Kuching (pt 3)

It seems like we've been here forever in Kuching as the weather has been tropical to say the least so it scuppers any plans to move afield or set up day trips into the hinterland.
In our last installment, Kath had contracted a leech that was caught mating passionately with her leg. We were concerned about infection to the leg and I proposed the best thing to do was to amputate the leg below the knee to prevent the spread of any jungle fever. Kath seemed to agree to the idea in principle but when I produced my Swiss army knife we soon realised it was indeed not sharp enough  to carry out said task and having watched that film where the guy in America gets his arm trapped while canyoning and has to chop it off to release himself,  I remembered he had tremendous trouble hacking through the bone so we decided to leave it to nature and luckily Kathy made a full recovery. Hurrah!

BoatyMcboatface's very unstable cousin.

  The rain comes down in buckets here and it can rain anytime. In between it is blistering hot sunshine and the nights never dip below 25c. It could start sunny and hot, you go out for an hour and then its lighting, thunder following by biblical rain down pours, Noah will glide by in the ark then the clouds will part and it will be back to a hot sunny day or it could rain non-stop for 2 days and everywhere gets flooded which happened more often unfortunately. To combat this we would hang out in the air conditioned shopping malls like naughty school kids playing truant from school, just milling about buying nik naks, scoffing McDonald's and KFC, playing on these electronic massage chairs which they have everywhere,and going to the cinema. We went to see Stephen Kings 'IT' which was O.K. to kill a bit of time as it was just over £2 a seat so a bargain. There is no nightlife here and all the bars are dead. We did find a nice bar around the corner that played decent music on and off and they sold super strength beer so we used to do our washing at the launderette then go and get merry on a few drinks while waiting for the dryer and washing machine to do their thing. It actually made me look forward to doing the washing!

Tiddles suspected the Whiskers had been tampered with.

  One day we hired a taxi to take us to the Cat Museum (yes that is correct, a museum dedicated to cats, entrance photo above) and when we got there we were informed that it was a public holiday and the museum was shut so had to pay double fare to end up where we started. It's amazing how many public holidays they have here. I counted 27 a year. Not a bad deal really. We tried again next day and this time it was open and to our relief contained not one stuffed cat on display but an eclectic array of feline associated paraphernalia which was bordering on surreal to say the least which was entirely funded by the Malaysian government which was even more surrealist.

Cathole cover

 I should explain though that Kuching means cat in Malay and was named by the British when we landed here to claim the lands of Northern Borneo and was actually a mix up by being lost in translation between the languages and was not called Kuching at all but the name stuck and now the city embraces the name fully and exploits it when ever they can to attract the tourist dollar making roundabouts everywhere full of cats and even the manhole covers have cats on them!

Pussy galore!

It's a catastrophe!

   Another highlight was getting one of the traditional wooden boats to cross the river which are very unstable and when a particularly large local boarded the boat it banked over in a sprightly fashion and we thought we were going for an early bath in the murky water until Kathy's shriek of terror alerted the rotund lady in question which made her correct her stance and balance the boat out with her shifting mass. There was also an orchid center which was disappointing and some other drab buildings not worth a mention but the Sarawak museum was a gem as there was a whole section on how the nasty British came over and basically helped themselves to whatever they wanted and killed anyone who apposed them. It went on to narrate how awful it was under colonial rule as the British introduced all these new laws to stop all the in- fighting between the native tribes which had plagued Borneo for it's history. Those dastardly British sounded like very mean bounders by my reckoning and deserve being kicked out in 1957 when Britain gave Malaysia their independence. We made sure we signed the visitor book of course.....Daz+Kath from U.K.!
Next we have a flight to Kota Kinabalu,Sabah which is in northern Borneo.
 

