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Going Tribal
We've done well in terms of injuries and illnesses -- stayed completely healthy, no troubles at all, and no injuries. Haley did get too close to one of the orangutans while doing work in that area. He grabbed a hold of her tank top shirt and bra strap in one quick grab, and wouldn't let go. She pulled back, but he wasn't going to let go, and part of her chest was exposed for a moment. A great majority of the time the orangutans don't mean any harm by it, and are simply doing it as they might get a treat in return for letting go of what they have. But given how massive and strong they are, it is always treated seriously. Three weeks ago, a caretaker that routinely handles and works with the orangutans in another related facility in
Indonesia had his finger bitten off by the same orangutan he works with daily. They had to fly him to a hospital, as it was about a 12 hour boat and vehicle transfer, and he's fine now -- one less finger though, as they couldn't salvage the digit. Haley immediately called out for Richard, but the orangutan let go of her before Richard got there. They stress safety very much and how we need to keep distance from the cages and animals. But while working with orangutans on both sides, it's not that hard to accidentally get too close, and they are very quick to make a grab.
Last night the volunteers all got together for a movie night and watched Austin Powers, which was great with the mix of British people here. I made friends with a big group of Malaysian guys that were having a barbeque in the front yard. They invited me in, and we had a great time together for a few hours -- lots of conversations about everything, and learned more about their country and culture etc. Another example of how friendly and welcoming the Malaysians have been to us. Perfect opportunity to bring over all of my remaining meat from the fridge, and throw it all on the grill. They were drinking their local brew called "Golden Ice" which apparently is a cross between a rice wine or rice bourbon. Tradition is to pass around the cup, taking drinks and chasing it with some 7 UP. Don't know how many I had, as the drinks seemed to keep coming all night. Played some music from my jambox, and all had a good time -- even the power outage that lasted 1.5 hours didn't affect us. Felt no pain, and staggered back down the street by myself, but it was absolutely pitch dark (electricity was still out, and everybody was in bed already). Felt my way around, couldn't really see, plus being impaired didn't help, as I ended up in the wrong house briefly. Hey, no big deal, and made it to the right house. Friends in the morning said they heard me talking to myself, "hey, this isn't the right house".
Completed our last morning and work and service, and I had the pleasure of working with the Sun Bears again. Fed them, put honey high up in the trees, cleaned up bear ****, scrubbed the cages, and all the other fun things. One of the bears was looking really cute, and then rolled back on her hanging tire, and spread her body out with all 4 legs in the air. We started saying, awww, cute, until the staff member said, uh oh, no she's playing with herself. (she has a reputation for doing this quite often). So, it brought back the memories of the famous character that appears every so often in Conan O'Brien's talk show, the Masturbating Bear,
and I got to see the live version. No camera with me, sorry Kevin, no footage of nature uncensored. Also had a gibbon ape throw **** at me on 2 occasions. Same thing, she also has a reputation for only throwing her dung at men -- must have been mistreated by a man while she was kept as a pet years ago. Now she takes it out on any men walking by her cage. She's quite sneaky about it too, as I see her pick up some poop, hold it discreetly behind her back -- then I'm saying to her "ahhh, I see what you've got, don't do it, don't do it", and then break past the cage quickly.
Ramadan just started, so lots of celebrations for the Muslims and fireworks going off everywhere. Where we are in Sarawak, its actually 70% Christian, and 30% Muslim. But in Sabah and Peninsula Malaysia, its all Muslim.
Well, we did it. We served our time, did a lot of rewarding work at Matang, met a bunch of great friends, and survived the elements. We both agree that we definitely enjoyed the experience. There were just 2 periods (1/2 day) that we were pretty fried and not happy campers -- but considering it's a 21 day adventure, I'd say we did alright for sure. It's definitely time to go, we did what we planned, and had enough fun and everything else -- onward. Just arrived at Basaga for a farewell party night, so we're back to air conditioning and wifi. And in the morning, we have a short flight to Singapore where we'll spend our last 3 nights of this adventure.
My video production is complete and ready to upload, however it appears that the wifi here is not fast enough to handle a 450 MB upload. May have to wait until we arrive in Singapore to
get that video out to you.
Cheers !
- comments
Deena Knudsen OK, I literally LOL about three times during this entry… can't wait till you guys come back to watch the video!
Terry I really enjoyed following your trip. I know this has been such a great experience for both of you together as father/daughter, but also for Haley and her plans of becoming a vet. Enjoy your down time and safe travels home! :)
Terry Very pretty!
Kevin Masturbating and s*** throwing monkeys...finally this story gets some action, jeez. As the saying goes, you are a better man than I Dunga Din...but as we both know, there is so much adventure just even doing the adventure and it is impossible to ever really describe said adventure however, proud that you both took it on and will have memories of a life time for sure. Not bad for a couple of round eyes...well 1.5 actually. I just read that the Singapore Zoo has the other escaped black bear from Humboldt as a visitor. He failed his initial drug test but is now clean and ready for visitors so you might want to stop by and say hi. Be safe and enjoy the flight home...
Sue Campbell I'm in absolute awe! And I watched your video ... what an incredible, once in a lifetime experience! You two are to be commended for all your hard work to help the wildlife there albeit meeting great friends and seeing exotic places while doing so. Thanks so much for the updates and video ... loved every minute reading and watching! xo