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.
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.
very cool ! (the tree planting i mean) .... colin
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