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September 28th 2007
Published: December 3rd 2007
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King of the Malaysian JungleKing of the Malaysian JungleKing of the Malaysian Jungle

At Sepilok Oang-Utan Rehabilitation Centre, Borneo Malaysia we saw these apes, and they characterise Malaysia as a whole living amongst the rain forest and palm trees. Just thinking....Relaxed and deep in thought, and inspirational pose, maybe we should learn from this ape!
Day 277 to Day 289 (21.09.07 - 02.10.07)

South-east Asia has certainly grown on us, and have been really enjoying the culture and history-rich continent as well as the cheapness and the food!

Malaysia is a hassle-free country (unusual in Asia) which is rich in diverse landscapes and multi-ethnic foods. It has technology crazy shopping malls selling cutting edge goods and an incredible mix of peoples and lifestyles. Malaysia consists of two distinct regions: Peninsula Malaysia is the long finger of land extending south from Asia and is mostly covered with dense jungle, and Malaysian Borneo has two jungle filled states with extensive river systems.

'Malaya' achieved independence in 1957, followed by periods of instability and only became Malaysia as we now know it today in 1963, thus it was interesting to be there for the countries 50th anniversary. The population is made up of a number of different ethnic groups - Malays, Chinese, Indians, the Orang Asli (original people) and the various tribes of Sarawak and Sabah with most people, 85% living on the Peninsula and only 15% living in the jungle-encompassing Borneo. Despite Islam being the state religion, a combination of Christian churches, Mosques and Chinese
Sepiloc Orang-Utan Rehabilitation CentreSepiloc Orang-Utan Rehabilitation CentreSepiloc Orang-Utan Rehabilitation Centre

here's where we watched the orang's munching away and playing for hours!
temples fills the landscapes and for the most part they co-exist harmoniously although loyalties remain strong, and slowly a single Malaysian identity is becoming stronger. The people of Malaysia are different in some ways to others in Asia, they drive on the left, their plug sockets are of the British style (3point), and they all speak English, if only a bit, yet on the other hand they are much the same as people in Asia in that they stare at foreigners (well we can’t really blame them, a seeming giant and a red head!!) they don't mean to be rude, we learned they just can't help it! It just takes some getting used to!

Borneo Malaysia



Leaving Indonesia behind, we flew AirAsia to Borneo - our reason for being was to visit the famous Orang-Utan Rehabilitation centre at Sepilok where we got in to the adventurous spirit of Borneo, sailing down remote jungle rivers, looking for wild orang-utans and pigmy elephants and diving in the clear blue marine-full waters. For the first few weeks that we were in Borneo Malaysia, we couldn’t help noticing that Malaysia is full, literally full of palm trees, not surprising as
King of the JungleKing of the JungleKing of the Jungle

In his own time, this fella swung through the canopes in his own time, clearly he owned the place!
palm oil is their biggest export and were in the jungle most of the time!

Sabah



The Malaysian Borneo province of Sabah is home to Orang-Utans, lush rainforests, giant sea turtles , some of the world’s best dive sites, the world’s largest flower - the rafflesia, the world’s largest cockroach, countless species of birds and butterflies and some 50 different tribes. It is also the world’s 3rd largest island and because of its location, Sabah shares more with neighbouring Indonesia and The Philippines than it does with Peninsula Malaysia. Rich in natural resources and the largest producer of palm oil - one of Malaysia’s main industries, Sabah contributes as much as 30%!t(MISSING)o the countries GNP yet only 5%!o(MISSING)f the countries profits are handed back to the area making it the poorest of Malaysia’s provinces.

The northern state of Sabah has acquired a grand reputation by nature and animal lovers thanks to the Orang-Utans, Proboscis monkeys, Pigmy elephants and crocodiles that roam the banks of the remote Kinabatangan River and the profoundly beautiful underwater world of Sipadan.

