Amazing animals and lazy days in Borneo

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Borneo, to most people, conjurs up images of lush rainforests, exotic creatures, rare animals and tales of jungle treks. Well, this is exactly what we encountered whilst in the region of Sarawak, the largest state on the Eastern side of Borneo-Malaysia. We chose the city of Kuching to base ourselves in for our stay here as it was both convenient and easy to get to most places that we wanted to see. Originally when we had planned the Borneo part of this trip, we had intended to travel across to the Sabah area and take in Kota Kinabalu for it's famous mountain trekking, Sepilok for nature and wildlife and Sipadan for diving, but due to serious political problems and reports of violence and terroism there we just didn't feel 100% sure about going so decided to miss it out this time, despite locals telling us it 'should' be fine for tourists...oh well, another place to add to the ever growing list of places still to visit!

Kuching proved to be the ideal city for us to use as a base for other excursions in the area, and we stayed for several days at a fantastic guesthouse called Lodge 121, which was homely, quite cheap and very comfortable, and just a 10 minute walk from the main centre of town. Kuching means 'cat' in Malay, although we didn't see any more cats here than we have elsewhere, but it did have several large cat statues dotted throughout the town as well as a cat museum which we didn't visit. The focul point of the town is the large river, which is very picturesque on a sunny day, especially with the opulent gold domed Mosque looming over it on one side and numerous Chinese and local craft shops lining it on the other. As with a lot of cities we have been to in Malaysia, there is a huge Chinese presence here as well, with many Chinese inspired restaurants, shops, ornate temples and old buildings clearly in view. Some of the Chinese shophouse architecture dates back to the 19th century, with generations of the same family occuping them over the years, and the crumbling colourful facades of the buildings are very impressive to look at.

One of the main things we wanted to do whilst here was visit the Semenggoh Nature Reserve to see Orangutans in the wild (well semi-wild). Semmenggoh is home to a handful of Orangutans (the exact number is unknown), some of whom were originally rescued from captivity over 20 years ago and helped to survive in the wild - others have been born in the reserve through successful (natural) breeding and there is now a healthy population living in the surrounding jungle. The reserve is located about 40km out of town, and has just two feeding times in the morning and afternoon when you can see them, so one morning we jumped on an early bus eager to see these incredible mammals. The bus stopped right outside the reserve and we walked the 1.3km from the main entrance to the feeding area where you are most likely to spot them, although we knew that as they are wild we may not see any at all. As we took the bus instead of a tour we arrived really early, around 8.15am, and the feeding time wasn't due to be until 9am, but as the Orangutans are wild they can show up whenever they want, and as soon as we got there we had our first sighting of two Orangutans - a mother carrying a baby on her back. The baby was in fact 5 years old, not as young as we thought, but they stay with their mothers until they are 8-10 years old. They were so amazing to see and the park rangers made sure everyone stayed a few metres away from them while they roamed around, but we were still close enough to them to make out their features - they are very human like! Within minutes another two Orangutans were coming through the forest and making their way to a platform where the rangers had put bunches of bananas out for them, and we watched in awe as they climbed up the trees and ate, seemingly watching us as closely as we were watching them.

A loud rustling in the trees behind us marked the entry of the Alpha male Orangutan, Ritchie, swinging through the trees. 'Everybody back, the big man is coming!' the rangers whisper-shouted to us as we all moved a safe distance back so as to let Ritchie march through the jungle and eat in peace. Wow this one was huge! He is approx 42 years old, super hairy and strong and clearly the King of the Jungle here - he doesn't always make an appearance so we were really lucky to see him. We stayed watching all the Orangutans for a while longer until gradually they sloped off back into the jungle one by one. This was such an amazing experience and was even better than we ever expected, and with entry (10rm/£2.25 each) and transport there and back (6rm/£1.50 return each) it cost us less than £4 each - tours which arrived later, and therefore missed most of the sightings, were costing 50rm/£11 each. When we got back to town we headed to the Visitor's Information Centre to arrange our accomodation for Bako National Park and then headed back to our guesthouse for an afternoon nap. That evening we had a nice dinner at a food court on top of a parking lot called Top Spot, which is famous here for its fresh seafood. It is all laid out on ice at various stalls and once you pick what you want from the vast selections, it is weighed and priced, then cooked in whatever way and sauce you like. As it was 90% locals eating here we knew it was a popular place, and with very reasonable prices we enjoyed a feast of juicy prawns (me) with vegetables in an oyster and garlic sauce with rice, and a mix of prawns, dory fish and squid in a chilli sauce, with veg and rice for Scott - delicious. It's worth noting that a year or so ago I wouldn't eat prawns at all, and now I love them!

