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This is our Kuching 'wrap-up' blog and covers our final 3 days - on Friday we spent some time in the Reservoir Park near to us with a lovely lake and restful plants and gardens. Kept beautifully and empty of people! We walked to see the Bishop's lodge (built 1849) which was a lovely hilltop building and possibly the oldest building in Kuching. We also did the local markets - but they were so busy - we got some fresh fruit. On Saturday we went to visit Bako Rainforest again and took the usual public bus and boat - It was a bright and warm morning - but we could not see much due to the haze! We took a boat with 2 Spaniards and hit the trails. Redoing the waterfall and then Lintang Trail (a punishing additional 5.8km). It was steaming hot but with occasional breezes and much of the trek was across stone plateaus under baking sunshine. The plateaus had fossilised tree stumps (see pic) all about. We had the treks done by 2pm after the 09:30 start and managed to see several Silver Leaf Monkeys and a lovely proboscis monkey in addition to many multicoloured crabs and a huge beetle! We also relaxed and caught up with photos and blogs plus emails etc. Sunday we took a bus for 40RM to Matang Wildlife Centre (MWC - 50km NW of Kuching). Part of the Kubah National Park and Rainforest, it was a 50min drive again in 30 degree plus heat. We paid the 10RM (£2) fee for entry and walked around the animal compounds - it is called a 'rehabilitation centre' but we had a decidedly sad feeling as we saw Crocodiles, Gibbons, Hornbills, Wild cats and Orang Utans caged and looking less than happy.. (see the photos) On a happier note we saw a young lady working with 3 young (1-3yrs) Orang Utans and they played happily for some time. Their mothers had abandoned them. The photos are quite touching and very human-like... enjoy. We decided to undertake the 5km+ walk to Kubah Park HQ as MWC is so remote we would not get a bus/taxi back! The walk was incredibly hard - with 1km flat then 2km or more uphill. The sweat poured from us and we were followed by 'sweat bees' - so annoying! We stopped regularly as the heat was intense. I grabbed great photos of a large flying beetle and many weird shaped and coloured fungi. We continued on climbing higher but under constant cover from the rainforest. There were the usual screeches and insect buzzes and clicks we are now so used to. We saw no-one else on our 5km+ trek. Towards the end I stopped for a moment and there on a tree was a Royal Tree Snake (as the park officer later confirmed!) - it was thin and around 2ft long coloured yellow and blue in a pearlescent way - with a narrow forked bright red tongue - beautiful! (see the photos!!) We signed out of the park and were luckily spotted by a Zone6 Bus driver who stopped, reversed to us and took us to Kuching all for 5Rm each (£1) ! A true gent. Then it was back for a shower, relax and review of the photos and drafting the blog. We had a giant Sea Bass in ginger/chilli with Chinese veg. Yummy! It was a great end to our stay in Borneo.... we fly to KL Monday 2:30 and then off to Melaka (Malacca) Tuesday - cooool... speak soon!
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