Borneo

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Kota Kinabula, Malaysia (Borneo) October 11, 2010

Just what the doctor ordered, - - after multiple plane rides, sightseeing bus rides, a beautiful place to rest, relax and recharge the batteries. We are at the Rasa Ria Shangri-la Resort Hotel. The Conrad in Tokyo was impressive but it is a city hotel, here there is a good size Jacuzzi tub on our balcony, lounge chairs etc. this should give one some idea of quality of the rest of the accommodations. In addition the staff is very friendly and helpful. The hotel is located about ½ hour away from the city in 400 acres of natural and landscaped surroundings part of which is a wildlife reserve for raising orangutans and re-introducing them to the wild. On Sunday the 10th we visited the reserve. I have to say that the young orangutan that appeared for a feeding put on quite a show climbing and swinging thorough the trees. However I understand that our show was definitely topped today when 2 orangutans made an appearance as one was swinging by close to the platform where people were Taking pictures all that fruit must have got to it and it let go sending people scrambling. Since it had missed the people with its first deluge it now urinated and had more success. How does one top this for a show?

We also did a city tour on the 10th, visiting a Heritage Village with different examples of the types of houses the different native people had. The finishing touch was to be a test of our bargaining skills on the local handicraft market. Mare and I got a little diverted and ended up first in vegetable portion of the market. For those that like hot peppers if you visit this market you will see more hot peppers than you can imagine, next we ended up in the fish portion of the market, which is not a good idea on a hot day. By the time we found the handicraft portion we were in no mood to try our bargaining skills since we were still trying to recover from the smell of the fish market.

If anyone gets a chance to visit his hotel or area I recommend that you take advantage of the opportunity.

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Photos

Lobby Music
When we arrived there were some dancers there to greet us plus local music which is quite pleasant

View from our balconey
I took this shot early in the morning

Orangutan
This fellow put on quite show for us

Orangutan
A full grown orangutan has a reach of about 8 feet

Orangutan
The orangutan was quite affectionate with this park ranger

Orangutan
This guy had Tarzen beat

Native House
There were 4 different styles of houses. One common feature was to forget about privacy

Skulls
in Borneo the hill tribes would take the heads of their enemies and hang the skulls in their homes. This was to show their courage and it helped to attract the females in the tribe.

Canopy
After viewing th orangutan we continued climbing up to the canopy near the top of the hill.

Mosque
This is the most expensive mosque in Malaysia. That realy is gold on top of the dooms. It can hold approx 9,000 people. The larges in the city will hold 12,000

Beach
Taken from the top of the canopy

Night Fishing
I don't know how much power would be required for all thoise lights on top of the boat but it would be more than a durcell battery could provide

Comments

[Maureen Bird-Graper]

Green with envy
I am here in Ajax, ON .... it is dark and rainy. I just finished looking at the beautiful pictures and reading your blog. Yes...I am green with envy. However, I am really enjoying the trip through your eyes. Thanks for doing it. Say hello to Brenda Bergen and give her our love.

[Kelly McCague]

Beautiful
Wow, your hotel is beautiful, I love the view! And the monkeys are so adorable. And, wow... Mom truly impressed with the swimming, those are some long laps. I'm sure that Mom and Dad at least 100! That's how much you both rock!