So, in the past few days I didn’t have time to
write. I’m in Miri now which is a town in the northern part of the Sarawak
province, from where I’ll be heading to Mulu National Park for some trekking.
Anyhow, I will now post here a few stories that happened along the way so far.
I arrived in Kuching quite late in the night (right after the journey from Europe through Dubai and Kuala Lumpur) and
went to one of the hostels which were recommended by Lonely Planet.
Unfortunately, no vacancies, I went to another one – no rooms. And so, I was
walking around with my backpack (with every step it felt like the backpack was
getting heavier and heavier) and finally I found an open bar, and there was a
guy who asked right away, "looking for a room?" And so, I stayed at
the hostel he showed me. I thought the room was nice, and it actually was, but
it was also really loud (a disco across the street), and no attached bathroom,
and the common bathroom wasn’t the cleanest. Anyhow, I stayed there, almost
everywhere else the rooms were fully booked, I didn’t want to go for a dorm,
didn’t want to pay too much, and wanted a window (here they charge extra for a
window…) so well I stayed there for three nights spent in Kuching. Turned out
the hostel is owned by a tattooist, I met one of his apprentices who told me
that his master was in fact the greatest tattooist of the world. Well, I
haven’t decided (yet ;) to go for a tattoo. But if I did, that would have been a good
address.
From Kutching I went to a national reserve to
see orangutans. The animals are semi-wild, meaning they live freely in the
jungle, have feedings two times per day though. I was there around 7 am, but
the park was.. closed. Opened only at 8. I spent over an hour sitting in front
of the park. "The silver lining is that I will be the first tourist so I might
get to hike a bit alone" – I thought. And in fact, I was alone. Turned out the
groups arrived at another entrance, close to the feedings, they were not
interested in hiking, only seeing the feeding and take pictures of the apes.
Well… At 9.00 when the feeding started there were millions of tourists! Ok,
maybe not millions, but around a hundred for sure.
Still, I could watch the orangutans :) They
remind me really of humans. Moreover, they seem to be more intelligent
than some people… After the feeding the groups left. I stayed there, walked around,
then decided to head to the park exit. The road is a concrete road. I was
walking and then wanted to find something in my backpack, so I knelt and searched my backpack. When I raised my eyes I saw… an orangutan mother with its infant
going exactly my direction, maybe about 3 meters away (it was really close). The
ape came closer. Our eyes crossed. It was one of the strangest experiences of
my life. I got up slowly and moved to the side letting her pass. The ape walked
slowly, looking at me. Hey, that’s what
I came to Borneo for. To meet face to face an orangutan. Mission accomplished.
And from there on my travel only got better and better
(read: better = interesting) …
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