Homeward bound

Flew from Kota Kinabalu on Borneo to KL. Staying overnight in an airport hotel. We seem to have got ourselves a free upgrade to a posh room.

Had a quick swim in the pool and jaccuzi and a nice meal. Tommorrow it looks like the return flight is 14 hours!

Tropical Island

Spent the day on Palau Mamutik, a small island only 10 minutes by boat from the hotel and set in the South China Sea.

Spent the day snorkelling and sunbathing/reading.

There were loads of tropical fish, though the coral was better on Seligan Island a few days ago. Our underwater camera is film based so will have to wait to see if we got any photos.

Richard met some big lizards and annoyed a kung-fu fighting crab which leaped about 5 feet and tried to clamp on to his nose. So he bravely retreated at speed.

Laura sunburnt her legs and has sunglass marks! Richard has something that almost resembles a tan.

We plan a quiet last night her, hopefully catching another sunset. Tomorrow we fly to Kuala Lumpur again and overnight there before flying home.

Headhunters Village

Gentle start to the day (Laura had a pedicure, which took 3 times longer than advertised because of the work needed to repair her feet).

In the early afternoon we took a taxi to Monsopiad Cultural Village - a 'living museum' centered on the house of a famous head hunter.

Ok it was now set up very much for tourists, but if you are visiting headhunters you want to be sure they are selling souveniers to tourists rather than turning them into one.


Monsopiad was a warrior who claimed 42 skulls, still preserved in the roof of the hut. The site is now run by his seventh generation descendants.

We don't know who the skull belonged to, except for one which is accompanied by a femur to prove it came from a famously large rival warrior.






The hut roof was also home to some very sweet bats.











You can also try your hand at the slingshot and blowpipe, drink rice wine (ugh) and eat lychees straight from the tree (forcefed by Norma, our very talkative guide.










The visit ended with a performance of traditional tribal dances, which we were press-ganged into joining in with.

There were no taxis back from the village so we had to entrust ourselves to the local death-trap public transport system.






Back at the Tanung Aru Resort, you can just see our room in the building in the background.












We had a BBQ dinner on the seafront as the sun set - huge piles of prawns, steak, lobster and kebabs.

Earlish start tomorrow, intending to head to the islands you can see in this picture, provided the rain holds off.

Civilisation

Yesterday we left Seligan Island and returned to civilisation.

Following the boat journey back to Sandakan we had a brief tour of the city.

This began at the memorial, erected in memory of those 2500 prisoners of war, largely Australian and British who died in the Death Marches in 1945. The site of the prison camp is now a peaceful garden with lily ponds.

Next stop was a modern Chinese Buddhist Temple - very gaudy and decorated with painted dragons, paper lanterns and golden Buddhas.

At each side of the shrines were pillars recording the names of the Temple members (for a fee).

The Temple is on top of the cliffs overlooking Sandakan Harbour and giving views all across the area.

St Michael's Anglican Church was the next stop. One of the few buildings to survive the war, the church is built in the 1880's in a classic English style. The stained glass windows commemorate the Death Marches.

The church seems quite modern, with an electric band and digital projectors and air con.

We had lunch at the Sabah Hotel and Richard went for a walk down their nature trail into the jungle. Unfortuately he forgot to apply bug spray and the insects picked his carcass clean in minutes.

Laura stayed behind, in reach of the toilets....

Then to the airport for our 5th flight, this time to Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Sabah.

Today, day 11, after much needed baths, sleep, pasta and Burgers, we are now enjoying the luxury of our resort hotel. We took a quick trip into town today in search of supplies of Coke and Chocolate and some very cheap DVD's which are not available in the UK yet. These will come in handy because it is lashing with rain so our tropical islands and three swimming pools are not an option.

Room service is very nice, though we are going to try the Chinese Restaurant tonight.

Turtles

Our trip to Turtle Island began with a return trip down the river. We stopped for a break half way down and were lucky to run into this wild orangutan. Very cute.

(It is supposed to be this way up)








Then we sailed on towards the Island, passing this wading fisherman.











The is Seligan Island where the Turtles lay their eggs. The dents in the sand you can see are old nests.

We spent the afternoon on the beach, sunbathing and snorkelling amongst the coral and tropical fish. Richard learned that a) coral is sharp b) snorkelling leaves your back exposed to the blazing sun and c) small fish can be quite territorial and have bony mouths.



