It was seriously mouthwatering!
Friendly and exuberant vendors were doing their utmost to tempt you into trying the delicious food.
And I saw what must have been a young boy no more than 9 years old expertly flipping seafood on a sizzling grill as his proud smiling dad watched.
Here there was a wonderfully relaxed, less frenetic atmosphere at this market which made it different to most I'd seen in Asia.
It was right along the harbour, fishing trawlers would pull up to unload the catch of the day where the busy vendors would cook it fresh straight from the boats - there was certainly no shortage of seafood here.
The following day I took pics of graffiti on a derelict house I discovered by chance. The street art was of an exceptional standard and certainly up there with some of the finest street-art I had seen back home.
But after 4 days of chilling and walking around the town, early nights, and street food, I was ready for some more adventure.
I had to get to Poring (around 4 hours away) and meet Dan and Christine there so we could all do the the Eco lodge trek in the jungle.
Dan had researched it online, it sounded something we all very much wanted to experience.
The only info I had was to meet them in the village of Poring, then onto the eco lodge which was only accessible via an hour long jungle trek with a guide.
It was all a bit vague as I had no real idea how to get to Poring yet
But after speaking to some locals they have me directions. I had to get a bus to Kota Kinabalu national park then another bus to The town of Ranau, high in the mountains and a further bus to Poring, before the trek to the eco lodge with the guide.
It was a wet morning which didn't bode particularly well for a jungle adventure, still my spirits and sense of adventure were not going to be dampened be the rain.
The bus drivers here in Borneo tend to make up what they want to charge for the fee, and don't leave until they decide, usually when and if the bus is full, which quite often takes ages - that's just how things are here.
I was waiting for nearly an hour on the bus before finally we departed whilst the rain continued to pour outside, and all the way to the national park.
There I changed bus to the neighbouring town of Ranau, it was a beautiful drive through the mountainous landscape, then after yet more bartering with another driver we agreed a price to take me to Poring.
Its a really small town named after a type of bamboo in the region.
People mainly go here for the natural hot-springs, to relax or walk across the famous rope bridge.
None of that for me sadly, instead it was onto a small bead and breakfast to meet the guide. No one was there apart from an old lady who invited me in to wait.
'Are you waiting for Micheal' she asked in perfect English.
'Yes' I replied.
She Made me a cup of tea and fed me bananas and we sat together in her front room watching some Malaysian afternoon soap opera for what seemed like ages until this tattooed, crazy eyed, tall bearded guy walked in and asked if I was Vince in a broad Scottish accent - he was not in the least bit what I was expecting.
There was still no sign of Dan or Christine at this moment in time and Michael the Scottish guide kept asking where they were. He certainly didn't appear the patient type.
He looked me up and down and asked if I had any leech socks, to which of course the answer was no.
'You'll need these' he said, handing me a mouldy, smelly pair of mud stained canvas socks with a draw string at the top.
I was beginning to think what awaited me in the jungle and before I had the chance to even ask him any questions, Michael informed me in no uncertain terms that I was going to get very wet, sweaty, muddy, covered in leeches and that I had to deal with it or turn around now!
Not wanting to sound like a whimp, I replied 'bring it on!!'
Finally Dan and Christine pulled up in a tiny van - it was a most welcome sight. We all hugged before the impatient Michael ushered us out of Poring towards the dense jungle trail and on to the camp which was completely inaccessible by road.
The sky's cleared, but the track was still muddy and slippery from
The earlier downpour and we trekked for and hour through some wonderfully dense trees and tropical vegetation, ducking under the occasional branches until we reached a very dodgy looking bamboo bridge over a narrow ravine and waterfall.
Just before I was about to comment on how shoddy the bamboo bridge was, Michael proudly told us it was his work - good job I kept my mouth shut.
By the time I arrived at the eco camp after some good trekking, I was wet and muddy from the knees down.
It was wonderfully constructed from local bamboo and looked exactly in line with my imagination, remotely tucked away next to a stream, this was fairy tale stuff.
The camp consisted of an open-air bungalow, some very basic bathroom facilities, and a big kitchen/tent with an adjoining sun-deck, all of which were also constructed of bamboo.
The nearby tumbling rivers down the jungly slopes had more than enough force to provide The eco lodge with its limited hydroelectric power.
Before I even had a chance to put my back pack down Michael pointed to a raised bamboo platform.
'You'll be sleeping there' he bluntly said.
There was a mud stained mosquito net just thrown on the flooring and a bamboo/bannana leaf shelter for the roof - It look basic to say the least.
To my left there was a cool looking tree house with a Scotland flag and football scarf draped above a hammock. That was clearly Michael's pad. There were 8 other people at the camp. 2 friendly German couples and a girl from Montenegro. All politely introduced them selves and welcomed us - unlike our moody guide.
He then proceeded to give us a kind of team talk/introduction, explaining that he had been living in the dense jungle for 8 months. There was this wild intense look in his eyes, and he clearly didn't have anytime for complaining but he was extremely passionate about the camp - I liked him straight away.
'Welcome to camp Lupa Masa' he said.
Continuing to explain a list of do's and don'ts
There was no mod cons that I could think of, and we were completely surrounded by thick jungle vegetation, so much so you could barely see the sun through the trees. There was a steep path leading down to wonderfully cascading waterfall directly ahead, 'Thats your shower' Michael explained.
We were then left to our own devices to set up tents and settle in whilst He retreated to his Hammock.
I had a mix of emotions, curiosity at what living in the jungle would be like, how would I cope, would I be able to last? tinged with a real sense of excitement. But ultimately what ever lay ahead for me I was determined to see it through to the very end.
I found out that the translation of 'Lupa masa' from Malay to English was 'forget time'
Indeed It did feel like I had been here for days already
If there’s one place that really allows you to ‘forget time' then this
Was it.
And that's exactly what I intended to do.....
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