Photo trip report: Malaysia, Sabah, Borneo

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buksida
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Re: Photo trip report: Malaysia, Sabah, Borneo

Post by buksida »

Not exactly sure, it was a wild little black squirrel running about.
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Re: Photo trip report: Malaysia, Sabah, Borneo

Post by pharvey »

Certainly has that squirrel look about him/her.....

Not the correct thread for the question, but what are you using camera and lens wise?

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Re: Photo trip report: Malaysia, Sabah, Borneo

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Camera is a Nikon D5200 with the kit lens - DX 18-105 f/3.5-5.6 (ordered a telephoto online yesterday :mrgreen: )

We'd been on the road for about a week now and realised that we hadn't been to the beach yet. There wasn't much urgency to this considering we live on one but a quick look on Tripadvisor told me there was a local beach famed for its sunsets so we jumped in the car (stopping at the Chinese minimart for a couple of tinnies), and headed over there in the late afternoon.
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To follow: more from Kota Kinabalu
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Re: Photo trip report: Malaysia, Sabah, Borneo

Post by caller »

Great report and brilliant photo's, as ever!
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Re: Photo trip report: Malaysia, Sabah, Borneo

Post by dtaai-maai »

^^+1

Are those jellyfish in 0474?
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Re: Photo trip report: Malaysia, Sabah, Borneo

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No, just the way the camera caught the wave.
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Re: Photo trip report: Malaysia, Sabah, Borneo

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One of the very few and rare 'free' things to do in Sabah was this dancing fountain in Perdana Park (though you did have to pay to park there), which provided some good photo opportunities by playing around with shutter speeds.
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To follow: leaving Sabah
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Re: Photo trip report: Malaysia, Sabah, Borneo

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We decided to take a look at the 'wetlands bird sanctuary' on our last day in Sabah. This turned out to be a major disappointment - 50 Ringgit to get in to what essentially was a broken down walkway through a mangrove swamp where you could spot the odd Egret if lucky (there are more in my back garden!).
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Another KK beach, deserted during the week, packed at weekends ...
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It was time to get on another plane and leave Kota Kinabalu. To be honest I was looking forward to moving on, Sabah was not what I had expected, my mental image of Borneo was one of wild jungles, raging rivers and waterfalls, tribal villages, and epic mountain ranges. This can all be found in Kalimantan though, the Indonesian part of the island. Kota Kinabalu is a pricey tourist city marketed primarily at the Chinese, we saw very few 'farangs' during our visit - it is definitely not somewhere to travel on a budget.

Final sunset on Borneo ...
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Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park from the air ...
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To follow: Kuala Lumpur
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Re: Photo trip report: Malaysia, Sabah, Borneo

Post by pharvey »

Once again, love the photo's buks - especially those from the air and those wonderful sunsets.

Sabah does not sound too great from your reports, so not somewhere I'll be visiting anytime soon!!

Looking forward to the next installment though. :thumb:
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Re: Photo trip report: Malaysia, Sabah, Borneo

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If you've got a lot of money to throw at package tours then go for it as that seems to be the only way to see stuff in Sabah. Its just not the way I travel though, we're more 'go it alone' and 'off the beaten path' types! When you live in Southeast Asia you generally get an idea of the price of things and what they're worth - which is why getting fleeced at every turn tends to grate after a while! Another factor is that in Thailand I'm used to being stung as a farang, when travelling as four we were all farangs in Malaysia, the mrs and kids got double charged too - dual pricing is rife there.
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Re: Photo trip report: Malaysia, Sabah, Borneo

Post by Vital Spark »

Fantastic photos and some really useful information. Thanks, Buksi. Borneo is definitely on our 'places to visit' list. Mr.VS and I also prefer to avoid package tours, so maybe Sabah isn't the place to go.

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Re: Photo trip report: Malaysia, Sabah, Borneo

Post by pharvey »

Package tours are definately not our cup of tea either - although we did a "cheapie" once to Hainan and simply avoided all the tours!! Still worked out cheaper than organising ourselves....

As you do, the LHG and I far prefer organising things ourselves and have had some great experiences over the years - certainly something you wouldn't get out of a package holiday IMO.

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Re: Photo trip report: Malaysia, Sabah, Borneo

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Air Asia had no direct flights from KK to Bangkok so instead of wasting a day at the hellish KLIA2 for the transfer we stayed in the city for a couple of nights. For anyone that hasn't been to KL the airport is 70km away from the city so be prepared for a long ride in! We stayed at the Citrus Hotel which unbeknown to me was in the Indian sector ... which meant a lot of curry! Right next to the hotel was a fantastic little local restaurant offering Pakistani food and top notch naan bread, we could all eat well for under 300 baht!

It was time to do some touristy stuff so we set out for a walk heading to Merdeka square then onto the butterfly park ...
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On to the butterfly park which I'd been to before many moons ago ... it seemed a little smaller this time!
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I last visited KL in 1998 so it was good to see the changes; essentially a lot more transport links now with a skytrain, subway and monorail getting around is cheap and easy.

To follow: KL Bird Park
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Re: Photo trip report: Malaysia, Sabah, Borneo

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A ten minute walk up the hill took us to the KL bird park which I was looking forward to seeing again. This time around though it was very commercial, very touristy and a lot more expensive to get in than I remember - Malaysia certainly has its hand out for the tourist dollar. Once inside though these things are forgotten as you marvel at the multitude of species housed in what is touted as the world's largest walk-in aviary.
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To follow: Petaling Street
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Re: Photo trip report: Malaysia, Sabah, Borneo

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I wanted to go back to the old China Town market at Petaling Street to see how that had changed over the years so we jumped on the skytrain and headed two stops over.

Today it is a full on commercial tourist night market selling everything from MotoGP t-shirts to die cast planes to roast chestnuts. They have gone to town with the lanterns and given it a covered roof, no doubt to keep the tourists hemmed in there even when the tropical rains are hammering down.
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We sat down at a local restaurant and enjoyed a cold beer and some crispy duck while watching the throng surge by. On the way back we found ourselves in some Chinese procession of sorts where deities were carried down the streets adorned with brightly coloured flags.
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To follow: KLCC
Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed? - Hunter S Thompson
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