I just can't let the precious 2 days Keamatan holiday passed without a real plan. Movies? Karaoke? Urgh.. Cliche'~ So.. I text Z about a month ago whether she has a plan or not. And fortunately she doesn't! I text her at lunch and voila bought a 2-way tickets to Sandakan before dinner (^^)
So, what were we up to in Sandakan??
Visit this fella!!!!!
Okay, the details. On the first night we spent a night in a budget hotel, watched The Amazing Race latest season finale and slept very late! Woke up late.. Had pancakes a.k.a tumpi for breakfast and it was 9.30 a.m. when we were already set for Sepilok. Z asked the receptionist how to get a taxi to Sepilok. We got a very demotivating answer instead. Not helping!
"Feeding start pukul 10 pagi. Xsempat ni nak pegi sana"
"Xpa.. Kami try jak la.."
"Tapi taxi die RM 40 tau.. Mahal~"
*Urgh! we are okay with that because we really wanna go & the driver from the lodging where we're staying tonight will fetch us there* (-_-") dalam hati~
So, malas mo dengar kenegatifan itu, we just went straight to the taxi station and went straight to Sepilok. Taxi driver tu lagi postif! "Sempat ni.." Dengan muka selamba :p
We arrived in Sepilok at about 10.15 am. Paid RM 50 for taxi. And the entrance ticket is RM 5 for adults and RM 10 for cameras *masih x bole accept kenapa camera selalu lebih mahal dari orang!*. They provide a free spacious locker for bags.
We were late. The feeding already started. We walked slowly towards the feeding area at first. But then one of the ranger passed and said the Orang Utan is almost done eating, so I literally sprint! haha Luckily he was still there.
We were surprised to see only one Orang Utan. We thought they were all extinct. Later, we found out that Orang Utan are solitary creatures. They like to be alone rather in group. In Sepilok, there's about 150 Orang Utans left.
GG: Patut la dorang di ancam extinction.. Nda bekerjasama..
The pic on the left is a tree on which another Orang Utan is resting inside a temporary nest. We can't see him at all from the bottom. But he's there. I saw his hands haha
On the left is a female Macaque with her baby. The Macaque came to eat after the Orang Utan left. They came in a huge group. There was one huge Macaque who I think is the leader of the group. Very intimidating looking. You can see his pride as he strut on the deck towards the feeding area.
So after that, we went straight to Kinabatangan which was about 1.5 hours drive from Sepilok. The scenery along the way was boring. Palm plantation all the way.. There were some gravel roads and we have to use a boat to go to our lodging because the road was blocked by a truck. The above is the small jetty to our lodging
Me, in front of our twin sharing room
We were surprised to find out that we were the only guest that day. In the middle of nowhere and we only have each other. Z, "Haziah, kalau kita ni sbenarnya mangsa penculikan pon kita xtau ni.. suda la lose connection~"
This is the pic of our room. I was so impressed with the toilet that I can't resist taking the picture :P
But, I say, the toilet in Sepilok is the cleanest and the most fragrant toilet that I've ever been into in my entire life. Siap air-conditioned! when I entered, I was confused "eyh?? toilet ka ni??" (@_@)???
After putting our bags and prayers, we went for the evening river cruise \(^^)/
We saw this small shack floating on the river with a narrow wooden bridge connecting it to the river bank.
The question left unanswered~ Mystery~
There were other resorts along the river. According to one of my staff, we got a very good price for a one-night package. Hers was a 2-night package that worth almost a thousand ringgit
There were some wires like this one for the primates to cross the river. A friend of mine once saw the Orang Utan hanging on it. During our time, it was the Macaque.
Before I came, I was expecting to see something like I saw in Pangi. Untouched.. But Kinabatangan forest actually suffered too much deforestation before that they have to do reforestation program a few years back. They call the project something like "The corridor of life" Sangat kesian. The jungle is only a few metres thick; definitely less than 200m thick because you can always see the palm leaves among the trees!
It rained heavily that evening but we insist to continue the cruise. Terpaksa jadi tele tubbies. We even stopped once to pile out water from the boat.
Tips: Continue your cruise even if it rains because the animals will come out after the rain stops!
The above pic is actually a tree with lots of hornbills on the branches. Sorry camera x canggeh :p
The Proboscis monkey love the rain! We saw lots of family sitting on tree branches like this :)
That night, during dinner, we were still hesitant about going for the night trekking. I was just lazy and want to rest and Z don't want to wear this ugly looking leech socks that was given by her sister
Z said to me on the first night when she showed me the socks "Aku rasa ni bukan stokin bha.. Xda rupa pon. Mungkin aku kena prank ni.."
Then when we were in Sepilok, we burst into laughter when we saw it was displayed and worth RM 30 per pair. It really exist!
Macam kasut Son Goku kan?? Just it's white instead of black :P
So, what did we see? We saw sleeping birds!
This was my first time seeing the birds asleep so I have no idea they put their heads under their wing when sleeping. Siap tanya soalan bimbo lagi..
"Kenapa dorang x balik sarang untuk tidur??"
Okay, sarang hanya untuk bertelur (-_-")
And I don't remember what species this is :P
Bergaya dengan leech socks and boots!
The next morning, we went for another river cruise. Nothing much except that we went into this narrower part of the river and found a family of Proboscis monkey searching for food. They panicked when they saw us and ran off, jumping from one tree to another. One was too panic that he fell! Kesian sangat.. Tapi x mati la. We saw him jump onto a tree after that.
Z, "Mungkin dalam mind setting dorang, kita pon tengah cari makanan ni.."
And we found this beautiful plant (^^)
We left Kinabatangan at 8.30 am and went straight to Sandakan English Tea House which is set on top of a hill overlooking the deep blue sea. I like the garden (^^)
And after after that we went to Agnes Keith House which is in the same compound. Paid RM 2 for the ticket. It's free for students
We spent two hours inside the house. Very spacious and beautiful inside. We read through the histories and watched a video about Sandakan. Back in the 30's, Sandakan was the major town in Sabah. It was destroyed badly by the Japanese in 1945 and was fully restored in 1948. :) Sangat cantik la pulak zaman colonial British :P
At the end of our trip, we made some conclusions..
Lelaki yang x suka komitmen = Orang Utan
Orang Utan is a solitary being. They like to be lonely and only calls the female to eat fruits on a tree when they feel like mating.
Lelaki yang family guy = Proboscis Monkey
They always move about together as a family and the biggest one is usually the leader of the family.
All in all, I think if Kinabatangan is not looked after, it'll become a mere legacy. I salute those who fight for its protection; that's a very noble cause. After all, protecting all creatures on earth is a duty of the khalifah :)
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