Kuching Round 2 - Matang Wildlife Park

Well after a couple of nights roughing it in the jungle in Bako, we were sort of glad to be back to the comfort of our hotel in Kuching. Hot water, tv with Fox Movies, air con and not so many bitey things!
Kuching is in the Sarawak part of Borneo and is quite a developed place so it has it's shopping malls (low key compared to Kuala Lumpur), KFC and McDonalds. Where we were staying was away from the main tourist area so more low key which was good but for our taste in food it meant a 15 minute walk every night to get our dinner. Oh well the exercise is good! There isn't a massive amount of tourist things to do here so we decided to get a taxi to see more orangutans at Matang Wildlife Reserve. It meant about 1 hrs drive out of town so we ordered a taxi using our 'Grab' app.
Well, usual thing, the app notified us that the car was downstairs so in the lift, out the door and jump in the waiting taxi. Big mistake. This wasn't our taxi but an executive cab that somehow happened to be there and let us think it was our car! We were about 10 minutes into our drive when our mobile rang and Daz was alerted to the mix up. We asked the driver how much he would charge us and he came back with a price nearly 5 times more than the app quote. No way, we got him to pull over and drop us off, paying him 3/4 of what he demanded for the journey so far which made him quite animated and he kept saying 'rubbish', 'this is rubbish' waving the money at us  We laughed and wished him a nice day - poor man obviously needs a holiday!
At Matang, we started off at the visitors centre looking at the various stuffed animal exhibits on display including a creepy goggle eyed orangutan. We then walked through the animal enclosure area to see the crocodiles, Buffy Sea owls (one was enjoying a nice paddle in a pool!) and a Binturong (bear cat) which was worryingly pacing up/down probably thinking of an escape plan. Next up was some Bornean gibbons who took a liking to Daz making little squeaky noises at him (must be the long arms!) then finally the orangutans.

You looking at me/? What's wrong with my hair I've just had it styled!

Can you tell I work out? I used to be a male model you know....

Some of the orangs were in large caged enclosures which was disappointing - this place does rehabilitate them but we didn't see why these type of cages were a kind or natural way to keep them there. There were bigger walled enclosures with grass and wooden climbing frames for the majority of the orangs which seemed to house much happier animals as a consequence. There was also a large male who had been rescued as an infant, gone blind in later life then had a cataract operation at the reserve to restore his sight. He was kept on his own and just looked like he needed somebody to throw a rope ladder over the wall so he could escape and spend the rest of his life a free ape. Sadly, we didn't have a rope ladder.

River view on our trek at Matang

Camouflouge is the latest in tree fashion here in Borneo

After a seeing the animals, we went off for an hours trek in the nearby rainforest on one of the marked trek paths. It was very peaceful with lots of different flora, rivers and swing bridges to keep us busy. No encounters with any bitey/stinging things - or so we thought! We called our taxi guy who promptly arrived to take us home and we sat in the car tired/looking forward to a shower. My (K) leg started to hurt so I rolled up my trouser leg to apprehend the fire ant causing the problem, found it, squished it then on to the other leg. Woah! What's that black slimey slug thing on me? Urggh, a leech! I quickly let out a shriek followed by a karate style couple of flicks in its slurpy little face and it instantly fell into the footwell of the car. Tissue, leech and out the window! My leech love bite wouldn't stop bleeding so I improvised with some tissue and my sock until first aid could be applied at the hotel.

Bako National Park, Sarawak Borneo

Bako National Park is a protected area of untouched Borneon jungle surrounded by sea on 3 sides with no hotels, no shops and basic amenities and contains some unique flora and fauna including the elusive proboscis monkey as well as bearded pigs,the usual array of cheeky macaques, hornbills, slow loris,flying lemars,pit vipers, owls, lizards and a variety of bird and insect life. After a couple of days of heavy rain in Kuching we caught the local chicken bus to the park which was a grand total of £1.30 for the pair of us which took about an hour. It dropped us opposite the jetty where we paid our park conservation fee of 20myr (£3.60) each and bought our boat tickets (40myr/£7.50) as this is the only way you can get into the park as there are no roads and the jungle is too dense and the mountains too steep to walk. It's a bit like when they enter 'Jurassic Park' in the movie where everything is raw and exciting.

Jungle is massive

     The boat took about 30 minutes to get there but we had to be dropped off on the beach (above) as the water was too shallow to get to the jetty as it was low tide. We waded through the water nervous to the fact that there were salt water crocs in the area that had been spotted so we tried not to hang around in the water for too long in case we ended up being a tasty snack for them as the water was murky from all the rain previously so visability was poor and we were loaded up with all our food that we needed for the next 2 days.
     Luckily we made it to the beach in one piece where we were met by a local who advised us that some of the monkeys were laying in wait for us in the trees ready to steal our food stash so to be careful and hold the food close to our chest as they would snatch it if you let your guard fall. Again we avoided any confrontation from any primates and managed to get to the park headquarters unscathed.

Do not trust this monkey as he is an alcoholic trickster.

We had booked a jungle lodge for 2 nights so we could explore the park in more detail although it is possible to do the park on a day trip but it's a long day and can be a bit too rushed as most the animals are about only at sunrise and sunset plus many are nocturnal.
   We went for an afternoon walk into the jungle on our own to start with to explore but soon found the heat and humidity were energy sapping even though we are used to heat being here for over 6 weeks so have acclimatized accordingly. Another issue was because we were sweating so much the mosquito lotion we had on was just rolling off us so was useless. We made it to a monkey look out point but failed to see any wildlife after half an hour so plodded back to headquarters for a rest.
   After some dinner we signed up for the guided night walk with a park ranger. We did not expect much as what can you see in the dark? But we were really surprised as we saw a slow loris, pit viper, an owl, and a flying lemur as well as lots of weird birds that were sleeping in the jungle,stick insects,catfish, poison tree frogs, lots of big creepy spiders, and a bearded pig.

