Modus Operandi
We operate on a voluntary principle – unlike other tour agencies, our general policy is to not accept payment for our tours.
All we ask for is for the tourist to cover all our travel costs. For instance, we will share your meals and share hotel rooms with you. We will drive your rented vehicle (or wherever possible, drive you around in OUR cars) or lead you on walks. All we hope is that you will pay for them.
The rationale is thus - We believe that local knowledge is the best way to save money and simultaneously enjoy a tourist site to the fullest. Be it the cheapest places to eat (and we talk value for money, not sheer low prices), the cheapest car rentals, the most scenic routes, the most value for money hotels – we know it all.
We WILL pay our own transport bills TO the tour site in question; and for aspects of the tour involving individual costs, e.g. admission fees to tour sites, individual bunk beds in hostels, etc. we will gladly pay for ourselves. We only request that you help us defray as many collective expenses as possible - we offer our expertise and our transport to you – all you do is foot petrol bills.
We are travellers ourselves – I personally have been involved in budget backpacking since I hit my teens. We WANT to help you save as much money as possible – that is why we WILL foot individual bills ourselves, as there IS a financial stake in this if we don’t try our best to help you save money. We WANT to use our local knowledge the best we can for YOUR interests, to ensure you have the best holiday possible.
Tour Types
We focus operations primarily on the following 3 aspects:
- Member Expeditions
- Recci Trips
- Inbound Tours
Member Expeditions
The raison d’etre of our existence, and still the mainstay of our operations, as common sense would dictate it’s far easier to coordinate 5 Borneo-ans who only have 1 backpack’s worth of clothes than to coordinate 5 West Malaysians in different states to ACTUALLY fly over in the face of parental concern. Our goal is to keep our members on the go during the college one- or two-week breaks when flying back to Borneo is not economical; thus we strive to keep costs low, to justify to one’s parents that staying back is ACTUALLY cheaper. For that purpose, we maintain an extensive network of contacts all over West Malaysia, who always readily welcome us into their homes, and who we expect to reciprocate with a stay of THEIR own in OUR houses when (or IF) they ever come over to Borneo.
We’ve circumnavigated Malaysia twice, once with 3 filthy backpacks, we’ve done Tahan, pushed our stomachs to their natural limits in Penang, even popped into Thailand and Singapore; and we readily invite our West Malaysian friends to accompany us, whether to make up the numbers, as welcome company on more physically demanding trips, or just to save costs in a group. Of course, priority is still accorded to all you poor East Malaysians with no home to go to.
We also assist in Weekend Stays in KL or kawasan-kawasan yang sewaktu dengannya, utilizing our contacts in other KL colleges and huge web of relatives to the maximum to ensure no weekend in KL is a no-stay one.
Recci Tours
We consistently pop into towns and villages all over Borneo, experimenting ourselves with the public transport (or lack thereof) and road quality (or lack thereof) to these places, making sure WE try everything our tourists later do. We live with a local family (generally our own area reps), following them to pay the bills, do the marketing, settle parking tickets, hospital trips – all the info required to LIVE in that city. We LIVE in our host cities, our target being to be able to impersonate a local in the shortest time span possible.
MUG SHOT ONE: The Chief Executive Officer, in a rare business-suit free shot.
MUG SHOT TWO: Tourist (in tudung), with our 2 Area Managers who recci-ed Kuching – Ben (Labuan) and Michelle (Kuching). (Need I point out who’s who?)
Our recci tours are immensely successful – and exhausting – Ben and I got violently sick walking Kuching for 12 hours straight, 2 days in a row, preparing for our tourists’ visit the next day.
We also recci tour sites that have yet to be cornered by the big agencies, finding out how to get there and live ther e on the cheap, networking with friendly locals, families and transport providers. We leave the big sites to the commercial operators, preferring instead to extend our stranglehold on less popular or less travelled routes, thus when THESE sectors become popular and cut-throat prices are implemented, we still maintain our edge, and are able to provide pre-commercialisation prices simply because we have a PERSONAL, not a COMMERCIAL, relationship with the locals.
