Bus to a tree house

After leaving the Step In Lodge (and eating some more Roti at Devi's Cafe) we walked to the public bus station in KK and had our first public transportation experience in Malaysia.  We needed to take the public bus to the private bus station for ride to Sepilok.  The public buses in Malaysia are definitely not the most well funded ventures around.  Buses seem to be scheduled by how many people want to in the direction the bus is going after a certain amount get on then it starts going.  We were pointed towards the bus we needed which had two young Malay guys leaning against it.  They told us we pay later (1.5 RM per person).  The bus we got on was about half the size of a bus in Taiwan or Canada and had to be at least 30 years old.  Several people climbed on with us and the bus was ready to go in no time.  We sat down and a moment later an old man sat in front of us.  As he did he reajusted the very large machete that he had strapped to his side so that it did not hinder him.  I could not help but remember this was the land of the head hunters at this point.  The bus got underway without incident and one of the young Malays who had been leaning against the bus came around to collect fares.  The ride itself was great, especially with the wind blowing through the windows.  When ever we drove past bus stop the young man would lean out the door and yell at the people standing or sitting and if they were interested they hopped up.  The bus would start rolling again, always before the young man was back on the bus (he hopped off to let them on).  The old head hunter got off the bus before our stop, for which I was grateful.

The private bus that we took to Sepilok was quite a bit more sleek than the one that got us to it.  Only air conditioning as Nancy noted in disappointment (no way to open the windows).  The journey itself was a little depressing.  Malaysia is a booming economy, but part this has to do with two not so nature friendly things: logging and palm oil plantations.  And we sure saw evidence of this.  While logging may be dropping off, it has left lots of open space for Palm oil plantations.  After we passed Kinabalu national park, Palm oil trees were almost the only vegetaion we saw. Before that though, in Kinabalu Nation Park we did see a lot of evidence of preservance of nature and the mighty mountain Kinabalu was covered in green as far as its cloud covered top.  The ride was also motion sickness inducing.  Knowing this they passed out barf bags when we entered the park.  The lady in front of us filled 3 (we were fine ourselves).

The bus dropped us off at "Batu 14" which means mile 14 apparently (14 miles from Sabah's second largest city: Sandakan).  We were told to call our accommodations from there but there was a dearth of phones about.  Fortunately a man stopped his car to offer us some assistance.  After getting no answer on his cellphone he told us that it was not too far a walk (2 KM).  After a bit of a walk we arrived in what turned out to be a deer sanctuary and up the hill from that was Paganakan Dii where we were to stay.  Paganakan Dii was like a jungle retreat from the world.  The guy who greeted us told us that it was designed to be "like a treehouse".  I was reminded of Tarzan.  Our bunks were in an elevated dorm room, with hammocks and hanging chairs underneath it.  We got breakfast and a free ride to the Orang-Utan Sanctuary (which was why we had come to Sepilok) for 28RM each.  Plus getting to stay in such a place, it seemed like we were getting quite the bargain.  We fell asleep to the sound of the jungle through the screen.  It was probably the best sleep we've had since the Aqua Bella.