Day 3

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Today started with Danika being up before everyone (not actually sure of the time as we woke up to find her sitting out on the balcony reading) as we had booked Dani and Zav in to be “Ranger for the day” at the Rasa Ria Resort where they have an Orang Utan rehabilitation centre.

Before heading off to the Rasa we headed to the Gaya Street markets that are held every Sunday in KK. We got there by 8 and it was hot, noisy and bustling with people. There was a lot of the same same throughout the market but they were still worth a look around. There was lots of souvenirs, jewellery, cheap and crappy toys, clothing, handbags, live fish, puppies, kittens, guinea pigs, mice, turtles, and even toad wallets there was local coffee beans being grinded there in front of you.

Leaving at 11, we made our way up to the Rasa Ria Resort which is about 45 mins drive away from KK City. Fairly good drive, although we did take a wrong turn at one stage. Never to mind, we got there and were wowed by the Resort. We can see why our friends have stayed here. It is just stunning and has everything you could ever want. This is the sort of place you come to stay and don’t leave the resort at all.

We took the walk to the Nature Reserve and were given paperwork to fill out. We were then escorted to the in-house doctor as both Danika and Zavanna had to have a health check before being able to be a “ranger.” Everything was fine with them, as we thought would be.

We still had an hour before their duties began so we had lunch at one of many eateries there. Stu had a Malay Laksa, I had a Panzanella salad, Zav had a Caesar salad and Dani had Mac Cheese. The food was delicious – as expected it would be with the Malay Laksa being the stand out.

Ok, so lunch done we headed back to the nature reserve where the girls were issued with their uniforms (t-shirt and hat) that they got to keep. They headed off with Zeno to help prepare the food which consisted of sugar cane, snake beans, apples, sweet potatoes and egg plant. They also got to make up a special orange milk for them to drink.

While the girls were doing their work, we were waiting for our tour of the Orang Utans to start. There was an intro movie played to fill everyone in on everything to do with the Orang Utans before we headed off on the walk to the feeding area where they feed them. The Rasa Ria currently has 4 Orang Utans (all female) as a couple were not long ago transferred to the Sandakan Rehabilitation Centre. Apparently there is no guarantee that you will get to see the Orang Utans as they don’t always come down for feeding time. We were lucky and were able to see 2 at feeding time. Their names are Katie and Wulan. It was such a special moment to be seeing them swing through the trees, swinging the branches to move to the next. They ate the assortment of food that Dani and Zav had helped to prepare.

They both did a great job helping out the ranger and I think they will remember it for a long time to come. They were extra lucky as they were the only two kids doing the ranger for a day. After watching them up in the jungle we went back down to see the baby Orang Utan called ten-ten who is 1 ½ years old and sooo cute. They feed her the fruit and veges that the girls made up for her and we took some more photos with Ten Ten hanging around in the tree and eating the fruit. It was so amazing to be so close to this animal.



After a short look through the gift shop we headed back to the apartment to put Frankie down for a sleep and Stu, Dani and Zav jumped in the pool to cool off for a while. It was probably the hottest day so far on our trip so the pool was good relief.

By 7pm we headed out to find a place to eat in the food markets up the road. These weren’t the food markets we had seen the night before. It was a bit overwhelming with everything going on and so much to choose from. We got a few satay sticks and freshly cooked corn to try and Frankie and Zav loved them which were good for them to be enjoying some street food. Unfortunately Dani wasn’t feeling too well and completely put off as these food stalls were right next to the wet markets selling meats and fish so the smell was rather overwhelming to us, let alone a vegetarian. We called it a nite and headed back to the apartment to rest up for another busy day as we were heading for MT Kinabalu tomorrow which is half the size of Mt Everest.

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Comments

[Aunty Di and Uncle Wayne]

Your Holiday
Loving reading your blog Abby, its so interesting reading about your travels with the family,Enjoy it all and safe travels..