15. Kota Kinabalu - Day 1 Cycling

Today we suit up to go cycling.  Our guide, Sebastian meets us in the lobby of the hotel at 7:30 a.m.   The SUV has two bikes on a rack in the back and two more in the back.  It's already over 30 degrees with a humidity of about 80%. 

We're diving to Kiulu about an hour away.  Kiulu is a rural community mostly of the Duson tribe.  We arrive at the town; the area has a population of about 2000 people.  The Kiulu River runs through the community.  There is white water rafting that operates on this river and one of our tasks during this trip is to decide whether we want to white water on this river or stay the course with the other, more challenging river we're booked on.  

On the way, we pick up the driver who will drive the support vehicle and meet us at specific checkpoints along our route.  On the way, Sebastian points out Mt Kinabalu, the highest peak on Borneo.  One of the excursions Judith could have selected was to do a two day hike up and down the mountain.  It would have required much more prep, so she decided on other activities.  While it take normal hikers two days to scale just over 2500 feet from the base parking lot, there is a crazy marathon, Climbathon that goes up and down the mountain, with the fastest time clocked in at 2 hours 22 minutes.  Yikes.

At Kiulu we stop and Sebastian unloads the bikes while Judith and I make one last pit stop.  He advises there is a market going on close by, but neither of us are keen to check it out.  We get our seats fitted and we're off, but not before the obligatory photo.  

We don't go too far and there's already a river crossing on one of the narrow cable bridges.  It's too narrow and unstable to ride across.  We dismount and walk.  

A bit more trail riding along the water and we cross over again.  The cable bridges are too narrow to ride across.  And the missing floor planks is also a concern.  

We ride along the country road a bit and take a break at a bus stop.  Also at the stop was a small building.  Inside was a woman running a noisy machine that removed the outer husk of a rice kernel. We learn that the difference between white rice and brown rice was the length of the growing season.  White rice is grown for 3 months; brown rice is grown for 3 more months. The machine uses rollers to remove the chaff which is blown outside via a wide diameter pipe and collected onto a ever growing pile.  

Part of the pile is burning to create ash to be sold to farmers to add it back into the soil.  I'm fascinated that it just smoulders without anyone tending it.  Why that big pile doesn't suddenly turn into a huge flame is a mystery.  

The kernels fall into a 5 gallon pail.  She is adept at swapping out the full pail with an empty one with the machine continually running.  She passes the rice through twice as that seems to be the optimal number.  Sebastian says that the local farmers bring the rice for processing and that her payment is a percentage of the rice that's been processed.

We ride a bit more through the community and end up having a snack at one of the local farms hosted by an older woman.  There are poultry around that have very cool feather colours.  

We sit in a covered patio enjoying a cold drink and some cookies.  I notice some speakers on speaker stands against the wall of the house and ask the farmer why she has these speakers.  She explains that they belong to her son and when I prod a little bit more, find out he's into Karaoke.  Apparently, he holds regular karaoke parties for the neighbourhood.  

We're invited to see the rest of the farm. The farmer puts on a wide brimmed hat.  I signalled to ask if she had another had and I end up borrowing one.

The first thing we see are the rice paddy fields.  

The next thing we see are the banana trees.  Once they bear fruit, they need to be chopped down. Otherwise they will continue as perennials, but never will bear fruit again.

The guava tree produces a female and male tree. The female tree produces the fruit.  The male counterpart produces a little white flower which is cooked and eaten.  The white flower is known to contain quinine, which explains why malaria isn't a problem  around here.  

And a pineapple plant.

We pass through a grove of rubber trees.  These trees were about 2 years old and needed another 2 years of growing before they can start harvesting the rubber sap. We come to some mature rubber tree and the farmer shows how she taps the tree for the sap.  I get to try doing it to another tree.  When I finish, she tells Sebastian that I'm hired.  

The rubber sap hardens and can has cool elastic qualities.  It can be bounced or stretched.  The sap is gathered and pressed into a thick sheet to be sold.  

