[Kaizen]

Quick Borneo Report.

Overview: One of the largest islands in the world, Borneo is split up among 3 countries: Brunei, Malaysia (known as East Malaysia) and Indonesia.

Malaysia has 2 large provinces: Sarawak to the West and Sabah to the East. Kuching is a major city of Sarawak that Nomad has written on. Kota Kinabalu is the major city of Sabah which I visited for 4 nights.

I found the city lush, reasonably sized and easy to get around. There seemed to be less people of South Asian origin compared with West Malaysia..primarily Ethnic Malays with people of Chinese descent.

Stay: I splurged when in KK and stayed at the SUTERA HABOUR. There are 2 large hotels on this sprawling property which is basically a resort. 27 holes of golf on site, full facilities etc. There is also a free shuttle going to town although taxis are reasonable were you to go on your own. If you book through AGODA, breakfast is always included and this almost makes the nightly rate worth it being an incredible buffet you can fill yourself on.

Day:

The best place for daygame would be CENTRE POINT MALL in town. This was my first feel for the women here as it had been years since I was last in Kuala Lampur. It was definitely a welcome change from Phillipines and confirmed my decision to make a move was right. While there are not an aboundance of hot women, there were certainly enough cute girls ...and the ones that were cute, I would say were more my 'look'. I felt a bit in crosshairs walking in the mall and that there were opportunities abound. I ended up getting a haircut without having other intentions and walked into a salon with a few cute girls. After paying, I played the dumb tourist routine a la 'so where should i go tonight?' etc. The girls wasted no time in responding that they were going out that night and i was welcome to join. We exchanged numbers and they ended up being my crew for the next few nights. They were both unavailable for different reasons but I had a great time partying with them and it allowed me to get a better feel of the place.

Sights: I did no sightseeing here, just preferring to chill and walk around town during the day. There are nearby dive options and visiting Mount Kinabalu 2 hours away is a popular tourist thing.

Night: Apparently, there are nightlife options here any day of the week. The WATERFRONT area is quite popular, with a number of decent restaurants and the stalwart BED nightclub. The place is large and like many places in KK, has a nightly philippino cover band belting out amazing tunes. I went here my first night and got lucky with an Indian-Malaysian visiting from KL interestingly enough. She was with a less attractive co-worker that did not CB the least, allowing us to find an 'afterhours' aka my hotel after we dropped her off to their hotel.

There are apparently numerous other options for nightlife. The few bars I went to with the salon girls were OK but not good enough to write up about.

Conclusion: Perhaps not a place to go out of your way to visit...but certainly not a bad place to pass through! Decent number of cute girls. The one mall in town mentioned is enough to conduct operations. I visited the new 1Borneo mall but don't recommend it strongly.

[choichoi]

Nice report Kaizen. I may go there in October. Gonna be going with the gf. Would like to get a solo feel of the place as well, but it's cool. How was the food there?

[Heart Break Kid]

Strange, I was just asking an Indonesian girl I banged who was from there yesterday about Borneo. She says it's nice, but not good if you're into cities which probably adds up.

[Choo Choo Train]

I’ve been in Kuching for a few weeks with a girl. She was back and forth from work in peninsular Malaysia. She’s part Dayak from here so wanted to show me Sarawak.

Didn’t really run any game here besides online testing the waters. Lots of matches. Nothing excited me. Maybe one or two cute girls ho had psalms as there IG description. Many natives are Christian or Catholic. Tried a Monkee Bar but it was pretty smoky and nothing special so left early. Saw a few cute Chinese around town.

Kuching city has a few days worth of attractions to see. I was here for several festivals which made it better. Hungry Ghost and Moon Cake (mid autumn) both Chinese. The latter is an intercultural festival with some Dayak music and dancing too.

The city museum complex is mostly closed until 2020 while they build a huge new museum. Dont expect much. I did see real head hunted skulls in the art museum and at a bidayuh longhouse.

There’s a beautiful new pedestrian bridge that looks like two hornbills. The fort across the river has been renovated and has a great historical exhibit. The backpacker hostels are all around Jalan green hills in Chinatown.

Make sure you have a motorbike lined up! All the students have them rented out for the semester. We had no luck. Otherwise you have to use the totally inconvenient bus system or way way overpriced tours. A friend give us his scooter which was stuck in first gear. Total crap. Finally her family loaned me a proper 250cc sport bike to get around. I got caught in a few downpours so she also rented a car for 150 ringgit.

You need to get up early for day trips. We tried a Malay homestay which sucked ass. No privacy and all the Malay areas always seem to be next to a mosque. My god. It was like torture five times a day. Sometimes they broadcast the entire sermon in full st 5am. The Tune Hotel behind the Hilton is comfortable with fast WiFi and very reasonable at RM70.

