A DAY IN MONTORIA

25th February 2018

Some may have heard and some may not. It's a new hiking trail anyway, just opened for visitors last year around this time. It is located in Kota Belud and is about 2 hours drive from the city center. Believe me, it is totally away from the busy city but that doesn't mean that it's not keeping up with modernization. The people does, but the nature...? They are incredibly preserved. 

 Yessir! This is where we went to lose ourselves again but managed to come back intact. Aura Montoria is what they called it. It's where you'll find lots of unknown plants and weird rocks, I mean large rocks, like LARGE! Uh... Maybe huge is more appropriate. 

I've watched a documentary about this Borneo island once,  I don't remember if it's a Discovery Channel or something, but it was said that Borneo was once a 150000 years old inhabited island before the sea level decreased and connected it from the mainland. Then, at some point the sea level raised again therefore isolating this island from the other lands. The treasures on this island remained untouched for another thousand of years.  If you really been around this island, you can see the evidence of these thousand years legacy. This place is one of the many things that remained. The unexplained existence of the large rocks, the diversity of wilderness, creeping insects and rare plants and herbs. No leech, thanks God. 

The locals lived around this place for quite some time before it was opened for foreign visitors in early 2017. Since its close to the village, you will see lot's of agricultural activity along the way. Mostly rubber estates and orchards. The organizer is quite friendly and kind, we even get to eat pineapples from their farm and some wild fruits, it's fresh and sweet. 

Do you like water? Yes! Of course there is the white water river for you. You can soak, swim, dive from a cliff and even row a bamboo raft. It's amazing!  Ah!  Yes. Who likes fish?  They allow the visitors to swim with the fish and feed them, but don't catch them. They're part of the nature. 

Stopping to fill our bottles with the mineral water. The water is certified and ensured safe to be consumed by a research team. I am still kicking and alive as a proof to that. The water is cold enough to quench your thirst and prevent dehydration on a hot day in case you run out of drinking water. 

Super durable hiking shoe made of  rubber. It last longer than any good brands out there. It's what we prefer to wear every time we stomped on the muddy, rocky and slippery trails. 

FYI this is not a cave. It's just a tall tree with passage at its base. It was roughly 7 feet tall and 2 and a half feet wide. Huge innit? 

Resting and having lunch at the last check point. We were thinking of dipping into the water but later decided to lie down and rest our tired feet before hiking our way back. 

Last but not least, let the pictures do the talking. 

I could have put all our pictures here but it will consume a lot of space because there were tons of them. So just enjoy these few memorable pictures at the moment.