We return to the patio area, get our gear back on.  We ride along the river which is shaded by overhanging trees.  The river which seems to have a gentle flowing rate.  We decide this isn't the speed we would be happy with on our white water rafting adventure.  The Kiulu river is more of a tubing speed, not white water rafting speed so we decide to keep our original Padas River plan.

The cycling by the river was the best part.  We crossed over on suspension bridges twice more and eventually returned via road way.  It was a smoking hot day, I had to pour water over my head to keep cool.  

We came across a herd of water buffalo cooling themselves in the mud.  One of them  kept staring us down when we stopped to look at them.  I kept thinking it wanted to mow us down.  

The tour eventually ends at the place where the Kiulu River white water rafting organizes its events.  We have a tasty buffet lunch and Judith is happy to interact with the cats around the property.   Many of the cats we've seen since we've arrived have these funny short tails.  Some people have theorized that it's due to manual intervention but I don't think that's possible.  I've seen too many of these short tailed cats in too many locations to believe that something sinister is going on.

With the ride over we get driven back to the hotel around 4:00.  Shower and power nap for me, except the power nap ended up being somewhat of a continuous sleep until the next morning.  I did manage to wake up long enough for dinner at a local Vietnamese restaurant but it didn't take long for me to fall back asleep again.

Tomorrow:  white water rafting!

14. Goodbye Jungle

Another fabulous breakfast.  I have eaten lots during this trip and it's not over yet. I hope my now two year weight loss has not suffered much.   Personally, I feel as if I've sweated off several pounds since I've arrived at this lodge a couple of days ago.

The morning mist was pretty.  This was the morning breakfast view. 

We get suited up for our last jungle walk. We start out on the road and ran into another group.  The guide has a spotting scope trained on "Mike" one of the male orangutans that hangs around in the general area.  

In the same tree was a civet, but I missed seeing it before it disappeared. 

On our walks we've learned a bit about the flora.  There are many magnificent sized trees that grow in the rainforest and most eventually die from having vines grow around them and constricting them.  It takes a while.  This tree has a couple of vines circling it.

I think the fig trees are also interesting.  Apparently there are two main types of fig trees.  There is a variety that grows from the bottom up, like you would expect from a regular tree and these fig trees have a solid trunk.  There is another variety that establishes vines that first climb up and then sends vines down to establish roots.  These trees establish a group of thick vines as their "trunk".  You can see light shining in between the trunk vines.  Where else but the jungle could this plant grow?.  The guide also says that the trees here don't have tree rings.  Rings are found in trees that are subject to seasons and in the jungle there isn't one.  It's pretty constant temperature throughout the year.  

We walk down to the river to try and catch a glimpse of other animals but come up empty.  The lodge provides a tubing excursion on this river, but the water level is too low at the moment to be any fun.  

We return to the lodge and I spray off the muck from my boots one last time.  They've taken a beating this trip and will need a good cleaning when I get home.  We take advantage of Adrian's boot drying offer again.  The boots will be travelling back in my bag and they will smell less when dry.  

It's about 11:00 and we return to our room to pack our bags for the next leg of our trip.  As we take our bags out of the room there is a housekeeping person who radios for someone to come take our bags to the lobby area.  They insist that we go and have our last meal at the lodge.  They don't need to ask us more than once.

As I walk the boardwalk to the main building from our room for the last time, I finally stop to take a picture of the flowering trees.  They produce a cluster of bulbs before they bloom that reminds me of a flower at home (peony?) 

We get seated in the far corner and I go to the grilling area to order the ingredients for my stir fry veggies.  At this point I see Oliver who is waiting on table on the other side of the room.  Somehow between then and the time it takes to make up my stir fry, he's magically waiting on our table.  I can only assume he switched with his colleague.  I'm not sure how long he's worked at BRL but I'm guessing that he's figured out who's more likely to tip and that the likelihood is increased if you wait on the same people and if they engage you in conversation.  Tipping has become more and more prevalent in Malaysia, particularly with more and more western tourists coming to visit.  But it's still relatively new and recipients are often very surprised to receive any gratuity.  Or maybe they're good at pretending...