The surrounding countryside has lots of day trips to so called national parks. Most are just so-so to visit with some waterfalls and summit hikes. Bako is the most popular but I found it crowded and meh.

There are beaches but they’re not pretty. Plus there have been crocodile attacks on swimmers. Not worth it.

If you’ve seen orangutans in zoos or sanctuaries the ones around Kuching are about the same. They’re doing good work and the primary focus isn’t catering to tourists. The endemic probiscus monkeys are more interesting to see since they’re more rare. I can only recall seeing them in one zoo elsewhere. They hang around the waterline munching mangrove leaves. Best way to see them is by boat tour in the wetlands.

Air pollution is bad his time of year. Luckily we had some clear days. Far amount of rain. The day trips to Dayak villages are boring. You have to go trekking for at least one night to see anything special. Even then it’s just a few old ladies somewhat dressed in traditional brass anklets.

I wouldn’t recommend coming here for game. And honestly most of the nature stuff I’ve seen so far has been kinda meh. The Sarawak culture village combined dancing with life size architecture of indigenous tribes. The dancing I’d seen elsewhere but overall informative.

I was lucky to see the worlds biggest flower the Rafflesia. Two 70cm flowers were in bloom at Gunung Gading NP. They only last a week and th previous bloom had been a month before. Check their FB page before making the two hour drive. Otherwise it’s just a hike to some small waterfalls.

I did a visa run to Pontianak in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Just a 40 minute flight. I spent 3 days with a local girl and did some sightseeing with her scooter. Don’t expect much. You can see it all in a day. She fell pretty hard for me and was rather heartbroken when I texted her I was at the airport. Had to block her. Felt kinda scummy.

I researched traveling around Kalimantan. You really need to be with someone you love and split costs for the trekking. Tourism is in its infancy in most places. Not worth the expense and time for what you get.

If you’re truly hardcore and like being off the beaten path I guess it’s nice. But you’d have to be grizzled to try the cross Borneo trek or even going upriver on the Kapuas. Doesn’t seem worth the hassle. I already got leeched and jock itch here. Pass.

Figure I’ll hit the rest of Sarawak: Sibu > Bintulu > Miri. Some cool national parks along that route. Then Brunei and Sabah.

It’s rather unfortunate that there’s only one land crossing I. The mountains between Indonesia and Malaysia (on the bus from Kuching to Pontianak). There are a couple national parks on the border of both countries. Neither is worth visiting alone. If crossing over was allowed it’d be a trip worth considering. That’s were the more interesting Dayak tribe and authentic longhouses are.

[Humpty Pump n Dumpty]

For anyone curious about journeying through Sarawak and Brunei for a few months this was my experience.

Squirted the pussy on a hot girl in Sibu. Actually kind of a stunner. Probably my best bang in Sarawak. Other members have seen her pic. It was IG game. She got contacted the next day by my Indonesian stalker. God. I swear indo girls are emotionally unstable.

Not much to see in Sibu. A couple decent museums. Taking Grab to the Iban longhouses was expensive. I also stopped in Sri Amman which was a bit of a hassle but it has the best preserved frontier fort in Sarawak.

My girl flew in and we headed upriver on the Betang Rejang. We hit a few longhouses. Not much else to do in Kapit. The town is a total dump. Just utterly depressing.

Going any further “ulu ulu” (upriver) required getting a special permit which I had to wait out the weekend for. Took all of an hour come Monday. The government had to displace a lot of natives to build dams. Basically flooding an area bigger than Singapore. So they want to keep track of nosy foreigners.

My girl headed downriver. I stuck it out but couldn’t find a decent guide in Kapit. Make sure to book someone before leaving Sibu. I got in touch with a guide in Belaga but he was out of town.

Trekking solo and chartering longboats is expensive. I gave up. That plus the 100km 4x4 logging road down to Bintulu convinced me to change plans. Took a boat back to Sibu.

The most interesting thing I did in Kapit was hangout with a Keyan girl who told me what it was like to be a stateless person (it sucks). Basically can’t travel anywhere or get a job. Malaysian government doesn’t want to deal with them. Paperwork in perpetual limbo. Can’t really leave Borneo.

She showed me lots of photo and video of her and other Orang Ulu tribes. Some of there festivals. Kind of made up for not going trekking.

I stayed a few nights in Bintulu. Similaju National Park is just a trail through rainforest and coastline. I’d say skip it unless you have oodles of time. The town had a small zoo/park, market, and Chinese temple.

