oh yes, finally I write about Australia!
Heaps of stuff to talk about after these two weeks. Or rather: hopefully I have something to talk about after two weeks, right?!
Like I mentionned already in my last story: I don't feel so much like travelling at the moment. I am rather visiting: I know people in 5 out of my 7 big destinations I am planning to go to in Australia: in Sydney, Newcastle, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide; I don't know anybody in Alice Springs and Melbourne though. This fact and the closeness of the Australian culture to European, makes me feel far less as a traveller than in Asia. Furthermore, the first time since 6 months nobody can spot straight away, that I am not from their country...
So I definitely got accustumed to the Western culture quite quickly. Even though Australian culture is of course still different to Austrian, or European in general, it is still closer to my own very culture than any Asian culture was. So, after only one day I was back in my old way of living - enjoying going out with friends, having a glass of wine in the evenings, eating good bread again, oh and cheese of course (I can't talk enough about cheese), ....
I was nearly two weeks in Sydney, and really started to feel like home. I stayed with Jean-Marie, a good friend I know from Paris. It was like living in France again: apéro, and barbeque :)
On my arrival-day I more or less went direclty from the airport to the beach, where JM's sons 2nd birthday was celebrated with barbeque and many presents for the little gentlemen. But not only on this first day but nearly every evening friends were around, we were having drinks and simply a great time: we were living like God in France!
So yes, barbeque at the beach - nice start to Australia isn't it?? And there is no thing so typical to Australia than the BEACH! The beach is the main-sight of nearly every city: "More than 85 percent of Australian's live within 50 kilometres of the coast, making the 10,000 beaches an intregal part of Australian life." (...) And it's really funny, but when talking with Aussies you will end up talking about beaches sooner or later!
Sydney has many beaches as well and I visited (yes, visited!! Weird word for a beach) three out of them. But Sydney has so much more than just beaches. It is a really hip, young and vivid city. Sparkling I'd even say! I was lucky to stay in a really central part of the town from where I could walk everywhere by feet. There are sooooo many nice bars, cafés and restaurants around, it's amazing! The atmosphere where I lived - Surry Hills - is really hip and remembered me of Viennas 7th and 8th district.
But still, Sydney is of course completely different to Vienna: both cities have loads of culture to offer. But I felt that here the culture is so much - let's say - lighter! It is new, starting, young, experimental. Culture in Vienna is historical and well in place; and heavy: classical music, beautiful historical buildings, big museums,... I don't say, that Vienna doesn't have young and experimental art, or that Sydney doesn't have big museums or classical music (It's opera house is really famous as well, however more because of the architecture, while Vienna's opera house is really famous because of the music).
I'd just say that the focus is more on older and classical culture in Vienna whereas in Sydney on younger one...
And I got to feel this vivid art scene even closer: one day walking home after a big sight-seeing day, I came past an art gallery with a just opening exhibition of the artist Sharyne J Jewell. I really liked her works and ended up staying till nearly everybody had left - I admit: that was thanks to the champagne - chatting with the people running the gallery. I really liked the atmosphere there, they had many projects running all the time. So I finally offered them to help out for their next group-exhibition on 23rd of March. Which was great fun! Maybe maybe, this will bring me back to arts, a path I have left in my life at the age of 18. Maybe back in Vienna I will check out art galleries more than I did...
So yes, one can really feel the age difference between the Australian and the European society. Surprise surprise, their country (I'm not talking about Aboriginal history here!!) is not even 300 years old - 1788 being the year in which the first settlers arrived. But their lifestyle is really Western indeed. I can't say, if it is closer to Europe or to America - a question I was asked by a friend - having never been to America. But I can say in what I see our own culture and lifestyle reflected:
One really funny thing about our lifestyle I realised being back in it: we are definitely health-freaks! I never saw it like this before, but after Asia I did: everything is labelled "bio" or "organic" - most food here is of course "Australia grown". People try to eat healthy stuff: when walking around the streets of Sydney, past these hip bars and restaurants I always checked what the people had on their plates: nicely looking sandwiches with cherrytomatos and rucola leaves looking out between the slices of slightly toasted wholemeal breadrolls. Oh yes, we do love our healthy and hip food, don't we?! And the cappuccinos with loads of milk-foam and cacao-hearts drawn into it. Well, me too I love it - or maybe rather: I would love them, but as a low-budget traveller paying around $15,- for these great looking sandwiches definitely exceeds my budget.
