Since our journey in Malaysia is coming to an end, I've been doing some calculations as to how much we've spent so far and I think we've hit our expense limit in Malaysia. We still have a couple of month to travel and a few countries to visit, so, now we're trying to limit our expenses in Malaysia without sacrificing quality time discovering this country. It is more tough for Katy than me, because now she can't have chocolate and icecream. haha~ Oh, well... sugar is bad for her anyways. But we still eat plenty of good fruits.
Anyways, we got up early on April 3rd, to catch a morning bus to Sepilok to see orangutans. That part of a trip was quite smooth. We bought tickets got on the bus, which dropped us at the junction from where our accomodation Sepilok Jungle Resort was about 3 km away. As we got off the bus and started looking for signs pointing us in right direction, one local guy asked us if we needed a taxi for 30 ringit, which is madly expensive considering the distance. So, we said we'd walk. Walking in 34 degrees hit with high humidity is not fun. I normally don't have any problems with perspiration, (read I don't sweat a lot), but even I felt sweat dripping under my short. argh~ After walking for about 20 minutes we finally got to our resort only to find out that our reservation, which we did by phone wasn't there. This happened to us already 2 times before, so, we weren't pleased. Another lesson I guess.. But luckily they had a room, so we got in anyways. We got there around 2 pm and the feeding of orangutans happens twice daily at 11am and 3pm. So, we had to hurry up to catch them come out for 3 o'clock feeding. When we got there they already were sitting on the deck set up for them for feeding. For reference the ticket said that they didn't guarantee the sighting of orangutans, which made sense, because it's not a zoo. Now, finally we could appreciate my big-ass expensive lense, as I could take much better photos of them than the rest of people haha~ I think pictures speak better than whatever else I can say about these creatures.
After that the next day we were going to stay one night at Nature Lodge resort to have some jungle experience. At the Sepilok we met with Richard and Sara from the UK, who we first met when we stayed in Mabul. It was nice to catch up with them again. Later that night we had a nice chat about our travel experiences and shared some gossips about people we'd met. A couple of words about Sepilok jungle resort. It was quite big and nicely landscaped with artificial lake and nice looking trees all over. But the food was quite crappy and breakfast, which was included in the room price, was so bad that both of us were just speachless. Basically you get two pieces of toasted bread with cheap margarine and jam made of who knows what of some "undescribable" (am I making this word up?) color and smell. And also they wanted to charge you 2 more ringits for scrambled egg. RIPP OFF!! The old Chinese lady that seemed to be running the place had a habbit of washing her hair in the restaurant about lunch time. True, we only saw it once, but her demeanor was such, that I felt it was quite common practice for her. She would walk through the restaurant dining area putting some shampoo in her short permed hair and massage them. Bizarre...
Anyways, at the Nature Lodge in the jungles upon our arrival we were briefed on our activities and got our room keys. As always you meet interesting people along your travels and really annoying ones. There was one couple of Dutch man, who was working in Shanghai and his Chinese girlfriend, the very-much PRINCESS type. Don't get me even started on why they were so annoying. Woohh... I'm afraid of snakes (then why are you in the rain f0rest?.) ... hmm.. it's so dirty... I can't eat MSG, oyster sause and yada yada yada... We actually have them on video, so, one day you might see it... Enough about annoying people. So, we had 2 boat tours on the Kinabatangan river during which we saw lots and lots of Long-tailed macaque, a glimpse of Orangutan (I saw his back as he was swinging away), lots of Probocsis monkeys (the ones with the nose) and their male's penises... (If you've seen these monkeys you'd understand what i'm talking about here), a couple of crocodiles, Hornbills (the big birds) and others. The sunset, as always was stunning. We really enjoyed it. (The Dutch+Princess couple meanwhile, were dissatisfied with the number of animals they saw. They probably thought they were in the zoo, so, all animals should be right in front of them. The man kept saying to our guide "Not many animals, here, huh? Not many animals..." I almost said something not nice to him... almost...
After our one night in the jungles we took a bus ride back to Tawau to fly to Kuala Lumpur. Since 9 o'clock am yesterday until 10am today we were going from one bus to another to an airplane to another bus, more buses, ferry... We spent over 24 hours on the road until we got to Penang and checked into our hostel.. very tiring jorney.. Below is Katy's account of our bus ride from Kuala Lumpur to Penang. (as always Italics :))
Having travelled before in China and India, I often expect to be cheated when taking taxis and buses. But expecting this generally puts you in the right mood to provoke an argument about the price of a ticket, whether it is deserved or not.
Earlier yesterday (the 4th) we accepted the price of 25 ringit per person for an uncomfortable ride in a mini-bus from Lahad Datu to Tawau airport. Then we spent the entire ride bitter at the likelihood we had been cheated.
"That man just got change back."
"How much did he give him?"
"More than 30 ringit."
"hnn! 15 ringit."
"Yeah." Then we fumed for a while at having paid 10 ringit more.
Then one young guy at the back banged the roof of the van abruptly, causing the driver to swerve off the road and stop. The young man went a long way into the palm plantation and spent five minutes there, during which time, the men in the bus took the opportunity to smoke, inside the van.
"I know the word for Don't smoke." I stage whispered to Vlad. "Dilarang merokok."
Vlad, taking the far more universally accepted method of communicating his loathing, suddenly threw the door of the van open with a bang.
