Green, lush and bursting with natural beauty, Sarawak’s natural wonders are definitely worth visiting. We took the local bus to Semmengoh Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre to see the feeding of the Orangutans in the afternoon. This part of the world is famous for its orange primates and Semmenngoh is a good place to see them in their natural habitat – even if they aren’t completely wild and still dependent on humans. We were lucky enough to be there just before feeding time and before the tourist hordes arrived. Delimah and her young baby were hanging around the small garden near the ape pens. The rangers here refer to Delimah as ‘Hot Mama’. Mainly because she has a tendency to lose her temper on humans every now and again. If I had known this, I wouldn’t have gone so close to her and moved further back when the ranger told me to. In any case, she kept her cool and we got some decent photos of her.
Another great place we visited near Kuching in Sarawak was Bako National Park. The park can only be reached by boat but it’s simple enough as catching a local bus to the boat jetty and then sharing a boat with others to the main landing beach for the park. It feels like stepping onto the set of Survivor. The boat drops you on the most stunning beach with total strangers and just behind the treeline, out of site, are the park buildings and lodges. This is a really awesome place to come and stay for a few days but it was unfortunately fully booked and we had to make do with seeing it on a day trip. We chose to do a four-hour trek which would allow us to see four different types of vegetation found in Borneo. The trek started out in thick rainforest where we spotted Macaques feeding on the jungle floor. Being in a rainforest is an awesome experience. There are sounds of wildlife all around you but it is very difficult to spot any of it. Loud calls from monkeys and birds, the incessant drone of Cicadas and the occasional crack of a smack against the ankle to kill hungry mosquitoes. We were really lucky on this trek to see Proboscis Monkeys – big red-furred monkeys with unusually huge noses (they remind me of Barry Manilow – I think he might be one).
The trek then climbed up a hill and onto a plateau where the vegetation changed dramatically to become more dry and arid. We had been walking quite fast, so we decided to shoot down a section to one of the beaches in the park. The beach was deserted and stunning. Since it was the rainy season, the water was choppy and a bit brown but it was refreshing. We then made our way back through a swamp and some mangroves just in time to catch the boat back home.
Borneo is now quite high up on our list of places to revisit. It is reasonably unspoilt. The people are very friendly and it’s a doddle to get around on. It is vast though, being the 3rd largest island in the world after Greenland and New Guinea. So it probably requires a good deal of time to really experience it. The bits that we experienced were fantastic. Kuching is laid back, clean and the food is excellent. The parks are well managed and there is always something to do. The homestays with the Iban people are expensive if you go through the tourist office or a travel agent, but we were told that if you have a bit of time you can just pitch up in a town nearby and hang around until somebody invites you to come and stay in the longhouse with them. The main thing I will take away from this place is how laid back and serene it is, but at the same time there is a ton of things to see and do.
We left Kuching on a one and a half hour flight to Singapore where we were to see our friends Louis & Lorna. If Walt Disney had based his theme parks on South East Asia, then Disneyworld would have looked like Singapore. It is really, really, really clean. Everything runs like clockwork. The people look a little like drones. And it is horrendously expensive. A beer in a bar costs about S$12 – roughly 70 South African Rand and a bottle of very average wine in the supermarket costs about S$30 (R165). It does however, have pockets of places to visit that are both inexpensive and really great. One of the highlights of our stay in Singapore was seeing the rehearsals for their National Day celebrations. With much pomp and ceremony (something learnt most definitely from the British), we watched army troops march into the purpose-built, temporary stadium, including tanks and other machines of war. We were also buzzed overhead by helicopters and fighter planes and got to see a rather impressive fireworks display over the marina in front of the spectacular Marina Sands Hotel and Casino ($5 billion project).
We had to decided to visit Singapore and Borneo for these 2 weeks so that there was enough time for our Indian visas to be processed. Little did we know that our trip would take an unexpected and rather annoying turn. They were meant to be ready within 5 working days. 2 weeks later and they still weren’t ready. The Indian Visa Centre, where we had applied in Kuala Lumpur, told us that we just had to be patient. We couldn’t stay with Lorna and Louis indefinitely so we decided to change our flights to India and head to Thailand. The decision was partly fueled by our previous experiences we had had there and partly because it was monsoon in the south west and there were great specials on four and five star hotels. Afterall, I think it was safe to say that we weren’t exactly going to experience the same luxurious accommodation for the same price in India.
Southern Thailand is beautiful. Especially the area around Krabi. It is also heavily touristed – even in the rainy season. So we picked a hotel a bit further out of town on a beach called Haad Yao. The beach wasn’t so great but the hotel was fantastic. The staff were incredibly friendly and helpful but the real highlight of this area was the single restaurant, 2 kilometers down the road, which we had to reach on bicycles. The restaurant is set on a river bank, next door to what can only be described as the smelliest fishing operation I have ever experienced. Saldanha or Hout Bay on a hot day has nothing on this place where they offload jellyfish. Giant, semi-opaque jellyfish. It is a very tiny operation. A few huts, a makeshift crane and a small shelter from the sun. My first impression was that they were making fish sauce here. I could see a man throwing salt onto something inside one of the huts. The huts were basically just covered tanks where the jellyfish is first offloaded from the fishing boats, sorted by women – sitting waist deep in the ooze – and then packed thickly with salt. The smell is indescribable. It gets into the back of your throat and makes your gag reflex kick in. How these people sit in it all day is a mystery to me. Yet they were all laughing and chattering amongst each other during the hottest part of the day.
Fortunately, the little restaurant where we ate was just far enough away not to be ruined by the stench. The food is probably the best I have had in Thailand since. Staffed by two Thai women, it was little more than a shelter over a concrete floor with a few water tanks round the side. The water tanks contained Blue Crabs, Mantis Shrimps and Giant Sea Snails, some as big as a rugby ball. We ate every day in this restaurant, the best dishes being “Spicy Squid Salad” and “Crab in Black Curry”. The food was genuinely spicy and I didn’t have to ask them to make it so – which is something I find really annoying in a country famed for its flamingly-spicy food.
We stayed for 4 days at the Sea House in Krabi and then caught the overnight train to Bangkok.
