Days Ten to Fourteen : All forms of travel....followed by rest and recuperation to recover from the hectic work of travelling!

Our villa! Perfect for five travellers

 Wednesday 2nd - Sunday 6th November:

  The next day was a day of return from remote   isolation to decadent civilisation via boat and two   planes and yet another cruise.

 It went like this:  

 - Climb aboard a boat at Kinabatangan Wetlands Resort leaving the peace and quiet behind and heading for Sandakan.

 - In Sandakan get in the bus and head for the Airport and retrace the two plane flights to Lahad Butu and then Kota Kinabalu.

- Climb aboard another boat at Kota Kinabalu for the 20 minute boat ride to the Bungaraya Island Resort on Gaya Island.

Aaaaaah! It was lovely to finally arrive. We were greeted at the end of the jetty with a cold drink and a very cheerful hostess who piled us on to a yellow golf cart decorated with hibiscus. Very appropriate as Bungaraya is the Malaysian word for hibiscus. And there were hibiscus of every colour planted around the resort.

The resort provided some rest and relaxation for three nights following the busy days we had spent squeezing everything we could into our sightseeing.

On our arrival the yellow golf cart deposited us in the beautiful open air restaurant where we would eat each day. It was late lunch and we were happy to peruse the extensive menu to select something appropriate. We'd piled our bags on to an empty chair next to us and my bag was on the top with a white plastic bag containing a soft toy orangutan protruding from the top.

Poolside snack : Marinated fresh tuna
salad & parmesan wedges

Suddenly a large long-tailed macaque appeared, grabbed the plastic bag and made off with it. Having had great difficulty finding any souvenirs I was not impressed. I jumped up and yelled at the animal which was either brave or foolhardy as they are VERY large monkeys. The monkey dropped the toy and fled fortunately, with no damage done.

 After lunch we located our 'rooms' which turned out be large rooms next door to each other on the first floor with a long deck and sitting area perfect for admiring the view and sipping G&Ts. The design of the resort was very much in keeping with the landscape as the rooms were set back into the mountain and constructed of dark brown wood. And very comfortable.

The view from our villa

So for a few days we read our books, lay around by the pool only interrupted by the occasional swim, enjoyed sumptuous meals and poolside snacks and basically lazed around. We were offered the opportunity to go on a forest trek which we kindly but firmly refused. And we could have joined the yoga class or played some games or gone snorkelling......but no, we didn't.

Tuarang Mee: Local noodles and 
seafood encased in an egg
omelette served with shrimp sambal

 

A great view to enjoy whilst eating,

We did have another couple of close-up encounters with the wildlife.
The morning after our arrival we headed off downstairs for breakfast only to find a  pale blue-green viper wrapped around the base of the railings just outside our door! We bravely tried to shuffle past it as it was only a couple of metres away (and we were intent on breakfast!).

When we asked the staff and I showed them the photo they said it was definitely a viper. It was unclear from my photo, taken very hurriedly, whether it was venomous (as indicated by a triangular-shaped head) or completely harmless (as indicated by an oval-shaped head). So we still don't know and didn't see it again fortunately!

Perfect spot for a G&T

Our only other close contact with the wildlife was the appearance of another (or the same?) long-tailed macaque monkey just as we were setting up the G&Ts and nibbles on our verandah. Because nothing should come between us and a G&T. Anne bravely tried to fend it off with a cushion, but rather than fleeing it stopped and bared it's teeth. Not a pretty sight and VERY large teeth.

It didn't see anything it fancied stealing so off it went. We thought it might be it's nightly reconnoitre of the buildings to find food; so clearly our nibbles weren't to its taste.

Over a few days we all booked in for massages and facials which we thoroughly enjoyed. Jan was brave enough to have a bamboo massage which brought to mind the tortuous use of bamboo in the Sandakan POW camp. However it apparently involved some tapping and rolling with bamboo which Jan enjoyed.

Heading for Home:

After three nights we packed our bags and started the first leg of our journey home: a boat back to Kota Kinabalu and a plane flight north to Kuala Lumpur.

Very wisely we were booked into the Sama Sama Airport Hotel for the night so only had to walk to the Hotel. Unbeknown to us the Hotel runs shuttle buses from the Arrivals Lounge to the Airport and just before we reached the Hotel one of the shuttles appeared and the driver wanted to make sure we caught the shuttle the next morning and promised to be there. 

We had our last G&Ts in the room and finished off the gin supply. Two bottles of Bombay Sapphire gin (decanted into water bottles) provided 5 people with daily G&Ts for two weeks. Perfect!

The Hotel was very nice and modern. For dinner we went to The Continents: a strange name if you get the wrong meaning. It was like a very upmarket food court where you perused a menu and chose a range of food from all over the world. There were open restaurants/stalls each specialising in a particular cuisine: from curries to roasts to noodles to hamburgers to middle eastern to seafood to desserts. It seemed to cover everything.

We thought it would be fitting to finish our adventures with a celebratory cocktail in the Cocktail Bar. Unfortunately there appeared to be no one actually making cocktails so after we ordered and waited a while we gave up and headed for bed to prepare us for an early flight back to Melbourne. 

Sure enough when we emerged the next morning we heard a cry of "Sydney!" and there was our happy shuttle driver (who clearly thought all Australians come from Sydney!).

Eight hours on the plane delivered us home to face the busy baggage carousel at Tullamarine. It seemed that an enthusiastic cleaner had cleaned off the yellow line designed to stop people crowding the carousel so it was chaos! A very helpful (?) airport employee came along saying "Please stand behind the yellow line!" which made everyone looked puzzled as there was no yellow line! When I pointed this out to him he changed his cry to "Stand back from the carousel"! Honestly!

We all managed to get through Customs with our exciting purchases like chopsticks and vanilla bean paste. Although Anne had a close encounter with an over enthusiastic Customs person who felt the need to inspect her bag carefully!!

Ah - the joys of travel!!