Tin tin and the great monkey hunt
Trip Start
Nov 03, 2006
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4
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Trip End
Ongoing
Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
Monday, November 20, 2006
around when it smells like a mister was filled up with the potion and sprayed thru a fan. it has a bit of a pleasant reek to it. the jungles of sabah are permeated with the smell. there are simply monkeys everywhere! the first time i saw a proboscis monkey (no, really, look them up! they're really cool looking) they were at the top of the trees along with a mass of hornbill birds. at the bottom of the trees was half of a wild pig (dead obviously), a massive
monitor lizard pecking at the corpse, and a 3 meter crocodile lounging on the shore. welcome to the jungle, baby!
this was quite the appetizer to the main course. as we sped along in the boat thru a maze of rivers i almost fooled myself into believing that i was in the amazon again. except the trees are not so tall and the water not so black. the smell was the same, the sweet green smell that one smells when they're surrounded by foliage and water. no air pollution, no garbage, no obnoxious music thumping out of someone's souped up honda civic. nothing but the hum of our boat's motor and the bird and cicadas when the motor was cut. marvellous.
the lodge was a really nice place with hot water and yummy meals. there was an australian group there of assorted nature lovers and academics. rowdy and welcoming as is natural to all aussies. we all went on the night cruise to look for crocs, owls, and other things that go "eeeeeeeaaaaaaakkkkkk" in the night. we weren't dissapointed. my fave was when we saw 2 crocs slide into the water, chill out with just thier eyes above the water line, then slip under. nowm we were all of 5 meters away from these crocs so when they slipped under i was just praying that one wouldn't smack the bottom of our very little boat with his tail. prayer recieved and answered. one of the
more spectacular sights was when the driver switched off his torch and all the stars came out like it was oscar night. just stunning. a gentleman in front of me started pointing out the constellations and planets to me. we kept talking and come to find out, we know 2 of the same booksellers! one in london and one in la! such a small world! we spend half the night talking about books and travel and the next day after he leaves i find out he's quite a famous author! tim flannery. i have no idea who he is but he's apparently a well respected scientist and scholar as well! who knew! anyhoo, i few other people came in that next day and it was a great mix. one girl had
just travelled all over east africa alone, one worked for glaxo drugs and lived everywhere including nigeria. i didn't bring up "the constant gardner", i liked him too much. the next morning i did a trek into the jungle a bit and i encountered loads of leeches. i am happy to say that i stayed clear away from any plant (exceedingly difficult in the jungle) and i always looked out for the little buggers at the tip of the leaves. i had leech socks on and 2 different kinds of insect repellant. bastards were gonna not suck on ME! we saw a millipede and when you touched him your finger smelled like almond paste. we saw elephant tracks and wild boar tracks. and more leeches. ick. anyhoo back in kota kinabalu. feels like a metropolis now! the jungle was so relaxing. i have to say, if you've never been in the jungle before, you really need to experience it before you die. it tests what you are made of and i'm always suprised at what i can deal with and what i can't when i'm there. poisonous spiders, i can smash them with my boot. leeches totally freak me out. crocodiles are fascinating and i can't take my eyes off them (we saw a baby one too that was only 2 feet long!). pouring sweat down the crevice of my back, i detest.
who knew?
oh, on a side note, you know this is a muslim country right? well, for some reason there are christmas trees and christmas carols blasting out of every store. i forgot it was close to christmas! it's really strange but it's nice. everyone really is accepted here. anyhoo, i'm off to somewhere tomorrow. don't quite know where yet but i'll decide in the morning...
love,
tin tin
