Road Trip to Crocker Range (3): Tambunan

So we continued our journey after Keningau. We drove all the way for about 45 minutes along the Keningau-Tambunan Highway. At first we wanted to go to the viewing tower but we didn't know where was the right way to the top of the hill... there were no signboard after we saw one at the roundabout. We have drove for 15 minutes and the road was getting smaller and remote. So we turned back and asked the villagers. When we found one back to the entrance, he said we were on the right track. Well, too late, we decided to head to town for lunch. 

There were not much of choice for food in Tambunan actually... I asked a lady where does she have lunch usually, she said Tambunan doesn't have any nice food and she does not have any favourite kopitiam there. So in the town centre, we walked around to survey approx 5 kopitiams and decided to go back to the first kopitiam. Most of them sell almost the same thing... mixed rice, or order fried rice or fried noodle, that is all. The shops were quiet, only a few people chatting and smoking inside the shops. 

Then we continued our journey to Mat Salleh Memorial. This place wasn't easy to be noticed because This site was used to be the home or fortress for Mat Salleh, who led a rebellion against British North Borneo Company in the late 19th century. Mat Salleh is a Sabahan Hero according to our local history book. There erected a stone structure to mark the site of Mat Salleh's fort, and there is a long display board that tells the rebellion story

 of Mat Salleh. 

 We continued the journey, and travelled all the way to Mahua Waterfall along the highway. The road was getting smaller, sometimes up hill and down hill, about 30 minutes later, we reached our destination. The entrance fee for this waterfall is only RM3 for a Malaysian adult. We took about 5 minutes to walk through the 500metres walkway before we reached waterfall. The park was well maintained with its paved walkway, handrail, bridge and toilet facilities. It was very convenient indeed. There were lots of bees or giant flies around the picnic area... I guessed it was due to the trash left by visitors that attracted so many insects around... I was holding a banana and immediately surrounded by the flies or bees and got stung!

Waterfall view from the picnic deck... there marked the ancient water level of the pond on the wall. 

Waterfall view from the middle of the pond... wonderful view, the water was very chilling and relaxing. It's a hidden gem of Sabah Forests. 

The water was freezing cold!! I just dipped my feet in the water for a while then quickly pulled them out.. Not only that, the water was so clear that some people brought their crystals gems and cleaned them here. I guessed the positive energy of water can cleanse the crystals. I rinsed my face with the cold water... ahhhhh.. so refreshing...

Anyway it's still a very pleasure walk in the waterfall... the park was surrounded by so many huge and tall trees, shady and peaceful. I liked this place very, very much but we got to leave the park as the sky was dark and I wanted to leave before it rained. Hope we can spend longer time in the park.

As we exited the park, I used the toilet at no charge. It was pretty clean and well-maintained compared to some worn out toilets I have been to elsewhere.

Overall, I'll rate Mahua waterfall 4 out of 5 stars for its natural authenticity!

Road Trip to Crocker Range (2): Keningau

So we head down to Keningau Town again to hunt for Laksa that we missed yesterday. Out of no one we know lives here, we randomly walked into a Chinese religious supplies shop and asked the owner to recommend a must-eat food in Keningau. He pointed us to the corner of the shoplot which sells Laksa - 阿川叻沙kopitiam. Unfortunately the famous Laksa was sold out yesterday so we ordered kuey chap (mixed pork internal parts noodle in dark bak-kut-teh-like soup base). This morning we ordered Sarawak Laksa - the taste for both were good. I just ate kuey chap noodles except for the parts, and I enjoyed the laksa very much. I should have tried the water dumpling instead of shrimp.

(Left) Kuey Chap                                                (Right)  Sarawak Laksa

Keningau word came from local word "Koningau" means cinnamon or Kayu Manis in Malay. You can find many stalls in Wet Market sell cinnamon sticks. One bundle like picture above is sold at RM10. It's mainly use as spice and some use it for decoration. 

Dried salted fish 

The old 大伯公temple. The staff said it wasn't over 100 years old yet. Nothing much info I could obtain from the temple as the staff wasn't a Chinese and couldn't share much of its history with me. However the interior is typical to most of the Chinese temples in Malaysia. They also celebrate birthday of different deities, significant persons, Taoism deities prayers, Chinese traditional festivals and so on, to keep Chinese in the town together. 

Forrest was attracted by this giant laughing Buddha while we were having breakfast next to this temple. 

Next we visited Keningau Heritage Museum. This building was formerly known as the Residence House to accommodate dignitaries and foreign visitors. It then used by the Japanese and British North Borneo Chartered Company until it was taken over by the State government. 