I snap a picture of Oliver.  He does what I call  the classic Asian pose. I have seen loads of people here in Malaysia posing with the late 1960's era piece symbol. 

At lunch there was a giant moth on one of the posts.  I get someone to put their hand up so you could see just how large this thing was.  It was easily 5 inches across.  

We got assigned new seat passengers for our ride to the airport at Lahad Datu.  The people we came with we're also headed there but were heading to a different destination after that.  Our new seat passengers, Roger and Jill ate staying at the same hotel in Kota Kinabalu, so I think that's how the organizers made up the grouping.  

On the way we went through a huge thunderstorm.  We were glad that we dodged this amount of rain at BRL.  It did rain during the nights but we stayed dry during the day.  

By the time we reached the airport there was a lot of flooding.  The drop off area was under 6 inches of water.  Fortunately, the driver was able to find a place further up and skillfully backed up between a double line of parked cars and stopped under the passenger walkway overhang so we wouldn't get wet.  Bravo I thought.  Probably not what he was permitted to do, but it worked for us.  

Inside was a single gate airport.  It can accommodate planes up to 60 passengers. No amenities.  The runway is situated so that the terminal is about midway.  The plane enters the runway in about the middle of it, then taxis out to the end and turns around before it takes off.  

The flight is fine enough and we meet our driver and head over to the Jesselton Hotel where we had stayed a few nights ago. This is an upgraded room.  It's larger and overlooks the front of the hotel.  There's so much activity on this street including an establishment named "Pang's Coffee". 

We meet up with Roger and Jill for dinner and head out.  We left the decision to them and Roger decides on a a restaurant that serves western food.  They opt for fish and chips, Judith has a pizza and I had to think hard and remember that i had a rice bowl with an egg, veggies and chicken.  Although It was really good, maybe that part of the meal wasn't so important to me.  I do remember a lovely wide ranging conversation about travel, family, the printing industry, banking, music, cycling, pets and a smattering of politics.  I like it a lot when conversation is the best part of my meals.  

We returned back to the hotel to get ready for the next day's activity - cycling.  

13. Sweating in the Borneo Rainforest

Breakfast was a leisurely treat. An omelet made to order, potatoes, pastries, waffles pancakes--the buffet has huge selection.  It's my favourite meal of the day.

This morning we're hiking to the lookout.  It's about 1200 feet up and about a 6 km hike.  It's already 30+ degrees and the humidity is constant at 100%.  We're all bringing 2 bottles of water.  Jungle dress code requires long pants, shirt, leech socks, hiking shoes (as some of the trails are pretty muddy) and an optional hat (for falling leeches).  

We're off around 8:30 and it doesn't take long before sweat starts showing up our clothes.  We start looking for animals on our way up.  Our guide is aware that there is an orangutan in the area, probably from the sharing of information from other guides on the mobile radios that carry with them at all times.  

We are part way up and one of our group sees movement in the tree canopy.  We follow our guide (which unfortunately involves retracing our steps back down) and find an orangutan in the trees. Since we're higher up on the ridge and the fig tree where the orangutan is located in in the valley, we're almost at eye level.  There is a youngster with the orangutan and together they are eating in the fig tree.  It's the closest we'll get to an orangutan.  Very cool. 

We return to hiking up the mountain.  Near the top of the ridge is a old burial site know as the coffin trail.  At this point we've come up a long set of trail steps--I think the coffin trail is really for hikers who couldn't go any further.  

The trail leads to a couple of ancient burial sites that time has made visible.  One of the  sites was the final resting place for a high ranking person, likely the leader of the tribe.  The other was for a small child or baby. There are many small caves in the limestone hill and bodies would be brought to the hillside for burial with higher ranking people laid to rest further up the hill.  We saw small wood planks at the child site and learned that caskets were used.  I suspect how high members of this tribe were laid to rest was a function of how much effort your family and friends wanted to drag you uphill.  

