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Going Tribal
Ok, it was hot last week -- we knew that going in, prepared for it, and made it through until the weekend of R&R. Now, it's really freakin' hot. Smokin' hot, disgusting hot, and we're melting. Worked hard today, first cleaning orangutan cages and feeding them, and Haley doing the same thing for the Sun Bears. Not too bad there, as we were in the covered areas. Afternoon was in the exposed sun & heat, moving large rusty steel grates & heavy steel bars -- all current on our tetanus shots, so no worries about that. But, we got a good physical workout -- lifting, carrying, and drenched from the sweat again. Didn't mind that, but when you take a cold shower, feel like a new person, and then that lasts all of about 1 minute. Back to sweating and dripping.
Played simple frisbee in the front with Ruairi, and 1/2 hour later was drenched again. Oh, and to make things better, my only saving grace from the heat - my fan, broke last night. Heard a click, fan shut off, and the smell of smoke went through the room --- blew up the fan motor ! So, now I'm on my own without the artificial breeze, and sleeping was very difficult, sweating in bed. 3 or 4 hours of sleep, which turned out to be the consensus among everyone that night -- even the locals and staff were saying that was a really hot evening. I'm whining, yes, but it's really all fine -- just part of the overall experience. Then, after I wrote this, we got the first storm here in 3 weeks, dropping some
heavy rain and dropping the temperatures to a very comfortable level. Well I guess it's either being drenched from sweat or drenched from the downpour -- I'll take the latter.
One of our friends, Dillan from South Africa, became really ill yesterday evening, and was brought to the health clinic today. They thought it was possible that he might have contracted Dengue Fever from mosquitos here. (we are all on Anti-Malaria medications, but there
is not a prevention for Dengue Fever, except don't get bitten by a mosquito !) He had a migraine, then high fever, freezing chills (when it's downright hot all night), and a stiff jawbone. Gave him several different medications, including antibiotics, so we're hoping he feels better soon. Not a fun experience to be that ill in these rustic accommodations and sweltering heat. Good news, just found out the test results ruled out dengue fever, so doctors
not sure exactly what it was. Haley & I jokingly told his girlfriend that he may have come down with Jungle Fever.
Enough negativity, back to the positive experiences.
As I've explained, I've found that the best experiences in my travels thus far have been where the local people have been welcoming and pleasant to the visiting Westerner like myself. The people here in Kuching, Malaysia have been absolutely friendly, honest, and helpful. No feeling of watching my back, or taxis trying to take us for a buck, charge the foreigner a higher price, or any of that. On Sunday, Haley spent the day with Jenna and Dillan, and I went with Ruairi on the riverboat up to the Satok Weekend Market. Didn't see one other foreigner, all locals -- little Malaysian boys were running up to us to give high 5's, and there were many smiles exchanged as we walked around -- 2 tall white guys in the local market of course stand out a bit, but they were all very friendly to us. After trying out some of the local food from vendors, we started looking for a taxi to get back to the city. No luck -- not a single taxi to be found, and I went back to the vendor I bought from and asked for advice. He said we'll have a tough time finding a taxi here, and we should go 1/2 mile up the road to a taxi stand (in the sweltering heat of course). He said he'd take us over there, so, great, we jumped in his car. Bottom line is he ends up offering to drive us all the way to our destination, about 20 minutes away, just as a friendly and helpful gesture. He refused to take money over and over, and
I finally got him to accept the gift of money for lunch after practically forcing the money to him. Just so nice for him to help us as lost foreigners and spend that much time going out of his way and not hinting or expecting a penny in return. Random act of kindness, for sure.
We did some orangutan enrichment activities this morning, which involves giving either food or smellables in a manner that is challenging for them to open. This keeps them challenged mentally, and breaks up the routine of meals, more like living in the wild. So, in this project, we took banana leaves, and wrapped a single sunflower seed or nut with the leave, and tie it in a knot with a string. Then wrap that bundle into some fabric, and again tie it with string. Put
each of these bundles into a large sock, and stuff bundles of newspaper in between, and of course, tie it with string -- oh, and also, 2 of the 6 bundles in each sock will be dummies, with no treat in the package.