Sepilok Orang-Utan Rehabilitation Centre



This Orang-utan rehabilitation centre is world famous for the
Feast for allFeast for allFeast for all

challenging the Orang-utans for food were the Macaques, who were quick and clever, but knew their place despite their cheekiness!
work they do to protect, help and release wild orang-utans back into the wild. Orang-Utan’s which means ‘man of the forest’ are of course our closest relative having 96.4% similar genes and it was amazing to see up close how similar we really are. With the loss of their habitat due to huge palm tree plantations, the illegal hunting and animal trade the orang-utans here are forced into contact with humans making them especially vulnerable to our diseases. The rehabilitation centre takes on young orang-utans that have been orphaned or abused as they cannot survive in the wild without their mothers for the first few years. Here at Sepilok, before proceeding into the rain forest, visitors must first watch a BBC video portraying the work that is being done in this area to retain them and release them into the wild. Not all the apes have success stories, as some of them have grown too attached to humans, others carry their traumatic experiences forever and never feel safe, but for the most part, the orang-utans return to the wild after their rehabilitation and never look back. There are those who are somewhere in the middle of this process, and have
Best job ever!Best job ever!Best job ever!

these locals certainly had great jobs, working with and being in close contacts with the orang's all the time!
been released into the wild, but often come in to the feeding station, where visitors stand merely 10m away watching these amazing creatures feed on fruits and sugarcane.

Kinabatangan River



Next we were deep in the jungle surrounded by wild orang-utans on a river adventure, where we spent a couple of days roughing it in the creepy and stuffy jungle, on the search for wildlife where we saw trillions of monkeys, including the rare and unusual proboscis monkey - with a very different outlook on what is attractive in a mate concerning noses....the bigger the better is the way that this species of monkey has developed. Each male is either part of a bachelor group of 10-15 males or has a harem of up to 10 females, making interesting observations from the river below!!

Cruising up and down the Kinabatangan River looking for life in our little motorboat with our guide, we saw so much life inc birds, croc's, pigs, spiders, snakes, and monitor lizards, to mention just a few, it was an action packed experience where we just didn’t know what to expect next. After some local cuisines at the home stay, the locals
Family funFamily funFamily fun

Whilst his mother stocked up on the free fruit, her baby and his brother/uncle tossled and teased each other - a right scene and amazing to watch
explained to us how they live their lives around the river and the problems they often have with their neighbours - like the pygmy elephants who sometimes bulldoze their wooden huts. Unfortunaely we were missed seeing the world’s smallest elephants by just 2 days, who pass in groups of 200 or more up the river three times a year, we did try to track them following their poo for a few hours on one trek. Amongst the rainforest terrain alongside the river however we experienced leeches that were almost overbearing in the rain season and the humidity!

Pulau Sipadan



A tiny island 35km offshore from the main land of Borneo, regarded as one of the world’s best dive sites was a place we nearly missed had we not heard other travellers talking of Sipadan, one of the top 3 best world dive sites! We stayed on the tiny postcard perfect island of Mabul for a night in a little wooden hut on stilts, which in all its simplicity was really homely and the women prepared delicious marinated fish. The island was stunning and overwhelmingly full of kids running around barefoot and carefree all over the island who
Treking along the Kinabatangan RiverTreking along the Kinabatangan RiverTreking along the Kinabatangan River

Part of our jungle adventures involved a 4 hrs trek in the Malaysian humidity through the dense rainforest - so being hot and sweaty was only the beginning of this experience....lwith eeches, spiders and many more bugs to watch out for!
were desperate to get on film!