By early evening the turtles in the hatchery had begun to surface. Each night the rangers collect all the eggs as they are laid and transfer them to these protected enclosures to save them from the monitor lizards. They take about 55 days to incubate and 3 days to dig to the surface.







However, just occasionally the rangers miss some eggs.

These babies hatched on the beach and we got to see them waking up. Suddenly there were 50 or so tiny turtles making a break for the water. We followed them to make sure they weren't eaten on the way.

Our guide said that we were lucky - this happens less than once a month.


After dark the female turtles begin to arrive on the beach. Once they have begun to lay, you are permitted to watch one of them.

Ours laid 95 eggs, and was one of 32 to come ashore that night, laying over 2600 eggs between them.

We watched the eggs being buried in the hatchery and then a basket of new babies being released into the sea.


A late night, but worth every moment. At least this night there was AC.

Dr Livingstone I presume?

Bruised, bitten, burnt and bleeding and tanked up on Immodium Instants, we emerged from the jungle. But we are getting ahead of ourselves. Here is what we've been up to....





First stop was the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre.

This cares for rehomed pets and other rescued orangs. They are fed and cared for until they are independant again and are then released. There are 150-200 there at any one time.





The feeding station is a short, and baking hot, walk into the jungle.


At feeding time, there were three orangs who had come to eat fruit and milk, show off and fight each other.

They didn't approach the viewing platform this day, but have been known to hug or even strip naked unsuspecting tourists. They are still wild and there are no fences or cages.



From here we travelled to the jetty at Sandakan water village.

The fishermens' houses are built on stilts above the sea to enable easy access to boats, but still have all mod cons, internet, satellite TV etc.








We then boarded a speedboat for a bone jarring two hour crossing of the Sulu Sea and up the Kinabatangan River - the longest river in Sabah.










This is the Old Ben Kinabatangan Lodge, where we were based overnight, in a simple but adequate wooden hut (no AC but a huge cockroach running around Richard's bed!)

In the afternoon/early evening we took a small boat up the river looking for wildlife. We were told that if we were very, very, very lucky we might see a pygmy elephant - one of the rarest creatures spotted.




Here are said elephants. There are only 1500 or so of this species remaining, and North East Borneo is the only place in the world they are found.

A whole herd were coming down to the river to drink and bathe.







This young one was snorkelling right alongside our boat.











This was how close we could get, they seemed not at all bothered by our presence. Richard never thought he'd need a wideangle lens to photograph a wild elephant. They were almost in touching distance.

We also spotted Long Tailed Macaques, Proboscis Monkeys (the males have huge noses and permenant erections), Hornbills, Snakebirds, Egrets, a Kite and a Fish Eagle. However dusk was falling and they were up in the trees so difficult to photograph well.

We then returned to the lodge and collapsed into bed, and slept suprisingly well. Early start the next morning heading for Turtle Island.

However, now, in our luxury hotel with big beds, bath and AC, room service is about to arrive with dinner so we'll tell you about the Turtles tomorrow.

Arrival in Borneo

Just a quick update to say that we have arrived in Borneo.
A long journey, largely spent waiting in the airport between flights, but all hassle free.

The Hotel seems really nice, but we are only here overnight.

Tomorrow we are being picked up first thing and are off to see the Orangutans and to stay at a jungle lodge.
Our second holiday begins here!

No internet access likely the next 2 nights.

Religions of Java

Via Via is an organic, fairtrade beardy restaurant that arranges cultural tours, off the tourist trail.

We booked the Religion Tour (or Busman's Holiday) which takes you round the villages to see the sites of all the diverse religious groups of Yogya in the company of Maria, a young local Muslim guide.

This is an animist wishing pool - you bathe in the waters when looking for love. Richard was not allowed to go for a swim.


On the same site there is a mosque and this Hindu Shrine, all happily co-existing and seemingly run by the same people.

We were allowed to have a go at the ritual, lighting incense and making an offering of flowers.






This is Holy Cross Catholic Church, built to look like a pagoda as seen in the Kraton. It houses the usual statues and stations of the cross but is open to the air on three sides and has no seating.

The hilltop cross at the 14th Station doubles as an animist spirit tree, where locals come to medidate and contact the spirit said to live inside it.




Next was the mosque. Such a different reception here to in Jerusalem, we were shown how to perform the ritual washing, dressed in religious dress and shown how to perform the stages of prayer. This caused great amusement for the women and children watching us try to stand and kneel and press our heads to the floor without falling over.






