Travels with George and Marta

We are half way through our return travel marathon at the airport in Seoul. We started the day by sleeping in and having a relaxing breakfast at the Village House. We hung around playing cards until about 12 noon before taking a taxi to the airport. We were about 2 hours early so we stopped by to have a latte at Starbucks. Yep, there is even a Starbuck’s in Borneo with a picture of the original Pike Place store on the wall. It was a little freaky. I also picked up a few last minute food items like Laksa mix.

We arrived in KK and took a taxi back to the King Park Hotel for a couple of hours. We decided to get it for a night so we could relax and shower before the next leg. We had to make a few more last minute book purchases. George couldn’t stay away from the plant books at Borneo Books. We also decided to have pizza again for dinner.

The plane for Seoul left at midnight. I hate sitting in the back of Airbus planes. It feels weird like back of the plane is fishtailing. We might have slept a bit but it was pretty uncomfortable. I don’t remember the movie so I must have slept a bit. We arrived in Seoul at 6am.

We decided to take the City Tour. Asiana provides it for free. We could have gotten a free hotel room but this was so much more interesting. The airport (Incheon) is about 60km from downtown Seoul and it is on an island. The bridge that connects it is pretty amazing. There are 50 million in Korea and 10 million live in Seoul. You can definitely tell where they all live. The river is lined with 20 story high rise apartment buildings.

But what amazed us more is to go from the rich dense green jungle of Malaysia to the barren brown winter of Korea. Nothing is green at all but a few random evergreens. We are used to some green even in the winter on the west coast. This is very prairie brown stark and 34 degrees. Quite the contrast from 90 degrees with 80% humidity which we left 5 hours ago.

It takes about 1hour by bus to get to Seoul. The first stop was a Buddhist temple but on the way we went by the President’s house which is called the Blue House. We saw tons of security police for blocks around it and could not stop. The temple was beautiful. Inside are three large gold Buddhas. A worship was going on and the temple was filled with about 100 people changing and praying. It was very moving. We had 15 minutes to walk around and take pictures before moving on. Next stop was recovered stream through the financial district that has been renovated with cement steps and a waterfall.

Next was lunch which was a lot of fun. We sat at low tables and had beef Buglogi (spelling) and of course hot Kimchi. George had a vegetarian rice bowl.

Last stop was of course for souvenirs. We bought nothing but it was very interesting area with nightclubs and sport stores.

3 more hours and then our last 9 hour leg home.

Just a quick post. We are back from Bako and waiting our shuttle to our next hotel. I am dying for a shower. Bako was very interesting. Transportation wise everything went well. We got to the bus stop at about 7am and the bus didn’t leave until 7:25. We met up with a great couple from Holland who is doing a 1 year Gap round the world trip. They are on their 6th month. Another woman from England was also waiting which made up 5 people to share the boat. The bus was a long bumpy ride on a very old bus. We got off and did out paper work. It turns out that we just made it in time to get a boat because the tide was out. Oh goodie, we get to walk in. Then the ranger gives us the lecture about stingrays and jelly fish. What have I gotten myself into??

The boat trip is quick – about 20 minutes. We had a little difficulty getting over a shoal and he had to stop a pretty far distance from the beach. George jumped off first and his feet sink into some shoe sucking mud so we all decide to go barefooted. The water came up to our knees. We just sloshed our feet a bit before putting them down to scar off the water critters. It wasn’t really that far to walk before we got out of the water area and on to low tide mud. Definitely made for an interesting arrival.

We arrived about 9am and it was too early to check in. So we reorganized our packs and stored one. But we heard that there were monkeys right near the checkin so we headed out. We got to see the proboscus monkey right off. A group of several – male, female and lots of teenagers were hanging out along with gray monkeys. We spent time watching before heading back for some basic lunch.

We reorganized our packs and headed off to the Lintang trail. It followed the boardwalk across the mangrove swamp. We saw more monkeys in the trees and scampering across the mud flats. We also saw big claw crabs and mudskippers.

The boardwalk ended and then the climbing started. Roots, rocks and more roots. I was grumbling big time. It was about 1/2 mile before we reached the plateau and the keranga, a limestone plateau with low shruby trees. Right away we saw the nepenthes we were looking for – two more species that we had been looking for. They were everywhere. It was also hot as hades. We continued across the open area and then entered jungle again. Roots, rocks and more roots. We continued for about 2 km before I got really cranky and we turned back. It was a good thing. It got really hot since the clouds moved off. It was like walking in a sunny sauna.

