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Published: March 27th 2006
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Since the last blog we have moved from Singapore to the considerably less air-conditioned steam bath that is Borneo. We flew into Kuching, Sarawak around a week ago and have really enjoyed wandering round the city exploring and deciding on our next move.
A few days ago we headed to the Semangoggh (errr...or something like that - never got that one in spelling tests at school ....) Orang-utan Rehabilitation Centre around 30km south of Kuching. We first saw some mothers and babies feeding - a wonderful sight and truly fascinating to see their very human mannerisms. It was entertaining to watch as they worked out how to crack open a coconut, bashing it against a tree until they could get the flesh out. Next, we were taken to the feeding area in the jungle itself. This is where the orang-utans who are more integrated into jungle life might come to feed, so you have to wait and see if they're hungry or not! First a small female swung through the trees, pausing just above the gaggle of tourists to relieve herself first (fortunately we didn't get wet!!), then grabbing some bananas. A few minutes later, accompanied by jungle-destruction noises, the
massive dominant male, Ritchie, swung in through the trees. He just looked like a massive bundle of fur and was awesomely big - an incredible sight, although I would say he is definitely in need of a haircut...
A wildlife experience of an entirely different kind came in the form of a trip to a longhouse at Lalang on the Skrang River. We arranged to go on a 3-day, 2 night trip to stay at the longhouse with the Iban tribes-people, forming a group with 7 others. We were really lucky that the people in our group were fantastic fun, and that really made the trip great. We had a 4 hour drive and 2 hour boat trip to get to the longhouse. When we arrived, people were very much going about their normal business, with no one really responding to our invasion. The first night we just had dinner and the locals welcomed us with a (somewhat unenthusiastic) dance. We met the chief, an unfeasibly skinny man in his 70s, covered in tattoos and with massive holes in his earlobes - the kind of person who is small in stature, but who you get the sense it would
be very unwise to pick a fight with.. Anywhere you stay that has skulls hanging from the roof beams is always likely to encourage you to be well behaved I suppose...
On our second day we headed out into the jungle for a trek. I have probably never been so hot in my life. I will spare you the sweaty details, but it was very hot and very humid and everyone was suffering a bit. The conditions only made it all the more heavenly when we stopped for lunch at a beautiful shady river pool, where the water was clear and cool and (hopefully) not infested with too many dodgy things. There was a tense moment when we got convinced that a log floating towards us had moving eyes, but this was soon resolved when one of the group ran up to it, heroically wrestling it away and it turned out to be ... a big log... Whilst we were cooling off in the river, our guide and his family were creating a bamboo-cooked feast. They roasted chicken over the fire, cooking rice and vegetable in freshly-cut bamboo - an amazing sight! They made us plates out of leaves,
and spoons out of bamboo. We also drank coffee out of bamboo coffee mugs!! The trek back was mainly through the river, and, at one stage, it was waist deep. Quite a relief actually considering how hot it was! When we got back, we had a swim in the river outside the longhouse.
A longhouse is not the most relaxing of places to sleep, with all kinds of monstrous bugs, howling dogs, scary cats, chickens and squealing pigs floating around. This is ok during the day when you can identify what is scuttling across your foot, but far less fun at night when it is pitch black, there are funny scratching sounds everywhere and you feel like you are in some kind of rustic sauna. Just to add to the fun, one of our group had a traumatic encounter with a cat last night and when a grown man screams like that in the middle of the night it does nothing for your blood pressure.
I had a really great time at the longhouse and it was a really fascinating experience, but I'm looking forward to a night without mystery man eating bugs running up my legs. Hopefully
none of the horrible longhouse bugs fancied a trip to Kuching in my bag / shoes. They could be crawling into foot-tickling position as we speak...
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