So I had to say to the staff member, you're saying that this large animal is going to go through the trouble of opening each of these double wrapped & tied bundles, only to find 4 of the 6 that have a single sunflower seed or nut. The orangutan's going to say "you people have issues, what are you, deranged ?" And sure enough, Catherine, one of the orangutans, opened up the dummy bundle, to find nothing inside, looked up at the group of volunteers with this look of "ok, that's messed up". But, once again, that's all part of the enrichment activity, so their day is not perfectly routine or predictable. Makes sense, in a weird kind of way I suppose. For the sun bears, we pushed oatmeal porridge into the drilled holes of little logs, and rolled them into woven sacks and tied them up with twine. Makes the bears use their smelling senses, and gets them to work at clawing through the sack to get to the food.
Tomorrow the staff is taking us to the Semenggoh Orangutan Center as well as the Fairy Caves. Then, back to work on Friday and Saturday, for our last 2 days of work at Matang.
Sunday morning is our flight to Singapore.
I'm working on my video production now, and should have it completed by Saturday -- I'll have suitable internet to upload the video on either Saturday or Sunday.
Played simple frisbee in the front with Ruairi, and 1/2 hour later was drenched again. Oh, and to make things better, my only saving grace from the heat - my fan, broke last night. Heard a click, fan shut off, and the smell of smoke went through the room --- blew up the fan motor ! So, now I'm on my own without the artificial breeze, and sleeping was very difficult, sweating in bed. 3 or 4 hours of sleep, which turned out to be the consensus among everyone that night -- even the locals and staff were saying that was a really hot evening. I'm whining, yes, but it's really all fine -- just part of the overall experience. Then, after I wrote this, we got the first storm here in 3 weeks, dropping some
heavy rain and dropping the temperatures to a very comfortable level. Well I guess it's either being drenched from sweat or drenched from the downpour -- I'll take the latter.
One of our friends, Dillan from South Africa, became really ill yesterday evening, and was brought to the health clinic today. They thought it was possible that he might have contracted Dengue Fever from mosquitos here. (we are all on Anti-Malaria medications, but there
is not a prevention for Dengue Fever, except don't get bitten by a mosquito !) He had a migraine, then high fever, freezing chills (when it's downright hot all night), and a stiff jawbone. Gave him several different medications, including antibiotics, so we're hoping he feels better soon. Not a fun experience to be that ill in these rustic accommodations and sweltering heat. Good news, just found out the test results ruled out dengue fever, so doctors
not sure exactly what it was. Haley & I jokingly told his girlfriend that he may have come down with Jungle Fever.
Enough negativity, back to the positive experiences.
As I've explained, I've found that the best experiences in my travels thus far have been where the local people have been welcoming and pleasant to the visiting Westerner like myself. The people here in Kuching, Malaysia have been absolutely friendly, honest, and helpful. No feeling of watching my back, or taxis trying to take us for a buck, charge the foreigner a higher price, or any of that. On Sunday, Haley spent the day with Jenna and Dillan, and I went with Ruairi on the riverboat up to the Satok Weekend Market. Didn't see one other foreigner, all locals -- little Malaysian boys were running up to us to give high 5's, and there were many smiles exchanged as we walked around -- 2 tall white guys in the local market of course stand out a bit, but they were all very friendly to us. After trying out some of the local food from vendors, we started looking for a taxi to get back to the city. No luck -- not a single taxi to be found, and I went back to the vendor I bought from and asked for advice. He said we'll have a tough time finding a taxi here, and we should go 1/2 mile up the road to a taxi stand (in the sweltering heat of course). He said he'd take us over there, so, great, we jumped in his car. Bottom line is he ends up offering to drive us all the way to our destination, about 20 minutes away, just as a friendly and helpful gesture. He refused to take money over and over, and
I finally got him to accept the gift of money for lunch after practically forcing the money to him. Just so nice for him to help us as lost foreigners and spend that much time going out of his way and not hinting or expecting a penny in return. Random act of kindness, for sure.
