Sarawak is fairly large state in Malaysia and, this being Borneo after all, a lot of the National Parks and places people want to go to are pretty remote. We spent a lot of time in Kuching and saw quite a few things around town but we were running out of time. Knowing that a few adventures (hopefully) awaited us in Sabah, we decided to fly directly there and skip the outlying regions of Sarawak. We booked a cheap flight ($30 US each) from Kuching to Labuan, an island off Brunei that is technically part of Sabah. We picked Labuan for a couple of reasons, first because there are 4 famous shipwrecks off the coast, one of which is suitable for novices, and second because Labuan is a duty-free island and I’m sure you all are aware of Pearse’s obsession with cheap beer.

We arrived in Labuan in the early afternoon and were a little disappointed. The island is neither as charming as Tioman nor does it have as nice of beaches as Langkawi, the other two duty-free islands we visited. It lies directly in the path of the oil rigs which stretch along this portion of the Bornean coast (and which have made the sultan of Brunei very very rich) and they don’t add much to the sea views. We did fly over some picturesque uninhabited islands on the way in, perhaps we would visit them while diving? Alas, we soon learned that Borneo Divers had pulled out of Labuan due to a downturn in visitors and if there were other dive operators on the island, they were hiding very effectively. We were also getting a strange vibe from the island, it’s the “party island” for all the straight-laced people from Brunei and KL and it has a seedy look, so we decided to head on.

We found a mention of the Tempurung Seaside Lodge in our guidebook, which called it a nice place to relax for a few days. We weren’t feeling particularly stressed, but it was close to Labuan and we decided to give it a try. So we grabbed a 12-pack of Tiger from duty free (I’m sure Pearse would want you all to know that the cans were only 40 cents each or about ¼ of the price in other places), and hopped on the ferry bound for mainland Sabah. Amy from Tempurung Lodge was at the pier to greet us and soon we were bumping along the worst roads we’ve seen since Laos. The road from the town of Kuala Penyu to the village of Tempurung is 13 km of dirt road with some very large ruts and coconuts but it ends past the village at the beautiful lodge. We were given the choice room since we were the only guests there. The room had windows on 3 sides and a spectacular view of the ocean. Soon after we arrived, lunch was served on the balcony and we were shocked to see 2 plates of rice, a beef dish, a fish dish and 2 dishes of vegetables being set for us. We assumed the staff would be eating with us, but no, all that food was just for us. We weren’t terribly hungry but it was all so delicious that we made a good dent in the food. There wasn’t much to do at the lodge except sleep, read the stash of old Readers Digests and National Geographics, watch the sunset and swim in the warm ocean. The visibility in the ocean was pretty good and Pearse took his snorkel for a spin and reported that all he could see was miles and miles of sand. We also took a stroll up the deserted beach and Pearse got to play on some fallen trees.

We had intended to spend a day on Pulau Tiga, the site of Survivor Borneo; you know, the one that naked guy Richard won. A resort on the island is capitalizing on the Survivor fame and even offers Survivor-like challenges for those so inclined. Unfortunately, we called up the resort and they needed a minimum of 4 people to do a day trip and to stay overnight was about $60 per person. So either because of laziness or cheapness (or both), we decided to forgo Survivor Island and relax at the lodge instead. We did book the River Cruise the lodge advertises on the Klias River. It promised proboscis monkeys, fireflies and possibly crocodiles. The Klias River is about an hour away, or half way to Kota Kinabalu (capital of Sabah) and we were disappointed to see that there were 30 other tourist there to share the river with us. Four speed boats headed upriver, thankfully staggered about 15 minutes apart, and we had a great time zipping up the wide muddy river, lined by mangroves. We saw a few proboscis monkeys high in the trees, apparently staking out their territory for the night, but having seen these funny looking creatures up close and personal in Bako National Park, we weren’t terribly impressed. The Klias wetlands are also supposed to be home to many types of birds, but if any were out there, they had plenty of time to hide after hearing the speed boats roar upriver.

After about 45 minutes, it started to rain and we whipped out our emergency ponchos – having left our raincoats at the lodge. Within 15 minutes we, and the boat, were soaked but the search for critters continued. Around dusk we saw a tiny crocodile about a foot long and when it got dark, we went searching for fireflies. Now, I’ve seen fireflies before but this show was thousands of fireflies covering the mangroves like Christmas trees and it was pretty cool. If we hadn’t been so wet and miserable, we would have enjoyed just gazing at them for a while, but by the time we got back to the dock, we were well tired of the river and the critters. To make matters worse, we were missing the wonderful dinner at the lodge because the tour included “dinner” and it did not compare. All in all, we weren’t terribly impressed by the river cruise but for those who don’t have a whole lot of time to delve deeper into the national parks of Borneo, it probably is a good deal. And it’s not the tour’s fault that it poured buckets of rain, but being cold for the first time since Laos wasn’t much fun for us.

