Orang-utans! :-) (9th March 2010)

This morning I planned to visit Sepilok Orang-utan Rehabilitation Centre. So after breakfast Anton, the hostel owner, started shuttling people back and forth. The orang-utan centre is a joint UK funded programme which helps rehabilitate young orphaned orang-utans as well as help injured and rescued ‘pets’ with a final plan to releasing them back into the wild. The main reason for orang-utans coming to the centre is as a direct result of loss of habitat in Borneo to make way for palm oil plantations, which of course is an ongoing and increasing problem.

When the orang-utans arrive at the centre they’re given thorough medical checks and then their training for life back in the jungle begins. Baby orang-utans can stay with their mothers for 7 or 8 years during which time they are taught all of lives necessary skills, from how to climb trees to how to find food to how to interact with the other animals of the rainforest. And just like human babies the rate at which they can and do learn varies considerably resulting in some staying within the centre care for longer. Orang-utans quite a way through their training are released into the Sepilok forest and in order to be able to keep an eye on them, check their progress and supplement their diet the staff feed them twice a day. Feeding is at 10am and 3pm and takes place on a little platform 10 mins walk from where you queue up with everyone else to pay your entrance and camera fee. Considering its one of the best places to see orang-utans I didn’t think the entrance fee was excessive really. What was perhaps excessive was the amount of people also visiting the centre and instead of being quite and unobtrusive to let the orang-utans feed in peace they were pretty noisy and again the cameras.......wow ,there’s a lot of equipment travelling around this island.

The morning feeding saw 3 orang-utans arrive and around 30 macack monkeys! The macacks are a little like our seagulls, nice to look at but a bit of a pest in places and pretty aggressive, at least as far as food is concerned. As soon as the food was put out for the orang-utans the macacks were up on the platform tucking into it all while we’re still waiting for the little orange haired chaps to come along! Eventually in the distance we see some orange hairy arms swinging from tree to tree towards us and all of a sudden right there in front of us were two quite young female orang-utans. They are very very cute and it’s amazing to see them in pretty much natural habitat, they’re actually very graceful as they travel hand over hand through the forest. Once on the feeding platform they tucked into breakfast, yet remained, understandably, quite timid and despite being bigger and cleverer than the macacks they seemed to be quite scared of them.

We hung around and watched the orang-utans feeding and moving through the trees for about an hour before heading back to the main entrance to watch a video explaining all about the centre and what they try to do there. The centre then shuts for a couple of hours over lunch and Anton had suggested getting a bite to eat there then heading off to visit the Rainforest Discovery Centre 2km down the road.

The rainforest discovery centre

The discovery centre was very interesting and apart from a very loud very large Chinese school party (it seemed) I was the only one there. Unfortunately I was just behind the school party on the trails and heading to the canopy walk so as far as seeing any wildlife was concerned you can forget it! :-( I’m not sure why people think they’re going to see anything making so much noise, perhaps they think that really they’re actually in a zoo and all the animals are behind glass, unfortunately here in the wild the slightest unfamiliar noise and they’re long gone. The centre had some lovely trails though and a really nice tropical garden, far nicer than the one at Kinabalu Park.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to spend as much time there as I would have liked cause the next feeding for the orang-utans was at 3pm so it was a very quick visit and a dash round the visitor centre which again looked very interesting and I headed back.

Back at the Orang-utan centre it was another stroll to the feeding platform for feeding number 2! This afternoons feeding was more prolonged, this time dinner was sugar cane or something that looked like it and they loved it. Two young females arrived and spent a good hour tucking into dinner and watching the world go by, seemingly fairly unfazed by us being there. It is a touristy thing and lots of people seem to complain about this but hey we are tourists so let’s not try and make out we’re not!

By the way I should really point out that it was around this time that I, of course, decided I really really wanted to climb the mountain, more than anything ever!! Well ok the last bit is a bit of an exaggeration but, it’s not more than ever but I do now want to do it. It’s funny really, I don’t know why I tried to tell myself I didn’t, of course my biggest fear was and still is that I’m not going to be strong enough but how hard can it be??? Really?!

So I called the park HQ to be told there is no availability for two weeks, boy was I not happy. Just as soon as I decided I wanted to do it I couldn’t get a booking, next time I think I’ll just book it in advance.......yeah right! That would involve planning and we all know that’s not my forte.

While I was on the phone calling different people I thought perhaps I had better get sorted for diving at Sipadan seeing as you’re supposed to book that up several months in advance as well, need I tell you the result?

