Arriving in Kuching was such a relief after Jakarta. Kuching is the largest city of the state of Sarawak and is a quiet wee river city. Borneo is made up of Chinese, Malay and the indigenous tribes.
Our first day in Kuching we slept in to 12 which we felt was well deserved. We also had to wash all of our clothes due to us thinking we may have got bed bugs from that slumhole in Jakarta. Turns out we had the record for the most amount of washing done at one time. By this stage as well we resmembled a couple of walking scabs but at least we were mobile. We walked around Kuching(typical tourist stuff) and indulged in what we dubbed nibbling. This invloved walkng the waterfront and sampling food from the stalls scattered along the riverbank.
The next day we were up at 6am and headed out to Bako National Park for some jungle action. We headed out there in a rickety old bus that shaked the entire way-it wasnt the road just the crapy suspension and the age of the cruiser. We headed to the park by boat up a river with an old mate with the best mullet I've seen and best off all it looked ligit on him. Heading there we saw a crocodile and a masive jellyfish. Turns out the Malay eat them and even export them to Japan.We arrived to the park and were greeted by some monkeys and as always they wanted to get their wee hands on our stuff.
We headed into the jungle which gets dense very quickly. The heat under the cannopey is intence like maybe 95% hummidity-I lasted in my David Attenborough gears all of 20mins until I was soaking wet. We trekked with a few other people which made it interesting including an Ausie Steve Irwin "I just love reptiles aye". We ended up at this beach but unfortunately scab one and scab two couldnt go swimming due to the "incident".We then took a boat aound a few more bays and began the trek again. It was amazing how much the sceneary changes. As the day got on it got hotter and hotter and by the time we got to the cafe for lunch we were buggered and of course I was hissing.
The cafe was interesting because the monkeys knew it was lunch and would jump in and try and grap things of the tables and even out of peoples hands. They were fiesty wee things. Bascially in Borneo you are rendered motionless from between 1 and 3pm as it is just too hot. We decided to head back out for a couple of hours and ended up seeing Probiscus Monkey which Borneo is famous for-they have huge noses. Got up close and personl with a bright green viper and even gave it a wee poke(I felt ok cause I was doing this with old mate Steve). A massive monitor lizard walked past the entrance to the cafe-"some people buy camera's with longer lenses, I just get closer".Buy
the way Mr Chris Cochrane sold me a excellent camera. Real good zoom
and picture quality is great-thanks Kwady. We walked for about 6hrs all up and the majority of wildlife we saw was centred around park headquarters and the cafe.Dont know why but think its too hot for the animals during the day.On the way back to the lodge we saw an Albino Malaysian. He had bright whitey/yellowish hair and heaps of acne. Its been a trip of firsts and thats definately the first albino I've seen.
The next day we headed to Sibu aka Little FooChow due to the number of Chinese that live here. Nothing much going on here but the local market was interesting as you could buy live chickens wrapped in newspaper.
The following day we went and stayed at an Iban Longhouse and in our style no plans we just got given a name and set about finding it. The Iban are a tribe that inhabites the Sarawak states and they live in these Longhouses which consist of long,skinny houses conected together with a large hall that stretches the entite length of the building in front of the rooms(each individual house). Where we went to thre were eight longhouses. The Iban are famous for their headhunting past where they would drain the blood of skulls into the soil to ensure a good harvest.We managed to see some baskets of skulls hanging in one of the halls but this is rear as alot of the Iban are now either Christian or Muslim.We got taken out fishing and got to wear those Vietnamese style hats which was cool. The highlight for us was being able to put on the customary dress which for Kirsten was a sorong with a large head piece and a multitude of bracelets-couldnt believe my eyes as she resembled a tribal princess.She pulled off the look very well. I got to wear the warrior outfit so had a spear that doubled as a blowpipe, a shield and a long dagger. We felt so priverleged to be wearing the gears.
We loved our night at the longhouse and the lady whom we stayed with was very informative on the Iban way of life.She gave us some rice wine which is very potent. Just a note these people aren't living in absolute shacks. They have power, tv, phones, stereos, playstation and basically everything else-but they just live in a longhouse. The resemblance to Maori is striking as the Iban are now moving to urban centers to find work. Thre seems to be a real push here to try and pass down the customs and culture of these great people.
Nothing much else after this-another night in a city which we are getting rather sick of as they all are the same after a while and theres not much to do in them. They all seem to be talked up way too much.
We flew into KotaKinabalu today so more jungle action kicking off tomomorw.I have posted photos on Facebook as this site isnt that great for mass photouploading. If you dont have facebook then check the tech on someone who does
Cheers and until the next time
Jared and Kirsten(I'm so Co-Captain now babe)