It's a sacred site and we spend a bit of time there.  Our guide was from this tribe; the bones lying on the ledge are a distant ancestor.  The tribe are former headhunters.  He said that in order to marry, men would often have to fight for the bride and you would present the head of one of the suitors to your future in laws to demonstrate you had the ability to take care of the daughter.  Nowadays that demonstration is via giving a water buffalo which is then slaughtered for feeding guests at the festivities.  I asked Adrian, our guide if he was married or saving for a water buffalo.  He laughed and said he wasn't married.  He told us about his lucky friend who married into a family where he wasn't required to pay.  Judith asked if the water buffalo gift had to be returned if the marriage didn't work out.  He said you have to pay back twice as much.  I pointed out that his friend was very lucky as 2 times zero is still zero.  

We then return to hill climbing.  By now I've already gone through my first bottle of water.  When we reach the lookout platform about 15 minutes later, it's a bit of relief to have made it.  We take in the vista provided for a few minutes before heading back down.  

The lodge from high above.

The soil underneath is slippery.  And some of the leaves that fall down from the canopy leave a  blanket of slippery leaves.  So far I've managed to end up on my ass twice.  Nobody else has except me--fortunately the only downside was a bit of additional laundry.  

On the path there is a big tree that I get my photo done.

At the end of the walk we stop off to a spot at the river to check out the "spa fish". These fish enjoy eating dead skin so if you stick any parts of your body in the water and don't move about, they will come and search out dead skin to gnaw on.  Admittedly I was expecting to see fish that were smaller than the ones in this river.  Some of these critters were over 6 inches in length and they all had sharp teeth.  I could tolerate the nibbling below my ankles but anything above that seemed to hurt a bit.  

We returned from the walk and use the boot washing station to remove all the muddy gunk from my boots.  Adrian points out there is a boot drying service and offers to dry our boots for us.  I'm happy.  Dry boots are always better than wet boots.  

We return to our rooms and shower.  There isn't any air conditioning in the room so the 100% humidity stays constant through the day and night. You're really wet as you're hiking around and showering and kind of damp all other times.  Judith is happy with the effect of the constant moisture on her skin, less so with the frizziness of her hair.  

We go an have another fabulous meal at the restaurant buffet.  We run into one of the group, Aioki, who said she found a leech on the front by her stomach.  She had put on a bandaid but it bled through onto her dress which explained the big wet spot on her dress.  She had to get a bigger bandaid from the lodge.  

There is so much variety to the buffet and the restaurant seating is in a covered open air patio.  By this time we've met a favourite server, Oliver, who is always smiling and willing to answer all of our many questions.  

Then it's back to the room for a bit of siesta time before our afternoon walk.  I find the heat zaps my energy, it's good to recharge via power naps.  We wake to get ready for our afternoon walk. 

 We suit up for our afternoon walk.  It's the canopy walk high up in the treetops.  Aioki decided not to join us and I wonder if it's because she got a little freaked out by the leech.  There's about a half hour walk before we get to the ramp up.  Some of the canopy walk has only been opened for 4 months.  One of the giant menggaris trees which was part of the old canopy walk fell down and a new route was constructed.  

Here's a picture of our guide on the entrance to the canopy walk.  Notice his shirt is soaked through from sweating.  

The canopy is amazing.  There's a blanket of trees for as far as you can see.  We see a pair of hornbills in the distance and I manage a few photos before they fly off.  On the walk we can also overlook a few old orangutan nests.  These nests are created every day (fresh branches are most comfortable) for sleeping or having their babies.  

We snap a few pictures for prosperity.   

We return the the lodge as it's dinner time.  As I remove my leech sock I'm not happy to see blood seeping out of my sock.  Because my pair of socks was dark blue I didn't notice anything amiss until I took them off.  Out fell a fat leech who had clearly been gorging on me.  Maybe I was fortunate in having it already fully fed and detached.  Otherwise I would have needed to be careful in removing it to ensure all the body parts exited.  