In answer to the bad planning I was suffering from I had a beer and slept on it, that’s the bad planning not the beer! :-)

Dreaming of orang-utans in the wild......perhaps!

Sepilok (8th March 2010)

The longhouse at Paganakan Dii

This morning I was booked on the bus leaving KK at 12.30pm, I had opted for this later bus just so I could go to the Post Office for Mick and try and get some stamps for him, apparently someone in KL had told him there might be some stamps there so off I went.

Unfortunately, Mick, no joy whatsoever I’m afraid! I did try though.

So seeing as I didn’t spend hours at the Post Office like I imagined it meant with a phone call, a taxi ride and a lot of running around I managed to get on the earlier bus at 10am which was good.

The bus to Sandakan is due to take 6 hours with a little break for lunch on the way. Also on the way for our entertainment (I’m sure) is the usual dodgy movie playing. The first movie was in Malay with Chinese subtitles (I still watched it though) and the second movie was a Jackie Chan movie ‘The Spy Next Door’ this time n English and vaguely watchable, it certainly passed a couple of hours anyway.

The guy checking the tickets had asked me as we were leaving KK if I was heading for Sepilok or Sandakan. Sepilok is where the Orang-utans’ are and where my accommodation is and, by all accounts, just outside of Sandakan so my original plan had been to get to the main town and get another bus to Sepilok. I didn’t realise we were going through Sepilok first, actually after he spoke to me I still didn’t realise, in fact I didn’t actually realise until 5 and a half hours into the journey and he comes and tells me we’re here, the thing is I’m the only person getting off! The driver dropped me at a very nice roundabout, later known as the junction which has sculptures of Orang-utans and a rhino in the middle, and from where there are signs heading off in every direction for different accommodations and the Orang-utan rehabilitation centre.

I found the sign for my accommodation which said it was 2km in the other direction (!) so with both my bags and bottle of water and in 30 degrees plus heat I made a valiant effort in heading off in the right direction. As I made my way it did through my mind that this could be a very very long tough walk but hey THIS is what backpacking all about right?? Right??

Fortunately for me, before too long, a minivan driver came along and despite charging me over the odds he took me the necessary 2 km down the road. My accommodation is called Paganakan Dii (The Family in indigenous Kadazan-Dusun toungue) Tropical Retreat and if you’re ever in the area this is definitely the place to stay. The design is based on stilt and longhouses, the dorms slept 12 people which is a lot but not when you see the size of the dorms, they were huge with more than enough room for everyone and so nicely done all made from wood and lovely and clean throughout. There were plenty of showers and toilets downstairs from the longhouse and the washbasins were outside. People I chatted to who were staying in chalets said they were gorgeous with outside bathrooms and air/con. Anton and his wife ran the retreat and were so friendly and helpful, they offered transport to all the attractions free of charge and picked you up at the end as well. Just perfect. The retreat is set with in a huge park of some kind that has huts on stilts over a lily pond and set around the lake but unfortunately it seems to be no longer used, apparently it used to a local resort where people came at weekends for a break from the city, perfect location just a shame it’s not really used now.

Chinese market and the museum (7th March 2010)

My reason for staying this long in KK was to visit the Post Office for Mick on Monday, now of course if I had of been organised I would have done it before now but it’s me we’re talking about so in the meantime my plan for today was to visit the Chinese Sunday market and then perhaps head to the Sabah museum which has some good reports.

Chinese market

The Chinese market was interesting and more just for locals rather than tourists, this was evident in all the cats and dogs in cages for sale, in addition to cages of baby chick and ducks oh and in addition to tiny bags of fish with just enough water to cover their fins, so unless I was planning on buying all of them and releasing them into the wild it was more a local market!

Markets like this are always a tough one for me, I mean I totally appreciate that my way is not necessarily the right way and that we all have an idea of what is right, but it’s still hard seeing kittens and puppies in this crazy heat with no or very little water, anyway enough.

So after a wander around the market I thought I would head off in search of the museum. The Lonely Planet I’m using is 2 years out of date but gives directions on what bus to get and from where but as it’s not that recent I thought I would just double check with the hostel. Now these people live here and have done for many years if not all their lives, so why or why did I decide not to take any notice of their advice and believe a 2 year old LP guide instead!! Who knows but it goes like this......

