Orangutans
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Kuching,
Malaysia
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Okay, so getting me onto an airplane wasn't quite the A-Team event I may have wished for, with Jenny trying innocently to get me to drink a drugged glass of milk before tying me to the chair with me screaming "I ain't gettin' on no plane fool!" (cos that's how I talk to Jenny...), but anyway - here we are in Borneo. We're here for the jungle and the wildlife, let's just ignore the impact our flights may have on that same jungle and wildlife for now (I'll keep that for arguing over pints in the pub on my return)
We flew in over humid islands covered in what looked like rainforest (from that height it's hard to tell) to the capital of the state of Sarawak, Kuching. It's kind of touristy, it's got a Hilton, but after the likes of Singapore and Kuala Lumpur it's a sleepy little place. It's exciting because we know that once we leave this town it's going to get a hell of a lot less developed and more remote.
The Batang Rejang (Rejang river) flows lazily through the city and the waterfront is an excellent place for lazy walks to find a bench in the shade and take it easy with the locals. The downside is the massive Hilton on the skyline, and the huge billboard of David F'n Beckham holding a mobile phone. What an arse! We've spent a couple of days just taking it easy and wandering about the town. The people are very friendly and helpful and always have a smile on their faces (and not just when they want your money either, unlike some places). This morning we were up at 6.30am to get a bus to see the orangutans being fed at a reserve outside the town. We were one of the first groups there along with David and Kate a very friendly English couple we've met that are on a scarily similar trip to ours at the moment, and it was fantastic to see the mother with her tiny child clinging to her make her way down to the feeding platform where the rangers had placed some food for them. By the time the feeding session was over we'd seen seven orangutans, three mothers and four children feeding, and there must have been sixty tourists there all milling about with their cameras. I mean, WE were all milling about with OUR cameras. We didn't see any of the males feed, but that's the luck of the draw, the animals are free to come and go as they please and mercifully none of them have been trained to perform for the crowds.
So we're looking forward to heading westwards and maybe catching some wild orangutans, jungle trekking along the headhunter trail, staying with native tribes in their longhouses... Oh yes. One thing worries me though: we went to the museum yesterday and saw some objects used for male genital mutilation, something to do with holding the penis glands while a nail was hammered through it with a rock... Now that's worrying...
