I had assumed, seeing as Borneo looked quite small when viewed on a map, that the coach trip to Semporna (the staging town for Sipadan) wouldn’t take too long. It seemed that I underestimated the travel time for literally every journey I had been on that trip. It ended up taking over 10 hours!
After an early start, taxi ride, and short wait at the bus depot we got underway. The road left KK, where it quickly climbed and twisted its way up into the hills. We were driven past glorious tropical valleys, cliffs, and eventually mount Kinablu itself came into view. We went so high that we were almost driving past the summit! I suppose it was a consolation prize since we weren’t able to climb it properly. It was very spectacular, and I vainly attempted to capture the magnificence on my phone’s camera before the road left the mountains and wound its way down to flatter terrain.
I was sat next to a young family, 3 small children and their mother. The road was very winding, and this soon got the better of them and they promptly began filling numerous carrier bags with vomit. I made use of loud music and staring steadfastly at the awesome views to block out their distress.
Around half way there, (a point I wrongly assumed was just outside Semporna) our young driver stopped and let some of his friends on. As we pulled away they put on a Malaysian music channel, for everyone to enjoy. The all then gathered around the driver seat laughing, drinking and chatting ready for a night out.
Spurred on by his chums, the driver drove a lot faster. I had been watching with some detached interest the malay-pop on the coach tv, but the drivers speed caused renewed havoc with the tummies of my travel-sick neighbours, so was again forced to retreat behind my own noise excluding headphones.
I was actually glad the driver was in a hurry. We were meant to be heading out to Sipadan on a boat at 7.45 the following morning, and so I wanted to go to the dive shop in Semporna and get everything sorted out that day. However the afternoon was rapidly drawing on and it was making me pretty anxious. Especially since I thought we were nearly there a few hours ago.
It was about 6pm by the time we finally rolled into town. I really wanted to get going, and also the vomit bags from the young family next to me had really started to stink - so Pat and I pretty much sprinted off the coach.
It seemed to take an eternity to find where the dive shop was. Once we found it we discovered, perhaps unsurprisingly, that it was closed. I was pretty gutted. At this point part of me was resigned to having lost the booking. In spite of that we resolved to return at the crack of dawn tomorrow and sort something out.
We made our way to a nearby hostel and attempted to get some sleep.
After an early start, taxi ride, and short wait at the bus depot we got underway. The road left KK, where it quickly climbed and twisted its way up into the hills. We were driven past glorious tropical valleys, cliffs, and eventually mount Kinablu itself came into view. We went so high that we were almost driving past the summit! I suppose it was a consolation prize since we weren’t able to climb it properly. It was very spectacular, and I vainly attempted to capture the magnificence on my phone’s camera before the road left the mountains and wound its way down to flatter terrain.
I was sat next to a young family, 3 small children and their mother. The road was very winding, and this soon got the better of them and they promptly began filling numerous carrier bags with vomit. I made use of loud music and staring steadfastly at the awesome views to block out their distress.
Around half way there, (a point I wrongly assumed was just outside Semporna) our young driver stopped and let some of his friends on. As we pulled away they put on a Malaysian music channel, for everyone to enjoy. The all then gathered around the driver seat laughing, drinking and chatting ready for a night out.
Spurred on by his chums, the driver drove a lot faster. I had been watching with some detached interest the malay-pop on the coach tv, but the drivers speed caused renewed havoc with the tummies of my travel-sick neighbours, so was again forced to retreat behind my own noise excluding headphones.
I was actually glad the driver was in a hurry. We were meant to be heading out to Sipadan on a boat at 7.45 the following morning, and so I wanted to go to the dive shop in Semporna and get everything sorted out that day. However the afternoon was rapidly drawing on and it was making me pretty anxious. Especially since I thought we were nearly there a few hours ago.
It was about 6pm by the time we finally rolled into town. I really wanted to get going, and also the vomit bags from the young family next to me had really started to stink - so Pat and I pretty much sprinted off the coach.
It seemed to take an eternity to find where the dive shop was. Once we found it we discovered, perhaps unsurprisingly, that it was closed. I was pretty gutted. At this point part of me was resigned to having lost the booking. In spite of that we resolved to return at the crack of dawn tomorrow and sort something out.
We made our way to a nearby hostel and attempted to get some sleep.
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