I head off to where the LP said the bus goes from and waited for about 15 mins before a bus came along which of course wasn’t then my bus, fortunately another person waiting for the bus helped me out and told me that, despite the sign saying so, the bus I wanted didn’t stop there and the only way to get to the museum was to go to the bus terminal, in exactly the way the hostel said. So off I went in search of the bus terminal which as I had decided to take my own route in the first place was then a 20 min walk away. I found the terminal but again because I had decided to make my own way had not actually listen to the hostel when they told me which bus I needed to get! Eventually I found the right bus (don’t ask me how) and finally made it to the museum an hour after I had set off!

The cultural village

The museum was actually very good with some great photos on show of the way things were 100 years ago. The museum also had a cultural village set around a lily pad lake which was interesting to see, although by the time I had got there all the houses were shut up for the night. Now all I had to do was make my way back to town somehow. On the way though I decided to make a short detour to see the state mosque, which was not the mosque I had seen pictures of but nice all the same.

Classic cars at the museum! :-)

Getting back to town proved to be much easier than getting out to the museum and I jumped in a little mini-van taking me back to the terminal for 50 sen and then another bus along the seafront for another 50 sen. Fantastic a hassle free trip on two buses for a total of 19p.

State Mosque

This evening I made my last trip down to the market for dinner and to get some pics. I’ve been a bit reluctant up until now to take pictures of the market area cause I kinda feel it’s a bit intrusive into their way of life, the thing is there is just some great stalls in the market and some great things to take pictures of. Everyone else does it as well, taking pictures of everything and everyone and some of the cameras and lenses I’ve seen wouldn’t be out of place in the hands of the paparazzi. So eventually I plucked up the courage and decided to just go for it and see if anyone got upset. I think actually they enjoyed having pictures taken of their stalls and their food although at one point I did have a little giggle to myself cause really it’s not that dissimilar to someone coming to England and taking pictures of our supermarkets, although of course in our supermarkets the food isn’t anywhere near as fresh!

Seahorses (used for treating asthma apparently)

Market time






























Filipino BBQ














One or two eggs!













Tomorrow I’m heading off to Sepilok in search of Orang-utans.

Kota Kinabalu again! (6th March 2010)

Jesselton Point, Kota Kinabalu

After yesterday it was a little difficult to work out a plan, I knew I wanted to go back to KK for the Sunday market and a couple of other things I wanted to see before heading over to the East but did I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do more trails in the park or not, I mean of course I wanted to but it was difficult getting transport to and fro from KK to the park. One of the trails I wanted to do is supposed to take around 6 hours but if I did that then I probably wouldn’t get back to KK today and have to stay another night with my giant moth.

In the end I opted to go back to KK. At the hostel they said I would have to wait until 11am for the express bus to KK, I asked about the minivans that are constantly on the roads and they told me that when they go past the hostel they’re usually full up. It was now 9am and I really didn’t fancy waiting around for another 2 hours so I headed out onto the road. Even though we’re at 1500m it’s still very warm, although you wouldn’t think so to listen to the Ozzy guy in the room last night, anyone would think he’s from Australia or something! :-)

Opposite the hostel is a shelter of sorts so I holed up there and waited and while I did I had my last chat with Mick before he leaves for UK tonight.

So despite the reliable (!) information from the hostel a minivan came by 15mins later and took me back to KK for RM15, a whole ringet cheaper than yesterday.

Once back in KK I decided on a walk up to the Signal Hill Observation Pavilion. It’s around a 30 min walk up to it but apparently so the LP says you get a great view of the city and the islands. Don’t ask me why but for some reason I decided to start out a 1.30pm, only perhaps the hottest time of the day. I did have some water, of course, but you know when you have too much water..............and I don’t fancy my chances of finding one of those up this hill.

I did finally make it to the pavilion which had a toilet but it was locked. Almost straight behind me were two small groups of tourists, it seems I’m not the only crazy one then. The first couple were with a two year old and the dad had carried him up all the way in a baby carrier (now that’s crazy) then there was another couple behind them. I think they were all English. What is it they say about English men, mad dogs and midday sun again??

So the view was good if only they hadn’t built a million high rise buildings, malls and apartment blocks. Between the buildings though you could get the idea!

A very dead lizard on the walk back into town

Back in town after another tour of the very interesting market I headed back to the hostel for a much deserved rest.

In the evening I just headed out to the market again for dinner after a brief internet session. Unfortunately my hostel doesn’t have WiFi so I’ve been making great use of Starbucks! For the price of one cup of tea you can have free WiFi for hours, it’s amazing how long you can make one drink last and it’s funny cause that’s exactly what everyone else is doing! Although as far as Skype is concerned, it’s a good connection but all Keith could hear when we chatted was the coffee machine! :-|