Mission Orang Utan!

A quick side note before I start; growing up I was ape about all things monkey. I had books, stuffed animals and a huge poster of a baby orangutan at the end of my bed. All grown up and mature (ha!) I had forgotten about my love until coming to Asia, the only place these primates exist. So we went on a mission to see the Orang Utans...

To say we were lucky in our endeavor is an understatement, a horse shoe up our tail pipe is more accurate. Our first attempt to see the ginger apes was at the Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Center. All orangutan's arrive at the center as orphans; are cared for and then slowly weaned off food and human contact until eventually the orang utan's just leave the facility on their own and go into the wild. One of the feeding platforms is open to the public and the ornag utans that come to feed are considered half wild. Before going to the facility we talked to other travelers many reporting seeing one ornag utan and the center does not grantee you'll see any as they  come on their own accord.

We attended the morning feeding and saw four orangutans! One, a younger ape, was curious and came really close. There were a lot of people trying to get his picture and I budged (normally I am more polite but certain circumstances require a little pushiness) my way to the front to get a close look, he was amazing! They stuck around a good hour either playing on ropes or eating the fruit provided. As if that wasn't good enough we also attended the afternoon feeding, there was a quarter of the people and a mamma orangutan and her baby showed up as well as a wild male (I would not want to tick this guy off, 4X stronger than a human male!) who was pursuing one of the center's females. Absolutely beaming from the whole experience we decided to try our luck at seeing these great creatures in the wild and headed into the jungle to the town of Sukau.

After arriving and luckily bumping into a lone traveler who needed two people accompany her on a boat trip we made a afternoon river cruise with an excellent guide. On the trip we saw rare birds and lots of macaque monkey's. We were thrilled to find a group of Proboscis monkeys and were even lucky enough to spot a male with his huge schnoz. These creepily human like monkeys are only found in Borneo. Content with all we saw we headed back to our hotel but our boat suddenly made an abrupt turn to the bank, up in the tree was an orangutan! He was making his nest fort he night and we saw his long arms reaching up to grab branches. Further down the river a mom with her baby! Our guide says he takes real enthusiasts days at a time with no luck so we struck the jack pot with this one.

Now remember what I told you about the horseshoe.  We did a second boat trip early the next morning, content with all we saw the evening before we were just happy to be out on the water.  What we say was Proboscis monkey closer than our guide had ever seen them, a four meter black and yellow croc (not the season to be seeing crocs) and....wild elephants!!!! When our guide started laughing and told us there was elephants in the trees I though he was joking, no way we were that lucky. But sure enough, in the trees was a wild pigmy elephant and her baby. It was amazing we, loved it and couldn't wipe the smile of our faces the rest of the day. We left the jungle to the city of Sandakan and to wind down from all the excitement we enjoyed high tea at a cafe overlooking the sea.

R  (Don't forget to click photos to enlarge...hidden elephant!)

KL & KK Malaysia

Next stop was the modern city of Kuala Lumpur. Upon arrival we felt it was a new country as the city and its building are ultra modern. Our hostel was run by a young gal who quickly let you know upon arrival that she was the boss, so do not talk, do not collect $200, and go directly to jail. The hostel itself was very pleasant in a vibrant part of town. Once again we ate some terrific food, splurging on some great sushi (affordable too!). We weaved our way through the night markets lining the streets. Renee and I both picked up right away that most of the “internet cafes” were only internet cafes in the front room, with the back rooms taking on a more “exotic” roll. We couldn't understand why they kept refusing us use of the computers when many were clearly available, but then it all made sense.

In the morning we jumped on a airplane headed to Kota Kinabalu (on Borneo Island). The flight was dirt cheap, on a brand new AirAsia – Airbus. We quickly found out why the flight was so cheap as they put twice as many seats in the airplanes here (asian size). Seats in a full and upright position and my knees were still up in my ears. Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is split between Indonesia and Malaysia. We found the Island to be great fusion of the people and food of Indonesian and Malay.

