borneo
Borneo was never really on my radar, but it popped up while researching possible cycling destinations in Asia and sounded intriguing. I hadn’t even realised it was a single island made up of 3 different countries until I started looking more closely at it. Mum and I decided on an 8 day cycle tour starting in Kuching, in the Malaysian part of Borneo.
Kuching is a cute riverside town with colourful shophouses, interesting architecture, and great food. Our tour kicked off with an afternoon riding around the city to get used to our bikes, we visited a mosque, tried some local street food, enjoyed an amazing sunset then finished with dinner by the river. We ended up essentially on a private tour, as no one else had booked the same date as us, so for the next 8 days it’d be Mum and me plus our cycle tour guide and support vehicle driver.
Early the next morning we loaded our bikes and bags into the ute and drove to a local forestry reserve, where we hopped in the saddle and headed into the park to try and find orangutans. I think I’d imagined we were going to see them wandering around in the wild but it turned out to be more structured, starting in a big staging kind of area we waited (with dozens of others) and waited, but no orangutans. Then one of the rangers got a call that they’d been spotted in the forest somewhere nearby and so began a single-file traipse towards them, people were walking so painfully slowly that I’d started to lose confidence in seeing anything, but lucky for us they were still there when we arrived. One ranger was feeding them some fruit so we got to see a mum, her baby and a teenager skilfully catching and opening coconuts and bananas and swinging between trees, they’re pretty awesome animals.
Back on the bikes and we got stuck into a long, hilly ride, with the tough uphills rewarded by some sweet downhills. We stopped about every 10km for cold drinks and snacks from the chilly bin on the back of the ute, with the humid and hot conditions this was always a welcome break. The roads were pretty quiet with only the occasional vehicle passing us, and we had mostly rugged jungle and mountain surrounds, it was a great first big ride. That night our accommodation was a homestay in “longhouse” in a small village, we ate lunch with our hosts (ginger soy chicken, rice, veges, stuffed eggplant), then headed to the stream for a cool off. Later in the evening we got a tour of the village, including the “head house” where they had a bunch of relics including skulls of former enemies, we were informed that those traditions are no longer partaken in but they like to keep them around as a reminder of the history of their tribe. Another delicious meal for dinner, this time including a local chicken soup made by stuffing water, seasoning and chicken into a bamboo pole and leaving it to sit over the fire for a few hours, plus some local rice wine.
After a good night’s sleep on a simple mattress on the floor we farewelled our hosts, jumped in the ute and headed up the road to begin the kayak portion of the trip. We paddled 12km down a pretty nice river with jungle spilling right down to the edges and limestone mountains peeping up. We finished the kayak trip with a swim in the river then lunch and a shower at the kayak company’s base. This day had kind of a packed schedule so we had barely finished eating before we needed to jump back in the ute to head to some huge caves. We walked up into the caves and took a speedy look around before starting our cycling for the day, already well into the afternoon at this point. After we’d been riding for a while I spotted a tall multi level yellow pagoda appearing up ahead, thinking to myself “wow that’s stunning, I’d love to stop and take a picture” I was hoping Mum and the guide (who were perpetually ahead of me thanks to Mum’s eBike) would be ok to wait for me. Turns out I needn’t have worried as they were stopped right outside it. I assumed that they’d stopped for photos but then was told “we’re here” i.e. the pagoda was at our accommodation! We were to spend the night at a huge buddhist temple complex, a rare opportunity only available to us because the father of the owner of the tour company we’d booked with is chairman of the local buddhist society. We rode through the complex marvelling that this was where we’d be sleeping, the rooms themselves are where visiting monks stay, and were like a standard basic business hotel, but the grounds were awesome - filled with ponds, statues, temples and gardens. Sadly it was already dark by the time we got to our rooms so the exploring would have to wait til the morning. Dinner was a local market, with tons of stalls selling a huge range of Asian cuisines so we enjoyed tasting a bunch of things and washing it down with local beer - I love how food and drink tastes so much better when you’re physically exhausted.