Previous recci journeys include Togudon Tambunan, Long Pasia,, the Rungus Longhouse in Kudat, Kuching Kayak, and the Bidayuh Longhouse Homestay in Anna Rais, Kuching.
Inbound Tours
The most recent addition to our operations, and the most satisfying. Our motto, as you will remember, is to boldly go where no tour bus has gone before, and we stick pretty close to that game plan. We DO handle all the kitsch tourist stuff, but we also take our people to places off the beaten track – in fact in most cases they request we EXCLUSIVELY do that.
We operate on a no itinerary policy – of course, there are activities where impeccable timing is imperative, but otherwise, we allow sleepins, abrupt revamps of itinerary, movies, one day breaks, you name it, we’ll change it.
The following are our most popular tour categories, all run by myself, with help from various specialist staff members:
- Food Romps: We take you weight-watchers on the horror tour of a lifetime, ripping our way through all the famous coffee shops of our cities, ordering one bowl of everything, one glass of everything, and sharing amongst our guests. Just imagine a buffet in a coffeeshop, with no refills.
- Whirlwind of Dating Spots: Done with great success in KK and Kuching, we drive you to a host of famous dating spots, where the breeze is charming and the scenery absolutely smashing. Stroll with your non-lovers down the famous resorts and beaches of Borneo, sipping a drink only available in these parts of the world.
- Wildlife Hunt: No, we don’t mean “hunt” as in “spear to death for lunch”. The proboscis monkey, the orang-utan, the elephant, and the quintessential Sabahan wild boar – no stone is left unturned. We are expanding into bird-watching tours soon, with the assistance of a Malaysian Nature Society member. In any event, we still operate our plant-watching tours with impunity, including the majestic pitcher plants dotting Trusmadi and Tambuyukon.
- Mountain Climbing: The exlusive preserve of the CEO. The mountain bug bit me at 19, and I’ve never looked back since. We take guests up the hardest, most horrendous mountains in Borneo, far higher than their wispy West Malaysian counterparts; and we regularly make a beeline for new mountains, easier mountains, for our guests’ pleasure.
- Survival and Jungle Trekking: One of our core activities, for other tour agencies, commercial or volunteer, don’t do this much – we ARE fully staffed by youth, mind you. Camping trips are regular and can be planned in hours; jungle treks a bit more tiresome, owing to the necessity of a local guide and certain permits, but given our vast network of connections with people in the field, we can do it quick.
- Watersports Extravaganza: Watch out for the onslaught, Borneo IS an island and water is never too far away. And when we say “watersports” we include river, waterfall, lake, and in one famous case, white water rapids as well. Come experience the white water rafting of the Padas River, or the REAL experience of headbutting the Pelagus Rapids up the Rajang River in a speedboat travelling to Belaga. Kayaking through mountain ranges and around islands, jetskiing, scuba diving in Sipadan, snorkelling amidst the waters of Langkayan – we have it all.
- Thrown into the Community: Another of our specialty tours. We involve you in a local community project, building playgrounds and basic amenities, running local literacy programmes, in collaboration with the Boys Brigade, whose community service tentacles extend over the most impoverished parts of the state. In a partnership with Habitats for Humanity, who have housebuilds every Saturday, you can participate in a novel programme – pitching in your lot to build houses for the poor.
- Culture Unplugged: Beginning with the kitsch of Monsopiad Cultural Village – The House of Skulls, we can take you on a whirlwind of cultures – there’re SO many to plow your way through! 32 races in Sabah and 28 in Sarawak – we can send you on homestays with a select few, experiencing their lifestyles to the fullest, soaking up their ways of life, and participating in their traditional lifestyle.
Whew.
So what more could you want out of a holiday? It does look like you’ll have to spend more time in Sabah and Sarawak, people.
