After the vacation

Right after the vacation, I was swamped with work. Its still on the high end right now. However, I am enjoying myself since this is part of the job that I like.
I missed my best buddy and the fun times we manage to create whenever we get together. There are prolly very few people in this world who have our kind of synthesis. We not only gel well, but are also able to create something that individually we might not have.
Saying our goodbyes wasnt too bad especially since BHR was also there. As I watched JAR queueing in the immigration line from a distance away, I felt so alone. The look he gave me also indicated that that feeling was shared.
I am thankful that at least we are given the few times a year to share. Some people do not have even one of that in their lifetime.
Hey JAR ..... I just publicly said I missed u!

The Borneo Vacation.....part 4......Sukau and the Wallet story

We left Turtle Island early next morning for Libaran Island where we were given breakfast. there was corned beef and baked beans. No too fantastic but edible. Then the boat ride, passing again the fishing village. We said our goodbyes at the jetty to Zowie, the New Zealander girl and the three of us were placed in an MPV with Amran the guide for the next part of our trip.
We stopped at our hotel in Sepilok so that we could change our clothes and collect our laundry. I repacked my bags with new clothes double checking that this time I had them really in my bag pack!
They drove us to Sukau which was about 3 hours away. One pit stop cos I needed to use the rest room. JAR and BHR saw two monkeys caged up and some palm oil seeds. They took us to Guomantang Caves where the swift bird builds its nest. These nests equals a small fortune for the skilled workers who climb bamboo polls to retrieve the saliva-made nests for medicinal Chinese dishes. The cave was full of bat-dung and cockcroaches and smelt of bat urine. Outside the cave, we saw a wild orang utan with a baby. That was a bonus.
After the cave, we were driven to Sukau where we took a boat to cross the river to Sukau. Sukau River lodge is situated right at the river. We were greeted by the lodge staff with a cool wet towel each. Very refreshing for a bunch of tired travellers.
The water in the rooms were brown in color and that is prolly cos it is basically rain water collected and processed by the lodge itself. They gave us lunch which had the chef barbequeing lamb for us. Quite delicious. They fed us food but charged us for the drinks here......not quite so innocent here, travellers beware!
At 3.30pm they took us on the best river cruise along the river......we saw wild proboscuis monkeys, birds, snakes, etc. There even was a dramatic scene of two monleys having a fight. I love the river ride! It rained a little ..... i tried to use my ponco but found it more comfortable to just let the rain fall on me. We came back for dinner and a little rest. Then it was time for the night walk.
A walk along the lodge area and we saw many sleeping birds and insects. We have had a full day and after a shower everyone fell asleep.
Next morning we had breakfast and then Amran took us on another boat ride. We stopped by to look at some fish/ prawn/crab traps. There were pythons and other snakes on the the trees byu the river. More monkeys too. JAR got to see more hornbills flying thru the air. Then we reached our destination for another jungle walk.
It was another hour's walk....hot and humid....full of sweat. More leeches but this time its easier cos Amran had taught us how to deal with them. Just pull or roll them out. JAR had a few leeches crawling up his shirt. More mud and puddles to cross. My new Timberland shoes being put to good use. They were fantastic and served me well! We ended the walk feeling happy and relaxed.
We got back to Sukau lodge and JAR and I washed our muddy shoes....JAR found two leeches stuck on his. We had lunch and then it was time to leave Sukau. it was raining and we took the boat and ran across to a rest house as soon as we arrived. Our car had arrived but the driver needed a rest before he could take us on the 3 hour ride again.
We were on the gravel road for almost an hour when I realised that my wallet with all my credit cards and driver's licence and currency was missing. They stoppped the car and we searched all over. No wallet. There was no network coverage for Amran's cell phone to work.....we drove on for another 15 minutes....at a junction he managed to call the rest house....they had found my wallet!!! The wonderful Sabah people showed that there is still honesty and intergrity in this world....we waited in the afternoon sun for half an hour for the kind people to drive along the gravel road to send me my wallet! I love Sabah people!....The wallet was intact!
We arrive at Sepilok and said our goodbyes to Amran. Our Borneo holiday was almost at its end. We had one more night. We went yet again to the Orang Utan Rehabilitation Center the next morning.......also another fruitful experience....there was a pair of monkeys humping away in front us all!!!
Then it was a drive to the airport and our final goodbyes to Borneo! It was fantastic holiday......prolly only second to the Grand Canyon River Trip of 2004 that JAR took me on and thats saying its a great holiday!