While I'm not grossed out I was dismayed to find it happened to me. I have no idea how it got on me.  I can only surmised it was already in my sock before I put it on.  I had a couple fall on me from the canopy, one of which I flicked off and the other had to be tugged on by Adrian until it detached from the back of my hand near my thumb.  But it hadn't yet drilled into me so pulling was all that was necessary.  

Judith was so excited that I would get the certificate from the Lodge acknowledging that I had been a victim.  I was not excited.  

Leeches are nasty little animals and have developed highly effective ways to extract what they need without you knowing it.  First they can sense your body heat and are sufficiently mobile to find you.  Once they are able to find a spot of free flesh, they release an anaesthetic before they bite so you won't feel them.  Then they release an anticoagulant so that you bleed nicely for them.  I can admire nature for creating such efficient creatures, but I'm not keen to be around them.   They need to blood to sustain their young during reproduction so they can't reproduce until they find a victim.  

I apply a temporary bandaid (because I know it will bleed for a while), snap a picture of my offending leech and return to my room to clean up for dinner.  I wash out my leech sock and my regular sock I was wearing inside my leech socks.  I was surprised by how much blood was in my regular sock.  Damned leech.  

Dinner was of course great.  It was as leisurely as it could be knowing that there was a night walk in store for us and that we would eventually have to move to suit up again.  

On the night walk we mainly stuck to the gravel road, using flashlights to find those reflective eyes and then entering the jungle to get closer looks.  We saw a deer, flying squirrel and a bearded pig.  We also saw many insects and frogs.  

Back to the lodge.  I decide to hang for a little while at the restaurant bar area.  Wifi is only available in the common areas.  Lots of other people are there as well.  I post a blog as I'm a few days late now.  The wifi isn't fast but I managed to get it posted.  Then it's bedtime.  We're off for a morning walk before we depart.  

12. Borneo Rainforest Lodge

We get up at 6:30 to have a quick breakfast and get our bags ready for departing to the Borneo Rainforest Lodge (BRL).  We bring our bags to the dock only to find we've should have brought them to the road.  There are 8 of us travelling to BRL and the bags are retrieved and quickly loaded into 2 vehicles to begin the trek.  The first part is from our lodge to a city, Lahad Datu.  This is where to tour operator's office is and we're required to do a bit of paperwork there.  

We travel in a little Toyota bus.  There's seating for 9 but with our luggage, the back seats are folded up to make room for them.  It's going to be a 5 hour drive, a long day in those tight little seats. 

We leave the lodge and pass by the festival site that we took in last evening.  When I went to bed, I could hear the band playing faintly but couldn't tell wether they were playing top 40 or traditional music.  When I was hanging out at Mulu National Park, the music being broadcasted over the speaker included a collection of country music, Patsy Cline, Garth Brooks, someone singing "Beautiful Alter of Prayer". Apparently country is well liked here.  

Our travel mates were Kevin and Gana from Cornwall, England area.  I enjoyed their company--I think they had some problems initially trying to figure out why Judith and I traveled together; by the last day 5 days later when they said goodbye, I'm not confident they they knew anything different.  Gana found it amusing how much Judith talked to everyone; I explained she lives alone.  Ha ha.  

The road to Lahad Datu is all paved.  On the way we had to pull over to allow a bike road race to pass by.  Fortunately the race was towards us; when we were permitted to get going again, we could see a long lineup of vehicle traffic behind the bikes.  We saw a few of the riders throw their plastic water bottles far into the bushes in the side of the road.  I guess it takes a while for some to figure out this is not sustainable. 

The interesting takeaway from this road trip was how much of the real estate is being used to produce palm oil.  Of the 120 kms we traveled in the first part of the trip, about 110 of it was growing palm oil trees for as far as I could see.  We passed several processing plants where trucks full of mesh bags of palm nuts would be headed.  

