Following my exhilirating visit to the colourful weekend market of Kuching, I'm pleased to report that my adventures in Borneo continued and not only did they involve food, they also expanded into the jungle. The What On Earth tour saw me venturing out of the city and into the wild. While there I managed to see and even meet some of the locals - much to my sheer excitement, enjoyment and amazement. Strangely I also bumped into a certain person we all know and love. Who was that person? It was What On Earth's favourite man of mystery and power....it was Action Man of course. He gets everywhere that boy, or should I say man?!
A couple of my trips out of the city took me into the jungles of Borneo. I visited the Semenggoh Orang-utan Rehalbilitation Centre. The orang-utans here are in rehab but are kept in 740 hectares of virgin forest so, strictly speaking, they are still in the wild as they live alone in the forest - they are just observed and cared for to stop them becoming extinct. There are around 25 orang-utans in the jungle here and we managed to see three of them. This was amazing as it means the rest of the orang-utans were off in the depths of the forest caring for themselves and not coming in for the feeding time. They were getting their own food and fending for themselves.
Before going to the rehabilitation centre I noticed that the words 'orang' and 'utan' come up in the language of Malay rather often and in separate situations and contexts. I therefore had to ask the owner of my hostel what they meant. He informed me that 'orang' actually means 'people/person' and 'utan' means jungle. This would explain why the words come up regularly. It also explains the definition of orang-utan. The word literally means 'jungle person/people' or 'people of the jungle'. This astounded me as I'd never heard this before. The word orang-utan then became much more magical to me and made me fall in love with these beautiful creatures even more than I loved them already.
After my trip to Semenggoh I also paid a visit to Bako National Park. I had to get a boat here, which was fun in itself. Those Malaysian boat men certainly know how to bound across the waves! Once off the boat I stepped foot onto the jetty and there on the beach in front of me stood a wild pig. I knew from that moment this was going to be a wonderful and memorable trip. Plus, if I got to see a Proboscis monkey I was sure to go home a very happy person. The Proboscis monkeys are only found in Borneo and sadly are on the edge of extinction.
I proceeded to walk 7 - 8km through the jungle - and yes, it was hot and sticky and I got eaten alive by insects! It was a tiring walk but along the way we managed to visit beautiful view points and also spot colourful birds, a stupidly big spider, carnivorous plants and even some snakes - one of which was extremely venomous. Eeek. Sadly we didn't get to see any of the Proboscis monkeys but as we stepped out of the jungle a silvered langur ran across our path.
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| Spot the big spider in the middle of the web |
After the long walk it was time for food so I got a plate of fruit and went to take a seat. I set my things down on the table but before I could sit down a monkey was up on the table stealing my food. Cheeky little thing! I couldn't believe it. I'd only just bought it and then I had to go and buy some more. It wasn't all bad though because after moving tables we then managed to catch a glimpse of the highly endangered proboscis monkey. He was up a tree, eating and looking rather proud of himself - like the king of the jungle. Then, much to my amazement, another one came along and I was able to watch two proboscis monkeys playing up a tree. It was incredible and a moment I'll never forget.
It wasn't just me that enjoyed my time in the jungle. Action Man also got up to some adventures of his own. Check him out...
What a brave soldier he is!
Peace, love and jungle pizza.
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