The evening looked to be getting even worse when Amy informed us that there was a singing contest at Tempurung village and that we would be stopping off there before heading back to the lodge. We were tired, wet and cold and starting to get grumpy but I figured that if we didn’t accompany her, she wouldn’t be able to attend. There had been a fishing contest earlier in the day that she invited us to and she seemed disappointed that we said we’d rather relax so, not wanting to be rude, we took our seats – center row reserved seats – and waited for the contest to begin. Amy explained that this was a once-a-year festival (similar to a county fair) where prizes were given for baking or fishing or school achievements and that this year’s entertainment was a local version of “Malaysian Idol.” Isn’t it great that Fox TV is now the cultural ambassador from the US and that it even affects life in coastal fishing villages all over the world – or at least the ones with television sets?

We were introduced to Amy’s cousin, a couple of her brothers and the head chef at the lodge (whom we praised lavishly). The village had imported an MC from Labuan to host the show as well as four respected judges, and there was a live band there to accompany the singers. The MC was apparently pretty ribald – Amy tried to interpret some of his pattering for us – and he made a point of including us occasionally, usually to slag us in some way. Keep in mind that this is a rural Malaysian village and at least half the audience was Muslim, but he didn’t seem to let that stop him. In between singers, they presented the awards and held drawings for gift baskets. At one point, the MC got a hold of our names (actually just Pearse’s so I was called "Mrs. Pearse") and called us up to draw numbers. Since we hadn’t done our Malay homework, we announced the numbers in English and every time there was a number with “six” in it, he claimed we were saying “sex.” He had me so flustered that when I drew my final number “246” I stumbled after the “two, four, sss…” and nearly said “sex.” Of course that drew lots of laughter from the crowd and I remembered my mother’s lesson from the Peace Corps: we westerners are just there for the local people’s entertainment, the sooner we realize that the sooner we can act the buffoon and repay them for their hospitality with laughter. Later the band played a special song for us and we had to go on stage and dance, which was good for another audience giggle. Amy and her cousin had given us a couple of tickets for the drawing and they were determined that we should win a gift basket. The MC joined in and teased us about calling our numbers (I quickly memorized my number in Malay since it had a 6 in it) but we made it clear we didn’t want to take a basket from a legitimate winner. This was their once-a-year festival after all and they all seemed to relish the thought of winning.

At the end of the evening we headed back to the lodge and around midnight we retired to bed. About 2 minutes after turning off the light, we heard a knock at the door and a male voice saying “hello?” Pearse answered the door in his shorts to see 7 people standing in the hall, led by the MC himself who had driven all the way from the village and climbed up the mountains of stairs just to present us with a gift basket. It was a little awkward but we were blown away at such kindness and Pearse thanked them profusely (I was hiding in the bathroom). We were simultaneously thinking “Wow! How generous!” and “What the heck are we going to do with all this stuff?”

The next morning, before we left for Beaufort to catch a bus to Kota Kinabalu, we asked Amy to help us with the basket. We showed her all our bags and explained that although it was a great honor to have “won” a basket, we didn’t have much room, so we divvied up the cookies and soda pop, keeping a tin of biscuits for ourselves. Then Amy, her cousin, the driver and his wife piled into the van and drove us to Beaufort, about an hour away. They found us a minibus and we all said our fond goodbyes. We tend to be very reserved people and it usually takes a persistent strong personality to force us outside of our comfort zone and I’m glad we found that at Tempurung Lodge. We had a wonderful, unexpected time at the village fair, and once again we were awed by the generosity of spirit that was shown to us as guests.

The Tempurung Seaside Lodge was beautiful with just a few flaws – mostly the bugs. We had ants in the room, which is par for the course in most of Malaysia, but unfortunately these were the biting type and at night there were tons of flying insects attracted by the lights, both doors to our room were covered in bugs and it was uncomfortable to read or even converse because they were flying around any room with a light on. It was also expensive in backpackers’ terms at $55 a night (room and board for 2) but definitely it’s worth it if you are not on a tight budget.

P.S. There have been requests for more pictures of me (I have no idea why) so here's a gratuitous one: Me