First stop...Borneo

April was crazier than March, believe it or not.

First up, was Malaysia.

I flew straight through Kuala Lumpur to Kuching on Borneo on a solo adventure to see some of the amazing wildlife Borneo has to offer. I made it to Bako National Park where there are monkeys galore especially the nose-torious proboscis monkey.

Bako National Park, just outside of Kuching in Malaysian Borneo was animal sighting paradise. After a minor hiccup in the boat schedule (waiting 4 hours for the tide to come back in), and a roller coaster of a boat ride, I saw the famed proboscis monkeys within two minutes of landing at the park.

I joined two German men from Bavaria who I had shared the boat with on a trail along the beach. We saw macaque monkeys, and hiked to a beach that an Italian man who had also been on the boat over deemed s**t. It was gorgeous! There was some debris along the tide line but all in all it was beautiful! All too soon, it was sunset. But the adventure was not over! There was a small advert for a night hike...and game for anything, the Germans and I set off with the guide and twenty other people. I stuck near one of the guides who had a giant spot light and seemed to be the expert at finding animals in the dark. Right off the bat, we saw a loris, neon green frogs, a long-legged millipede, giant spiders, a brightly colored, long tailed bird, and even an elusive civet cat.

Millipede!!

Pit viper that lived next to the hostel...a little too close for comfort!

Pitcher Plants

The typical rain forest water was filled with tannins so it made us look orange!!!

The next day, we hiked all day to a beautiful waterfall, over a plateau with abundant pitcher plants, and three hundred steps (formed mostly by tree roots) down to another beach. Looking down the steps, the Italian exclaimed, “Mama Mia!” He was like a caricature of an Italian, railing on American's lack of “just cheese” saying none of American food was just plain, ranting about the accommodations, and anything else that crossed his mind. During a rest on the hike, he looked over at me eating my dried fruit and stated, “you eat all the time.” You know you've been in Thailand too long when an Italian says that! His final hilarious moment was at a Chinese restaurant in Kuching. He ordered his pork ribs and rice dish and then in all seriousness told the waitress, “I would also like bread.” The waitress took it well but was clearly thinking 'crazy foreigner, ordering bread at a Chinese restaurant!' as she told him they don't serve bread there.

Notice the baby hanging onto her belly...

The next day I went to Semmengoh Orangutan Sanctuary and snapped this shot: