Cat city, Borneo

Fiddler Crab
see all photos »

Very hungover from our antics the night before we prepared to get our first flight in eight months!! Yes we were taking our second budget airways flight on this trip, mainly because it's virtually impossible to get from Pennisular Malaysia to Island Malaysia any other way. However we booked with AirAsia to Kuching, Sarawak and it was cheap and very, very comfortable.

We nearly fell over when we got off the plane it was so hot, so chickened out of getting the bus into Kuching so we used the fantastic coupon system again and got a taxi to a guesthouse we'd been recommended. Once we checked in, we ate some instant noodles and crashed out for a few hours. Revived, we wandered around the town a bit in the dark and had some roti.

The little one acted just like a naughty little boy

Mudskipper
see all photos »

The next day, bright eyed and bushy tailed we headed off to the cat museum. Oh yes, Kucing means "cat" in Malay so the city name, Kuching is derived from there. We expected the museum to be full of kitty kitsch and we weren't disappointed, however there was some interesting facts and figures and it was much bigger than we thought, and free!  After that we wimped out, went to Pizza Hut and got the bus back to Kuching. Then we went to the Sarawak museum (also free) which was very interesting. Gorgeous woodcarvings by the Idan people, one of the ethnic groups of Borneo. We also saw some blowpipes which was very intriguing as I've watched many nature documentaries and seen them used!

Hermit crab
see all photos »

The next day we headed off to Baku National Park bright and early to see if we could spot the Probiscus monkey. As we were registering at the park HQ, we saw a macque monkey. We headed off on our trek and pretty soon could hear the screeching of monkeys, sure enough, trees were rustling and we spotted a large probiscus monkey. They're very odd looking and very difficult to take pictures of as they don't really stay still. Pretty difficult also when you have a new camera that you can't work yet. However I switched to manual focus and did much better. It was very cool to see.

Fiddler Crab
see all photos »

Then we wandered back to the beach area - on the South China Sea. There we saw hermit and fiddler crabs, baby mudskippers and big ones and also lots of lovely shells. I was very excited having seen this sort of thing in nature documentaries and finally seeing if for real!

The next day we headed off Semenggoh National Park which has some interesting gardens, there's a bamboo garden, a wild orchid garden and an ethnological garden comprising of important plants for various ethnic groups which they use for research into the plants and their uses. However the main reason we were there was to see the orangutans. The Park is also a rehabilitation centre for captured or orphaned orangutans. Some of them have been rehomed into larger areas, others remain living in the forest where food is laid out for them twice a day. They may turn up to eat, they may not. The day we were there they didn't turn up in the morning, it's fruit season so there's plenty to eat in the forest. However we waited for the afternoon feed (getting a lift into the nearest town for lunch from a friendly Malay man) to see if we could spot some. Firstly we saw a mother and her baby. They come quite often apparently since it's easier to feed the little one that way. The little one acted just like a naughty little boy. He grabbed food off his mother and wouldn't stay still. It was amazing to see them eat coconut which is one of their favorite foods, judging by the glee with which they picked it up and whacked it against a tree to break open. The baby especially loved the milk inside and once he'd finished he upturned the shell on popped it on his head. He moved around too much for me to get a picture of that, but I got one or two of them anyway.

Adult Mudskipper
see all photos »

Then we went to another feeding platform and after about 15 minutes we could hear a lot of noise further off in the forest. At least one orangutan was on its way. They pull the younger trees down, bending them right over so they can latch onto the next one. They make a lot of noise and are easy to spot as it looks like a localised hurricane is passing through with all the rustling and tree-bending. It was amazing to see them move through the trees and the different styles they had. There were two males, one was cautious and dived straight for the food, stylishly using a vine to slide along to land on the platform. The other was much more circumspect and he nipped in and back to the safety of a very high tree. We could have watched them all day.

Orangutan and baby
see all photos »

The following day we went to the Sunday market which actually starts at noon on Saturday and goes on till noon Sunday. It was really interesting as many delicacies from the jungle are sold, such as ferns and edible maggots. There were so many fruit and vegetables that we'd never seen before. There was a real mix of Muslim and Chinese foods too. We wandered about and chatted to some stall owners who were very friendly. The Malaysian people are really lovely.

In the evening it was the start of the Chinese Mooncake Festival, which was on the street right outside our hostel. There were loads of food stalls and Chinese Dragons and dancing and singing. We were passing one guy singing (Cathal dubbed him Chinese Robbie Williams) and he grabbed us to come with him and we all swayed to the music, getting photographed by some very excitable Chinese people. Funny, we had lovely food, weird Durian (a spiky fruit that smells like onion) mooncake and various odd drinks.

Wild Orchids, Semenggoh NP
see all photos »

Our time in Borneo is almost finished, we fly back to KL tomorrow and we're hoping to head to Taman Negera National Park before getting the train through the jungle all the way to Singapore.