This is Pain, This is Love, This is Sent From Above, This Was a Gift From the Gods It Was Meant to Be

I can't pretend to know too much about the celebrations involved in Chinese New Year, but being in Kuching for the last couple of days I have certainly picked up a couple of pieces of information.

First of all, it lasts for six days - the shops all around me were a bit more open today, but there are still some which say they will return to work in the middle of this week which means that I have to stroll past a bunch of buildings with their shutters down just got get a bottle of water.
Secondly, I know that it is it the Year of the Sheep, and that for some reason yesterday that the Chinese people close to here were setting off fireworks in the middle of the day to celebrate this momentous occasion.

Thirdly, and most importantly, I know that I woke up this morning to the sound of about two minutes worth of firecrackers going off at 5am. It honestly sounded like I had accidently set them off in my room, either that I was in the middle of Harlem during a late-night shoot-out.
Sometimes when things wake you up early in the morning, you can turn over and go back to bed, but after being extremely startled my eyes were wide open until it was time to get up.

Mercifully this wasn't too much longer afterwards as I was planning to spend the day out in the wilds of Borneo once again, this time going to Bako National Park which is one of Sarawak's most celebrated attractions. The other major site known is known as Mulu World Herritage Area is extremely popular due to the fact that it falls under all four categories of a World Herritage sight - one of the only places to do so in the world.

Bako is popular with visitors in the area, and it is widely recommended that people visit the park over two days, staying for one night in the lodge and then being able to go out on different trails on the days either side. Unfortunately with it being Chinese New Year and also the weekend, the park accomodation was closed up, but I decided to make a day trip of it, catching the bus at about 8.10am just across the way from where my hotel is.
I felt a few spits of rain which worried me slightly, but it eased off as the journey began towards Bako.

As yesterday there were a few other 'foreigners' on the bus, waiting to pay twice as much as a native to get into the attraction!
I'd heard various things about Bako itself - it's famous as a sight for Proboscis monkeys, but I'd also read that there was a chance of seeing other monkeys, and also wild boar too.

When we arrived at the visitors centre we paid for our tickets (20RM) and then for a boat journey which would actually take us to the park. The place we'd got the bus to was essentially a jetty where you would actually then get taken over to the national park. After about ten minutes or so of waiting for a bunch of boats to show up to escort us, we were given a life jacket and boarded into a speedboat.
I was a little worried having seen a sign just before I got into the vessel which said "BEWARE ALLIGATORS RECENTLY SEEN IN THIS AREA", and I spent pretty much most of the journey wondering if the bits of driftwood and fallen coconuts in the water were actually going to turn out to be something which would decide it wanted a human for a snack.
The boat ride itself was pretty exhilarating. I know I went on a boat in Brunei across to the water village, but that was only about forty-five seconds or so, where as this was an actual proper boat ride which lasted twenty minutes.

I'd managed to sit myself at the front which only increased the experience as I could see shadows of what looked like trees in the distance as we cruised along the water to a still seemingly unknown destination. It felt like arriving into Jurassic Park or something as I genuinely had no idea where we were going as the sun started to come up properly and the water glistened with the sun's rays bouncing off it in all directions.
We eventually arrived at the jetty on the other side and were given instructions to head towards the main lodge to pick up a map to begin our day.

Half way there, a group of people were looking into the trees and as I stared up I saw some macaque monkeys who were making a racket and rustling about trying to find food. These are the kind of mischievous creatures that you see, and are reportedly often bold enough to try and steal bags, cameras and food from unsuspecting people.
Continuing on towards the lodge, the temperature was now starting to pick up, and I was reminded by my surroundings that today was definitely going to be a day spent in the tropical heat of the jungle - good job I'd remembered to spray lots of mosquito repellent on myself before leaving.

I was given a map, and the three best trails were highlighted to me, with one to the beach where the proboscis monkeys usually come out and feed, another which had over 100 types of vegetation on it, and another one which leads towards a waterfall. I decided to follow trail three first which was the one with the monkeys, and avoiding the wild pig which had just appeared around the lodge, I headed off back in the direction of where the jetty was to begin the walk. On the way I encountered the macaques again who were just working their way through the trees in an area of muddy ground where we got off the boat. They certainly weren't shy standing about two to three feet away from where I was, probably trying to work out if there was anything loose they could grab hold of and escape with - no such luck my monkey friend.

