Borneo: A Long Weekend in Kuala Lumpur

After three fab days in Mabul with Scuba Junkie, we headed to the capital city of Kuala Lumpur on the mainland for a last 3 days before heading back home to HCMC. It was a long travel day with a two hour transfer to the airport in Tawau (pronounced te-wow), a 3 hour flight, and another hour drive to the hotel in central KL. Justin had booked another one bedroom apartment for us instead of a hotel and it was so cosy and just what we needed. There was no TV and Netflix this time but a fridge, kettle, and washing machine was perfect. 

It was already early evening by the time we were ready to head out into the city. We didn’t wander far but found a whole bunch of really cool street art in Jalan Alor Street and then found an Indian restaurant showing the cricket and settled in for a beer and tasty if spicy dinner. 

Street art around Jalan Alor Street

A well deserved beer after a week of diving!

The next day, a Saturday, was Malaysia’s National Day. We were not sure what to expect, if everything would be closed for the day or not, but it seemed like business as usual at most places, but there was a very festive atmosphere in the air, especially later on in the evening when all the lights came on. 

We started on foot and wandered through some street markets such as the Petaling Street Market which were admittedly quiet in the morning still. And then found our way to the Central Market. Originally built in 1888 as a wet market, today Central Market is a historically significant building offering a varied and unique shopping experience. 

A beautiful little church over the road from our accommodation building

Street art around the central market

We continued on to the historic colonial city centre past the National Textile Museum, along the River of Life with more murals where we stopped for a drinks break, and on to the Sultan Abdul Samad Building, Merdeka or Independence Square, and the Royal Selangor Club. The Sultan Abdul Samad Building is a beautiful building and was originally the home of the British colonial administration offices but today is the office of the Ministry of Communications and the Ministry of Tourism and Culture. The Royal Selangor Club is a social club founded in 1884 by the British and is built primarily in the mock Tudor style, to be honest it stands out a little in its surroundings. Merdeka Square used to be the cricket grounds of the club but became Independence Square when the Union Flag was lowered and the Malaysian Flag raised for the first time on 31 August 1957. The square is usually used for the annual Independence Day Parade but the parade this year was cancelled out of respect due to tragic circumstances. 

River of Life

Colonial Walk

From Merdeka Square, we took a car to the KL Bird Park located in the Botanical Gardens. The bird park opened in 1991, covers about 20.9 acres, and hosts one of the world’s largest covered open air aviaries. More than 3000 birds representing over 200 species call the park home. In the free-flight aviary, the birds are able to breed naturally. It was a hot day but we enjoyed wandering around the bird park and saw many interesting and different kinds of birds. Birds we saw included cattle egrets, grey crowned crane, barn owl, pelican, sacred ibis, red lory, violet turaco, and white headed munia. 

After the bird park, we desperately needed a break in AC away from the heat, so we headed to the mall in the Petronas Towers to find some lunch. KL has a good metro system but we mostly used Grab cars to get around this weekend. The heavens opened while we were in the mall and were glad not to be outside! We found a Starbucks and enjoyed reading while waiting for the rain to subside. We also found an old warehouse type building also converted into a market and eatery place called The Linc . What is special and unique about The Linc is that they built it around a live tree. The tree still stands and seems to be happy and thriving. A lovely discovery in the city centre.

The Linc was built around a living tree 🧡

We were waiting for nightfall and the water fountain show outside the Petronas Towers. The towers are usually lit up with just white lights, but for the Independence Day holiday, they were illuminated with the colours of the Malaysian flag. From the towers, we walked to the nearby Saloma Link Bridge also lit up with the Malaysian flag. The city centre was very vibey in the evening but it got a bit busy for us so we headed back to the apartment after a fun but full day on our feet. 

Petronas Towers lit up with the colours of the Malaysian flag and water fountain show

Boibs at the Petronas Towers

The Saloma Link Bridge with the Petronas Towers in the background all dressed in red, white, and blue

On the Sunday morning, we headed sort of early to the Perdana Botanical Gardens for a walk around. Sunrise is really late in KL even though it was summer, so it’s still sort of cool or manageable temperatures around 09:00. 

Originally a city park before being rehabilitated into a botanical garden in 2011, the Perdana Botanical Gardens were established in 1881 and comprises 91.6 hectares of manicured gardens in the heart of the city. Features of the gardens include a large lake, a deer park (quite sad and not really the best conditions for the deer =( ), a hibiscus garden, an orchid garden, a fernarium, a herb garden, the KL Bird Park, and the KL Butterfly Park. There were many people out enjoying the park on a Sunday morning, people running, picnicking and several birthday party groups. We really miss having these kind of green spaces nearby and really enjoyed a leisurely walk in the gardens. 

The lake at the Perdana Botanical Gardens

Turtle and fishies!

