Fruit, Flora and Fun

Day 7 Tuesday

We said good bye to all the lovely staff at the Probiscis Lodge this morning.  They have been so friendly.  We travelled back by boat to the jetty leading back on to the road.  The coach was waiting and we had a 5hour drive across Sabah, east to west, following the Death Marches route.  This is now a major highway but is still only a single lane in each direction.  There really is no need for a bigger road at the moment as there is little traffic.  We passed through miles and miles of palm plantation and saw evidence that they are still carrying out deforestation  to accommodate more palms.  

Palm plantation

As opposed to rainforest

After about 2 hours we stooped for a break at a roadside Chinese cafe.  There were 2 main things to say about this.  Firstly the toilets were the worst we have seen so far.  Lynn went in first very determinedly but was straight out as she started to gag immediately.  I managed it but was not happy about having to pay 2 rinngits for it (40p!).  The second thing was better.  They have KitKat Cornettos!  Just like an ordinary Cornettos but with a finger of KitKat stuck down the middle.  Genius. 

The rain came down in buckets after that and we drove on for another 3 hours.  Gradually the plantations gave way to the rainforest again which in turn gave way to rice paddy fields and agricultural land.  We stopped at another Chinese and had a great authentic meal of sour fish, chicken with spring onions, stir fry veg and rice with the by now the inevitable melon surprise.

After lunch we went to visit a fruit and veg market which was remarkable.  Surprisingly most items were packaged on plastic trays and cling film wrapped but in a beautiful way.  On a tray of strawberries, they were all washed and arranged in straight rows with a little tube of sugar in the middle.  All the carrots were the same length and laid length wise.  

There was  almost every kind of fruit and veg  that we get in the UK but lots that I have never seen before.

  We were allowed to try breadfruit (a bit like lychees) and sweet avocados (yellow flesh with the consistency and flavour of a very sweet fudge). 

Cynthia with a breadfruit

There were also flower stalls and inspite of the warm climate there were poinsettias for sale alongside fuchsias, amaryllis marguerites etc.

Our hotel was just up the road so we checked in and as we found it had a spa, booked in for a massage, having spent 5 hours on the road.  Absolute bargain £11 for a back massage.  The girl looked like a waif but had the hands of a body builder.  I chose a "traditional" massage as opposed to aromatherapy and she gave me a real workout.  I also washed my hair which was a real luxury after the 2 days at the river lodge.  I didn't bother there as the humidity was very high and Lynn and I looked as if we had stepped out of the eighties with a perm all the time.

There must be a big Chinese community in the area as  the dinner was another Chinese, same menu as before but with butter shrimps, mixed mushrooms (a luxury item) and tofu.  Another new food for me was winter melon,  oh no, not more melon but this time it was tasteless and in the soup. At the river lodge, the choice of drinks was Tiger beer or Sprite.  Here it is slightly bigger  - Tiger beer, gin with Sprite, vodka with Sprite, whisky with Sprite etc etc. or you could have a neat Sprite.  Must confess I dozed a bit in the coach so I'm not tired but after dinner we found the Fun Bar but it was a bit too much fun for us so we had a beer and a karaoke and headed up the wooden stairs to Mount Kinabalu.

The Fun Bar in full swing

  Just a thought, our room has a connecting door and the couple next door smoke like chimneys.  Lynn has sworn that if any smoke comes under the door she will swing for them.

Interesting facts - orang-utan means man of the forest and Sabah means Land under the Wind,  monkeys have tails and can swim, apes do not have tails and can't swim so they string ropes across the river so they can cross it.  Aww!