Date: 4-8 June 2019
Venue: Sabah, Malaysia
Indians are holidaying out like never before to the obvious as well as offbeat. Malaysia falls under both categories. Getting clicked with the Petronas Twin Towers of Kuala Lumpur in the background is a fashionable travel goal. But for travellers aiming the unknown, we can strongly recommend Sabah. Sabah is located in Borneo, a hot spot in Asia for diverse flora and fauna. We say this first hand because we are just back from a trip to Sabah. It was a rollicking party amidst mountains, rivers and seas for over a week.
To give a brief background we were part of a select group of social media influencers to attend Digital Influencers Convention and Awards 2019 organized by Sabah Tourism, Government of Malaysia, in collaboration with Travel Earth. The event was held at Kota Kinabalu, the capital of the state of Sabah. In the course of our week long stay, we got an opportunity to experience Sabah up close and personal.
There is no direct flight from India to Kota Kinabalu so we had to hop at Kuala Lumpur. Sabah is two hours flight from here. We took Air Asia flight from India to KL and from KL to Kota Kinabalu. When the aeroplane was descending on Kota Kinabalu, it looked like we were landing on an isolated piece of land surrounded by water. This was factually correct because Borneo, home to Sabah, is the third largest island in the world and is shared by Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.
We were to stay at Kota Kinabalu. On the way to the hotel we were impressed with the greenery, wide roads, cleanliness and the beautiful tropical weather. Kota Kinabalu is a modern city with all facilities – cool shopping malls, broad walkways and a very smart mosque. Yet it is in the lap of nature and Mount Kinabalu in the backdrop ensures you are not far from the nature no matter which part of the city you are in.
Being through and through from the city Delhi, nature and wildness have been perennial pursuits. Sabah lived up to all the stories that we had heard about in terms of its bountiful natural beauty. In Sabah, you can visit the hills as well as the beaches in a single day. No wonder Sabah offers a lot of fun options for adventure lovers.
Contents
Camping at Kiulu
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Our itinerary comprised a visit to Kiulu in Kota Kinabalu for a two days jungle camping trip. The agenda of this tour was to be in touch with the environment and learn more about the biodiversity of Sabah. Our campsite was jaw dropping beautiful. Located on the riverside, it had neatly crafted rustic but aesthetic bamboo huts lined the bank. We had a quick dip in the river, had our lunch and got ready for jungle trekking.
Jungle trekking
The jungle camp was organised by Borneo Holidays and we were guided by a team of able professionals. They took us to the jungle and showed us many herbs, plants and leaves that had amazing medicinal properties. Like India, Malaysia has a rich repository of traditional knowledge and the introduction to the vegetation so reminded us of home remedies that we have here in India.
We then crossed the river via a suspension bridge, learnt the tricks of how to handle muddy and slippery treks, make human chains when required and how to handle an unexpected twist and turn in the forest. Though we were sweating profusely, this was one helluva fun trek. We drank water from the jungle streams and made umbrellas and fans out of huge leaves. The jungle trek went on for almost three hours and we had so much fun that we did not want to return.
Man vs. Wild
We came back to our base camp, rested for a while and got ready for our next activity. A man has to learn to find his dinner and we had our “Man vs. Wild” moment there. We went up the hill and pulled out tapioca from the ground. We also collected tapioca leaves. But that was still not a balanced meal. For the protein in our diet, we caught some fish by hooking worms to bamboo made fish rods. And then, this is quite unbelievable, we learnt how to make fire without using a match box!
Looking back, it all seems like a dream now. We cooked tapioca, leaves and fish along with some galangal (local ginger) and other herbs out in the open at the campsite. The stuff was put in hollow bamboo shoots and setup for slow cooking. While our dinner was getting ready, we had some country made rice wine courtesy the good guys at the camp.
All work and no fun makes jack a dull boy
While our dinner was laid, we enjoyed live music and folk dance performance by a group of youngsters. They danced to a few local songs. Incidentally some of these kids were really smart; they had represented their country in Spain as well. We joined the group, learnt a few steps impromptu and danced with them. We returned the favour by teaching them a few Bhangra steps as well. It was one of those nights that you never want to end. We slept in our huts under the starry sky listening to the flow of the river interspersed with the occasional chirping of the crickets.
