Rafflesia, Upside-Down House & Klias River

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I forgot to mention in my previous blog that on our way up to Mt Kinabalu we stopped by the roadside as one of the Rafflesia flowers was flowering. We paid the equivalent of 6 pounds each to walk a short way off the road to see the bloom which was about 60cm in diameter. Apparently it's the world's largest flower, doesn't have roots, stems or leaves but blotch red and white petals. It takes 9 months to mature but only flowers for about 5 days before it dies. The one we saw was on its fifth day and was just starting to look a bit passed its best, but it was good to see one. We also stopped en-route and the upside down house. Apparently a family live it in and they have one little boy who is so naughty the house is upside-down. As we approached the house I was asked to bang a gong and then knock on the door. There was a knock back and then a man opened the door and we were shown round. A nice little stop off point and well worth seeing.

Saturday 18th August, 2012

Had a bit of a later start this morning as we were just going to hang around the pool. After breakfast we made our way down to the third floor where we took up positions poolside. After a while Neil got bored and decided to go back to the room for a quiet read. I stayed out reading by the poolside but after a few hours I felt some drops of rain so made my way back up to have a shower and get ready to go out for a meal. In the wardrobe in our room we have his and hers matching sarongs made from cotton with a batik pattern on it. Usually when I'm away I try and buy some kind of fabric to take back home and I'd decided that this would be my fabric of choice. After getting ready we went down to the reception and I asked where I would be table to buy the sarongs. We were pointed in the direction of the Filipino market in town. We took a taxi and decided to eat there as well.

The market was pretty quiet and almost straight away we came across a stall selling the sarongs for a very reasonable price so I bought a couple and then we went in search of tea. After we had eaten (mine was less than a pound and Neil's was under 2) we made our way onto the sea front back into the Filipino market where there were lots of stalls barbequing fresh fish and serving it with rice. The smell was divine and I am going back to eat there at the beginning of the week (Neil is going to KFC ;o) We stood on the seafront as the sun started to set behind the islands just off the coast. It was one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen. It felt like the clouds in the sky were becoming darker and redder in colour as they came towards your head and you felt like the sky was going to totally engulf you. Even the photo I took on my iPhone is quite amazing so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for some good ones on my camera! After the sun had gone down we wandered along and decided to pop in to Starbucks before walking back to the hotel. Neil wanted cake but unfortunately the cake lady had gone home so this caused quite an uproar with him and we had to settle for a coffee in bed instead.

Sunday 19th August, 2012

We were up by 8ish this morning as we had decided to once again go to the poolside before going out on a trip to the Klias River which is towards Beaufort to see the Proboscis Monkeys, Long Tailed Macaque Monkeys and fire-flys. As it is the end of Ramadan today the call to prayer was very early and we had been awake listening to this for a while. Once we looked outside we were disappointed to see that it was pouring down. Not to be deterred to sent to get breakfast and very soon afterwards the sky cleared and we were able to catch some sun beside the pool. At lunchtime we went back to shower and get ready for the trip. We were supposed to be getting picked up at 2ish but were getting slightly concerned when our transport hadn't turned up by 2.30. We were just about to give them a ring when the guy who booked our trips showed up, very sorry for his lateness saying that we were going with 11 other people and that we would still make the boat trip. The other passengers were soon picked up - a lovely Italian family, a Dutch couple who live in Brunei and a girl from Korea - and we were on our way at break neck speed! The journey there, because we were late, was a bit of a white knuckle ride with the driver overtaking on the brow of a hill at one point, much to the horror of his passengers. After about 2 hours we got to our destination and had coffee and a snack before getting onto a boat that would take us along the Klias River and surrounding swampland.

Within minutes we spotted a couple of Proboscis Monkeys in the trees beside the river. The boat was stopped and we were given quite a while to take photographs and watch them before another boat came roaring to our side and managed to scare them off. This happened a few times as we moved along the river. We soon spotted some Long Tailed Macaque monkeys, some with babies nearby and stopped to watch them swinging in the trees. They all seemed totally oblivious to our presence. After a good while we were taken back to where we started and a Malay style dinner was provided. We sat with the people we had travelled down with and had a good chat, learning a lot about where everyone was from and what we had all been doing in Malaysia. As we ate the sun started to set over the river and after dinner we boarded the boat once again to be taken out along the darkness to see the fire-flys. Again we hadn't gone very far before we stopped beside a tree which looked like to had tiny flashing fairy lights on it. It was one of the most amazing sights as these tiny insects gave a most beautiful display. We moved position again further along the river - it seemed quite perilous to have a few boats going up and down the river in the dark with only the odd light flashing now and then - and again nature treated us to the most magical display and twinkling insects. After a while we were taken back to the jetty from where we were let back to the minibus to be taken back to our hotels in KK. The journey back went much faster than the journey there - although still as perilous at times - we seemed to be amongst friends and the bus was full of friendly banter.

Tomorrow we are hoping for a good day as it will be our 2nd and final day at the beach. Fingers crossed the sun comes out to play!

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