Mr bearded pig said razors were over rated.

    Next day we woke early and after breakfast left base in the cooler dawn air to walk into the jungle into a dense region where there was a waterfall where you could swim in the pools. It was only 2 miles each way but in the heat and the mountainous terrain it took us 2 and 3/4 hours to get there. The paths although marked well enough were challenging which made progress slow, trying to avoid flooded areas, river beds, massive tree roots and rotten bridges. When we arrived we had brought our swimming gear but on inspection the water was a dark brown colour so you could not see what was in it or how deep it was and we were not sure if it would have snakes in it or if it carried dangerous parasites. Anyway the heat was unbearable so I found a pool which seemed to be safe enough so went for a paddle up to my waist and sat in that to cool down. After a picnic lunch a few other people arrived which destroyed our intrepid explorer ambience but we got chatting with them and passed the time swapping stories. The trek back was never ending and now it was the afternoon so the heat was at its height of the day. Our water supply was dwindling fast so we had to preserve it so we would make it back which took another 3 hours. The only animals we saw was a massive woodpecker hammering away and a fairly large lizard who we spooked. Apart from that nothing. The jungle though was really impressive with a wide variety of trees and terrains.
   That night after dinner we decided to go for a sunset walk on the beach to watch the bearded pigs hunting crabs. Big mistake! We sat on a log and were bitten by sandflies relentlessly through our clothes. Poor Kathy had over 20 bites attained in the 30 seconds we were sitting there so had a very itchy nights sleep. I was more lucky and had only a handful on my arse. Even so we slept really well as we were so knackered from the day's walking.

Deadly pitcher plants (well deadly if you are an insect)

    Next day we booked a boat to take us back to the mainland but 1st went on another walk to a lookout out point to try and spot the elusive proboscis monkeys but even after a very sweaty 45 minute climb we failed to spot any from our vantage point. We had seen plenty of macaques though and even watched one trying to steal an ice cream out of a girls hand when she had her back turned to it! Luckily someone warned her and she was able to take evasive action before the monkey could surprise her. They were also partial to a beer and would swoop down off the roofs of the lodges and steal your tinnies if you left them on the terrace table outside and continue to party back in the jungle until the early hours with your can of Tiger.

Mowgli was not home when we called around.

   The tide was back in this morning so we got the boat from the jetty this time so the crocs had to do without breakfast that day. Now we headed back into Kuching as this turned out to be a good base for venturing out for day trips so we set up base back at our same hotel who were looking after our luggage. We  were disappointed not to see any proboscis monkeys but this is nature and the animals are wild so we knew this was always going to be a possibility so were not too upset as we did have plans to see them at other locations on our travels in the future.

Kuching, Borneo (Part 1/In Search Of Orangutans!)

We left Langkawi 6.9 and flew to the Malaysian part of Borneo called Sarawak.  The capital city is Kuching (which means 'cat' - the city was named this due to a misunderstanding with a Brit guy called James Brooke who sailed here around 1838 and helped the locals win an uprising against the Sultan Of Brunei and went on to become the Sultan Of Sarawak himself).
After a smooth flight of 2 hrs, a cheap taxi ride from the airport (thanks to our Grab app), we were deposited at our hotel. Our room was very comfortable with hot water, kettle, air con and Fox Movies on a flat screen tv!!!! For well under 20 quid too! Only thing was no breakfast so we had to buy some supplies and use our plastic bowls/cutlery to russle this up every morning which really wasn't any trouble.
We didn't do that much in the first couple of days as my knee was abit sore plus feeling lazy so we kept local and checked out the immediate area and the riverfront. We explored the Chinese museum and learned about the early Chinese settlers who came here as a result of the population explotion in China (one quarter of the Sarawak population is from the Chinese migrants from the mid 1800's to the early 1900's).  We checked out the only scooter hire place in town but decided to give it a miss due to the caveman like mechanics at work there. It started raining heavily and the weather was crap for the next day or so which put a hold on our activities. On the Saturday we made the effort to get up early and head to Semenggoh Wildlife Park to see Orangutans.
We got a taxi there as it was raining (took about 1/2 hr) and the park tickets were less than £2 each so not an expensive outing. We walked around under our brollies hoping the  rain would stop and not expecting to see any Orangs due to the weather. More tourists arrived all dressed in rain coats and ponchos and we all waited patiently for the warden to take us to the feeding area. We were rewarded with a clearing of the rain and the arrival of orangutans in the form of 2 females with their young clinging to their sides....