Here are said women - very friendly. They thought Laura made good breeding stock and kept squeezing her leg (in a friendly way).

We were also able to visit the Arabic School where the children were having special Ramadan classes.









We then walked to another Hindu and animist shrine. This time the pool was for wealth and buisness (but didn't look very clean - it was inside the bowels of a tree - so no riches for us).

This is Laura with the guide (who said she was big for an Indonesian but looked tiny to us!)







Final stop was a Chinese Cemetary. Previously discriminated against, the Chinese had to be buried separately, reject Confusianism and take an Indonesian name.

Although this is no longer the case the site still belongs to the Sultan and if he wished to use the land for something else, he could order all the graves moved.

Each plot bears the names of living family members in red whose names are coloured in gold when they die. So there is a grave with your name on it, literally.

Tomorrow we fly to Borneo and then, after an overnight in the hotel, being the jungle proper part of the holiday. The blog will be updated as and when we can get an internet connection. (So don't panic, parents, if no news till Friday.)

Sultan's Palace

Earlyish start to beat the crowds to the Kraton - Yogya's old city.

It was built in the 18th Century and centres on the Sultan's Palace.

Although built by a Muslim, it is laid out to represent the Hindu cosmos and is guarded by Buddhist guardian statues.





The inner courtyards were each built by a successive Sultan, including the current Sultan Hanengkuduwana X.

The Sultan is very popular with the locals. Yogja has free health and education unlike the rest of the country, those who live around the palace pay no rent and after the earthquake in 06 he personally helped many of those affected.

The couryards are dotted with little gazebos and covered walkways and are very peaceful. Elderly retainers in traditional batik dress and with ceremonial daggers wander around directing you and giving out information.

Some of the pagodas are beautifully decorated. The colours are red for Isalm, gold for Hinduism and black for Hinduism - the three historic religions of Java.











Although cockfighting is now illegal, the Sultan still likes to keep a collection of birds in cages around the palace.

Usually in the courtyard there are traditional dances and gamelan playing, but during Ramadan, verses from the Qu'ran are chanted aloud.

One of the early Sultans built a Water Garden. His concubines would swim in the pool here, while he watched from the tower and chose which one he wanted to invite to his private pool.

The complex includes an underground mosque, now no longer used.

Much of the site is in a poor state. It was restored in concrete by UNESCO in 2004, but the earthquake 2 years later did not help matters.

This is the Sultan's Gate, through which he would go back to his palace. The gardens used to be connected to the palace by canals, on which the Sultan would travel by canoe, while the girls waded.

Leaving the palace we had lunch in a backpackers restaurant (where we booked a tour for tomorrow) and then headed back to the hotel - the heat and the food having caught up with us a bit. Late afternoom recovering in the hotel, with a quick trip to McDonalds. Bless globalisation, sometimes you just want something you know.

Tomorrow is already our last full day on Java.

Monkeys and Mountains

Another lazy morning by the pool. No cocktails this time though.

Handoko picked us up and took us to Kaliurung. This is a popular holiday retreat for the locals on the slopes of Mount Merapi - the 6th most active volcano in the world.

We began at a small nature reserve - a light introduction to the jungle.

At the water fall, Richard tried to recreate the Timotei shampoo advert. Somehow it's not quite so alluring.

We spent the day 2 to 3km higher than Yogya and so it was much cooler and the storms yesterday had reduced the humidity so we got a break from the oppressive heat.

We bumped into some monkeys, but they were a little disappointed that we didn't have any food for them. This one started eating a piece of tissue that he'd found.

We took a ride on the 'train' round the village and local area. After they'd given it a push start of course.

We then went to the top of the volcano, which was shrouded in cloud - very creepy. The picture shows the path the lava takes down the mountain.

This is all that is left of the village at the top. In 1996, the last serious erruption (there was a smaller one in 2006), wiped out the houses and despite the presence of a bunker, killed all the residents.

With all the grey ash, ruins and cloud it was a sombre place.

Final stop off was a view point of the full scale of the lava channel. A group of men with trucks were mining lava to be exported.

(You can just make them out in the photo - did you know that clicking on the photos gives you a larger version - use the back button on your browser to come back here.)

Now back at the hotel unincinerated, we have our eyes on the huge buffet being assembled in the courtyard.