Oh yes, Australians want to be healthy. And they not only pay attention to what they are eating, but also do sports, and hell lot of it! And my body thanks me so much for it: I am finally back to jogging, which is great. Doing sports is not difficult in a country, which is really providing it's citizens with many opportunities to spend their free time nicely and with sports. The jogging-field I chose was just next to the flat of my dear host in Sydney. The pic is my very jogging-playground - try to find something like this in Asia! So you understand why I didn't go jogging that much over there...
But what is more, Australians do really appreciate their leisure time, far more than we do - at least I have this impression. Or their government took more efforts for them to be able to enjoy it: there are so many possibilities to enjoy your leisure time and the facilities are made for you to do so: Sydney is full of parks for joggers and other fans of sports; there are loads of bike lanes and of course many many beaches and facilities for surfers! Surfing is defintiely THE national sport - and AFL (Aussie-rules football). Sports and barbeque are seen as part of the national culture: "A laid-back lifestyle involving barbeques, time at the beach and sports (both playing and watching sports) makes Australia a wonderful place to visit and live." (...)
What I will write now, may be contradictive... I really feel that Vienna is a highly livable city and love living there. And of course Vienna has most of what Sydney offers mentionned above: parks, bike lanes, the Donauinsel... I do really understand that Vienna got elected a few times already as being on the first place in the quality of living worldwide city ranking in the Mercer surveys. However, there is something about the Austrian character, which I now feel in Australia, as it is not lying so heavily on my shoulders:
In Austria I often had the feeling that you couldn't do something just for the sake of doing it. Just because you like doing it. You should always justify what you're doing or what you like. Just liking it is not enough. You should have reason for doing something. Having fun is not enough for a reason: having fun is ok - but please not too much and not too excessively, because you should not forget all the tasks which are still waiting for you! Or, better way of describing my feeling: I always had somehow a bad consciousness of doing something just because it was fun!
I guess that's a relict of our catholic culture: asceticism this is, right!?!
In this way I really felt a difference to Europe: I had the impression that Australia is so much more made for people to enjoy themselves. All the sport and leisure time facilities - there are free barbeque grills at beaches and at some highway stops - are made for the people. In the Botanic Garden of Sydney I was so surprised about a sign saying like (I should have taken a photo) "We please you to walk on the grass, have picknicks in the grass, touch the trees and enjoy the nature"... I am now just thinking back to the struggles we have in Vienna with the public gardens, where it is often prohibited to walk or sit on the grass. For whom should the grass in the city-parks be if not for the people?! So I'd say: Go on people: sit on the grass, but don't your rubbish afterwards...
So what I am doing here is having as much fun as possible :)
I really enjoyed Syndey, had a cruise on the river with Severine and her friends - all for free! Was walking around a lot, lying around in the gardens or jogging around them.
After Sydney I went further to Newcastle, where I visited Danny and Pete - two guys I got to know in Vietnam. They definitely helped me to get a maximum out of my stay in their little town! We went to pubs together, one of which had once been owned by Danny.
On Saturday I celebrated my big Aussie-Day: in the morning we went to the beach (yes THE BEACH!!) where I had my first try-outs on a surfboard. Wohoo, that was fun! How lucky I was - I had a personal trainer and a cameraman for my first trys on a surfboard!
So, even you can check out and have a laught at my poor surfing... I blame the waves!!
After that I had my first Aussie-style Burger: with beetroot - delicious!!
Then we went to a kind of zoo, where I saw the first kangoroos, wallabis, wombats and koalas in my life! Sweet :)
For dinner we had of course barbeque, and as I had never tried kangoroo before they had bought some kangoroo-filets. Hm, it is really good flesh, liked it :)
The evening finally ended in an Aussie-pub with a local band playing live...
hello Shebeen :)
The next day me and Danny would drive up to the Myall Lakes National Park, kayaking on the river, surf down sanddunes - that's the Australian way of sleding down a hill haha!!
But - no offence mates - snow is better!!
And to top the sand-dune experience we went to drive around in Danny's 4WD on the huge sand-dunes of the Worimi Conservations Land.
At least on the sanddunes I was not irritated by the left-driving-system...
Even though this was fine sand, this short trip to the sanddunes made me think back of Mongolia, where we had been driving for days through the desert, without any streets and only steps ahead...
