Wildlife adventures at Naturelodge, Kg. Bilit, Kinabatangan & The Sandakan Trail

Photograph of myself, HK Wan, my niece, Wan Pik Ki, my elder sister, Lai Meng, my son, Wai Yan and my wife, Sow Lan taken Sandakan Harbour Square (facing Sandakan Bay)

Our Travel: 22nd to 26th August 2009 during the School Holidays

Our Group: HK Wan & Family (Wife: Sow Lan, Son: Wai Yan), my elder sister, Lai Meng, my younger sister, Lai Ling and my niece, Wan Pik Ki.

Our return fare: Special return fare of RM 60.00 per person via Air Asia. As flight was at 7.15am, we stayed the previous night at Tune Hotel, LCCT at a special rate of RM 16.18 per double occupancy. Also, it cost us RM 1/person for transportation to the LCCT.

Our Accomodation:
1) The Nature Lodge, Kampung Bilit, Kinabatangan
2) Sea Front Hotel, Sandakan Town @ RM 69/Room c/w 2 breakfasts & free Wifi

Photograph of my wife, my son & myself taken at Kun Yam Temple - one of the Sandakan Attractions within the famous Sandakan Walking Trail. It took us about 90 minutes to complete the entire Sandakan Trail including stopovers for taking photographs.

Photographs of the 2 (two) Orang Utans at the Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabitation Centre. As our visit coincide with the fruiting season, only 2 orang utans turned up at the Rehabitation Centre during mealtime at 10.00am. The primates prefer the seasonal jungle fruits rather than the usual diets provided at the Rehabitation Centre.

During one of our morning cruises, we managed to see 2 (two) orangutans in the wild. However, before I could video or photographed them, they disappeared in the thick secondary jungle.

Photograph taken at the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabitation Centre. It cost RM 4/adult for mini bus transportation from Sandakan Town to this centre. The admission fee was RM 30/foreigners and RM 5 for Malaysians & RM 2 for child. However, the camera or video's fee was RM 10 per unit.

Photograph showing a group of Proboscis Monkeys during our wildlife adventure. Proboscis primates are only found in Borneo (Sabah & Sarawak) and Kalimantan in Indonesia.

Photograph showing a herd of Pygmy Elephants in the wild. The pygmy elephants are only found in this part of the world. They are the smallest elephants in the world and their size are about that of a water buffalo.

Another photograph sh0wing a herd of pygmy elephants in the wild of Kinabatanagan. According to boatman, this was our lucky day to see such a large herd of pygmy elephants. Occasionally, due to their small stature, you can only partly see the elephants as they are blocked by the tall grass. At certain time of the year, the pygmy elephants may not appear at all for almost a month.

Our Lodge - The Nature Lodge, Kampung Bilit,Kinatatangan.
Our accomodation consist of a chalet with 2 (two) twin beds and built-in bathroom cum toilet. There is no TV, no internet, no access to mobile phones, no newspaper, really peaceful and keep us fully concentrated on the wildlife adventure, jungle trekking, etc. However, there was electricity supply throughout.

The cost of our accomodation was RM 315/person - a special rate for Malaysian only with a 20% discount for my 11 years old son. The foreigners pays much higher than us (due to a special discount). The cost include all meals, 2 wildlife cruises per day, jungle trekking and night walk (with jungle boots provided). Also, pick-up from Sandakan Town or Airport cost us an extra RM 15/adult (child: FOC)

Photograph of my wife, Sow Lan and son, Wai Yan cruising along the Kinabatangan River in the drizzling rain (in search of wildlife). Various wildlife were sighted during our cruises such as various primates like orang utans, proboscis, the long tailed macaques, the pig-tailed macaques, silver leaf monkeys, herons, king-fishers, various hornbills , eagles, etc. However, the most exciting adventure was sighting a large herd of pygmy elephants in the wild. A crocodile was also seen but moved away as soon as noticed.

Photograph of my wife, Sow Lan and son, Wai Yan resting within the locality of an ox-bow lake after a strenuous 90 minutes of jungle trekking. At this resting place, a blood-sucking leech managed to crawl to my son's navel but it was laughter all the way.

Another photograph of my wife and son cruising along the Kinabatangan River. My son was also enjoying his Sony's PSP Playstation during the cruise.

We left Sandakan on 26 August 2009 by a non air-con minibus and it cost us RM 1.50/person and the bus stopped right up to the departure hall of Sandakan Airport. In all our budget travels, this is our cheapest transportation to any airport.

It was a real wildlife experience for our 6 (six) members group as we were the only Malaysians amongst the caucasians during our stay at The Nature Lodge. Also, my 11 years old son enjoyed during this Wildlife Adventure at The Nature Lodge, Kampung Bilit, Kinabatangan.

Posted by HK Wan (Email: hengkei@gmail.com) on 7th September 2009

Free & Easy Travel to Yogyakarta from 5th to 8th June 2009

Buddha's statue in one of the opened Stupa within Borobudur Temple Complex.



Photograph of myself taken inside the Prambanan Temple Complex.