Sipadan is the top of a limestone mountain that rises 600m from the seabed. To the eastern side of Sipadan, a scant 25m from the shore there is a vertical wall 900m high full of incredible marine life and perfect for diving as the current drags you along it. The morning we went out diving, before we had even got the 20km to the island of Sipadan, as it was 6am and the sun had not yet risen, we luckily saw millions of flying fish darting away from our passing boat - these are incredible fish that burst up from the water, expand their fins and glide with the waves often for quite a long time and can easily be mistaken for birds. We also on this short boat ride whilst we were all putting on our diving gear saw a school of dolphins, probably more than 30 of them really quite close to our boat, there was apparently whales in the area too at this time, so even before entering the water we knew that Sipadan would be a dive sight to remember! We dived at three very different points on Sipadan,
Agitated ScorpianAgitated ScorpianAgitated Scorpian

Our guide, on this night trek, kindly educated us on how a scorpian looks just before it will sting you by purposely making it angry.....then he handed it to Christian to hold!!!!!
one wall drop off, a current round the corner of the island, and a deserted underwater oil rig. It truly was the best diving we have encountered so far, amongst the magnitude of fish and colourful coral we saw were hundreds of turtles, and nursery, white and black tipped reef sharks but we narrowly missed the hammerheads. Probably the most incredible thing was the dark cloud that suddenly passed over head whilst we were at 20m; a school of 2000 barracuda fish, maybe even more were circling above us just a meter or two away, as we all stopped short and hovered to watch them in complete fascination, our dive master blew bubbles underneath them and the group dispersed momentarily before reforming their solid structure - it’s a good thing Sipadan is now a World Heritage Site, as we hope to go again sometime!

Being a protected world heritage sight, it is not possible anymore to stay on the island of Sipadan, today only a few locals and the Malaysian military resign here. Back in April 2000, when there was a resort on the island, 20 tourists were grabbed by gunmen and taken to the Philippines where they were
Smile for the camera - my scorpian and me!Smile for the camera - my scorpian and me!Smile for the camera - my scorpian and me!

Deep in the Kinabatangan jungle, Borneo Malaysia, we went on a night-trek with a local guide, who spoke little english - with our tiny torch light we could see very little in the pitchy dark whist scrambling over tree trunks and through bushes - so when the guide handed over his friend......Christian was happy to join in......just a shame Kate was freaking out, shaking too much and so couldn't get a good photo of the moment!!
held hostage for nearly 5 months, since then there have been a few more incidents that have resulted in the island being closed to overnight guests - piracy is still active and of concern in the waters of South East Asia. One night whilst we were staying in our house-on-stilts on the nearby island of Mabul, 5 armed army men with .... guns in hand invaded the house to have a “chat” with the family who owned the home stay, apparently they were looking for Filipinos who they believe are living out here illegally.

Peninsula Malaysia



Flying over to Peninsula Malaysia was like entering into a different country all together, far more modern and westernised as well as a combination of skyscrapers and palm trees we saw how Malaysia has trouble unifying as one country. Moving on, though we’d loved to have had time to see more, we have just less than 3 months left at this point and want to see as much of Asia as possible, we travelled up north up through Malaysia from Kuala Lumpur to Penang. Along the way, the bus ride was actually really interesting, (not just the scenery and the
A Bizzare bugA Bizzare bugA Bizzare bug

One of the nocturnal's in the Kinabatangan jungle was this wierd and womderful bug - we just didn;t know what to make if it, but its one of the best bugs around!
random stop-offs once again ) we passed through very lush terrain, with palm trees everywhere and random mountains dotted around looking rather out of place, it was really beautiful and probably full of wild life, we never imagined how green Malaysia was going to be!

Kuala Lumpur



Malaysia’s capital is a city of trees and skyscrapers balancing a modern metropolis in a jungle landscape. The more humane of south east Asia’s mega cities, Kuala Lumpur is easily navigated and great for indulging in western ways. Comprising of shopping malls, eateries, cinemas and bowling alleys, KL is very colourful. We split our time between China town and little India, eating our way through their delicious menu’s and markets.

Though they can be seen from anywhere in the city, we went to see close up the Petronas Towers, the world’s second tallest skyscrapers - a steel and glass monument brings together traditional Islamic symbolism with modern sophistication and is even more beautiful by night.