The apes were breathtaking to watch - they moved gracefully and surprisingly slow but they are probably just cautious of the human presence as they are wild animals (the park is a sanctuary for them so they live in the wild and only come in for feeding when they want to). We stood watching in awe for nearly an hour before the wardens asked everybody to leave as the park was closing.  Back at the shelter was a surprise in the form of an orangutan who was casually sitting on the floor looking at everybody (he went on to lay down flat and wave his arms up/down like he was making a snow angel!).

We couldn't get a signal on our mobile so we walked 15 mins to the main entrance hoping to get a ride back in to town. Luckily, a local bus was waiting so we hopped on board - the driver was some crazy 72 yr old guy who went around winding all the tourists up and boasting (not in English just in hand gestures) about his full head of hair (shame about his lack of teeth!). In was a fantastic day out and a memorable experience to see the orangutans.

Langkawi

We had read many a bad review on trip advisor on the fastboat from Penang to Langkawi so we tried to book a plane but as it was the day before their biggest national holiday prices were at a premium. So it had to be the boat. It was going to be a 3 hr journey in cramped and smelly surroundings according to trip advisor with people spewing up all over the place with sea sickness. But apart from the boat being an hour late the journey was good and smooth and we watched a film enroute which made it go quite quickly. No-one was sick and after a scuffle to get our luggage at the ferry port when we arrived all was good. We used the GRAB app that we downloaded in KL to the phone and bagged a taxi for a bargain price outside the terminal to take us to Cenang Beach on the other side of the Island to where we would be staying. The accommodation was really good with a fridge and a sofa so we could chill out with some duty free beers which we picked up for 35p a can. They also had litre bottles of Vodka for £5! By the way the whole island is duty free so after all the expensive beer we had been buying on the mainland you can guess what happened next once we found out beer was so cheap. They even had a machine at the hostel to dispense beers if you ran out or needed to restock the fridge which was often.

The banana boat was inches from penetrating her skull.

  The weather was outstanding, with blue skies and constant heat although it did rain most nights which freshened things up in the morning. We quickly hired a bike off the hostel for a bargain £3.50 a day and went into town to explore. We were staying just outside of the main area down on a quiet part of the beach which was stunning and the water warm as bath water and clear but in town it was dirty and crowded and the town itself scruffy and unappealing. It was good to get duty free beer and score some booze but apart from that it was charmless. We would often score some beers and go and sit on the beach at sunset and watch the hordes of parasailers in the bay whizzing around under the fiery sunset sky which made for some superb photos. Even after the sun had set you could sit there in the hot sand as it never got cold ever.
  Next day we set off on the bad motor scooter for the main attraction which is the skycab.  It is the steepest and the longest spanning in the world they tell us and the views were sublime on this clear day. We also walked the skybridge which shock around as people transversed it which made Kathy nervous as it was very high up on the limestone karst jutting out.

Paddy says to Mick  '"Do you think it looks straight to you?"

After we rode back down included in our ticket was some really cool rides as well, including a 3D museum. Then it was back on the bike up to the Seven Wells waterfall. The climb up through the jungle was hot as hell but on the way we saw lots of monkeys including spectacled langurs which are rare to sight in the wild. At the top there was bathing pools in the fresh flowing river so we stripped off (swimwear on not starkers!) and dived in.

Kathy always enjoyed using a squat toilet.

  Next morning we were rudely awakened by a massive noise coming from the roof of our room. We rushed outside to see a troupe of langurs playing on the roof. Also in the tree outside we had a gang of hornbills stealing fruit from the trees. A gang of squirrels used to hang about as well and when it was quiet they used to dive into the kitchen to scavenge for scraps and I used to startle them when I came in to make something for breakfast in the morning.

The otters won the stare out contest by a whisker.

 Next day we rode around the perimeter of the island seeing all kinds of wildlife including a pair of friendly otters, hornbills, lizards and monkeys, seeing beautiful scenery and waterfalls.
 In the evening we used to seek out some local eats away from the tourist strip and had excellent Indian curries and Thai noodle dishes with drinks for £3-4 between us for the whole meal. Then we would hit the beach for some beers and sunset views. On the last day though Kathy jarred her knee so had to rest it so I just maxed out by the pool while she rested it as it was one of the hottest days yet so could not be bothered to do anything. Overall we liked Langkawi although there is a lot of construction going on all over with McDonalds and Starbucks here now so it won't be long before it becomes just another concrete jungle around Cenang and spoiled but luckily the rest of the island is sparsely populated so there are plenty of pristine areas still to explore. Next we catch a flight to Kuching, Borneo.