The controversy here is that most believe the North American and European hate for palm oil is unfounded.  That it's due to the industry lobby groups of corn oil or other vegetable oils manufacturers against the foreign palm oil import.  Many people talked about the health benefits of palm oil.  It's interesting to hear another side of the argument.  It is a huge industry here.  Large sections of the Rainforest has been clear cut  to grow palm oil plants.  These days there is a move afoot to implement better growing practices and in Malaysia no more rainforest is being destroyed for farming.  At least that's what the guides say...

But the amount of land already used for palm oil is astounding, particularly when seen from the air as I witnessed during our short haul flights.  

The driving to Lahad Datu seems like it goes on forever, but eventually we end up at the Borneo Rainforest Lodge office.  The lodge is owned by the state government.  It is the only lodge operating in the Dunam Valley Conservation Area which is untouched primary rainforest.  It's 440 square kilometres of protected pristine rainforest.  

We're given a refillable water bottle that I'll be adding to my ever expanding collection at home.  Since our bottles all look the same as the next, we write our names on the bottle with a sharpie.  Some tea, a bathroom break and we're off again.  

We have another 85 km to the lodge.  About 20 is on paved roads and the rest is along gravel roads.  The little Toyota wagon takes a beating long these roads but we eventually get there somewhat shaken by all the vibration.  

On the way into Danum Valley, the guide riding in the other vehicle spots an orangutan in a tree.  We stop and get out of the vehicles.  He's alone and a big brute.  

We arrive at the Borneo Rainforest Lodge around 1:00 pm.  We open the door and are immediately hit by the heat and humidity of the jungle.  It's 32 degrees and 100% humidity according to my weather app.  The four of us are greeted by a hostess who places banana leaf leis over our heads and leads us to the upstairs lounge.  There we are given a cold clean face towel and a cold drink.  We get introduced to our guide, Adrian, who will be taking us around for the next few days.  The guide lets us know there is an orientation meeting at 2:30.  We're next invited to enjoy their extensive buffet lunch.  After lunch the hostess takes us to our room via a long boardwalk which connects all of the units.  

The room is pretty great.  It will be fun to hang around it for the next two days.  I don't know what we're paying for these accommodations, but my guess is that it's probably the most costly to date.  

We attend the 3:30 briefing given by one of the guides.  All of the activities are outdoors and will involve a lot of sweating.  It's hot and humid in the jungle.  The guide talks about appropriate apparel.  Long pants and sleeves.  And the necessity for leech socks.  Judith had advised that we would need them, but I thought she was exaggerating.  Apparently she wasn't.  The "socks" are ill fitting cotton knee height booties that you slip your foot into.  You must fully tuck your pant leg into the bootie and cinch up the drawstring top firmly above your calf.  This prevents leeches from crawling into your pant leg.  While pretty effective, it's not fool proof.  

The guides will be taking their groups for a late afternoon walk lasting about a hour.  They do this to assess fitness levels.  We go to the gift shop to buy our 30 ringgit ($10) leech socks.  

We get our jungle attire on and head out.  There are five people in our group which I think was a mishmash of the two Canadians, two Australians, Kelly and Jeffrey and a lone traveller from Singapore, Aioko.  

I am careful to get my leech socks on properly.  There is a lot of extra fabric in the foot part so I fold it over the top of my foot before I put on my shoe.  

It's hot. I'm sweating just putting on my shoes.   And the we're going for a hike.  We start following the guide. He points out some  animals including another orangutan.  We troop trough the jungle paths and he points out a leech.  This one is hanging off a leaf right beside the trail. They have the ability to sense your heat and will move their body towards it.  They can drop off leaves onto unsuspecting victims.  We watch in slight horror as he moves a finger near the leech and watch how the leech is able to track the direction of his finger.  Later we see the leech drop off the leaf and starts to inch its way towards Kelly.  I am glad I am wearing my wide brimmed hat.  