Hibiscus garden

Orchid garden

Map of the gardens

From the botanical gardens, we took a grab car to the aquarium. Opened in August 2005, the aquarium tells the story of the journey of water from the land to the sea and is home to over 250 different species and over 5000 land and aquatic animals. The main exhibits are the evolution zone with red bellied piranhas (South America), the shipwreck with lionfish and stonefish, the flooded forest zone with arapaimas (South America) and alligator garfish (USA), the stream featuring the Asian small-clawed otter, and the living ocean featuring a 90 m underwater tunnel, sharks, green sea turtles, and giant moray eels. We have seen sea otters at the Lisbon Oceanarium before, they are so playful and such fun to watch. We were really looking forward to spending time with the otters at this aquarium but they were having a snoozle all together in a pile when we visited. While the aquarium is well laid out, we felt the space given to each exhibit was quite small for the number of creatures housed and wondered if it was the best for them. 

KL Aquarium

After the aquarium, we went to find lunch and did a spot of shopping in a different mall to find Justin hiking boots for a future trip (watch this space!!). The streets around the mall filled up in the later afternoon.  We walked outside a bit before an AC and reading coffee date break in a nearby Starbucks. We wandered home via Jalan Alor food street which was starting to come alive but settled for the Indian place at our accommodation (there are A LOT of Indian restaurants in KL!) and were so glad we did, it was the best meal of the weekend! And so affordable at $4 for two full meals and drinks each. The super kind waiter even gave Bron a takeaway of dhal on the house! 

Street food market on Jalan Alor Street

Best Indian meal of the weekend!

On the Monday we only had a couple of hours before heading to the airport to return to HCMC. Bron went to the Canaanland Christian bookstore while Justin went to the National Museum of Malaysia. We met up again at the National Textiles Museum. Before the textile museum, we stopped for a coffee and the lovely Italian family we shared the River Junkie forest adventures with walked passed and noticed us through the window. Such a chance meeting! Was lovely to bump into them again. 

At the National Museum of Malaysia

From the textile museum, it was back to the accommodation for a quick lunch and to pick up our luggage and head to the airport. 

And just like that the holiday was over. But don’t worry, the next one is already planned =)

First cuddle back home 

Special shout out and thanks to Justin’s colleague Loc who looked after Milo while we were away. He looked so happy and relaxed when we got back. Thank you Loc 🧡

Borneo: Mabul and Sipadan Islands

After 5 wonderful days in the forest with River Junkie, we transferred to the coastal town of Semporna. We had about half a day in Semporna to do some laundry, get some snacks, and be organised for the next few days on the boat. 

We were expecting a beautiful seaside town where we could walk on the beach and enjoy little cafes and restaurants overlooking the ocean, but Semporna couldn’t be further from that. It’s a horrible dirty town and we didn’t feel that safe there, it was so disappointing. We feel very sad for the people who live there, they live in such poverty, it doesn’t feel like the government does much for them. Semporna is on the doorstep of some of the best dive sites in the world with thousands of visitors passing through every year. We can’t understand how people can pollute the environment like that so close to such a pristine natural ocean marvel and haven’t tried to do more with the town and area. Such a lost opportunity. So sad. 

Anyway. 

We booked with Scuba Junkie again and couldn’t have been happier. Unlike in Kota Kinabalu where we organised our own accommodation, diving with Scuba Junkie Sipadan includes full board and lodge. It was so easy and convenient and a beautiful location. We highly recommend it! The beach resort is on Mabul Island and has a full onsite restaurant for all meals, drinking water stations, tea and coffee are always available with morning and afternoon treats on offer, a small dive shop, a bar and lounge area, a pier and jetty with ample space for getting ready and relaxing inbetween boat outings. The grounds are beautiful and well kept. The beach in the front is sadly a bit small so no long walks on a sandy white beach. It is possible to walk around the whole island with some of the trail through the local town, but I didn’t feel comfortable going on my own. 

In and around the Scuba Junkie Mabul Beach Resort

Scuba Junkie makes a lot of effort to be eco and environmentally friendly. Examples include: no fish is included in any of their meals due to the problem of overfishing, recycling projects and responsible waste management, and they started a turtle hatchery. In 2009 Scuba Junkie founded a dedicated conservation arm called SEAS and has since grown into a registered NGO with several conservation and outreach projects including turtle, shark, and coral conservation. One of the efforts has been in preventing the poaching of turtle eggs. A turtle hatchery was launched in 2011 and island locals are given a monetary incentive for identifying turtle nests. The nest is relocated to the hatchery on the beach resort property and protected until the hatchlings appear. The baby turtles are then released back into the ocean. Over 307 nests have been relocated and 21 500 baby turtles released since the initiative began. Visitors can adopt and name a baby turtle and all proceeds go back into the project and used as the reward for identifying nests. We adopted a baby turtle and named her Eve, may she grow big and strong and be a successful mother to many babies. We were fortunate to see hatchlings being released. On our first day at Mabul a nest of green turtles hatched and the babies were released into the ocean in the late afternoon. Little Eve was part of that nest. It was very special watching the little ones scramble for the water, they are so fast! A cat was trying his luck but was scooped up by a SEAS member. Be safe and grow well little ones. 

