Labuan - Keningau - Kundasang

When I drafted this post I was in my daughter's place at Taman Amanputra, Puchong. Somehow the pictures were not properly re sized until I came back to Pasir Mas to complete the post. It is nice to be connected on the internet via Streamyx again. All these while my only connections was via the free wifi from the hotel I stayed in or from cafes when the hotel didn't have any. I will be posting the next part of my 730 km journey through Sabah. The next part will be as mentioned in the topic from Labuan to Keningau and on to Kundasang via Tambunan and Ranau.

Before we left home we playfully put Balkis in the car boot and she seemed to enjoy herself lying on the luggage.

Though we were at the Labuan Car Ferry terminal at 7.00 AM, the cars queuing up to board the ferry were long and there were many passengers queuing up to buy the boarding tickets. It was only by 8.30 AM that the ferry started to leave the pier. We reached Menumbuk Jetty at about 10.00 AM and we were soon on our way to Keningau passing by Kuala Penyu, Membakut and Papar. This was the first trip for my wife Fatthiyah but not for me, grand daughter Balkis and definitely not for our son in law Lokman who was driving. This trip was one of many for him.

Balkis was never stingy with her smiles and she always make every stranger around her reach for her.

We started to ride up to cross The Crocker Range, the highland dividing Sabah from the coastal region to the areas which the locals term as 'Pendalaman', the outback. We stopped at a small coffee shop as Lokman had to do a pee stop which was actually a ciggy stop for him. Most passenger vehicles and buses stopped here for the same purpose. The sight of many dirty stray dogs with serious skin diseases loitering around the toilet doors put me off and made me hold back whatever that was contained in my bladder to later. However, the sight of turtles and river terrapin being kept in a cut up plastic drum and a bus with a Kelantan license number caught my sight.

The river terrapin, tortoises and some kois were reared in a plastic tank as an attraction.

Further up we saw this sign indicating the misty zone.

True enough, we were soon shrouded in mist.

This slope once collapsed and a new road was carved at an even higher level.

Before cresting the Crocker Range I saw the sight of the sea separating the two islands of Labuan and and the bigger island of Borneo. I had to give this sight a miss as the road was too narrow to stop and take photograph. It was just too dangerous as most cars will be flooring their throttle to tackle the incline and those coming down will of course be cruising down at speed. On the way up we saw a coffee stop near the top of the range. I think it was within The Crocker Range Park whose park office was on the other side of the mountain.

When we reached 32 KM milestone Lokman slowed the car down to a stop. He then put the gear lever at neutral and released the handbrake. Though we were at a slight gradient sloping downward, we felt the car with the three of us moving backward. For our safety we couldn't have fun for too long due to the narrow road and speeding cars from behind. There was a dip behind us too making the cars coming from behind us to suddenly appear without us noticing it.

Lokman demonstrated the rolling motion of the water bottle. Is it an illusion?

The bottle did roll, but since this is a still picture, just imagine it rolling.

Parking the car on the road shoulder, we alighted and did the usual test of putting a bottle of drinking water on it's side, with a slight nudge the bottle full of water appeared to roll upward. I took some shots with my camera. With my mini DVD camera malfunctioning, I forgot to use my Olympus pocket camera or the handphone camera to record a video of it. While I was moving about taking photograph my foot hit a protruding stone on the road shoulder sending me sprawling on the roadside. Fearing for the safety of my camera, I held on tight to it and took the fall with my body. Lokman said I looked funny sprawling down on the roadside. The only damage was some scratches on my left hand knuckles, my left knee and a small patch of skin missing from my chin which bled. Hey a man love his toy so much that he would rather break a limb to save it.

We were in a hurry to pick up my daughter Azini whose last day at her teacher's college was yesterday and was now staying at a hotel in Keningau town. So we had to move on.

Keningau as seen from a hill before reaching it.

It was almost 1 PM when we reached Keningau town and after a few wrong turns we found Oriental Hotel where Azini was staying. Lunch was next on our agenda. Azini took us to a Malay food restaurant where we had sumptuous lunch.

Keningau town. This town is often saddled with water supply problem so most dwellings will have containers to collect water.

The folks of Keningau waiting for transport.

Azini had found out that the road to Kundasang our next destination via Tambunan and Ranau is passable and from previous experience Lokman remembered the scenic views we could have along the way. The route could save us a lot of distance as compared to having to go via the Kimanis, Kota Kinabalu way. Above all it would give us a glimpse of the other side of Sabah the other side of Crocker Range which I doubt I will have another chance again.