The Borneo Vacation.....part 3......The Turtles

Next morning we had breakfast at Sepilok....scrambled eggs, butter, toast and homemade banana and pineapple jam. We were told to pack for an overnight stay at turtle island. JAR and I had our backpacks all ready....I packed two tee shirts, a pair of pants and toiletries. The digital camera batteries already recharged. BHR appeared to be bringing only his little waist bag. I insisted that he needed to bring at least one change of clothes plus his tooth brush.....oh oh he had no little bag to put that in. BHR found an old paper bag which I could see was almost torn apart. I went to the reception area and managed to get a plastic bag for him. Thats how BHR travelled for the next few days....with a paper bag stuck inside the plastic bag!
They took us on a bus to a tiny shop at the orang utan center to buy water before driving us to the Jetty. Our guide whose name is Amran entertained us almost the whole 45 minute ride. He seems knowledgeable and friendly. We met a local family of five, a German couple and a young New Zealander girl whom the three of us adopted and she became part of our group on the Turtle Island. The ride down the river was pleasant and entertaining. We passed a fishing village and the kids there waved at us. We all waved back. Friendly people. We were brought to Libaran Island for lunch. The food was not too fantastic but the four of us walked along the village nearby and met up with some locals. One family was about to have a feast and they offered us some delicious coconut cakes baked on a charcoal oven. Upon reaching Turtle island, a funny fish 'stood up' and practically walked beside our boat.....JAR was thrilled to no end by this fish. I didnt manage to actually see it but several people on the boat did.
We were placed in a bungalow at Turtle Island. I discovered that I had only packed the pants and had no tee shirts in my bag pack! I walked to the canteen where they sold some teeshirts and got me one. JAR spent the afternoon swimming in the sea. I accompanied him until I decided to go get the tee shirt. then i went back to my room to take a nap. JAR woke me up and insisted that I return to the sea with him. I didnt have the heart to refuse him and I was glad that I did! I always had this phobia about being in the water and drowning....JAR said that the water was shallow....he was right.......I used the mask and snorkels and moved about where the water was no higher than my chest.....beautiful fishes swam around me....I was in heaven! Thank you JAR for helping me overcome one of my fears in life!
We had dinner (I had a minor incident here....I threw up the first mouthful due to some gas in my tummy). Then we all sat around and chatted while waiting for the 'Turtle Time' or "Penyu" call from the rangers. There were 15 sightings of mother turtles come egg laying that night. The rangers only allowed us to disturb one mama. We saw how she laid her eggs and covered the hole. then they took us to the hatchery where we were allowed to hold an egg. later we were given a tiny baby turtle each to hold. It was all very exciting.
We were lucky that mama turtle came at about 9pm so we could have a relatively early night. We had to be up early next day for the next part of our adventure in Sukau!