We got back and got checked into our room – if you can call it that. A half of a house with two single beds – no sheets and I had a stinky pillow. Yech. The shower and toilet were together = nothing but cold water and it took 15 minutes for the toilet to fill. No toilet paper – no soap but we did have a dusty fan mounted on the ceiling. Thank god it was only one night.

We opened a couple of windows and then the naughty monkeys appeared. They gathered in front of our house – about 15 little monkeys. They started crawling on the front and tried to get into the windows. We had to shoo them away. Next they laid down and started grooming each other on the sidewalk. You’d think they owned the place – they do!

We went and had a beer at the canteen and ran into the Dutch couple. She pulled out her cookies and offered us one. And in a flash a monkey jumped on the table and snatched the package away from her and ran off. You can’t fight them or they will bite. The staff comes out with a slingshot to keep them away during lunch.

We relaxed for a while and the had a basic cafeteria dinner. We gathered at 7:30 for a night walk. Saw a few insects.

Today, we tried another short hike. I couldn’t make it to the beach. I was sweating like crazy. We went back and walked along the beach instead since the tide was out.

The boat was able to make it closer and we waded just a bit. The ride was quick. The bus came shortly after that but the ride was still long hot and bumpy.

The trip is coming to a close. It has been great. I’ll write again if they have internet at the Village house – otherwise when we return.

We had a good dinner last night. We opted for Western food again. We headed to Bla..bla..bla.. There are actually 3 restaurants close together that have the same owner; Junk which has a decor of antiques, Bla… which has a Bali decor and in between the two, The Living Room. This has a lot of nice couches and opens into a garden. They also have long house style sitting which is similar to the short tables and pillows you find in a japanese restaurant. I’ve been pretty stiff and sore so I decided not to sit at the low tables but a standard table that looked out onto the garden area. You could have anything on either menu from Junk or Bla.bla.bla. Junk is western and Bla is chinese. We opted for Pizza again. I had lamb and George a vegetarian. It hit the spot. Western food is pretty expensive. It was 109RM with beer.

We slept much better last night and woke up somewhat early. Sunrise and sunset does not vary when you are on the equator. It comes up at 6:30 and goes down at 6:30. We had the continental breakfast the hostel provides (toast, lime juice and coffee). At 8:00, we were picked up and taken to the Orangutan Wildlife Center at Semenggoh. It was a minivan and was 25rm. They feed the oranguatan on platforms at two different locations. They put a bunch of fruit and it is possible for the Orangutans to show up for the free food. They are free in the large center so there is no guarantee that any of the 18 Orangutans will show up.

But one just gave birth 9 days ago. She was there with her baby. The mother loved eating the small banannas. I don’t blame her – they are one of my favorites. She came down onto the lawn area also so we were able to get about 5 feet away. The caretakers are there at all times to keep the tourists in check. Two other young orangutans also showed up. They gave one a whole coconut which he took up into the trees to crack and drink. Did you know that Orangutan’s DNA is about 97% similar to humans?

You only get to stay about 1 hour. The center wants to minimize the exposure to humans. We were back in Kuching by 11. Lunch time. We headed to the chinese hawker center for some noodles. Prawn Mee for George and Kolo Mee for me. The noodles are very similar to ramen noodles. They plonge them into hot water/broth to cook and top with bean sprouts and meat of choice. George had prawns. I had ground pork, wonton dumplings, chicken, bbq pork and something that I didn’t know what it was. It was either a slice of tofu or fish cake. I think it was fish cake. I didn’t feel like eating it. You also get a little dish of soyu sauce and sliced hot hot fresh red chilis. We poured this over the noodles. Perfect.

Next we headed to the museum. It is part natural history. This part was a little sad. A bunch of old cases with stuffed animals. The lights were not working so it was difficult to see. There were collections of shells also. Upstairs was a really nice longhouse display. We will not be going to a real long house. We hope to go to the cultural museum but it would have been nice to do a longhouse. Next time. We also went to the Islamic Museum which was interesting.

We are resting again and repacking our gear for Bako. We head out in the morning. We’ll take a bus (hopefully) and then a boat to the peninsula. We will stay in a very basic one room chalet. I’ve heard it is very spartan and the bathrooms … well let’s just say not the best. It will only be for one night. We will do hiking to see more nepenthes and the proboscis monkey.

After that we will return and move to the sister hotel of where we are staying currently. It is out of Kuching. We want to relax a bit before heading back. Two weeks have gone so fast. I’ll write more when we return from Bako if I have internet connection.