I had dinner with a Tinder match that was young plain Thai massage girl. Clearly trolling for business but I honestly had nothing better to while I did laundry. I stayed above the bus station in the attached hotel.

I did a few nights in Niah National Park. They make you take the whole dorm room but it’s still only 40RM and you get it all to yourself. The caves are huge but smaller than Mulu National Park. They’re interesting for some of the Neolithic history and birds nest collecting by natives.

I only did one night in Lambir National Park. I got an AC room but the power went out all night and morning. Much better food than the canteen at Mulu. Some nice waterfalls though I didn’t finish the entire trail and was hiking back in the dark.

Miri is the second biggest town in Sarawak. I matched with a bunch of girls but they were all hideous. Ming Cafe has girls pretty much every night. It’s like shooting fish in a barrel. Quality isn’t great and random. Lots of budget places nearby too.

I ended up staying in Miri for a few nights on either end of my trip to Mulu. I stored my bags at the hotel. The flight is 30 min by prop plane. Stupidly I forgot to cash up. Thankfully the NP takes credit card. I had just enough cash for a weeks worth of (overpriced) food.

I had the dorm to myself except on the weekends. It’s been upgraded to AC. They are sex segregated so if you’re with a girl stay outside the park! I joined a group for the Pinnacles hike which requires taking a boat, hiking, and two days at a base camp. It’s a tough vertical hike!

I didn’t book anything in advance. Luckily I was able to do everything I wanted. Though I skipped adventure caving. Didn’t have proper footwear. I left my rubber Mr DIY shoes on the peninsula. They are cheap but excellent grip for wet caving.

Mulu NP has the world’s largest cave but its not generally open to the public as its deep. Everyone waits at night for the bat exodus. It’s a true marvel. Millions upon millions of bats from 15 different species corkscrew out of the world’s largest cave opening.

Forget about about girls. I met a few local tourists from Miri but not attractive. Foreign girls are mostly in pairs and unattractive backpacker type. I did run into a cute foreigner from Miri. But our tours only overlapped for a minute.

I skipped flying to Bario. The Kelabit highlands will have to wait. Aim for the food festival in July.

Miri doesn’t have much attraction wise. The most fun was feeding crocodiles chicken. I rented a motorbike and drive it to Brunei. I only had a rental agreement at the border checkpoint so they said come back the same day. Be sure to get the registration.

Brunei’s gas was ridiculously cheap. But since I had Malaysian plates it was hard to fill up. Some stations won’t serve you at all. Even though they’re all Shell. I almost ran dry but they took pity on me. Most of the offshore oil is around Beliat and Seria.

Brunei is very conservative Muslim. Worse they implemented shariah law in 2014. You’re allowed to bring in a six pack if you’re not Muslim. There’s no bars or nightlife. I matched with a bunch of girls but mostly hideous. Timing was off with only cute ones.

I always heard the sultan of Brunei was the world’s richest man. Funny that half the attractions in Brunei are “closed for renovation” (condemned). The ones that are open are rather small and lackluster.

BSB has the world’s largest floating village It costs $B1 to take a boat over. The exchange is 1.5 USD. Singapore currency can be used in Brunei. SIM cards are much more expensive than Malaysia but the two operators have some decent foreigner options for data. T-Mobile works too. Coffee bean has the only fast unlimited free WiFi.

The only way to Ulu Temburong National Park is by tour. It was a bit pricey but worthwhile. You have to take a fast boat there and back. I was lucky and we drove back instead so I got to stop Limbang Malaysia. It’s possible to hike down from mulu to Limbang on the headhunters trail. I met a group that was doing it. You have to arrange the boat in advance.

I took a drive up to the fancy beach place, empire hotel. Not much to see from a fancy atrium and pool. It had lots of rich Chinese having high tea. Some locals I talked to complained about high unemployment and an entitlement mentality among the Malay. Minorities are discriminated against and there’s not much religious tolerance under shariah law now.

Brunei has some scuba diving but I saved it for Labuan. It’s about an hour by ferry. Malaysia’s third federal district has cheap beer, cigarettes, chocolate, etc. Because it’s tax free. Still can’t escape the 10RM/night foreigner tax on accommodations. Or can I? Hehe.

Planning to checkout Sabah and maybe Mindanao area of Philippines.

Conclusion for Sarawak, Brunei, and Labuan is you need to bring sand to the beach. Had a few exceptions but lots of lonely nights in transit and admiring beauty in national parks. Most foreigners are backpackers coupled up with their boyfriend or bestie.

