Malaysia

As I spend each day using computers I guess that I should have a blog. It seems the thing to do and looks like a good way to show what I have been up to and will save me filling up office emails with pictures and general witterings.

So here is the new home for my thoughts. (Well only a small percentage as my thoughts tend to be pretty much non stop).

Well I have just been on holiday and had lots of fun. Its been a bit strange recently as I was on leave a few weeks before and then went away on a second holiday. I may post another update on the first holiday afterwards. So here we go on Malaysia and the Philippines.

I packed my bags and headed off to the airport from work on the Thursday and took the overnight flight to KL which due to the time difference took the whole day which allowed me to arrive just in time for an evening meal in what I now understand is the best transit hotel in the world (I can vouch for the quality of there buffet dinner, I tried all the dishes and every one was great). The following morning I headed off to Sandakan in Borneo.

I had booked some rather nice accommodation there in the Sepliok Nature Resort which was right next to the oragnutan sanctuary. I could wander out from my accommodation and go and see them in the afternoon and also did a night walk where I saw scorpions, snakes, flying squirrels and other creepy crawlies.

The following day I was picked up and I spent three days seeing some of the Borneo wildlife first stop was turtle island which is a boat ride heading east towards the Philippines. Here I did a bit of snorkeling and stubbed my toe. Later on in the day I got to see a turtle laying eggs and see some baby turtles before they were released into the sea.

This was very special for me as I love seeing them under water and an interesting fact is that the temperature of the soil affects the gender of the eggs. On the island they control the temperature to ensure a balance of male and female offspring.

They don't allow tourists to go on the beach in the evening as it will disturb the turtles. I the morning I went for a stroll and saw all of the tracks that had been left overnight and got to see a mother going back into the sea. Magic.

Later on that day I was taken back to the mainland and was taken up the river.

I managed to catch some orangutans in the wild and also saw eagles and other bird life overnight I would stay in another lodge but before then was taken on an evening boat trip up a small tributary to see the proboscis monkeys getting ready to roost for the evening. Watching troops of monkeys jump from tree to tree was another special moment well worth the trip.

The following day headed done river and saw a few crocodiles and then went to a Buddhist monastery and then back to the Nature Resort to catch a final visitation of the orangutans. The way that the sanctuary works is that if the orangutans are orphaned or need to be relocated due to man cutting down all of the jungle to make way for palm oil plantations then they are brought there.

Once there they are fed and looked after some are subsequently relocated to a new jungle others wander off into the local jungle. The staff feed them the same food stuffs so that they eventually get board and look for other food sources. I went to see what happened on three occasions and different ones came and went. The staff say that this depends on the weather and what is currently ripe in the nearby plants.

I then returned to KL and went to the towers and did some shopping.

Malls are a big thing over there and it was also there independence day celebrations. I went to the towers and saw the fire works in the evening. The exciting bit though was all of the people gathered together on their mopeds and motor bikes. There was even a group of younger people with bikes.

The noise and fumes were a site to see. The next day I headed off to the Philippines....