The first thing you notice when you arrive in Borneo this time of year is the warm breeze that compels you to shed the heavy clothing you were wearing when you boarded a plane in Taiwan. The current monsoon season brings the breezy summer-like weather to the city of Kota Kinabalu, the capital of the Malaysian state of Sabah, where conditions are milder than the unbearable humidity of a typical summer day in Taipei.
Malaysian Borneo is a popular destination for tourists from Taiwan and elsewhere because of its near consistent year-round 30-degree temperature, its lush rainforests, coastal mangroves and unspoiled beaches. Developers here have been careful to not disturb the beaches to preserve the coastline's feel of an "untouched paradise."
Towering above the capital city is Mount Kinabalu -- at 4,095m it's the tallest mountain in Southeast Asia. For the more adventurous, scaling the mountain is possible for anyone in-shape enough to trudge up the slope. Mountain climbing experience is not required. It takes about two days to complete the climb, and accommodations are provided on the mountain.
Another main attraction of Sabah is its diving and watersports. Situated just off the coast of Kota Kinabalu are a cluster of islands that collectively make up Tunku Abdul National Park, where novice to experienced scuba divers can see the coral reefs and various species of fish in the shallow, clear South China Sea.
The largest of the islands, Gayana, is home to a resort that styles itself an eco-tourist destination. Here, visitors can learn more about the reefs they've explored while scuba diving or snorkeling at the Marine Research and Rehabilitation Center and Museum. The straw-roofed beach house accommodations on this island hover over the ocean on wooden stilts, which sway slightly in the tide, giving the sensation of being out at sea. Vacationers here can take a kayak trip around the island, try windsurfing, snorkeling or scuba diving, or just relax on the white-sand beach.
About 64km southwest of Kota Kinabalu is the island of Pulau Tiga, home to another eco-tourist resort. The uninhabited end of this island made a name for itself as the site of the first season of CBS' reality TV show Survivor.
The allure of Borneo is also heavily connected to its rich cultural diversity. Sabah is perhaps one of only a few places in the world where people from several different ethnicities live together in relative harmony. "Malaysians are proud that different cultures can live next to each other," says tour guide Louis Lee, an ethnic Chinese. "I like knowing all kinds of people. I'm a Christian, but my parents' neighbors are Muslim, and we are all friends."
At just over 50 percent, the biggest ethnic group in this predominantly Muslim country is the indigenous Malays, who together make up 32 subgroups that speak over 80 dialects. People of Chinese origin account for about 20 percent of the population, and the remainder can trace their roots back to India.
Chinese traders came to Borneo in the 10th century, exchanging ceramics, jade and other commodities for plants, medicinal products and exotic birds coveted by China's emperors. Early records indicate the Chinese began to settle along the north coast of Borneo, now modern day Sabah, around the 14th century. In the late 1940s, a significant influx of Chinese immigrants came to the island as the Nationalists and their supporters fled communist rule.
Much of the region was subjected to Western colonial expansion in the 19th century, and Sabah is no exception. In 1882, a Briton named Alred Dent established the British North Borneo Chartered Company, and with backing from the British Crown, set out to administer the northernmost part of Borneo. Sabah's new masters, however, did not go unchallenged. Several indigenous tribes rebelled against the British, but few rebellions amounted to little more than temporary skirmishes that were eventually put down -- most brutally.
Colonial influence began to subside shortly after World War II. British North Borneo gained its independence in 1963 and joined the Federation of Malaysia later that year.
For those who can afford it, Sabah offers world-class hotel and resort accommodations that feature some of the finest beaches in the world. Each resort has its own golf course, and one or two-day golf trips are popular with Taiwanese, Korean and Japanese tourists.
One such place is the Shangri-La Rasa Ria hotel and resort. The 400-acre resort is carved out of a space where the rainforest meets the sea, and is approximately a 30-minute drive from Kota Kinabalu International Airport. Room rates at the five-star hotel range anywhere from 500 ringgit (NT$5,000) for a standard room to 960 ringgit (NT$9,600) for an executive suite.
The resort features two swimming pools, a host of bars and restaurants and all the trappings of a luxurious tropical vacation: para-sailing, horseback riding, rainforest hiking, island tours, kayak lessons and seaside activities like beach volleyball and soccer.
The Shangri-La also boasts a 64-acre wildlife refuge that it runs through a partnership with the state government. The refuge takes in young orangutans from all over Sabah that have been made orphans by inland logging or illegal hunting. The refuge's rangers work with them and teach them to fend for themselves so they will be able to be released back into the wild. In the meantime, the resort holds daily viewing tours, where visitors can get a close-up glimpse of the animals.
Whether it be for wildlife tours or for island hopping, Taiwanese tourists visit Sabah by the thousands each year. Over 73,000 Taiwanese came to the island last year alone, making the Taiwanese Borneo's largest tourist market by nationality. Those numbers dropped off significantly in the wake of last month's tsunami.
Sabah's billion-dollar tourism sector, its second-biggest industry, was hit particularly hard by group-tour cancellations and hotel-occupancy rates in Sabah plummeted. The Sutra Harbour -- another five-star resort -- saw its occupancy rate fall by as much as 40 percent in the days following the devastating tidal waves that wreaked havoc in a dozen countries in Southeast Asia.
Most tourism officials agree that misinformation and tourists' ignorance of geography were to blame for the decline in tourists. Although 65 Malaysians died in the tsunami, all of them lived in western part of the country on the peninsula that borders Thailand. As Borneo is a few thousand kilometers to the east, it was wholly unaffected by the destructive waves.
"People who thought the tsunami struck Borneo ... you can see who passed their high school geography class and who failed," Carina Toh, senior sales manager of Shangri-La's Rasa Ria Resort says, half jokingly. "Tourists were jittery, but we just told them that the eastern side of the country wasn't affected."
The perception that the tsunami affected Borneo in general and Sabah in particular is ironic, given that the island is famous for not being subjected to earthquakes, typhoons, or tsunamis. The conspicuous lack of extreme weather or seismic activity has earned Borneo the nickname, "land below the wind."
Tourism Malaysia has since launched an aggressive international advertising blitz in order to convince tourists that Borneo was, and still is, a safe place to vacation. To hit home the message in its biggest market, Tourism Malaysia invited Taiwanese media to the island to see how safe it was for themselves, and also to see what Sabah has to offer.
Tourism officials also invited Japanese, South Korean and Chinese media to the island.
"We're hopeful the [tourists'] fear will die down soon," Fauziah Binti Likun, an official with Tourism Malaysia, told Taiwanese reporters over a dinner of fresh seafood. "It's a very safe destination ... we hope people will stop worrying."
Sabah:
Land area: 17,600km2
Population: 1.7 million
Capital: Kota Kinabalu
Languages: Malay, English, Mandarin, and dozens of indigenous dialects.
Flight time from CKS: 3.5 hours
Price: NT$20,000 for a five-day, four-night group tour. More expensive during holiday seasons.
Visa: Taiwanese require a visa to travel to Malaysia
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