I continued up until I got to a little work in the trail where I headed left towards the beach which was around 1.2kms away. The trail was fairly rugged with much of it just tree roots and branches which had been stamped down in over to create a path. In other areas there were man made bridges and steps which had been put up over the tops of rocks and hard to climb places. There were a couple of little waterfalls along the way with some very structurally interesting rocks. Eventually I managed to find my way to the beach which opened up at about 180 degrees straight after coming out of the middle of the jungle.
There were some huge rocks which I climbed upon to get a good view from - I forgot to mention yesterday but wise to the fact that views might be a major part of this trip I invested in a cheap pair of binoculars before coming, and they were useful yesterday with the orang-utans, and also came in worthwhile today when I was scouring the trees for monkeys.

Sadly I didn't see any around the place, but I did spent quite a long time looking at the crabs as they moved around on the beach. There were some tiny little ones that scurried off down holes as soon as you got near them, and then there were also a few that were hidden inside shells. These ones were more of a surprise to me, as I was looking at a perfectly round cornet shell thinking, "That looks interesting", and just as I was about to pick it up, I discovered as it scuttled away that actually every single shell that I had looked at and admired turned out to be some

sort of hermit crab's home.

In and around the rocks there were also some fiddler crabs, and some slightly bigger evil looking ones with green eyes.
I sat around for a little while waiting to see if anything turned up, but it didn't so I headed back in the direction I came in. Some people chose to take a boat back to the beginning point for each of the trails, but I quite enjoyed the walk on the way there so decided to go back in the same direction. After about five minutes of climbing up what I'd previously

come down, there were two people standing on a bridge. They motioned up to me that something was in the trees, and sure enough, just above my head were two proboscis monkeys having a little snooze. This particular type of monkey is well known for the distinctive size and shape of its nose, and I could see that despite it deciding to have a little nap in between the branches.
There were three in total, all snoozing, and as a tour guide explained to a party of people who walked past me, due to the heat in the afternoon and around lunchtime, they stop foraging for food and sleep high up in the branches instead. I didn't see much movement, except one who climbed a few branches high after hearing the noise of people walking through towards the beach, but I was impressed that once again I'd seen yet more animals in the wild.

Continuing my walk back I saw a couple of termite nests, as all as a hive for sting-less bees and some wild boars who were rooting around below me in the undergrowth for food. It was like being at a bizzaro zoo with so many animals around, and with the traditional noises of birds calling one another and the hum of insects I felt like I was David Attenborough during a BBC documentary.

The macaque monkeys were still on the move as I went back to the lodge to get myself a well deserved drink and some food over lunchtime. Some people learned the hard way that you always have to be alert to the presence of monkeys as rather hilariously their group meal was hijacked by a pair of monkeys who stole their food off the table and ran back into the forest with it quick as a flash. I was glad by that point that I had finished mine.

After resting for a bit, I found my second wind for another quick walk, and I chose a quick trail which went in the opposite direction from which I had previously headed which was only 400m or so. This one involved some serious climbing, and I was fascinated by seeing what looked like a giant pineapple shaped plant which had some very sharp leaves. As I climbed up towards the top of this particular hill I also discovered a colony of ants which I followed for about a hundred metres as what looked like thousands of them brought food back to their nest.

I eventually reached the top of this path which gave me a fantastic view out over a part of the national park

with the trees seemingly going on for miles and miles in all directions. It was starting to get towards 3pm which is when the last boat left so I followed my trail back down, stopping twice for an encounter with a group of  silvery lutung monkeys which were roaming around in the trees. The first group I only caught a glance of as they disappeared into the trees, and the second who looked like they had just found themselves some fruit were slightly bolder. One particular monkey who seemed to be enjoyed his snack almost posed as if encouraging me too take a picture as he sat at the top of the banister for the stairs. It was once again amazing to be so close up to the creatures, and eventually he finished whatever he was eating, threw the core on the ground and continued along to follow his friends.

It had been an eventual day, and the heat had thoroughly taken it out of me as I slouched against the porch beams waiting for a boat. Eventually a little fleet showed up, one of which I boarded - this time having to wade through the water to get there. I sat at the back this time clearly in the 'splashzone' as I felt a bit like I had swam through the water when I got off the boat at the other end.

A shared taxi gave me a ride back to the hotel at about 4pm, and for the first time since being here I was truly grateful for the air conditioning breaking up the solid wall of heat which is so dominating in this part of the world.

After the excitement of the orang-utans yesterday, this was just as good having felt like I was at a wildlife park with so many species of animals to see and encounter. I was very lucky to have spotted those monkeys on my way back, and it just shows that sometimes it's taking the long route back, as if I'd have taken the boat then I would have missed them. I really enjoyed the national park, and thought that even though I didn't get to stay over, it was still an enjoyable experience.

Animals
Maroon 5 (2014)