The smoking man giggled. And when he had finished said something in Malay mixed in with "no smoking", causing me to turn around and berate him in English for not getting out of the van to smoke when we had stopped and it was more convenient than it had ever been during our trip. So we were both in a bad mood for the duration of the trip.
Tired, and hungry, we were not ready to shake off our irritability when we arrived in K.L. At the Puduraya bus station two ticket sellers told us that the last bus to Penang was about to leave and that it would cost 40 ringit.
"40 RINGIT?? Just before we asked and they were only 30."
"Ok, 35, 35." Not 10 minutes before we had bumped into the "marketing" arm of Wheelers Guesthouse, who advised us not to buy a ticket for more than 25 or 30 ringit. Thus primed with bad mood and information, we were ready to explode.
So we stormed inside to find "legitimate" ticket sellers, to the derision of one who had tried to sell them us for 40.
"Ha! You make me laugh. You'll be back." And we were, to have to face the further derision of the woman ticket seller this time, whose abuse was much harder to take as it was all in Malay, and therefore more difficult to respond to appropriately. But I did my best.
"You! You tried to cheat us you Bee-arch!! You said 40!!"
We had bought the tickets for 35 each eventually.
"bluckaluckaluckalucka."
"Don't talk to me in that tone of voice. I'll give it right back at you, you Bee-arch!."
Vlad, who would normally stop me embarrassing him in such situations, was obviously too tired, and merely sat there.
As liars rarely can limit themselves to only one deception, we were also not terribly surprised to be told that the bus did NOT in fact go over the bridge to Penang Island, and that we would need to alight at this nameless stop outside a Hindu temple where an early morning pooja involving a circle of drumming men in lungis was well underway.
About half an hour later, fate decided we deserved a break of some kind before it launched back into its amusing game, and presented us with George (Jurga) and Zusha, from Germany, who we spent the next hour with fruitlessly waiting for bus 704, which never materialized because it was scheduled to arrive at 10am and not 8am as the rotund Indian man in a plaid shirt had told us. But no matter, we took a bus to the jetty, and caught a ferry to Penang island, easily found the street we were looking for and a reasonable hostel with many services like ticket booking and scooter rental. All's well that ends well.
Earlier yesterday (the 4th) we accepted the price of 25 ringit per person for an uncomfortable ride in a mini-bus from Lahad Datu to Tawau airport. Then we spent the entire ride bitter at the likelihood we had been cheated.
"That man just got change back."
"How much did he give him?"
"More than 30 ringit."
"hnn! 15 ringit."
"Yeah." Then we fumed for a while at having paid 10 ringit more.
Then one young guy at the back banged the roof of the van abruptly, causing the driver to swerve off the road and stop. The young man went a long way into the palm plantation and spent five minutes there, during which time, the men in the bus took the opportunity to smoke, inside the van.
"I know the word for Don't smoke." I stage whispered to Vlad. "Dilarang merokok."
Vlad, taking the far more universally accepted method of communicating his loathing, suddenly threw the door of the van open with a bang.
The smoking man giggled. And when he had finished said something in Malay mixed in with "no smoking", causing me to turn around and berate him in English for not getting out of the van to smoke when we had stopped and it was more convenient than it had ever been during our trip. So we were both in a bad mood for the duration of the trip.
Tired, and hungry, we were not ready to shake off our irritability when we arrived in K.L. At the Puduraya bus station two ticket sellers told us that the last bus to Penang was about to leave and that it would cost 40 ringit.
"40 RINGIT?? Just before we asked and they were only 30."
"Ok, 35, 35." Not 10 minutes before we had bumped into the "marketing" arm of Wheelers Guesthouse, who advised us not to buy a ticket for more than 25 or 30 ringit. Thus primed with bad mood and information, we were ready to explode.
So we stormed inside to find "legitimate" ticket sellers, to the derision of one who had tried to sell them us for 40.
"Ha! You make me laugh. You'll be back." And we were, to have to face the further derision of the woman ticket seller this time, whose abuse was much harder to take as it was all in Malay, and therefore more difficult to respond to appropriately. But I did my best.
"You! You tried to cheat us you Bee-arch!! You said 40!!"
We had bought the tickets for 35 each eventually.
"bluckaluckaluckalucka."
"Don't talk to me in that tone of voice. I'll give it right back at you, you Bee-arch!."
Vlad, who would normally stop me embarrassing him in such situations, was obviously too tired, and merely sat there.
As liars rarely can limit themselves to only one deception, we were also not terribly surprised to be told that the bus did NOT in fact go over the bridge to Penang Island, and that we would need to alight at this nameless stop outside a Hindu temple where an early morning pooja involving a circle of drumming men in lungis was well underway.
About half an hour later, fate decided we deserved a break of some kind before it launched back into its amusing game, and presented us with George (Jurga) and Zusha, from Germany, who we spent the next hour with fruitlessly waiting for bus 704, which never materialized because it was scheduled to arrive at 10am and not 8am as the rotund Indian man in a plaid shirt had told us. But no matter, we took a bus to the jetty, and caught a ferry to Penang island, easily found the street we were looking for and a reasonable hostel with many services like ticket booking and scooter rental. All's well that ends well.
Our impressions of Penang we will write in our next blog. No time now. And no money..
Katy waiting on the bus stop in Semporna to go to Sepilok.
Orangutans in Sepilok.
One of those photos when less is more, I think...
Probocsis Monkey (male, as you correctly guessed).
Sunset and Sunrise on Kinabatanga river.
I have many other beautiful pictures, but unfortunately it just takes ages to upload them. :(
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