Locals are mostly low quality. Chinese do outnumber the Malay in Sarawak. I don’t think speaking mandarin will make much difference. I barely saw any young hot Chinese girls daytime and hardly ever at night. Mostly they were around Kuching.

[Pink Poosay Pumper]

Last report on Kota Kinabalu was 2011?! You guys are missing out on an absolute POOSAY PARADISE.

Uh yeah, no. So not sure how much has changed since OP came here. Seems he stayed in a resort and didn’t bother doing jack shit. Didn’t even get laid? But still happy!

Well, I’d definitely choose another place for some luxury. KK as a city has almost zero charm. Even Kuching has invested in a new waterfront esplanade.

The KK waterfront is a dump. There’s a decent Filipino night market. I’d suggest you eat at the seafood night market a little further walk north.

Still, a waterfront hotel is where you want to stay to run efficient game. Look for deals online. If you’re hard up try the api api center. There’s an office across the atrium from the McDonald’s that rents cheap rooms by the day or week. Make sure to see the room first because many are total shit.

Forget about staying in Chinatown around Gaya street. There are a bunch of hostel and budget places there. But Beach Street was dead even on a Saturday night. Just a pathetic Filipino cover band with a few dudes sitting around. Horrible. Streets all quit.

The waterfront is always buzzing. Bed and 69 are the main clubs here. RM25 entry with a drink. There’s also a bunch of restaurant bars here. Don’t expect much from any of them and you won’t be disappointed.

There’s supposed to be a smoking ban starting next year. Until then I don’t think gaming the waterfront is worth the exposure. Why?

Most of the patrons are now groups of Chinese and Korean tourists on package holidays. They smoke like chimneys and are annoying as fuck to game. Pretty much every cute girl is with her BF. They sometimes take over entire bars.

The waterfront bars spill out onto a boardwalk which I would walk through to gauge the talent. Drinks are ridiculously overpriced. Even at happy hour a simple beer is RM25.

There are some local girls there drinking. Would definitely help to have a wing. I just never had the energy and motivation to make a night of it. The girls are low quality.

I rented a motorbike and drove around. There is a decent museum and a few mosques and temples. There are three cultural villages showcases the ethnic minority tribes.

The best by far is Mari Mari. It’s RM100 and has timed tours (10,2,6). It was worth the hour drive. You get a buffet meal and local snacks at each tribes house. 5 minutes away is a nice waterfall.

KK’s other attractions include a wetlands, viewpoint, some galleries. Nothing really worth going out of your way to see. Free 2hr walking tour at visitor center Tue Thu Sat 9am.

Oh I went to the beach down by the airport. You have to go south quite a ways to get away from the tourists taking photos. It’s not a great beach. There’s water village nearby that is run down and dirty but has a pier with a view.

Most tourists take a boat from Jesselton Harbor to the islands just offshore. This is where my ferry landed too. Supposedly there is now a ferry to Palawan, PH but I’m not sure where it leaves from. Google it.

If you’re well traveled the offshore islands are kinda shit. Technically they are a national park (haha). There’s some scuba diving here but most serious divers fly to Sipadan on the other side of the state.

The trashy Chinese love the islands. They do look better on a brochure with chinese characters. It also helps to have poor taste and be a moron.

This time of year the weather is iffy (best vis for scuba is Aug/Sep). I went island hopping and got caught in a storm offshore. The islands might be worth it if you roll with some cute tourists for the day. Staying overnight is expensive as fuck unless you camp.

Tinder is shit in Sabah. The nightlife isn’t much better. You can pull from both if you put in the effort. Low quality.

Clubs get going about midnight. I did spend an hour outside Bed chatting girls coming in and out. A few seemed willing to come home with me. I was fucking around trying to gauge the average quality and ease. It wasn’t great. Maybe grab yourself a drunk Korean? Worked in Melaka.

I did see some local hotties walking around malls with their soy boy bfs. Shameful. The only nice mall is Sabah Suria on the north end of downtown. Across the street at Wisma Sabah building is where you can rent a motorbike (RM50) and book your tours.

Yeah so didn’t really bother gaming. I came over from Labuan by ferry (3-4 hours). Then a few days to see the sights before climbing the highest mountain in SEA, Mt. Kinabalu (4096m).

Climbing Kinabalu requires one night at the base camp. After the 2015 earthquake and deaths same day hikes are not allowed. Standard price is about RM1100 for just the summit. Adding the short Via Ferrata bumps it up to about RM2000. That’s $500.

I included the extended Via Ferrata (highest in the world). This was another RM250 but worth it. They also claim it is Asia’s only VF. It may well be the first but I’ve done them in other ASEAN countries.

