Kuching , Malaysia, Borneo - 27th June - 6th July 2011

Possibly the worst bus journey ever. I thought a sleeper bus in Vietnam was a bad idea but a sitting bus for 12 hours is not comfortable. Especially with a snoring Arab sitting behind Amy!

We arrived at 6am and it was Hot. We hopped onto the local bus into the main town (after sitting for 30 Min's at the wrong bus stop). After a quick breakfast we found after a long search 'John's Place' We booked into a triple room which for 80 myr was a good price. 10 minutes later (after Dave had christened the toilet) the woman came and told us we had to move to 2 double rooms. We didn't mind this but later on when checking out they demanded more money for the two rooms. With our terrible Malaysian it was a massive communication error and the arguments were flying! We did however resolve the situation by walking out. We finally found a lovely place called Ajung right in the middle of many shops and cafes. We have quite a few days here so decided to take it a bit easy and enjoy.

We took a day trip out to Bako National park which was recommended by a few people who have previously been to Borneo. We had to book our accommodation in advance and were pleasantly surprised by how cheap it was. We hopped on a local bus and headed to the boat jetty to take us there.

We have noticed so far on our travels that it is very rare to find a really smelly Asian Person. I think in Malaysia that Islam has a lot to do with cleanliness and with so many cheap toiletries (excluding sun cream) there is no excuse to be a smelly bugger. Of all the people I think the Whites smell more. This could not be more true than a French family we shared the boat to the park with. It was foul. The wind was luckily blowing in their direction so their foul odour went out the back of the boat.

Anyway off track a bit there. We arrived at the National park and we were amazed at its beauty. It was so hot though! We had been given a warning about the Macaque monkeys stealing stuff and when checking into our rooms we were told to keep the door shut at all times.

Our little room was perfect (no Air con which did worry us). After escaping the heat and having some lunch we decided to go on a little walk where we were told we were almost guaranteed to see some of the famous Proboscis monkeys. Little did we know that it would be one of the most amazing experiences (and scariest) ever!

We started out on a rickety old board walk snaking out over the edge of the incoming tide. Every step we took felt like we may get wet! We slowly got further and further into the rain forest and what we were told was a flat, easy walking track turned into an over grown root scattered mountain trek . Withing minutes we saw one. Just sitting above us on a branch. Amy's eyes were definitely sharp that day. We stood in awe just looking at this creature. Maybe the size of a 9 year old child just sitting looking at us like we were looking at him with avid curiosity. He was chewing away on leaves his odd looking nose flapping. We could hear the slow, low groan of other monkeys calling (mmmeerrrrrr) and once movement started it was actually quite scary to think they were swinging right above our heads. After all these are wild animals and can be extremely dangerous. We decided to return back to camp after our fill of the creatures. We were casually walking along when all of a sudden out of no where helling towards us down on the path was a 5ft something fully grown proboscis monkey. Apart from just making us jump briefly the fact that it continued to come towards us before mounting a tree was just petrifying. Amy immediately turned to me stiff with fear and it was when Dave screamed like a girl that i actually got so scared that a bit of wee came out. I cant describe how close it was....but be could smell it....and we still can. I don't think i will ever be so close to such a beautiful animal in the wild again!

Shakily we returned on the rickety board walk back to camp. When we reached a jetty Amy was ranting about tourists leaving there rubbish everywhere and then we realised that a little monkey (we thought a macaque) was rummaging in the bin. Being quite tiny maybe just below knee height we weren't overly intimidated so approached him.....WRONG!!! he headed towards us wide eyed and we soon backed off. (Later we learned that you are more likely to be harmed by a little macaque than a proboscis). We headed down onto the beach and were stalked by loads. The sun going down obviously starts to bring them out! There were everywhere. Getting into open windows and stealing peoples food off their plates.

The other thing that made us jump slightly whilst relaxing at the hut was giant Bearded pigs. Bloody huge things like warthogs almost! there were everywhere and were often seen huge tusks and all digging through the mud for grubs. Harmless and stood their ground with the little monkeys.

The evening rained and rained and rained...the hardest I've probably ever seen. We got a good nights kip and went to catch out ferry back the following day. Early that morning you could hear the monkeys on the roof. On tweaking the curtain you could see them. At least 10! Some stupid person had left there room open and of all things to leave they left oranges on full display. The monkeys where everywhere and we just had to make a run for it before being attacked. Quite an adrenaline filled couple of days!

On our return back to Kuching we went back to Ajung. Me and Amy spent a day exploring the markets (very smelly, fishy) Dave enjoyed his Malaysia Coffee!

One uninteresting trip was to the Cat Museum. Kuching is the city of Cats so we felt we had to go. It was quite a waste of time though and we got really hot!

Another interesting day trip was to another Orangutan sanctuary which was only 3 myr to enter! we saw a huge fully grown male (Richie) over 100kg right in front of us. Around 5 meters or so way on the ground. Another time where a little wee escaped me! It was stunning to see it so close. Some tourists are so stupid though and i saw them way to close for their own good! the keepers must get so pissed off with us. We weren't allowed umbrellas as they look like guns apparently and they scare the apes. Another amazing wildlife experience. Borneo is the place to see amazing creatures!

Food wise we have to admit we wernt overly impressed. With a lot of fried rice and egg noodles the choice was bland after a while. There was only so much Nasi Goreng and mee goreng we could handle. And the serious lack of veg played havoc with poor Amy's tummy! We felt like the hawker stalls were the better choices for cheap grub as it was quite pricey in Malaysia. We are looking forward to the choices in Thailand!

So its goodbye to Borneo.We are sad to see you go but we are ready to move on.

Next Stop Singapore!

To see our pictures from Kuching please click on the link below;
https://picasaweb.google.com/112941139607408893724/KuchingMalaysianBorneo28thJuneTo6thJuly2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCNz085TQ3bf6jAE#