Wednesday 5 October 2011

Waterfalls in the Borneo Jungle

Day #47 - waterfalls and sore legs
(Sept 29)

Our day started off with this delicious breakfast of undercooked hotdogs, mediocre eggs and cold toast, that took thirty minutes to make. Not exactly the breakfast of champions, but i think pretty good considering we are in the middle of nowhere.:)



Thinking back, i am still confused of why i chose to go on a five hour hike after hiking up and down a mountain the previous two days. But eitherway, somehow i decided that hiking that morning was the way to go.


These springs are famous for two waterfalls. The closer (800m away) not so impressive one, and the much farther (3.5km away) amazing one. The one here is the closer one.


I cant even describe how tired my legs were already...and unlike the mountain, it was supppppper hot in the rain forest.


Something about hiking through the rain forest that is really something else. All the different critters and plants that you wouldnt see anywhere else...


Such beauty...even in the funghi growing on a fallen tree


We had a short rest stop in the stream near by (kinda got excited cuz i heard running water and thought we reached the waterfalls :( )





Our group started with five, then we lost two, then gained a new two, then lost two again. Somehow, it ended up just being the two of us again. From the left, Maria from Sweden, Ali from the UK and TY from canada.


Look at these massssive trees! They remind me of the ones in cambodia.,,if not even bigger than those ones!


Did you know that the rain forest has leeches? I was fortunate enough to be one of the only people who was not attacked by them. Thank goodness.





The rainforest has a lot of butterflies..so many different colours and sizes. I wish I could have captured all the ones i saw on camera, but we will have to settle for just two.





Do you think these mushrooms would make you hallucinate?


Yayyy we finally reached the falls! This hike was a whole lot of uphill again...our tour guides were kind of deceptive. They said it wasnt difficult - though they should have factored in we were all pretty crippled after the previous two days of climbing :S


The falls were absolutely gorgeous though and well worth the painful hike. The water came from the mountain tho and therefore was freeeeezing. I took one short, short dip in and hopped out immediately!


Amazing.


Some of the vines here were really weird, they were curly looking, as if people had intentionally made them like that!


On the way down, me, ali and maria played a game. Not quite sure what its called, but basically, we pick a theme and have to name things of that theme using letters in alphabetical order. Each person had to say the previous persons pick, and a new one. Ie. First person says, "i went to a concert and saw abba" then the second person says "i went to a concert and saw abba and the beatles". This was an awesome game to keep us distracted for the two-ish hours it took us to get back down.


Once we reached the bottom, we headed to the hot springs. Its not the natural holes in the ground you see in other countries, but rather pools with faucets of hot springs water. The pools varied in size and you can choose based on the number of people. It was a great way to relax after the long hike.


At dinner, Scott organized a big traditional malay dinner with several delicous dishes. The night was awesome...Arthur and Fred broke into song...and eventually got the whole table singing random songs. My fav? Wonderwall :)





There were a few drinks going around...and somehow, peop,e started making these weird faces...


I joined in.


Our wonderful tour guide scott decided to bring out his old id card from turkey. Except the guy in the pic did not look like him AT ALLLLLLL. Funny how much people can change when they live in a different part of the world eh? Lol. Also, he specfically said that I must delete this photo. Naturally, it is to be posted on this blog.


Today was a great day, albeit sore, but great. Who could fault seeing waterfalls in the middle of the borneo jungle with no one else around :) next up? More jungle.

Location:Poring Springs, Sabah, Malaysia

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