The Borneo Vacation.....part 2......The Orang Utans

We had to take two flights from Singapore to Sabah, Borneo. We flew to Kuala lumpur International airport, then took a local flight to Sandakan via Kota Kinabalu. The flights were pleasant and restful especially for three people who had to get up at 3 am to get ready for the 6.50am flight.
We were met at the Sandakan airport by the people from Sepilok Jungle Resort. They took us on a half hour ride to the blissful resort which is situated a 5 minute walkb to the Orang utan (Man of the Jungle) rehabilitation center. The resort is owned by Mr. Lim and his wife. Its almost like a family run outfit. Soon after we were shown to our rooms, Johnny our guide arrived to take us to see the orang utan at their second feeding of the day (3pm). Johnny said that we were very lucky when two cute young wild orang utans followed us all the way to the feeding station. they were playful companions. One of them even touched BHR's tee shirt which had some fish designs. We took dozens of photographs. Then we returned to the resort for some food and rest.
We chose to take a night walk accompanied by a ranger. Jovinna, a girl who works in the restaurant at the resort walked us to the orang utan center. We arrived at about 6.15 pm, a little too early. It wasnt in vain tho, cos we got to see some flying squirrels soaring across the trees. A couple of hornbills were also demonstrating their flight prowess.
Walking in the jungle at night is a 'must-do' experience for city folks. You must have a guide cos there are no road signs. In the equatorial jungle, it almost always muddy. There are leeches on the leaves ever ready to junp on to your skin to suck your blood dry! A variety of bugs and insects lay on the floor, barks of trees or leaves. The ranger was just about to show us what a leech looks like when I started screaming cos at that point I saw one that was already on BHR's hand sucking away his blood! All in all, BHR had 6 leech bites that night. I had three.....one discovered as it crawled up my lap at dinner and the other two fell off my body just as I was undressing for the night. JAR did not find any leeches on him but he too woke up on a bloodied bedsheet which meant that the leeches had fed on him during the night!
'The Leech Stories' will be told over and over again for months to come at dinner parties, etc.
The ranger walked us back to the resort; on the way a stray dog gave BHR some angry barks but no harm came to him. We had dinner and then rested for the night. Tommorrow we would be going to Turtle Island to see some egg laying event! to be continued.

The Borneo Vacation.....part 1...City Life

JAR and BHR arrived after a 20 hour flight to immigration and meet me at the airport. Then the three of us immediately checked in with tickets purchased electronically by JAR for our flight to Singapore. Later we three had a snack of pastries and satay at a cafe inside the terminal. The flight to Singapore was smooth. We then took a cab to the hotel located at the Orchard Road. The hotel had upgraded our rooms so that was a nice surprise. That evening we took a walk along the shopping areas in Orchard road, looking out for the MRT stations. Then we had a reflexology foot massage. That was relaxing. We had dinner at an open air restauran along Orchard Road.
I did not sleep to well the first night maybe due to over excitement over the vacation.
We had breakfast at the hotel. Then we took a bus to the Singapore Zoo. You take the MRT to the Ang Mo Kiu station, then take a 138 bus tp the Zoo. Of course we had to cross the road and get on to the wrong side of the route. A long walk back the road to the correct bus stop.
It was all worth it ....Singapore has about the best zoo in the world...the animals do not appear in cages....they have deep drains that is cleverly camourflaged...It almost appears like the animals and you are within reach. We saw all the shows that they put up for the visitors....birds, domestic pets, seals, etc. We spent the whole day at the zoo, had lunch and some icicles too.
We went from the zoo to the night safari (tickets courtesy of BHR). We waited for JAR's niece LR and her boyfriend T at the Bongo Bar. The night safari was nice but we all took the wrong turn and ended up at the entrance via our long walk in the night....this meant we missed out on the western area of the safari....we were all too tired then to go back inside. Instead we stayed at the Bongo Bar and watched a tribal dance before JAR and I took pics with the owl, cheetah and boa constrictor. Then we all took two cabs to the city and called it a night.
Early the next morning, after breakfast we took the MRT to the Sentosa cable car. It was fun going on the cable car towards Sentosa Island. Then we took the Sky Tower to look at a view at the scenery of Sentosa. JAR then did some shopping at the souvenior shop. It started to rain heavily and we took shelter at the butterfly exibit. We met a very nice employee there and he let JAR and BHR play with some large stick insects. That was a bonus! JAR wanted to tip the employee but he refused saying that the service was given with sincerity. After that, we took several bus rides on the Sentosa blue, yellow and green line .......(JAR.....do u remember what happened on these rides? hehehe) . We had the lousiest lunch at Sentosa.......food was awful and pricey, the tropical fruit punch tasted like rotten fruits). Warning....DONT eat at Sentosa. After Sentosa we returned to the hotel to freshen up before meeting up with LR and T at their apartment....an exciting modern glass walled place....just perfect for yuppies.
LR and T took us to a hawker's haven where we all tried some eastern dishes! Delicious! Then it was time to leave and we took a cab.
We had to get up at 3 am to get ready for the airport for the main part of our vacation in Borneo. The best is yet to come. I'll update the posting soon.