The next day we got up early to explore the buddhist complex in the light of day, such a special place and we felt so grateful to have had the rare chance to stay there. A long day in the saddle lay ahead of us but I felt like I was finding my cycle legs (and butt!) a bit and it was an enjoyable level of tough. My favourite parts of the cycling were when we found ourselves on back roads through villages, in palm forests and on country lanes, anything with minimal vehicles and a slow speed limit. Lunch was delivered to us at a riverside park and we enjoyed rice and curry after cooling off with a swim. We ended the day at a wildlife “sanctuary” which wasn’t what we’d imagined and felt more like a zoo sadly, we saw Sun Bears, orangutans, porcupine and hornbills (the state bird of Sarawak). Apparently before covid the cycle tours used to sleep at the sanctuary but on the first trip back post-covid they realised the sleeping quarters had been neglected, were a total shambles and basically it wasn’t fit for guests anymore. So we had to jump in the ute and drive to the alternative accommodation they were trying out, it was one of the strangest places I’ve ever stayed. A huge conference style hotel in a tiny village, the reception area was a totally open space where I assume once upon a time they hosted events, but which was now looking a bit sad and derelict. We were the only guests rattling around in this huge building and the whole thing felt like the start of a cheesy horror movie. The village was so small that we had to drive a wee way away to find dinner, which ended up being at a kind of outdoor pub/restaurant/live music venue spot. Breakfast the next morning was the absolute highlight of this odd stopover, where we ate at a small local shop (kopi tiam), the noodle soup was amazing and the milk tea was delicious which set us in very good stead to get back in the saddle for the day.
We’d started heading more towards the coast by this stage, the ride was a bit flatter and also included a river crossing on a car ferry at one stage. We stopped for lunch at the biggest town we’d seen in days where we found a food court and topped up with more noodles and iced tea. We also had a stop at a small honey farm where the owner and his sister came out to say hi and let us taste their very unique flavoured honey and check out the hives (where I got covered in non-stinging bees, not my most enjoyable moment). The long bike ride finished up at a beachside resort with a swimming pool which felt very luxurious in comparison to our recent stays, and we immediately made a beeline for the pool to try and cool down. We also had a swim in the ocean but it was uncomfortably warm in the water, so we didn’t stay in for long. Dinner was more yummy noodles and we downed a couple of ciders while we played cards and enjoyed the beach views.
Our last day on the bikes took us mainly along the coast, on fairly quiet roads. We were supposed to catch another car ferry across a river mouth but the tide was too low so we jumped in the ute and headed around the long way. We made a stop at a local market for mum to try (and enjoy!) Durian then we cycled to a waterfall for lunch and a cool off. The ride ended at another coastal resort, where we also had a pool waiting for us and weirdly (despite being just up the road) the ocean wasn’t too warm to swim in. The next morning we headed back to Kuching in the ute and were taken for Roti Canai at a great spot, where I ate my fill of flaky roti and tasty curry sauce and mum had “the best indian meal of her life” (a filled Thosa). The afternoon was spent chilling by the pool (again), very much in post-bike-ride recovery mode. In the evening we did a river cruise, a very relaxing (although extremely touristy) way to see more of the city and nice to do it at sunset. The last part of the cycle tour was a big finale dinner that they’d arranged, so we met back up with our guides and headed to a seafood food court for dinner, then they took us to a bar to try the local beer 1602 (too much like IPA for me) and the owner of the tour company joined us too.
With the tour officially over we had just half a day the next morning where we did some shopping, had a last swim, then headed to the airport. We had one night in Kuala Lumpur on the way home to Hong Kong which was spent in an airport hotel, ordering room service and watching a movie in our dressing gowns.
We cycled about 220km in total during our time in Borneo and both Mum and I held up very well considering the damn hot weather we did it in. Mum’s eBike meant she destroyed me on every single uphill, I occasionally passed her on a downhill where I was braking a bit less then she was but generally I was bringing up the rear in our little cycling trio. It was such a great way to see this part of the world, get to know the culture and people a bit more, and work up an appetite for all the good meals. I loved Borneo, the people were so kind and friendly, the food was incredible, everything was cheap as chips, and it was very safe (we never once locked the bikes!). If I did it again I’d try and customize the trip route to reduce the time spent on roads with cars driving fast, cram a little less into some days, and switch out a couple of the accom options but despite all that I’d still highly recommend cycling in Borneo to anyone looking for a bit of an off-the-beaten path adventure.