I can’t imagine a resort bitch doing Kinabalu or the iron way. It’s demanding and has some death defying drops. I met an RVF guys who said, I’m not into that UNESCO shit. This makes me sad.

It really is worth incorporating adventure travel into your trips or time abroad. Especially if you’re a young guy. Especially if you fart around a shithole city and not get laid anyway.

It was probably the most physically demanding trek I’ve done. I did a 5,000m+ hike in Yunnan that required ice axe and crampons in white out conditions. That might have been tougher. Was awhile ago...

Seriously you have to be a masochist for the full program. Mainly because of the schedule and altitude. I went from sea level to over 4,000m and back down 36 hours. I had minor altitude sickness. There was actually some doctors there doing a study on it lmao. I gave the cute one my number after she took my pulse ox.

Oooh I also had diarrhea on the Via Ferrata. I ditched my harness twice and scrambled to a crack. Hung my ass over the edge and shit into oblivion. Hilarious.

Just doing the summit was easy enough, but that’s after hiking to base camp and barely getting any sleep. Then adding on the mountain climbing AND hiking back down to the park entrance in the same day. It was painful but worth it.

Every single chick on the hike was a WNB. Oh wait I saw a 6-7 with her boyfriend. I was thinking to myself I can’t ever imagine an 8+ doing this. On my hike down I saw a gaggle of 7s on their way up.

Every climber was with someone. Whether it was their boyfriend or best friend. There was one single wall victim who signed up at the last minute. She actually signed up for Via Ferrata but decided against t after seeing photos. She then had a panic attack and had to be guided down in the dark (you leave for the summit 2:30am). Waste of $500.

You can’t hike in crocs or kampung shoes. Must have trainers or boots. Gets cold too so need a fleece, beanie, gloves, thermals. Rain gear is a good idea. I was lucky and had perfect weather. Great experience.

Just don’t have the energy or interest to finish Sabah. I’ll come back another time. My chick bought me a ticket to Penang. I love dating flight attendants. I’m going to fuck her so hard.

Anyone been to Langkawi or Penang lately? Drop some data. I read something about Penang awhile ago but the dude didn’t get laid nor do anything productive. He was happy.

[RatInTheWoods]

I took a weeks rest in Sabah while working remote sites in the philippines, and its an interesting off the western tourist trail Island.

It is full of korean and chinese tourists however.

I stayed in KK and the had fortune with the philipino girls who come here for work - they away from home and lonely and horny.

The scuba diving is first class, just a short boat trip from the harbour, I did a lot of cheap quality diving here.

Koreans are annoying, hard to game and often with soy boy on honeymoon.

Got to see the tribes with shrunken heads in a village, and orangutans in the wild.

Worth a look.

[calwinston]

(11-07-2018 04:04 PM)RatInTheWoods Wrote:  

I took a weeks rest in Sabah while working remote sites in the philippines, and its an interesting off the western tourist trail Island.

It is full of korean and chinese tourists however.

I stayed in KK and the had fortune with the philipino girls who come here for work - they away from home and lonely and horny.

The scuba diving is first class, just a short boat trip from the harbour, I did a lot of cheap quality diving here.

Koreans are annoying, hard to game and often with soy boy on honeymoon.

Got to see the tribes with shrunken heads in a village, and orangutans in the wild.

Worth a look.

I just took a trip to KK last week.

I have to co sign with everything written especially about the Filipinas working in KK. They are eager to meet and have no qualms coming back to your place. Just like in the Philippines.

When I landed I fired up tinder I was getting matches left and right. Surprisingly even more than in Manila on a typical day. Most of the matches came from Filipinas first, then western women, Malaysians, Thai, and some sprinkled northeast Asians.

I guess not many western men make it to this part of the world.

Second the infrastructure was great. Clean modern airport with direct flights to over 30 cities. Immigration took only 5 minutes to pass through. All around downtown is easily walkable. Internet is great and inexpensive. Free internet in City Park, beside City Hall if you are in that area. Also a great meeting point since they also have the Sunday Market in that area and on Friday and Saturday a Food Market in Chinatown. You have the boardwalk, 4-5 malls downtown Imago, Oceanus, Suria Sabah are the major ones.

Third food and living cost is inexpensive. Cost slightly cheaper or on par with most major Philippine cities in but with a significantly much better quality of life.

Top notch beaches and nature surrounding the area.

Its great place to chill for a couple of months and relax from the hustle and bustle of most Southeast Asian cities. Without the traffic, air pollution, honking horns, erratic drivers, barking dogs, crowing roosters, etc., you get the idea.

I'm seriously considering staying there at least 3 months next time I visit.