Hosted trip to Malaysia
The lounge at the airport was calm and relaxing and a couple of glasses of Champagne and some cake to celebrate one of my new friends’ birthday felt like a good start and good compensation for the early rising. The flight was smooth on one of the new big double decker A380 aircraft and we arrived at Kuala Lumpur in good time to change to our onwards flight to Kota Kinabalu.
We arrived reasonably fresh and immediately took in our surroundings at Shangri-La’s Tanjung Aru resort. The resort isn’t too far from the airport or the town and has some lovely grounds and a Marina to make visiting the lovely islands that you can see from the hotel a possibility. Usually in the early morning there are views in the other direction over to the imposing Mt Kinabalu. We then had some lovely seafood for lunch and soaked in the island view before embarking on a sunset cruise.
The next morning of course involved an early start as we were flying across Borneo to Sandakan for our wildlife experience. First stop was to the world-famous orangutan sanctuary at Sepilok, in this patch of pristine rainforest the conservationists look after and re-integrate to the wild these magnificent primates. We were treated to an early sighting as one of the older wild orangutan’s made an appearance as if almost to greet us as we made our way along the elevated walkways to the nursery area. It would prove to be our only sighting outside of the nursery, but it was really close up, a memorable experience and also a good reminder that this isn’t a zoo and that these animals are truly wild. The nursery was a lovely experience too as the young orphans have their own patch of rainforest to play, learn and develop for their own re-introduction to the wild one-day. Most of our party agreed that they could happily sit and watch them all day.
Visiting Sepilok to see the orangutans is rightly this part of Borneo’s most famous attraction but there are some less well-known wildlife sights such as the Bornean Sun Bear conservation centre and Labuk Bay to see Proboscis monkeys. These lesser known attractions were a fantastic addition to our day and to see so many of these animals was a rare privilege. The Proboscis is very distinguishable from other types of monkey due to its huge nose (especially the male). The larger the nose the more attractive it is seen by its female admirers!
The Sun Bear, although the world’s smallest bear, has particularly sharp claws, so it is really recommended to keep a safe distance no matter how cute or placid they appear. We had seen so much wildlife in just a day, but we had to return to Kota Kinabalu for a night on the town!
The next morning involved a jet boat ride, zip-lining or snorkelling to give us a flavour of all the activities that are available in this area. The zip-line setting was especially impressive as you zip between one island (Gaya) and another (Sapi) over the beautiful turquoise sea! We then indulged in more Malaysian cuisine over on the island of Manukan.
In the afternoon, we transferred to Shangri-La’s other nearby resort which is further from town but with a huge beach and some large luxurious rooms, including some with a huge bath on the balcony. More activities followed including horse riding, parasailing, golf and spa treatments. Just to note, this resort also has its very own nature reserve with some very rare and exotic animal’s too.
The ultimate early start followed a very big night and so bleary eyed we made our way to our flight back to Kuala Lumpur (KL) for another packed day including a visit up the vertiginous KL Tower (including a glass box that protrudes over the edge of the observation deck) and a room with a view of the Petronas Towers. Even more of Kuala Lumpur’s highlights became apparent the next day as we were whisked around the city on the back of motorbikes in a very impressive cavalcade with police escort and appearances on the lunchtime news and in the national press! We followed that up by a visit to the Central Market and a food walking tour through the local eateries of KL and then our last stop on the way to the airport for a sumptuous dinner in a rainforest setting. This whistle-stop trip had come to an end, what an awesome few days, I’d highly recommend it - just stop a while longer than we did!