Green turtle hatchlings ready for the sea!

Making a dash for the ocean

Adopting little Eve

We realised how privileged we were to be able visit this incredible part of the ocean and were struck by the juxtaposition of so many people living in dire conditions and poverty right next door to the beach resort. There is a community of Bajau or sea gypsies adjacent to the Scuba Junkie pier. The Bajau are essentially sea nomads, they live in stilt houses and survive on fishing and free diving. They are a stateless people with Malaysia, Philippines, and Indonesia not granting them citizenship. Without any official paperwork, children cannot go to school and most Bajua are not able to read and write. There are many articles online about the Bajau with beautiful idyllic photos of ocean life, but the reality we saw seemed far from blissful. The children wander around all day and beg from every visitor. So much waste and rubbish is thrown into the ocean everyday from the stilt houses. Their situation seems so hopeless and we were just struck with a deep sadness at their predicament. Scuba Junkie seem to manage and maintain a friendly and diplomatic relationship with their neighbours though which is good for everyone all round. 

Stilt houses of the Bajau people next to the Scuba Junkie pier

We enjoyed three full days and 2 nights at the Scuba Junkie Mabul Beach Resort. The first morning we transferred from Semporna to Mabul and after a debriefing, headed out for the first snorkel and dive session. We were happy to be on the same boat for the first day. Bron was the only snorkeler that day and had a guide all to herself. There were 3 dives/snorkels a day with a shore break with hot tea and snacks on the jetty between the morning dives and lunch at the resort before the afternoon dive. Sometimes the shore break is on the boat and if it’s a Sipadan day, lunch is provided on the island. The first day we both visited sites around Mabul island. Bron had a rest day on the second day at the resort while Justin dived Sipadan and Kepalai. The third day Justin was supposed to go to Sipadan again but was not feeling well so he had to skip, while Bron snorkelled at Kepalai and Mabul again. When booking, Bron didn’t know that snorkelers could also go to Sipadan and when we got there all the spots were booked up so she unfortunately missed out on Sipadan, but she still had a great time and saw loads around Mabul and Kepalai. 

Sipadan Island 

Justin has dived with turtles before but swimming with turtles has been a bucket list item for Bron for the longest time. This dream finally came true at Mabul and what a special time it was. We saw so many turtles of varying sizes but also some very big ones. They were mostly chilling on the edge of the reef and also feeding, but we also saw quite a few come to the surface for air. We gave them lots of space but were still close enough to enjoy and appreciate them. One of the snorkel spots is called Turtle Cleaning Station and many turtles come here to be cleaned by cleaner fish. There are mostly green turtles here but we also saw hawksbill turtles. Such a great experience! 

Sunset on the deck of Mabul Island

List of fish and sea creatures we saw at Mabul and Sipadan:

Green turtle, hawksbill turtle, white-tipped reef shark, grey reef shark, Napoleon wrasse, pick-handle barracuda, giant moray eel, yellow pipefish, giant trevally, blue tang (Dory in Finding Nemo), great barracuda, common lionfish, midnight snapper, school of red snapper, dartfish, remora fish, chevron barracuda, orange spotted grouper, grey drummer, painted spiny lobster, trumpet fish, broadclub cuttlefish, yellow boxfish, yellow clown frogfish, white spotted pufferfish, map pufferfish, sea cucumber, blue spotted stingray, yellow margin moray eel, juvenile ribbon eel, choc chip starfish (the white one, other colour morphs possible), feather star, brittle star, blue sea star, granulated sea star, cushion star, black longspine urchin, banded sea kraits (snake), spotted garden eel, various angelfish, various butterfly fish, clown fish (Nemo), moorish idol (also in Nemo), pinnate batfish, various unicornfish, various surgeonfish, various triggerfish, various snapper fish, various groupers, various parrotfish, various wrasse, banana nudibranch, stick pipefish, various dartfish, trumpetfish, cornetfish, crocodile flathead, various pufferfish, various corals and sponges. 

We didn't get any photos of anything we saw underwater but here are some ideas from the identification cards

Blue ticks = Bron and Yellow ticks = Justin

On the deck after the last snorkel waiting for the boat transfer back to Semporna

Thank you Scuba Junkie Sipadan for a fab time! 

After a full three days on Mabul Island, we transferred back to Semporna for one night before moving on to Kuala Lumpur back on the mainland for a last few days before heading back home to HCMC. 

See you next time for more on our adventures in KL!

Street art in KL