With the walk over we all managed to pass the test.  It was time for dinner and we went back to our rooms to get ready for dinner.  It's another buffet and they have a stir fry and a grilling station so I go and get some veggies, corn and satay.  Yum

After dinner was the night drive.  We were loaded onto seats in a flatbed truck.  Adrian used a big spotlight to find animals and there was also a spotter in the cab.  We drove on the road leading into the lodge.  He was specifically looking for the light reflecting off the animals eyes.  It was amazing how effective this was as you could spot their eyes from great distances.  

There was a young deer at the side of the road where the mother had left it so she could search for food.  When Adrien shon the light on it we were all surprised by how close it was.  We then spotted a flying squirrel high up in a tree.   It leaped off the branch and glided what seemed to be an impossibly long distance in front of the truck to another tree.  That was pretty cool.  There were a few other animals but those were the highlights.    

With the drive over, we went back to our rooms to crash for the night. There's a big hike tomorrow.  

11. Jungle Lodge 2

We're up and ready at 8:00  to head towards Pitas Lake.  The excursion to the lake is interesting. We see a lot of wildlife. There is a narrow channel leading into the lake.  We see an amazing sight of about 30 male proboscis monkeys travelling together in a group. We followed them as they travelled alongside the river bank swinging and leaping from tree to tree.  They make a lot of noise with the sound of breaking branches and rustling leaves.  

The lake itself is choked at the far end with 3 foot high water plants making much of the lake unpenatrable.  

We have a little snack of tea/coffee and cookies at the lake.  The cookies taste like the arrowroot cookies I used to feed to my kids so many years ago.   As I'm temporarily taken back ~20 years, I never cease to get amazed at how taste or smells can evoke past memories. 

We return to the lodge and have a group breakfast. At breakfast we're given the option of having lunch at the lodge or at the village we're going to visit.  A bunch of us immediately opt for the village.  

After breakfast we went back to our rooms, but not for long as we have another excursion in about 30 minutes.  

Around 11:00 we go back out in the open boat and cross the river to the village.  The first thing I notice when we climb up the stairs from the river is a older woman sitting by an old Underwood typewriter.  She was using it as an anchor for hand weaving a bracket or necklace--I did think it was an odd thing to tie the end of her weaving to.  

One of the economic benefits to the village is that the lodge purchases trees grown by the village and these trees are subsequently planted by guests just outside the village. I don't recall how many trees have been planted out of this program, but I did flip through the log book and there were easily a thousand names.  

At the village, the boat stops at a jetty long enough to pick up a dozen seedlings and we then travel a short way up river and pull up to shore.  We pick up a seeding to bring it over to the planting area.  On the way our guide points out elephant dung and I think that these seedlings won't have a chance.  The planting assistant from the village has already dug several round holes at our site for our seedlings.  

However, it should come as no surprise that two former farm girls would want to dig their own holes.  Judith was first up and picked up the narrow curved spade and tried to dig her hole on a tree root.  It was less than successful but when she was advised to move her hole over, she was better.  The soil is hard clay.  I'm surprised anything grows in it and I wish that the elephant dung was closer so that I could condition the soil.  In any event, I use the spade to dig out my hole and plop my seeding into the void and pack soil in to stabilize the seeding.  We poured in water and it disappeared.  We pour more in and it disappeared just as fast.  It's surprising how fast the water drains.  

We have a numbered tag etched on an aluminium strip from a pop can to attach to our tree.  The number is a unique identifier for my seedling.  

We get back in the boat again to take the short trip to the village.  As with all the housing along the river, the building are all built on stilts to deal with flooding during the monsoon season.  At the village we see the elementary school.  They need to go to boarding school to attend high school.  In this village, the government subsidizes education, housing and medical.  The village has a relationship with the lodge as many of the staff work there, including our guide, Rose, and they grow food to be sold to the lodge.  