After exploring KK we boarded a bus headed north into the jungle. The jungle hostel was one of the best we ever stayed at. The rooms are an open air concept with big screens as walls (to keep the bugs out). The jungle is all around you with bugs crawling on the screens by the millions, but they couldn't get me. Ha 

COLIN

Georgetown to Cameron Highlands

With one day left in Georgetown we headed out in the rain to the Kek Lok Si Temple which is the biggest Buddhist temple in Malaysia.  Influenced by several different sects of Buddhism the temple feels like an explosion of culture that landed one on top of the other on a hill.  We made our way up through the labyrinth stopping to add a wish ribbon to a wishing tree and were greeted at the very top by a massive Goddess of Mercy staring down at us.

seems slightly contradictory

not quite sure how these guys fit in

 Moving from the muggy city streets of Georgetown we traveled to the quiet, cool ranges that are the Cameron Highlands. Exploring the small town we were delighted to find a festival going on not far from our hotel.  Noticing a stage with drums and microphones set up we asked if and when there was live music, 8:00pm we were told, perfect.  We arrived early to get seats but little was being set up on stage so we asked, 8:30pm.  OK, walked around the festival had a snack got our seats,at 9:00 an MC starts talking over blaring music. 9:30pm we find out that there is no live band but instead we are treated to a karaoke competition; awesome. We only lasted three contestants before throwing the towel in and heading home for the night.

vintage Mercedes taxi cabs!

We have spent four days here in the highlands and visited a large tea plantation that we explored before sitting down to enjoy a cuppa of their fine product.  We also hit up a butterfly and bee farm which were interesting enough but felt like a bit of a ploy to get you into their gift store.

Today we awoke at the crack of dawn to beat the heat and went on a hike.  Talking to locals and tourist who have returned to the area we found out that the government has given up maintaining trails using the money instead to develope more agriculture.  As a result the trails are not maintained and few if any tourists explore them.  I was afraid we'd be lost without a machete but it wasn't too bad.  Our main onsticles were fallen trees and slippery sections from the uncleared decaying leaves.  Colin tackeled the slippery slopes fine while I had less finesse (read bruised backside).  The view from the top was a A+ and we took a different trail back seeing only one other hiking party on the entire 4hr hike.  We topped of the day by having afternoon tea at a different plantation, it was a touristy spot but the tea was so good we really didn't give a hoot.












R

Northern Malaysia

Upon arrival in Kota Bahru we quickly noticed things were run differently here. The provincial government is run by the PAS party which adheres to strong principles of Islam. Examples would be no alcohol can be found Anywhere and the lineups at the grocery store are segregated for men/woman/couples. It makes for a strong cultural experience with mosques on every corner. We attended a free cultural experience performance which turned interactive as you can see in the photo with Renee staring on the drum! We were also shown how to play the Malaysian "marble game". I played the locals, and won of course.

Within our Hostel, Renee quickly made a 3 foot little buddy who draped off her for hours (see photo). In Kota Bahru the number 1 attraction is the "food night market". Oh man, it is very very delicious!! No forks or knives here...eat with your hands of course. When you haven't practiced your whole life, eating rice with your fingers takes some time and patience, but we managed to get every last grain. 

Rat Attack

A side attraction at the market is the cats and rats. Funny to see the giant rats chasing the cats; reverse roles. I was photographing the big guy in the photo below, when he bolted at me headed at my feet. There was a loud sqweal then I jumped out of the way. I didn't know rats squealed like that? Renee later informed me the rat didn't squeal; it was me doing the squealing. None the less I survived the rat attack.

Next stop was Georgetown where our arrival was a bit late as our bus blew a tire inroute.  Luckly where the bus came to rest was 100m from a tire shop, so it worked well. Georgetown was a major stop for the boats of the major spice trade for 450 years, so as you can imagine the food is incredible!!! Our first meal was a Malaysian/Indian curry fusion which lit your hair on fire, but was soooo good. We also treated ourselves to a local specialty dessert (Gelly noodles, crushed ice, palm surgar, coconut milk and red kidney beans!) Sounds crazy, but it is good. We finished the day off with several many many beers with a some Germans and English tourists. Many laughs and good stories.

Critter Encounters...

