Kuching

I flew from Johor Bahru to Kuching. Kuching is in the Borneo part of Malaysia in the state of Sarawak. Sarawak has some sort of independence from Malaysia that I don’t really understand but because of this I went through immigration in Kuching just like you were going to a different country. I use to really enjoy getting stamps in my passport but now that the number of completely blank pages are getting low I don’t really want more stamps and especially if they are going to use one of the blank pages. I am not sure you can ask them to stamp your passport on a specific page but I may start trying.

I spent most of my first day just walking around the city. I had been told that it was Malaysian Independence day and there would be a number of activities going on in the center of town. I did not seem to find much other than a tent with a few people singing. I think I may have misunderstood because there was a fireworks show that started at midnight and I was told the following day that it was Independence Day. I was also told there would be a parade but that it had been move out of the center for the first time this year.

I visited the Semenggoh Wildlife Rehabilitation Center for the Orangutan feeding the next day. Before they allowed us into the area where they did the feeding I talked a little bit to the guy that had brought us to the center and he told me the Orangutans were coming. After a little bit on looking I could not really see an orangutans but could see the trees violently shacking. I kept looking in this area and eventually saw the orangutan moving from tree to tree. When they opened up the feeding area and I walked down there and saw 4 orangutans feeding. This is one of the pictures that I like the best.

I really enjoyed watching them and was amazed on how small some of the trees were that they would climb. They would use trees and branches that I thought would never support their weight. Also when these small trees where a little bit apart from each other they would get the tree swinging back and forth until they could grab a branch from the next tree and pull it towards them. It was a lot of fun to watch them moving through the trees.

The driver dropped me off at the Sunday market on the way back into town. I think I have just been to many markets now because I was not really impressed. I did find all the different fish on sale sort of interesting but really did not like the smell of this area of the market. I have no idea of what types of vegetables are in this picture.

My last day in Kuching I went to visit Bako National Park. I picked the wrong day to do this because it seemed to rain all day. I just figured I would get wet and did not let it worry me but after an hour I was soaked through and through. Even every thing in my day bag got soaked and this included my guidebook which is just now, well over a week later, about dry.

Walking from the jetty where the boat to the park dropped me off to the visitors center I encounter a bearded pig.

Seeing a breaded pig is not that big of a deal for me since I see one every time I look in the mirror. The visitor’s center also had a number of Macaque monkeys running around stealing food and stuff from people. I think these are a different type of Macaque than I had seen in Thailand. These are called long tail Macaques.

I walked down one of the trails with a little beach at the end. This is a picture of the area where the trail ended.

On my way back from the beach I past some people with a guide going the other way and just as I past them the guide pointed out that there were monkeys in the trees a little ways to the right of the trail. I would have missed this if I had not over heard the guide and even after knowing they were there I found it hard to see them. I looked and looked and ever once in a while would get a brief glance at their faces. These were the Proboscis Monkeys the ones with the huge noses and they are only found in Borneo. After trying to spot the monkeys for a while I walked on down the path and followed another trail that went to the highest point in the national park. I then took my time walking back to the visitors center but on the way passing the jetty where the boat had dropped me off I past a couple of the Proboscis Monkeys that were right next to the jetty. One of them seemed to be just setting in the tree posing for photos.

Even though I got really wet at Bako National Park it turned out to be a very enjoyable day.