We left off Keningau immediately after Lunch. Since Lokman had been through this way before (He went to Tambunan) it was easy to get us on the correct road to our final destination of Kundasang. When we reached Tambunan we went into town to see how it looked. Being a Sunday, the town was eerily quiet unlike Keningau.

We looked for a restaurant called Ikmal. From previous trip to this town, Lokman came to know of the owner who was a Kelantanese who came here some 25 years ago. Most Kelantanese working around Tambunan will congregate here to be close to one another and feel at home away from home. Most Kelantanese feels meeting another fellow Kelantanese is like meeting a relative even though the feeling may not be the same when meeting the same person back home.

Somehow we thought the restaurant was closed so we proceeded on to Ranau. Only after we were on the way out of town that we realised that the restaurant was open.

Restoran Ikmal is operated by a man from Kelantan. Here is where the Kelantanese congregate in Tambunan.

Driving farther we came to a beautiful valley glowing with the golden colour of ripening padi. We stopped by the roadside because Balkis needed a change of diapers. Near to where we stopped we saw a lady doing the menial job of separating the padi from its stalks. The padi plants with the padi intact were cut at the base with a knife. I didn't check what sort of knife they were using. In our state of Kelantan we used the sickle or sabit. The serrated kind is the best as the serrated blade has a better grip when cutting the smooth surface of the padi stalks. The lady was helped by her son and another relative. I will not pass an opportunity to interact with the locals and such opportunity doesn't happen everyday.

The picturesque scene of a padi field full of ripening padi.

Crossing the low barb wire fencing, I went under the blue and orange plastic sheet used by the lady for shelter. The lady who was thrashing the padi to seperate it from its stalks was Julia Taraji. From her we came to know that the village was called Keranaan. She was a part time farmer as once a year she will be planting her plot of land with the crop for the family's consumption. Julia was a fulltime teacher at the local St. Teresa School. According to Julia, the padi variety known locally as Rayong is great to eat. Her 14 year old son Ronald was helping her with another relative by the name of Walter Minson. Julia was proud to tell us that Walter was the best student for the recent STPM trial exam at his school. Julia was teaching her children the art of planting and harvesting padi the way she was taught by her parents. How lucky her children and relatives could be as my own memory of doing the same menial job with my late parent is something that I will cherish for the rest of my life.

The sight of ripening padi is a beautiful sight to me.

Julia watched her son seperate the padi from it's stalk by beating them on the wooden bench with spaced out wooden rafters as Lokman looked on.

A padi house made of split bamboo wall. I believe the flooring is made of the same material too. This is where they store the harvested padi. The good air flow kept the padi well throughout the year.

After leaving Julia and her helpers to carry on with her task of harvesting the padi, we continued on our journey. Then we saw this signboard of Makam Mat Salleh, the legendary warrior of Sabah who fought the colonists. Since we overshot the junction on our left, we had to make a U turn. I wouldn't miss this place if I were a visitor passing by the place.


If you cant read the above written words let me write it here for you to read;
This plaque marks the site of Mat Salleh's fort which was captured by the North Borneo Constabulary on the 1st February 1900. During this engagement, Mat Salleh, who for six years has led a rebellion against the Chartered Company Administration, met his death.

Yours truly signing the guest book. I left LAISI's address hoping that somebody will notice it.

The road ahead to Ranau was still far. In all we had to cover 114 km from Keningau to Ranau. Some parts of the road were still being repaired. The going through these parts were slow but we still managed to drive through without any mishaps.

A section that once collapsed is now rehabilitated and passable to all traffic.

This is part of Ranau town.

While we were at Jhan Restaurant this boy took a few picrures of Balkis in her bee suit and showed her the results. I don't know if Balkis appreciated the effort.

The Ranau Mosque where we stopped for our prayers.

We stopped at a restaurant by the name of Jhan to buy some fried rice to take away for our dinner at the hotel in Kundasang which was some 25 kms away.

While entering the lobby of Cottage Inn's lobby, Lokman met a fellow staff from PML who had no luck in trying to get a room for his family. He didn't book a room in advance because he was banking on staying with a relative whom he didn't inform in advance either. It so happened that his relative went for a holiday too. Later we found out that he found a nice homestay for his family. Sometimes luck tend to give a person the better choice of things. After having our packed dinner of fried rice, I went to the hotels Restaurant for my first peek at the blogs on my Acer Aspire One netbook borrowed from my son Azrin in KL. Lugging on the over 2 kg Twinhead notebook seems to be a big load compared to the 1 kg Acer. I was too tired after the first day of travel and went to sleep early at 9.30 PM despite the free internet access at the restaurant.