The first section on the left exhibits the excavation activities done in Tapak Bingkor, Keningau region. 

There're many antique collections displayed in the hall. These items are the collections donated by Sir Andrew Bacon and his wife Jane Sakunil. 

These pots or locally known as 'tajau' have some stories behind. It was first owned by the grandfather of Datuk Clement Jaikul, Sargent Imbayan Andoung from Kg. Nambayan. He passed these pots to his son, Datuk Stephen Jaikul Imbayan then Datuk Clement Jaikul before it's handed over to Sabah Museum Department. 

These pots were used to be placed together with 30 human skulls collected by Datuk Clement Jaikul's grandfather during the headhunting time. When Datuk Clement brought these pots back to his house at Kota Kinabalu, his 7-year-old son saw some human beings nearby these pots. Then he fell sick the next day. In another incident, a teenage girl fainted suddenly when she saw a thin woman shadow coming out from the pot when Datuk Clement was hosting a gathering at his house. Since these incidents happened, Datuk Clement decided to bring these pots back to his hometown in Tambunan. While on his way from Kota Kinabalu to Tambunan, his car suddenly stopped and the engine can't be started. So at the end of the day, Datuk Clement handed over these two pots to Sabah Museum Department on 25 July 2013, which are now being displayed at Keningau Heritage Museum. 

The items displayed above tell history of Keningau under Japanese occupation and how Australian army liberated Keningau. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) from 76 and 77 Squadron bombed Japanese positions in Keningau until the end of hostilities, when Japanese surrendered in 1945. Then the Australians kept Keningau up and running by supplying daily necessities to the inbahitants such as food, clothes and medical supplies when North Borneo was placed under the British Military Administration (BMA). When Malaysia came into being on 16 September 1963, Sukarno launched an undeclared war on the newly created federation known as the Indonesian Confrontation. The Australian government defended Borneo including Keningau. 

The Oath Stone, erected in front of the Keningau District Office in 1964, was planted to symbolise the Interior people's acceptance of Malaysia, when the new nation was created in 1963. The stone was obtained from the Pegalan River in the vicinity of Kampong Senegang. As the Interior native people accepted Malaysia, it means that their interests of land, religion and customs will be safeguarded by the Federal Government in the spirit of the Twenty Points. 

To be continued. 

Road Trip to Crocker Range (1)- Rafflesia blooms!

So it was Hari Raya weekend and we have 4 days holidays in a row. Due to no ferry ticket available on Saturday, we had to take a day off on Friday and leave Labuan. This time we have decided to travel the interior Sabah via Papar-Kimanis-Keningau highway through the famous Crocker Range Park. I have learnt about Crocker Range in Geography in school days. Now it's time to visit her!

After having lunch in Keningau Town, we drove all the way back to Manis-Manis Rooftop Borneo Resort which is located in the Crocker Ranger Park, around 1000m above sea level, with 20 minutes drive from the Town. There's an entrance fee RM3/person to enter the Park before we lodge in. We were not sure where was the reception after we passed by some huts, then we finally found the reception right at the cafeteria. We chose to stay in a chalet with RM224/night after promotion 30% less from the original price RM300/night. The chalet was clean, come with a king-size bed, and antique feel.

We unloaded our luggage and rolled on the bed for a while, then daddy rushed us to quickly get ready to visit the Crocker Nature Centre before it closed at 4pm. It's just walking distance from our chalet but we drove there as the sky looked gloomy. Once we reached, the staff told us that Rafflesia was blossoming on its second day. Since it wasn't far from the centre, we quickly walked down the stairs but in plain sandals, not sports shoes! I was so worried with this attire as the steps were getting wet and slippery, and we were carrying a baby with us!

In less than 10 minutes while descending, we saw a Rafflesia bud not far from our track, it was pinkish ,wrapped tightly in a black colour skin, with the size as large as a cabbage. 

We walked through a small section of muddy track, my shoes were almost stuck in it cause I was heavy. Then we found the blossoming Rafflesia! It was our first time witnessing the flower in such a close distance. Then it's camera time, nonstop. 

The flower in the picture above is Rafflesia Keithii, named after Sabah Forest conservationist Henry George Keith. This flowering parasitic plant has five petals, with small irregular shapes of whitish spots distributed on them. In the middle of the flower there is a center column with orange colour thorn-like anthers attracting insects such as flies to pollinate.  While we found the flower was already closed to 4pm, we did not smell any unpleasant rotting flesh odour like described in the book. Another reason was we were at a higher altitude with a colder climate. R. keithii was reported to have intense odour at noon, particularly on hot days. Another species you can find in endemic Sabah is R. pricei. 

