by Christoffer A. Sørensen, crew
We arrived in the Malaysian part of Borneo, in a port called Kudat, a major center of the indigenous Rungus culture. The crew was excited to see what wonders the island had to offer. Captain Meg had arranged with our immigrations agent that we would go to a beach with her and her family. We were picked up by the agent’s husband, and he drove us to the northernmost point of Borneo. The tip of Borneo had some amazing nature surrounding it, pristine beaches, and wildlife all around. It was a truly beautiful place.
After we had been to the tip of the peninsula, we were driven to the most amazing beach I have ever seen in my life. Soft sand, crystal blue water and an island called the Snake Island which I thought was very cool. At the beach we had a barbecue with the agent and her family, and we felt welcomed by their hospitality. After Kudat we sailed to a place called Labuan, still in the Malaysian part of Borneo. Labuan was a big city, so not much nature to talk about but some fun nightlife.
Labuan was an exciting change of pace after quiet Kabat, we all had a great time. After Labuan we sailed to a huge city called Kuching. Kuching was massive, we could see the city from our anchor spot, but it took 30 minutes to get into the city. Some of us went and saw orangutangs, others explored the city and went to the national Borneo museum.
We stayed in a culvert hotel about 45 minutes outside of the city, where we slept in concrete tubes. One of the interesting things about this hotel was it was right next to a huge mountain and another really nice beach. We also heard monkeys calling and swinging around the trees – the tubes are not exactly soundproof!
I also met Kevin at the hotel, Kevin was a lizard who decided to bunk with me in my tube, he was very chill. After Kuching we went to a small island where we saw a lot of marine wildlife, such as sea turtles and eagle rays. We also saw baby sea turtles. After a very short but quite amazing stay on this small island, we set sail towards Bali, and towards the end of our voyage.