It's a pity that you can't really feel how much we were tossed around in the car. Driving on ice must feel quite similar - you feel the tyres losing their grip... was fun indeed! But yeah, not half as spectacular on this clip than in real life:
PS: for those who want to know a bit more about Singapore: Rindo, who lives there since a few months, has written a really interesting comment on my last story...
It is kind of weird for me write a story now. I feel as if I was back home, how comes I should write a story on a travel-blog if I am not traveling...
But, hey, Silke!! Wake up!! You are still travelling! You are not home!!
Here's the prove:
After 6 months in Asia it feels really awkward to be back in a Western country:
I am in Sydney Australia since one week, after 6 months in Asia - moreover staying with a friend I know from Europe. And don't even believe, that this wouldn't give you kind of a coming-home shock!
No worries though, the shock was nice: arriving and going straight to the birthdayparty of my friends little son Hugo, 2 years old, at the beach with a nice barbeque and many of their friends!!
But one after the other... before all this, I allowed myself a kind of puffer between Asia and Australia - between Asia and the West:
Three days in Singapore...
Singapore is in many ways something between Asia and the West: The population is mixed between Malay, Chinese and Indian like in Malaysia. But in comparison with Malaysia, and even more with the other countries I visited in Asia, Singapore is really clean and tidy. In German I would have said "nett und adrett". Of course, it is definitely nicer to live in a clean city, no arguments about that. But Singapore is not only clean, but in my eyes simply over-regulated. It is clean because you are fined S$1.000,- if you litter somewhere. Spitting a chewing gum: S$ 1.000,-..
The famous loss of face in Chinese culture seems to be a much more effective use of punishment: If you are convicted of littering three times, you will have to clean the streets on Sundays with a bib on saying, 'I am a litterer' (not really sure if this is true though, sounds too weird to me). And - again something I read in a guidebook - in order to make people flush public toilets the names of people not flushing the toilets had been published in the newspaper... (I have no clue how they found out who didn't flush the toilets though... video-cameras??)
But yes, they achieved their goal, and a clean city is nice! And I definitely admire what I read about in a guidebook to Singapore: they managed to get rid of Malaria nearly by 100% by introducing many laws, of which one forbid the citizens to use flower pot saucers (as they are the living area of moscitos).
But they also have tons of rather stupid and highly exaggerated laws: the sale of chewing gums is prohibited; it is forbidden (!!) to walk around naked in your house (because it could be considered as pornography, which is forbidden as well, if somebody saw you)...
And of course there are not only many laws, but many signs of do's and don'ts... Interesting: assaults on the captain in a bus are forbidden by law. Well, if they didn't put a sign in the bus I guess every second person would attack the busdriver, not knowing that it was forbidden, right?
So yes, with strict rules - law and order - they definitely managed to get a clean country.
But in many ways in my eyes a "dead" country as well. And this is in my eyes an evolution I can see in many "civilized" societies: we're heading into an overregulated society where everything has to be regulated and clearly indicated. Otherwise people will fine you for whatever in former days (and in how we call them "less civilised societies") would never have been regulated, because common sense tells you what is right and what is wrong...
hm.... I just wanted to post something about the hot-coffee-lawsuit as an example of what I mean with this loss of common sense. But after reading more about it, I do think that Ms. Liebeck was not too wrong sewing McDonalds (I hate McDonalds anyways...) as they had deliberately sold far too hot coffee... And I won't cite the cat-microwave-story neither, because I guess there is much more background to ths story as well than I know. Am I getting to far away from my point? Yes, I do.
So, to make it short: I do think that our society is over-regulated and that so many things are now ruled by law which have once and could be regulated by common sense. I do really believe, that we don't need a sign saying that it is forbidden by law to assault the captain of a bus!
The reason why I write about this now, is that especially in Singapore, with all these sign and these logical (I can completely understand why chewing gums are forbidden in such a hot country... oh, and check the photo: it's written on the floor how to queue for the ATM) but exaggerated laws, I felt how common sense, and individual thought, ideas, innovation and creativity is killed by law and order. That's what I meant when writing that in my eyes, Singapore is somehow "dead" to me. Everything was nice and clean - "nett und adrett" - but there is nothing more about it.
They managed to give Singapore the image that they wanted it to have: nice and clean. And definitely great for shopping (well, a backpacker is not really into shopping). It is a country where you can do business, go out (nice night scene though!) and have delicious food. Yes, we are approaching my favourite topic :)
However, it is still Asian, and I really fancied the Asian part of the city: foodhawkers!!