After the tour we're invited to the lunch location.  It's a covered patio near the river. We're given plastic plates with a square overlay of a huge section of banana leaf.  Way better than paper plates.  The meal was delicious and more traditional than what we had at the lodge.  It was a buffet with chicken and two local vegetable dishes served with rice.  Desert was fresh pineapple.

We had the option of getting certificates for our trees.  It was 20 ringgit (~$7) and included the email address where you could periodically ask for updates about your tree. All hand typed out by that village woman at the typewriter.  And the certificate confirmed that the typewriter hasn't been serviced for some time.

We return to the lodge and quickly brought our bags from our rooms to the dock.  We're on the next leg of the trip -- a fast boat trip to the next lodge.  Kinabatangan River Lodge (KBR) is owned by the same owner as the Abai Jungle Lodge.  

The boat trip takes us past villages, lodges and even an abandoned lodge.  We learn later that the owner of the abandoned lodge went bankrupt.  Our guide, Rose, had been working there.  We pass a barge ferry that reminds me of going to visit my sister in law as she lived on an island accessible only via a barge ferry.

The driver of our fast boat spots an orangutan sitting alone up high in a tree. It's the first wild one we've seen in this jungle. And there is a young one with her. Although she's far away you can tell she's a brute.

At KBR we're  invited to have lunch first.  It's a tasty meal.  There are flowers such as bougainvillea everywhere on all the paths and common areas.  The flowers attract a beautiful butterfly and I managed a decent phone picture.

We get to our assigned rooms.  This is the second lodge the owner built. Our room is a larger than the last place.  It has a bathroom with a shower and then has another larger shower in a separate room.  Unfortunately, like the last place, It doesn't supply shampoo or bath soap.   And really awkward was the toilet tissue dispenser right above the toilet.

Judith and I compare notes about these lodges with the Amazon lodge we stayed at last year.  Hands down, the Amazon lodge was much superior to these places. 

We have about an hour until the wildlife excursion on the boat so we take advantage of some siesta time.  Clearly it will be difficult to return to work.  I opt out to laze out on the shared deck outside our room.  

On the late afternoon excursion we get to see proboscis monkeys and although I've seen a bunch of the by this point, I'm still excited to see them.  We see macaques, hornbills in the sky and lots of other birds.  

I want to say how sad it is to see all the garbage in the river.  It's disappointing to see so much discarded waste in the water flowing out to see with the organic matter.  Single use plastic water bottles are everywhere.  There are also plastic bags and other hard plastic containers.  I even saw a discard can of Raid insect repellent which clearly shouldn't be permitted to decay in the river.  

By the time we came back from the excursion, it was approaching darkness.  Rose indicated there was a festival happening up the road that we could check out.  The festival was their New Years celebration which is celebrated over 3 days. There were about 6 of us that went over to check out the market.  On our walk to the festival, we pass many festival attendees who where curious about our group and all of them said hello and waved. 

There was lots of food and merchandise being offered for sale.  The clothing appeared to have been new or slightly used clothing from wealthier countries such as Canada.  

I wanted to buy a little snack to eat to say that I tried something at the market.  I didn't have any money with me but one of the people I was with, Alex, sprung for three Apam balik, a crisp pancake with a light layer of sugar and crushed peanuts.  It was folded in half and all three cost a total of $3 ringgit--less than a buck.  I ate one and can confirm it was very tasty.  The flavour reminded me of a fortune cookie.  Judith bought a bag of longans.  These are similar to lychee nuts with an outer husk that's peeled, a fruit flesh that's consumed and a hard inner seed that is discarded.  I eat them at home when they're in season, but for everybody else in our group, it's an untried experience.  She had no idea how much they were supposed to cost.  When she handed over 10 ringgit to the vendor, there was no change offered.  Later we learn from the guide that it should have been around 5 ringgit.  The difference is about $1.50 -- not anything to stress about and we enjoy a good laugh over it.  

We finish checking out the market and return back to the lodge.  It's another good meal and I stuff myself yet again.  

Off to bed.  Tomorrow is a travel day.