Day trip for Dirty Girls

Recently we took a trip out to explore the natural beauty of the Kota Kinabalu area - we sailed out to Pulau Tige, the location of the first Survivor series. One of the attractions of this beautiful island is of course, the volcanic mud baths. Sorry if you were expecting something a bit more exciting based on the title...

 After walking along the excessively long dock where we'd left the dingy we met a group of Chinese who seemed to be heading in the same direction, with the help of a couple of local guides. We bravely entered the jungle first, and began the slightly uphill hike. Plenty of monkeys were jumping from tree to tree ahead of us. The Chinese were laughing and squealing at the monkey antics, or the bugs in the air. Wanda (on the boat just for two days) froze as a loud rustle came from the bushes.
'What was that?!'
Everyone stopped to listen and scan the area around us. The Chinese girls edged slightly closer. Everyone was thinking of all the scary animals hiding out in the jungles of Borneo.

Of course it was only a huge monitor lizard slowly ambling out from the bush and across the path. No reason to panic, then.

When we got there, the guide from the other group showed everyone how easy it was to slip into the mud  - and managed to make it look very graceful.

Our resident geologist identified the mud as 'clay with bits in'. The crewbie, Petrina, comes from the States (the part where they eat road kill for Christmas dinner - Minnesota).

Sitting in the mud was a peculiar sensation  - I've floated in the Dead Sea, but this was different. The mud is so dense that it's really hard to get your feet to touch the bottom (it was only a metre deep). Also the mud was so thick it didn't move much - you could lie back and be completely supported and have a nap if you wanted - you wouldn't move unless you intended to. Who needs memory foam?

While we were sitting there enjoying the very faint smell of sulphur we all had another scare as a large bubble of gas rose to the surface. There was a bit of a 'whodunnit' moment, until we figured out it was a natural part of the volcanic baths.

The only downside was the amount of stuff floating around in the mud - something would be touching your arm and you'd freak out that it was a leech/worm/creepy bug and then realize it was only a leaf! Eek. Mosquitoes were the only insect around (that I found!). We hung out there for a while - one of the guides kindly gave me a nice back massage and helped me rub the mud onto my face.

We made a less graceful exit, as the mud was incredibly slippery. It was safer to risk the unknown creepy crawlies on the ground rather than attempting to wear shoes for the walk back. It became slightly harder to maneuver as the mud began to dry and crack on our bodies. I felt like my face was frozen in a smile from laughing so much.

Me, Wanda and Petrina

At the beach we jumped into the sea and washed off the mud from our soft skin - an excellent spa day in a much more natural and beautiful environment!