Butterworth



We took a slight detour on our way, an absolute must - to stop off at a town in Northern Malaysia called “Butterworth” - ever since a Malaysian
Fishing on the Kinabatangan RiverFishing on the Kinabatangan RiverFishing on the Kinabatangan River

Never one to miss a spot of fishing, Christian unsuccessfully whiled away some hot ours fishing in the strong current river!
lady who we met in Australia told us about this town, we knew we had to visit it, maybe we would be treated as royalty (wishful), we thought - however we have to say we were a bit disappointed, as it was not as exciting as we thought! Butterworth is a fair sized town in Malaysia and it acts as a transport-hub for buses, trains, and boats in the port for transport coming and going in-between neighbouring Thailand and the Malaysian island of Penang. Therefore, there was not much to see, it was an industrial town built for the purpose of transport. From what we could find out (which was not much) when the British had control, in Penang, a man named Butterworth must have come across to mainland Malaysia and created this town, naming it after himself, we know he was British, but that is all we know unfortunately, we did not meet anyone who could tell us more!

Penang - Georgetown



From Butterworth, we took the ferry across to Penang, supposed to be a lovely little island, full of colonial old streets and a decent beach too. The weather however took a turn for
A wild Orang-Utan!!!!!!!!!!!A wild Orang-Utan!!!!!!!!!!!A wild Orang-Utan!!!!!!!!!!!

we were soo happy and lucky to be able to see a truly wild orang-utan living freely in the Kinabatangan jungle, though there were probably more around, we spotted just this one, it was incredible!!
the worse, and the moment we got there the heavens opened and it did nothing but pour down for the whole 2 days we were there, so we couldn’t do much sight-seeing. It had a “Little India” full of the Indians who migrated here, and all their Indian restaurants - we had 2 delicious curries here, much better than we get at home, and so cheap, a nice change after all the noodles and fried rice we have been eating. We had originally planned to go to some other Malaysian islands after this, but the weather up here on the north western coast of Malaysia was looking like rain for the next two weeks, and as there wasn’t much else to do but lie on the beach, we changed our plans and set off for Thailand!!!







Additional photos below
Photos: 31, Displayed: 31


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Noses: the bigger the better for the Proboscis monkeyNoses: the bigger the better for the Proboscis monkey
Noses: the bigger the better for the Proboscis monkey

these unusual looking monkerys roamed the trees along the Kinabatangan river along with many more monkeys, but they caught our eye rather more often - with their pot bellies, huge noses and large red willies!!
An agressive short tailedAn agressive short tailed
An agressive short tailed

we are not sure what angered this large male monkey, but he had a violent temperment, we watched as he shook the tree he was sitting in with so much force that the other 10or so monkeys fell from the brances and one large branch fell off and came towards us - a real display of manliness!
Monitor LizardMonitor Lizard
Monitor Lizard

the second biggest lizard after the komodo dragon, the monitor lizard was ever present along the banks of the Kinabatangan River!
The HornbillThe Hornbill
The Hornbill

rare and delightful to see, the hornbill has a world of its own high in the rainforest, we were lucky to see this one!
View from our window - Mabul IslandView from our window - Mabul Island
View from our window - Mabul Island

From our wooden house on stilts, we had this view of the sunset on this undeveloped, paradise island
Mabul Island - Malaysian sunset viewMabul Island - Malaysian sunset view
Mabul Island - Malaysian sunset view

the sunsets here were incredible, set off by the very local feeling to the undeveloped island life
Our homestay Mabul IslandOur homestay Mabul Island
Our homestay Mabul Island

in the morning the sea went right out to reveal the corals, and in the evening the sea came right in, a very natural place to live on the sea!


3rd December 2007

Wind of change - Scorpions
Hello guys. Love the scorp pic. Very brave indeed. Missing you guys and cant wait for february!!!! Love you both. xxxxx
5th December 2007

hey guys! looks amazing, bring me back a monkey!! be good to see you when you get back. take care. sim + amber

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