In morning we do Oh’fish’ial work
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We woke up the next morning looking forward to the fresh day in this little heaven of sorts. It took a little while to believe that this was no dream and this #nofilter like place in Sabah was actually real. Breakfast consisted of fried noodles, Malaysian sweets, Sabah tea, and of course Milo, a strong favourite here. After breakfast, we went to the river to learn netting – the traditional art of catching fish using traps and nets. This was fun for sure but more than that, a survival skill in the wild. Being the only one in the group who managed to catch any fish (by sheer luck I say) we still got the bragging rights. 🙂
White river rafting
Soon after that we went for river rafting. We drove to the starting point where two rafts were ready for us. We were briefed on safety instructions and were provided helmets and life jackets. Within no time we were working our oars to move our rafts in this beautiful river. The rapids were level 1 and 2 which made the rafting more fun and less scary. After making our way through a few rapids we were asked to leave the rafts and jump in the river. We made a human chain holding each other’s jackets by the collars. This was the time to float in the river, looking up at the sky, and make our way to the camp. This was probably the biggest high we had throughout the Sabah trip. Never felt so alive, so present in the moment. Just reminiscing is giving us goose bumps while we write this blog.
It seemed so candid then but looking back, it seems, every activity was meticulously planned to give us the perfect experience of Sabah. An experience that we would carry with us from Malaysia to our home in India.
Party all night
It was time for us to wind up our Kiulu tour and head back to our hotel in Kota Kinabalu. We spent rest of the evening shopping at Imago Mall and chilling at the Waterfront, the most hip place to be in Kota Kinabalu. Our co-travelers and fellow bloggers/influencers Anurag Berri, Anchal Mehra, Anchal Bhardwaj and Dev made the experience special for us. It makes us nostalgic thinking about chilling with these cool chappies in Sabah, at the jungle camp and not to mention, at the waterfront over beer and live music. Friends for life.
That is Sabah for you – the coexistence of the chic with the wild.
Travel Earth Digital Influencers Convention
Next two days were reserved for the Digital Influencers Convention and the venue was breathtakingly beautiful Shangri-La Rasa Resort at Sabah. We had a traditional welcome at the venue. A lot of industry experts presented new ideas, analytics and social media trends by way of talks, panel discussions and presentations. It was an enriching experience.
The Digital Influencers Convention helped us forge new friendships from industry people and bloggers from Sabah, Malaysia. As expected, the Convention had huge impact on everybody connected with the event, directly or indirectly. We took notes that are going to help us create social media strategies for coming months. In fact, we feel fortunate to have been offered a couple of collaboration projects from travel companies in Sabah.
And then there were prizes to be won. We started our account with a goodie bag, courtesy Twitter, that we won by participating in a post presentation Q&A session.
In between the session breaks, we checked out the handicraft stall by Kadaikutm at the venue. They had an exquisite range of Pinakol 8 Strings – Sulam – a handmade ornament by Rungus women of the northern district of Sabah. The colourful beads are strung in traditional ethnic Sabah motifs. These are worn by both men and women. We bought a few of these along with handmade boxes made in Sabah’s famous basketry style. We also purchased some bracelets and bookmarks as souvenirs for friends and family.
The time spent at this handicraft stall was rewarding in ways more than one. They announced an onsite contest called Riddle Master about handicrafts of Sabah. We solved the riddle and won the Riddle Master title as well. We were presented a soft toy Proboscis monkey which is the mascot of Sabah and an integral part of their logo. The day couldn’t get any better.
We spent the evening enjoying ourselves over drinks and dinner at the private beach at Shangri-La Rasa Resort and Spa.
The Travel Earth Digital Influencers Convention and Awards 2019 continued the next day till evening and was followed by a gala night. This was a spectacular evening with cultural performances, multi course dinner, and last but not the least, an awards night. Earthy’s on-site awards aim to honour those who show real-time, on ground performance and twinkle like the influential stars they are!
We won the coveted Earthy Award for Best Post on Sabah. This was a humbling moment for us and made the whole experience unforgettably etched in our minds. The award and the Digital Influencers Convention humbled us – made us aware of our responsibilities – and encouraged us to strive even more earnestly in our Delhi-Fun-Dos trip.
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Thanks for the post. Sabah looks like a beautiful place to visit.
This place looks awesome. Have been to Malasiya but never knew about this place. I think I will hve to visit again