We have made our way into Malaysia and after a swift border crossing and nascar style bus ride we traveled to the island of Tioman.  The island has a scattering of hotels and small villages and we spent most of our day hanging with the critters of the sea.  We snorkeled among massive urchins, colorful stingray and even a few Nemos!  The hotel we were staying at was right on the beach and we had one of the more, um, ‘rustic’ rooms.  It was all we really needed but had the great touch of being able to see through the floor boards and wall panels and was equipped with an air conditioner that had an operating system that made us feel we were launching the thing into space each time we turned it on.  At night there was little to do so we spent most of the time on the beach watching the seagull size bats swoop from the trees for their dinner and large crabs diligently dig their homes for the night. 

 From one lazy beach to another we headed back to the mainland and to the town of Cherating.   Home to some serious alternative livers and a good handful of cats, we hunkered down in a little hut just off the shore.  Other than soaking in the very warn sea surf a main attraction in the area is a night boat tour to see the local lightning bugs (Fireflies).

Before heading out for the boat tour the very enthusiastic tour guide gave us a little talk on the bugs, why they glow (mating), what to expect to see, why we need to conserve them , etc and then as an almost after thought he requested that no one please put their hands in the water as there are very poisonous snakes hunting just below the surface.  But don’t worry he said it is very safe and we have for you a life jacket. The life jacket brought me little piece of mind as I felt it only transformed me into a floating entree for the waiting snakes below.  But once on the water I (almost) completely forgot of what lurked below as the guide waved a special amber light that attracted the fire lies and they came drifting from the trees over towards our boats.  With a clear sky they reflected in the water and it was like something out of a fairy tale.  We were told we could catch them and when we did our hand lit up as they crawled around us, really really cool.

 We had a final critter experience when we got back to our hut to find the biggest roach I ever did see waiting to greet us in the bathroom.  Why is it that roaches run towards us? It was big enough that when Colin finally got a bucket over the lightning speedy thing I was sure the bucket would start to move across the floor, luckily it stayed still and we got a solid night sleep before we headed to the northern town of Kota Bahru.  

R

Singapore (Part 2)

Renee and I settled into a terrific hostel for our remaining 2 nights in Singapore, squeaky clean and newly renovated. Although we stayed in Chinatown, the subway system in Singapore is absolutely incredible allowing us to pop up out of the ground anywhere in the city within 15 min of leaving the hostel. We had to change our ways a bit in Singapore because it has “Rules and Fines” for Everything! The rules are clearly laid out everywhere you look, littering ($500 fine), taking a sip of pop on the train ($1000 fine) - I had to confiscate beverages from Renee on several occasions to avoid Subway fines. J-walking ($1000) – A daily occurrence in Indonesia for us. The list goes on.

We were busy bees visiting the Asian Civilization Museum, Historical WW2 museum, and made the 8 km walk through all the parks and green spaces of Singapore which are continuously connected through the middle of the city. We went during the heat of the day, so the trails were empty with the locals retreating to the air conditioned malls and restaurants.

A noticeable trend in Singapore is they like to Shop and they like to Eat. There are literally thousands of restaurants and street food stalls in the city, and they are busy all day. We couldn’t figure it out, so asked some locals why. They simply said that in Singapore there isn’t a “meal time”, we just eat when we feel like it…5 or more small meals per day. The food stalls are called “Hawker Food” and that is where you find the hidden gems. Wait in line a few minutes, pay your 3 bucks and Walla, some of the best Asian food you could imagine! (Chicken Rice is a local and now our favorite)

During our journeys we also entered the brand new Marina Bay Sands resort which is a mega destination which makes Vegas look like child’s play. It is the most expensive casino resort in the world housing the world’s largest atrium casino with 500 tables and 1600 slots, 7 celebrity chef restaurants among 43 other restaurants and a 150 m infinity pool on the roof of the 3 hotel complexes. Another stop was the Raffles Hotel which is the original fancy hotel of Singapore and the originator of the “Singapore Sling” drink. We went into the bar to order one up, but took a pass realizing the hefty price of $25 per drink. 

We now find ourselves in Malaysia after completing the fastest, smoothest land border crossing ever.

PRICES

Hotel: $22/pp

Meal for two: $6-$12

Bottle Water: $0.50

Beer: $3.00