After we got back to Kuching from a two day trip to Bako (we have done a seperate blog about this), we needed a couple of days with no plans, just relaxing, hanging out at the guesthouse watching TV, browsing in the shopping malls, researching the next part of our trip, eating and generally being lazy. We haven't done this for ages, months even, and were pretty worn out from the constant activites of late. It also rained most afternoon's so it suited us to be indoors. We thought after a couple of days of doing nothing that we would be ready for another activity, but to be honest our motivation has seriously decreased and we just weren't up for doing or seeing anything - we had done the two main things we came here to do anyway and loved them so we didn't feel too bad. It hasn't helped that we have spent hours these past few days looking into where to spend the last month of our travels in May, reading countless blogs, travel guides and books, and are still not entirely sure where to go. It's a luxury I suppose, to have a month at our disposal and be able to choose anywhere in the whole of Asia to travel round, but it's also a bit stressful, as we want our last month to be as amazing as the last six, but nowhere we research is jumping out at us or getting us really excited...perhaps this is what happens to all travellers towards the end of a long trip? We have seen so many incredible places now, that maybe we have been spoilt and are becoming a bit blase. Don't get me wrong, we still love to and want to travel, and the passion for seeing and experiencing new destinations is still there, we just haven't found a country in Asia that we really, really want to end our trip in yet...I'm sure we will figure it out soon though.

For now, we know that the country next on our list is one of our favourites, and one we are excited to return to, so after a relaxing few days in Kuching, it's bye bye Malaysia, and hello again to the Philippines.

S&V's Travel Info & Tips:

General Info: Approx 4.6 rm to £1. Malaysia is 8 hrs ahead of UK.

Transportation: We flew with Air Asia from KL - Kuching, and took a taxi from the airport to our guesthouse in town for 24rm. We walked everywhere in town as it was so close. To get to Semenggoh (for the Orangutans), take bus K6 from the bus station in town and get off at the entrance to the reserve. The journey costs 3rm pp each way and takes 45 minutes - the buses leave at 7am (to arrive in time for the morning feeding), coming back at around 11am, and 1pm (for the afternoon feeding), coming back at around 4pm.

Food: Lots of good food options in Kuching. Top Spot food court was great for fresh seafood. For Indian we liked Tandoori Palace, for cheap and tasty local Malay/Chinese dishes, try Borneo Delight or Winnie's Cafe near the waterfront, and when the craving for Western food gets too much, there are two McDonald's in town!

Accomodation: We can't recommend Lodge 121 enough. We had a lovely big double room with huge window and a/c for 55rm per night, with clean shared bathroom just outside the room. It offered free tea, coffee and water all day, plus toast in the mornings, and had a fridge and micrwave you could use, plus a cozy TV room. The staff here were so friendly and helpful, giving us info on anything we wanted, and it was just a 10 minute walk into town. We loved it.

Other observations:

x) Indian food was harder to come by in Kuching than elsewhere in Malaysia, and it was also more expensive. It was less buffet/tray style places and more fancy restaurants, but the food was still great.

xx) The Merdeka Plaza mall was the best one in town within walking distance and housed several big name stores. We heard The Spring mall, 15 minute taxi ride away, was bigger and better with a cinema too but we didn't go there.

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

We didn't make it to Borneo in our travels and we were so close
Oh well, a reason to return. As you say the list of future travels continues to grow.