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We arranged to meet up with Ryan's cousin Alana in Sarawak, on the Malaysia side Borneo so we booked tickets in Singapore. Having gone through the booking and taking the cheapest seats we were amazed at check in that they didn't even weigh our bags, slightly disappointed that we didn't pack more clothes. We did get to experience the budget terminal as well. Fortunately it wasn't a shed as Ryan expected.
The flight was super quick and it felt like we walked onto the plane then straight back of again.
We were met by Alana and her fiancée Arturo.
Having been advised that the Semenggok orangutan rehab centre was the better one on the island we took a trip out there. We slept in and missed the morning feeding time so went for lunch and then visited in the afternoon. Only 1 orangutan turned up for lunch! But we did manage to spot a mother and baby on our drive out.
On the recommendation of alana we went off to the Bako National Park. We had to get to the actual park by boat, as the tied was also low we had to clamber out of the boat on to the beach. Having been told that there were crocodiles that like kids we weren't so convinced that this was the best idea.
As soon as we got on the beach we could hear a rumbling in the bushes. Quickly we washed the sand off our feet, booted up and headed off in search of the noise. We didn't have to walk far when we were greated by a proboscis monkey! It decided to have a wee! We jumped back, monkey golden showers weren't on our list of things to achieve. Then a pack of them went over our heads. We would have followed had the jungle not been in the way.
Our next encounter with the proboscis monkeys wouldn't be until later on in the day and we were again treated to a golden shower.
Our first walk was in between all the dying mangrove trees (eaten to death by the monkeys) that line the beach. This route can only be taken when the tied it out. We stopped to have our photo taken, there's something that only comes out when photographed (see if you you can spot it in our photo).
Our walk ended at another beach but we had to climb up tree roots, crawl between rocks and cross soft root bridges to get there.
The afternoon walk was easier, we got to see catfish eels scurry down a scream to eat cake and bread and also send a jungle SMS to the proboscis monkeys, by knocking the base of a tree they respond with monkey noises(ooh ooh ooh ah ah ah).
We really liked it and will love to go back, maybe to find the famous giant stinky flower, apparently it smells like rotting flesh.
The rest of our week was chilled out. We went to the cinema, had some fantastic meals and played with some crazy but adorably cute puppies. It was nice to spend time with Alana and met Arturo before the wedding which we get to go to in January.
We tried to go to the orangutan centre again to see the bigger ones but because of Hari Raya it was closed. So instead went out for a traditional Sarawak laksa. We had to drive looking for a decent place that serves it though as most place were closed due it being a public holiday.
We're now waiting for our flight back to Singapore so Ryan can wakeboard and Maz can get a massage before our evening flight to Oz.
The last 4 months have been amazing and were looking forward to the next 12 in Oz and the wedding in January.
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