This was a two day affair, Kuching is only one hour fifteen minutes from Singapore, but it is a bit different. Singapore's life is all Malay, on Borneo the plants and animals are distinctly different.
The first day was a bit of a wash out, almost literally. The rainy season not having ended when it should just like in Singapore. The rain in Kuching however was pounding and lasted almost all day. One place I had hoped to go was Bako national park, primarily for proboscis monkeys, but the weather was too bad. Tourists and locals alike get dumped in the sea there often in bad weather and there are salt water crocodiles. I was told the sea was too rough for the crossing. The giant flower Rafflesia, my timing was not so great after all, as it had already turned black. That left orang-utans, and on day one, we could only get to the breeding centre at Matang, as the roads were flooded to Semenggoh. I was not hopeful of ever getting out to see the semi wild orang-utans, as that night the rain was horrific.
But we made it the next morning, and we were lucky, 3 orangs showed up, one went to the feeding station, the others swung around at who had showed up. Since we got their early, we saw 2 of them coming in before any tourists showed. At Semenggoh the orangs are semi wild, the forest may no longer be enough to support the 26 that live in the area. So the Malay government has their forest service offer feed stations where if they don't have enough food they come in to eat. The idea is to make the parks so that none show up for feeding. One did this day. Rain scares them off, we had plenty of that, so do flashes on cameras and unfortunately despite signs and being told, you can imagine how many tourists had their flashes going off...but you know what I think of tourists....
Still, some days none show up, so I was very pleased. My number one reason for coming was these animals alone. The best place to see them is these semi wild areas were the animals come in to the park then leave of their free will. In the true wild there are so few remaining, and in dense forest, so they have to be tracked for days and even then you may only see a splodge on the horizon... They avoid people if they can.
Orang means people or man, and utan means forest. These forest people certainly do look like they are closely related humans in their faces and how they walk.
Sunset on the way into Kuching.
Kuching has the parliament building for Sarawak state.
This is the governors house.
And is this my kind of town, fiver optic led multi colour things for sale on the street...
This photo is crap, but it shows how some of these colour change things they now sell to shoot up into the night sky....
Old shop houses line the streets.
Kuching is the cat city, no one really knows why it is called cat city, but cat monuments are all over.
Into the forest.
Carnivorous plants are a unique feature of Borneo, these low level pitchers catch ground level insects.
At Matang wildlife centre, they are all caged :( They do try to breed orangs here though.
I think this guy wants out.
This is the endangered leopard cat, this species was crossed with a domestic cat to make the Bengal cat... There's some trivia...
State parliament again.
Tree level pitcher plants catch flying insects. These are everywhere, growing by the side of the road.
This is a place built by the old British Raj of Sarawak, Brooke.
It was built here partly to defend the city as the region was rife with pirates. The city skyline very much changed. In one pic you can see a Hilton Hotel, and there's McDonalds....
Sundews, another carnivorous plant are tiny here, not as big as in England, though far more plentiful. This was a wet pathway.
Day 2 started with Malay style breakfast, Laksa. Coconut milk, rice noodles, a little spicy, egg, shredded chicken and shrimp...
And finally to Semeggoh.
Before the 30 other tourists arrived this guy came out to play, an Orang that actually they call Selina.
Later, this one hung around the feeding station.
And this one came down for some breakfast.
This is a Market at the Indonesian border. I thought it would be all rain forest stuff, but most of it was clothing and fake watches and bags.
They do have a big trade in medicines using leeches..
And some new vegetables.
This is breadfruit Shelly, remember we talked about these a while back..
Back in to town...
And that was Kuching.
The evening of February 27th I flew back to Singapore, chose to try the short flight with only a travel sickness pill, nothing stronger....stupid me, they kept the seat belt sign on the whole way because of "unpredictable winds" and I felt them. Then they said no hot drinks in case of serious injuries....
Will I ever learn ?
Only two more days left in the tropics :(
- BlogPressed from my iPad. Click on picture for larger image and gallery.
