In The Jungle, The Mighty Jungle...

I realized that I forgot to discuss one aspect of my Vietnam experience in the last blog, and re-telling my first trip to Ho Chi Minh City would not be complete without doing so. Alana and I (see, you're still part of it!) decided to go to a local place to eat, seeing that it would be the most authentic. We sat down at a little table (and by little I mean pre-schoolers could use these things and still feel cramped) outside on the sidewalk, and reviewed the menu. Only problem was that the entire thing was in Vietnamese, not one word of English, and the employees didn't speak much either. Well, we knew the word for chicken and there were only four options listed for it. Rather than go for the most expensive (no comment Mike), which could have brought us an entire chicken, we took a shot and ordered #18, pointing to the menu. Well, it wasn't a full chicken, but here's what we got:

Yeah, those are its feet. Actually, we got the feet of a few chicken, because there were about 5 or 6 in there. Mmmmm! We went to get another dinner afterwards. Along that same note, we managed to try python, durian (possibly the worst smelling fruit out there), and fried spider legs!

Anyway, Alana ditched me for some strange thing called work back in the U.S. and I caught a flight to Singapore for 2 nights. What a difference to any other place I've been in Asia. From the moment you get off the plane, it is modern, orderly and extremely clean. Then again, it better be otherwise some will get beaten with a cane, literally. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdFLPn30dvQ I visited the Raffles Hotel, which is the home of the Singapore Sling (roughly $20). The city is filled with shopping malls and restaurants, which is good because they are all air conditioned and it is very hot out. They've got a lot of good bars and restaurants, but things are definitely expensive. I'd love to sit outside and have a few beers, but for $7-10 U.S. dollars a beer, that gets costly.

After a few days in a modern city, I caught a flight to Malaysian Borneo, where upon landing I immediately caught a cab to the bus station. The next bus was full so I had to wait nearly 4 hours for the next one, which I did, then began the 6 hour bus ride to the middle of nowhere. Actually, that is exactly what I thought when the finally dropped me off. I was going to the town of Sepilok which is home to the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center (SORC) and a staging point for many jungle trips. Well, at 8 pm the bus pulled over to the side of the road at an intersection. There were no hotels, no stores, no real bus stop, no lights and a lot of rain. I was not pleased and I was all alone in my misery. I got on my backpack and started walking in the direction the guy pointed me in and saw a sign for the hotel I was planning stay at....2.5 km down the road.

My luck in Borneo wasn't the greatest, which I guess is what happens when you travel alone, book your flight 5 days before you get there and don't plan any of the excursions ahead of time. My fortunes didn't change a few days later when I tried to get on the internet and would up spending US$4 for 30 minutes, during which time the connection, which may as well been dial-up, allowed me to access a single webpage.

Complaining aside, I started the next morning my checking out the SORC and was thrilled with what I saw. Basically, the Center takes orphaned orangutans, normally due to the mother being killed though sometimes they are found as pets in local villages, and rehabilitate them to be reintroduced into the wild. The SORC is not enclosed by big fences, so it is as though you are viewing them in the wild. A few shots from feeding time:

The next day I left on an overnight into the jungle to do some trekking and take some boat cruises to see some real wildlife. As we pulled up to the camp we saw a cobra in the road, and as soon as I arrived at the lodge itself, I saw that one of the guides had just caught a python by the common area! The boat cruises, evening and morning were great. Got to see a ton of wildlife, including macaques, black squirrels (they are cooler than they sound), a ton of crazy looking birds (also cooler to see than it may sound), and the endangered probiscus monkey. This is one of the things that I really wanted to see, and we saw a ton of them. I wasn't able to get a close up shot of them, but here is what the look like if you're interested: http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/enlarge/proboscis-monkey_image.html

We also were able to track down some Asian elephants, one of two species that lives in Borneo, though in the process I got attacked by leeches. Before your mind goes wild, it was Gordy in Stand By Me and I did not faint! They were easy enough to flick off, but I guess that is what happens when you jump out of the boat and walk into the jungle in shorts and flip-flops. The only negative was that I wasn't able to see any orangutans out there, though they were spotted by other boats.

Back at the hotel the following day, I opted for a relaxing afternoon at the pool. On my way there, a whole 3 minute walk from my room, I encountered 2 snakes. The first was orange, green and black, which concerned me but was later informed its bite isn't harmful (well that's good to know) and a baby that looked a whole lot like a cobra. Someone I met at the hotel found a spider that was larger than any tarantula they had seen before too. As I said, I went there for the wildlife!

The day before I left Sepilok I went back to the SORC in the morning. While a number of orangutans did show up, the highlight was definitely as I was leaving the center and a troop of 20 or so macaques decided to show off and sit along the railing of the walkway. Mind you, these are not animals in captivity, but completely wild. So cool to see them up close, though someone got too close (stupid) and nearly got attacked by two of them. I was not that person if you were thinking that.

Later that day I took the tedious 6 hour bus ride back to Kota Kinabalu, which is where I flew into. I don't know what it is about Malaysian buses, but they like to freeze out there passengers. Also, while I tried to block out the on-board entertainment with my iPod and book, they were playing DVDs that, among a awful movie, had over an hour of Malaysian techno videos (featuring the same people over and over again). They ended the journey with a Britney Spears video marathon. I was happy to get off the bus, and it wasn't just for warmth.

Kota Kinabalu was surprisingly better that I expected. There were some decent shops and places to eat, but I did make a few observations: The mall arcade had about 7 Daytona USA video games (which I thought was great, but I played that in 7th grade); at least 75% of the stores in the mall sell cell phones; I saw a toilet sign that directed people 232 meters in one direction (that's pretty precise, I thought); and I witnessed a group of 20 or so people completely captivated by a showing of WWF wrestling at an outside restaurant for an entire day! Literally, they were there for a minimum of 12 hours. I also noticed that their military personnel like to wear fanny packs when they walk around town, presumably on leave. Strange. Aside from the city, Borneo is really nice and the scenery is amazing. The jungle is so lush, like nothing I have ever seen before. All the way back the hills are covered in mist, which is really cool to see. I think my next trip here will be planned a bit better though. The shot below was taken from the bus.

Anyway, I am back in Singapore now, and I really like this city. I wish I had a week or so to spend here, because there is a ton of things I'd like to do that time doesn't permit me at the moment. One of which is to go skiing, that's right, skiing. They have an indoor ski hill just outside the city and you know that if given the chance I'd get a few runs in this season! Who cares if its 90 degrees outside! Tomorrow I leave for Vietnam again, where I'll be for the next 3 weeks.

Cheers!