We did some orangutan enrichment activities this morning, which involves giving either food or smellables in a manner that is challenging for them to open. This keeps them challenged mentally, and breaks up the routine of meals, more like living in the wild. So, in this project, we took banana leaves, and wrapped a single sunflower seed or nut with the leave, and tie it in a knot with a string. Then wrap that bundle into some fabric, and again tie it with string. Put
each of these bundles into a large sock, and stuff bundles of newspaper in between, and of course, tie it with string -- oh, and also, 2 of the 6 bundles in each sock will be dummies, with no treat in the package.
So I had to say to the staff member, you're saying that this large animal is going to go through the trouble of opening each of these double wrapped & tied bundles, only to find 4 of the 6 that have a single sunflower seed or nut. The orangutan's going to say "you people have issues, what are you, deranged ?" And sure enough, Catherine, one of the orangutans, opened up the dummy bundle, to find nothing inside, looked up at the group of volunteers with this look of "ok, that's messed up". But, once again, that's all part of the enrichment activity, so their day is not perfectly routine or predictable. Makes sense, in a weird kind of way I suppose. For the sun bears, we pushed oatmeal porridge into the drilled holes of little logs, and rolled them into woven sacks and tied them up with twine. Makes the bears use their smelling senses, and gets them to work at clawing through the sack to get to the food.
Tomorrow the staff is taking us to the Semenggoh Orangutan Center as well as the Fairy Caves. Then, back to work on Friday and Saturday, for our last 2 days of work at Matang.
Sunday morning is our flight to Singapore.
I'm working on my video production now, and should have it completed by Saturday -- I'll have suitable internet to upload the video on either Saturday or Sunday.
- comments
Humboldt Times News flash, Black Bear from Humboldt County devours village grocery store after munchies drive him from the clinic grounds
Billy Squire Are you sure they did not give you the free cab ride because they thought you were an escaped monkey?
John Holmes Hey, I know how this kind of thing plays out...way to go Rob!
BSA Mr. Harraka, we are glad to inform you of your approval to be our new scout leader for troup 69. WE at BSA feel that this picture alone put you over the top in the voting...keep up the good work.
Leslie Nielsen Nice monkey! Thanks, I just had it stuffed.
Jimmy Hendrix Nothing like looking for magic mushrooms in the morning sunlight
Jenyne Butterfly Pole dancing, jungle style...nice
d*** Cheney Oh goodie, water boarding today!!
Carrie Now that shower looks...golden!
Happy Henderson Boy, I sure hope they washed their hands and that the ice is purified or your anus soon will be...they call that bung fever.
Scarface Say hello to my little friend...
Robert Harraka Ohhhh, too funny . . .
Enjoy Singapore! Can't wait to see the video!
Aman I know I hid it somewhere in here...probably that damn bear from Humboldt stole my stash...AGAIN!
Toyah Don't want to be nobody's fool I don't want someone living my life for me I'm going to turn this world inside out Going to walk the streets, scream and shout I've still got a brain up there and I'm going to be me I want to be free
Sigmund Freud Man and beast or is it really beast and man...working in unison and yet, a world apart...who is really in the cage
Caitlyn Jenner Amazing has been said many times, but amazing the trip and adventure has been. Sweat, bugs, and the smell of bananas in the morning will make for a memory to last a life time. I'll bet the fairy caves would have been my favorite.
Mom The activities for these animals are interesting; hope they will survive in the wild.Anxious for your return,you both must be ready for air cond. & a hot shower. Enjoy your time in Singapore.Love
Kevin and Marisa Love the pictures!
Sue What an absolutely incredible journey for you two ... a trip of a lifetime that you'll always remember.