The gay bar was particularly quiet this afternoon.

Penang (Georgetown)

Well it was hassle getting to Dabong and, you guessed it, hassle leaving it too! We decided to get the local bus which according to some locals may or may not turn up between 7.30 & 8am.  We sat waiting at the bus stop, just us and a cat who was probably thinking 'what are these stupid people doing here?'.  The train station was just across from us and we saw the 7.30am train arrive - very, very slowly and then sat doing nothing so we were keeping everything crossed for the bus making an appearance.  Sure enough, just struck 8am and over the hill came our bus!! We've never been so glad to see a rickety old bus but this was getting us out of this backwards town so on we clambered with all our baggage taking prize seats at the front with our new friend the driver. We passed through several small villages, saw some guy with a pet monkey on a chain (the new trend?) and in an hour we arrived at Jeli to connect with a coach to take us to Penang.
The coach was with Mutiara and was the best yet - a double decker with our seats on the top deck which were big comfy ones with leg room. Just as well because it was a 6 hr journey in the end.
Penang is very tourist friendly - lot's of things to do/see, plenty of restaurants including universal fast food chains (KFC/McD's) and a very handy free bus service around town.
Our hotel was in Georgetown and not far from the famous street art area, it was called Hotel Mingood but we renamed it 'Mingegood' for a giggle. It was a bit dated but our room had a kettle and fridge plus tv with HBO movies so we were happy enough.  Even better was the breakfast which included Cocopops cereal, eat as much as you like toast and, wait for it, MARMITE! Yes 3 big jars of it!! It also had an endless supply of Coffeemate sachets which we pilfered every day so we could add to our stash of tea/coffee making supplies.  After staying in alcohol dry Dabong, we were pleased to find we could easily buy booze here and chill it in our own fridge too!
We arrived a day earlier than expected because of how crap Dabong was so we booked an extra night at the hotel which we were glad of as it was going to be alot easier and more comfortable here.
We spent the first day booking our ferry to Langkawi (as we were due to travel on a national holiday so beat the rush) and looking around Little India/Chinatown.  The next day the rain came down so we didn't go out till the afternoon and took our trusty Nepalese brolly with us. We checked out the street art which is scattered around the old town, here are some pics.........

Daz was desperate to earn some beer money.......

Kath's netball skills came in handy.........

Daz became a kid again after a few sherberts

Dinner was mainly at a small vegetarian restaurant around the corner from our hotel which did a tasty buffet self service with most meals only costing just over £1! Booze could be bought from places all over town but wasn't as cheap as we hoped for so we shopped around and used our fridge storage.
One day we treated ourselves to a reflexology session which was done by blind Malaysians. Well, it was different........  We were sat in big reclining chairs with foot stools and in waddled 2 blind 'ladies' (although they weren't very lady like!).  Burp, burp, fart, fart, burp - whatever they had eaten was still alive and trying to get out obviously!!! As for the relaxing massage - no way, discomfort bordering on pain at times as they pummeled our feet for an hour.
We visited Penang Hill one day but it started raining and didn't ease up so we took shelter with some lunch (after first trying to walk up a road to some caves which had become more like a river!). The rain eventually stopped and we got on the funicular to the hill top with some great views over Penang. We walked around the forest road and spotted loads of giant black squirrels but no monkeys plus something which resembled a leech on the path (a hammerhead worm). We decided to leave as it was getting late and the queues to go back down on the funicular were growing.

It's big, it's black - it's a giant black squirrel!

Another day we visited the largest buddhist temple in Malaysia - at Air Hitam. It's called Kek Lok Si and involved having to walk through an alley full of tourist tat stalls (Kathy loved it!) until you came to a shop which had a small lift/car system you paid a few pence for to go up to the level where a giant statue of buddha awaits (called Kuan Yin). There was a tranquil big pond with loads of Koi fish in it so we bought some food for them but were so well fed (the fish not us!) that it was a wasted effort.  We took some pics then walked back down to catch the bus back to our part of town.  We did stop on the way to take photos of 2 giant transformers statues outside a pub called The Beer Factory (which was closed!).   Anyway, all good in Penang and after relaxing here for 6 nights it was time to move on.  Next stop Langkawi!

Kek Lok Si Temple, Air Hitam

Run for your lives, it's a giant buddha!!!!!

Hope he doesn't do an oil dump right now.....

Daztimusprime........