Myself, HK Wan, my elder brother, Heng Wah and my elder sister, Lai Meng taken at the Borobudur Temple Complex.

We planned our budgetted self-tour to Yogyakarta or Joyga about 9 months prior to our Air Asia Flight on 5 June 2009. Our return tickets cost us RM 220/person (excl. airport tax at Jogya) despite it was during the School Holidays so that my younger sister, Lai Ling - a teacher could accompany us.

There were 4 (four) of us, namely, my elder brother, Heng Wah, my elder sister, Lai Meng, my younger sister, Lai Ling and myself, HK Wan

On arrival at Adisucipto International Airport, we took the Prambanan Express Train to Tugu Railway Station at Joyya. It cost us Rupiah 7000/person. Our first ride on an Indonesian Train (although we travelled regularly by trains in other countries like Thailand, China, etc) . On arrival, we walked to our budget hotel, Mataram Hotel and stayed there for 3 (three) nights.

The next day, we booked a 7-seater MPV for our full day tour within Jogya, viz. The Buddhism Borobudur Temple Complex, The Hindu Prambanan Temple Complex, Merapi Volcano, etc. it cost us Rupiah 412,000/person including all entrance fees (excl. lunch). It was so easy as the tour operator was located right opposite our hotel.

The next day, we went on our walking tour within Jogya and visited various tourist attractions such as Jogya's famous Malioboro Street, Vredeburg Fort, Beriningharjo market, The Independence Monument, The Palace or Kraton, etc. We returned by horse-cart @ Rupiah 30,00 for the 4 (four) of us.



Photograph of my younger sister, Lai Ling taken at Tugu Railway Station, Yogya. This is the Prambanan Express Train from Jogya to Solo or Surakarta; a distance of approx. 60 Kilometres. The cost of the train ticket is fixed at Rupiah 7000, irrespective of the number of stops

My recommendation is that should you travel by air to either Yogya or Solo, you should not miss the cheap train transportation between the 2 cities @ Rupiah 7000/trip. The trains are regular scheduled and you should plan your holidays by visiting the best of both cities at budget prices.




Photograph of my younger sister, Lai Ling taken outside our budget hotel, Mataram Hotel. It cost us Rupiah 275,000 per night inclusive of a simple breakfast plus free WIFI.

This hotel is located just diagonally opposite the rear exit (for motor cycles parking). We were not aware of this exit. On our arrival, we just followed the crowd via the main entrance and ended up taking a 20 minutes walk to our hotel (instead of less than 1 minute) if we exited via the rear entrance.

Posted by HK Wan on 7 September 2009

Free and Easy Holidays at Pattaya & Bangkok from 16th - 20th july 2009

My brother, Heng Wan, Sister-in-law, Rina, myself, HK Wan and my sister, Lai Meng cruising at Pattaya, Thailand on our way to Coral Island

Photograph of my brother’s family taken at The Grand Palace, Bangkok.

Left: My nephew, Wai Onn, Sister-in-law, Rina, Brother, Heng Wan and nephew, Wai Kit

Reasonable Western Breakfast at Pattaya @ Baht 60 per person. You can have various choices consisting of 2 pieces of toast with butter & jam, coffee or tea, plus bacon, ham, sausages and 2 eggs cooked in various styles.
The most reasonable and delicious Western breakfast at Pattaya at Baht 60/person. We can hardly find similar breakfast in Malaysia at similar prices.

We had a simple and economical 5 Days/4 Nights trip to Pattaya and Bangkok from 16th - 20th July 2009. Our group consisted by my younger brother & family, i.e. Heng Wan, Sister-in-law, Rina Chee and my 2 nephews, Wai Onn & Wai Kit plus my elder sister, Lai Meng and myself, Heng Kei.
We arrived at Bangkok Airport, cleared immigration and then took the airport shuttle bus to the transportation centre. From here, we boarded the Pattaya Bus @ Baht 106/each. On arrival, we took a Tut-tuk to our guesthouse - The Victoria Inn, Soi 6, Pattaya. It was a reasonable guesthouse with free wifi and cost us Baht 600/standard room. The next day, we had an economical tour to Coral Island, etc. plus lunch @ Baht 400 per person.

We left Pattaya on 18 July 2009 by Bus directly to Ekamai Eastern Bus station @ Baht 113/person. On arrival, took another bus to our guesthouse, The Riverview Guesthouse which was nearby Hualamphong Railway Station and Chinatown - which were our usual places of accomodation within Bangkok due to the reasonable food, shopping, easy transportation within Bangkok. The cost of our guesthouse was Baht 650/standard room. As usual, we had our usual Chao Phraya River Taxi ride to The Grand Palace and the nearby attractions.
We left Bangkok via our usual economical travel via train from Hualamphong to Hua Takhe @ Baht 7 person for almost an hour ride to this station. However, we were surprised that they have stopped the usual bus service from this station to Airport transportation centre (usual: Baht 15/person) but nevertheless, taxi services are available from here to the airport and it cost us a reasonable Baht 100/taxi right up to the airport.

Posted on 7 Sept 2009