25th January 2020 - Orangutans!

No time for a lay-in this morning as our first port of call was breakfast with Leo’s Dad! Fried eggs, bacon, lamb and chicken sausages and bread. Food is playing a major part in our time here!

But there was a loud and strange noise when we woke up. It was rain hammering down on the tin roof! Torrential rain. This was not part of the plan. BBC weather App says it will be dry by 9.00, and anyway it might be grey and wet but it’s certainly not cold. The temperature may have dipped but it is still hot and steamy! Plan A continues.

Straight after breakfast it was off to Sepilok to hopefully see orangutans. Again we set our visit time to coincide with their feeding time. There were a lot more people here than had been at the Proboscis monkey place. Perhaps not surprising, but it did mean there was not so much space to see and take photos. Having returned to our holiday home and shared photos this afternoon shows that it doesn’t seem to have been much of a problem! I don’t really know how many orangutans we saw as they moved around and although you could see differences in them, it was difficult to know if it was another one or one you had seen before. We weren’t disappointed though and spent a long time watching these engaging creatures who are so similar to us.

It was captivating watching them, seeing them at play, and taking photos of the one above who was a real poser! We later learnt that she is also a thief and recently has made off with 3 mobile phones! Only one was returned to it‘s owner, having been smashed by the thief! No wonder one of the staff members was doing his best to keep the tourists well back!

We strolled along the boardwalk and stopped to look in at one of the nursery’s where the young ones play and eventually learn the skills they need to go back into the wild. We were on the lookout for other wildlife and spotted a small snake swimming in a stream and a tractor millipede.

Then it was over to the sanctuary where they look after the sun bears. Another species dramatically affected by loss of habitat. I have to say they were nowhere near as much fun to watch as the orangutans, and they were further away, making it more difficult to see them. We did however manage to see another snake, a small viper this time which a member of staff had had to remove from the boardwalk onto a tree a few minutes before we arrived.

Lunch today was at another of Leo’s aunties. More curry, satay, rice, noodles, prawn crackers, which are so much nicer than those we get at home! I don’t know how many people were there when we arrived, but the house was full to overflowing! Again we were warmly welcomed by everyone and made to feel very much part of this community.

Following lunch the Lion Dancers arrived. It took them a while to set up. Only a photo can describe what they were setting out, and we had a clue to what they might be used for when one of the young lads stood on these structures and was checking for the distances between. Others were making sure that they were quite stable by putting wedges under any gaps.

This photo shows the metal poles and the lion dancers from tomorrow!!! But it shows it! Inside the costume are 2 young lads, probably mid teens and the highest poles are about 6 feet from the ground. I will try to upload a video later to show what they do, but for me it was heart stopping stuff as they jumped from pole to pole, sometimes with all 4 feet on just one of them. When the back end of the lion had the front end on his shoulders it was even more terrifying! Quite an experience! Whilst they are doing this a group of “musicians” for want of a better word, are playing drums and cymbals. It is so loud! We understand that the key people in all this are the drummer, who keeps everything in time and the lad at the back end who has to be strong enough to lift and control the movement of the lion.

After they had performed, all the gear for this part was packed onto the back of a truck and then another lion appeared, only to have firecrackers thrown at his feet which he had to jump around! Following this they too got onto the back of the truck and all these young lads drove off to their next gig. No seat belts. In fact no seats! Just sitting or standing where they could on the back of this truck, much as we did when we were kids at harvest time on the back of the trailers!! There is no such thing as health and safety here it would appear.

It was then back to our holiday home to have a bit of a rest and a freshen up before the next meal! Most of us are beginning to wonder if we will ever need to eat again! There was also a bit of washing as with the heat we are getting through tee shirts rather quickly!

This evening we went to a seafood restaurant where the Chinese New Year celebrations continued. We started with the ritual of Yee Sang again - less messy this time! Having eaten some of this, it was then into an 8 course meal! I can’t begin to tell you everything that was put in front of us.

First course

All sharing plates, fortunately, as you could take as much, or as little, as you liked! There was also a crab soup, prawn fried rice, salt and pepper prawns, sweet and sour fish, a dish of just chicken, and a dish of cabbage!

We were groaning under the weight of it all! And the evening hadn’t finished! One of Leo’s family had organised for us to go to the yacht club for drinks, accompanied by some of his family, so we did! It was lovely sitting outside in the warmth, no cardigans or cool sea breezes, just beautifully warm! 😊

It was a bit of a late night and it wasn’t so long after we settled down that the rain started. Oh my goodness, did it rain! I think most people were woken by it. The noise was deafening, and it went on for a long time!