Let me quote the cause of Rafflesia rarity from Rafflesia Centre:
One of the causes of the extreme rarity in Rafflesia is its double habitat specialisation. First, the host plants (Tetrastigma spp.) occur only in certain habitats (for example, riparian or riverside forests) and secondly, the plants are narrow specialists on only specific species of Tetrastigma, creating 'double specialisation'. This makes Rafflesia doubly rare.

Rafflesia keithii's bud takes 12 to 16 months to blooming. One reason blooms are so rare is that many buds die before they flourish. The causes of this mortality are uncertain, but may be linked with the host vines's inability to provide support and vital nutrients at crucial times, direct predation by animals like rodents and infection by parasitic wasp larvae. (Garbutt & Prudente,  2006. Wild Borneo: The Wildlife and Scenery of Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei, and Kalimantan, pg 45-46)

So, we were indeed very, very lucky to be able to catch the blossom of Rafflesia that day.

So we were back to our lovely chalet. This is the outside view of Banyan chalet. 

The interior of our room, attached with bathroom and water heater. No air-conditioning needed as the night was very cold. No wi-fi available in this resort, but we were still able to connect weakly from our mobile data. However, we just put the phone aside and enjoyed the family time playing with Forrest, who was busy discovering this new place. The downside of the bathroom was the tape water was cloudy and yellowish. 

When I was about to get my clothes for a bath, I saw my foot was attached with a little dark patch of mud from the jungle trekking just now. But I soon realised it was my darkest fear when I was in the forest: it was the unforgivable leech!!! I screamed for help like mad, shook my leg trying hard to get rid of the leech, failed, then jumping off the ground while taking off my pants. It was detached from my foot. Then my hubby slowly shook the pants when the leech dropped on the ground. That was the most unbearable fear I had since childhood and the more I fear the easier I got hooked by leech. Lesson learnt: must wear a proper footwear into the jungle next time. 

 So here was the wound.. keeps bleeding. Little Forrest was puzzled with my reaction just now. Have to calm him down and show him what was my wound and leech about.

 So it's dinner time. We ordered chicken chop with rice for RM22 only. The entire Cinnamon cafeteria had only us as guests. So it took about 20 minutes for them to prepare the meal. To our surprise, the meal portion was huge! We just enjoyed ourselves at the cafeteria very much. It has free flow coffee and tea from 8am to 9pm. 

The next morning we got up at 6 to catch the sunrise. It was nice but the sun seemed to rise behind the mountain so we couldn't catch the yolk but yeah get to see the sea clouds from the observation tower just in front of the cafe. Then we packed our luggage and checked out. Breakfast was included in our package so we can choose our choice of breakfast in advance. 

This is the operation hour of the Crocker Range Park Nature Centre. There's handful info about Crocker Range Park as a Biosphere Reserve exhibited in the centre. Some wildlife models and local ethnic groups traditional arts and crafts are displayed too. 

The sea clouds view from the cafe. Down there is Keningau town. 

On another note, our photo had won the best photo in Manis-Manis Rooftop of Borneo Resort Facebook Photo Contest. We won another chance to visit Crocker Range again! 

For more info: 

http://www.manismanisresort.com.my

http://www.sabahtourism.com/destination/crocker-range-park

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keningau

Forrest is 1!

My baby Forrest has turned one! A proud mama designed this invitation card and sent to friends via whatsapp. 

Here we don't design pattern birthday cake. We just ordered our favourite pandan-kaya layer cake from our favourite bakery in Labuan. This is a 1.5kg cake. The taste is just nice. 

The daddy and mommy didn't have time to do photoshooting but busy catching up with students, friends and family. Daddy's students are Forrest's friends. He just woke up from sleep, still not in the mood celebrating in his own party. 

But he found new toys around and he was busy pushing the tricycle around the canteen. 

Back home, we sang birthday song to him again with his presents, and he clapped hands happily when he heard his name in the song and cheered as the song ended. 

Still non-stopped clapping his hands when we sang the birthday song again after we unwrapped the lovely presents. 

The only family photo we captured by parents and baby was still blurred with the crowds. 

Back at hometown, we celebrated his birthday in advanced on the 3 June, with Daddy's former swimmers students and parents from Ipoh. They all have grown taller and bigger. Baby learnt his birthday song from this party. 

Baby Forrest with great-grandma Jiapo, cutting his pandan-kaya layer cake (yes, again!) with mommy and Jiapo. 

We just loved to gather together to share our happiness with family and friends because it's too quiet in Labuan. Forrest was happy to meet new people! 

Gotta share more about my journey with this little cutie from now on. Be right back!