Like it was the case in Kuala Lumpur, having the same main population groups (Chinese, Malay and Indian), there is a Chinatown and a Little India in Singapore. But of course with a big touch of Singapore to it: the houses are all nice and sweet, clean and tidy - nett und adrett. If there weren't these famous red Chinese lightbulbs hanging around, you wouldn't believe to be in Chinatown.
The foodhawkers were completely Asian though! Cheap and tasty :) Oh yes, both Singaporians and tourists love them! The foodhawkers in Singapore are different to those I saw in other countries in the sense that they are not spread around the city, but put together in big halls: one foodhawker after the other is offering a few dishes. You just walk around and collect what you want and sit down at one of the tables between the hawkers. For me it was the last chance to taste some Asian food for a relatively cheap price!
I had a great time with Rindo (check his blog, he definitely knows how to write! I laughed my a** off reading his blog!), a guy I got to know at the weekly Couchsurfing meeting. We were wandering around Singapore, drinking loads of wine and beer, and eating Indian food - like it has to be with our fingers of course. My last glimpse of Asia before leaving this continent! And even more than before, I do know I want to travel to India once :)
So yes, Singapore is still Asia! Even though it is the Indian way of eating, I would feel really weird to eat murtabak or curry with my hands in an Indian restaurant here in Australia or back home!
Or to deliberately spit on the floor (I was not doing that, but they were!!) at a Chinese food hawker back home.
So yes, after such a long time it was weird for me, to leave Asia, to get back to Western culture. But one thing I am really happy about, now being in Australia is this:
Am I addicted to cheese??? YES I AM!!
Everybody who expected to hear something about Australia here... well, patience guys!! I will write about Sydney soon! Promised :)
So get yourself prepared for many stories from down under - I prepared in my own way for Australia branding one of my (few) shirts with "No Kangoroos in Austria"
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"First and foremost, Borneo is the result of a grand experiment. It answers the question of what would happen if you put a giant island right on the equator, sprinkled it with a vast amount of genetic material, soaked it with heaping quantities of sunlight and water, and then waited a few million years. The result is an explosion of life in exuberant abundance - Mother Nature's wildest fantasy"
(Lonely Planet Borneo 2008)
One couldn't make a better start when describing Borneo!
Alrighty guys!! get ready for loooooooads of pics and many videos - and if you don't like nature and all these crazy animals out there, you better don't read this story ;) And in order to get you into the mood, one funny pic for the start:
It was mainly for the incredible nature that I left mainland Malaysia and visited this very island. And the 3 weeks I stayed on Borneo were not even close to be long enough! So I only visited the two Malaysian parts of Borneo - first South-Western Sarawak then North-Eastern Sabah - putting aside the much larger Indonesian part Kalimantan and the small oil-rich country Brunei Darussalam.
In these 3 weeks I tried to squeeze in nearly everything that one could and should do on Borneo: jungle trekking (yes that's me taking a bath in the river in the middle of the jungle...), visiting and staying overnight in a traditional Longhouse, seeing Orang Utans, Probiscus monkeys, a river cruise, relaxing on one of their great beaches, going diving on Sipadan - one of the Worlds best diving sites,...
And still I skipped some of the must-do's like climbing South-East-Asias highest mountain Mt. Kinabalu - it would have cost me bloody €200,- to do it!! They are crazy... Same for the Gunung Mulu National Park and Danum Valley, two really interesting National Parks that I had to skip due to their exorbitantly high prices...
Yes, Borneo is not a low-budget destination. But no worries, there is so much to see in Borneo, and still enough for travellers on a budget as well - I was definitely not bored at all :)
Whereas my first week in Sarawak was more filled with jungle-life, during my remaining two weeks in Sabah I was not only, but more into beaches and sea-life...
I can't make this blog-story senseful without telling you chronologically what I did... so here we go:
Sarawak
Bako National Park
My 5 days in Sarawak were all nicely filled:
Already the first day after my arrival in Kuching, a nice but a bit sleepy little town, I headed North to Bako National Park. I stayed overnight in a Dormitory right in the next to the jungle. I can tell you, it is hot and humid there...
During the 24 hours I spent in Bako NP I made two treks by myself through the jungle and a nightwalk guided by the rangers... It's the very first time I have been in a real jungle, so I was really impressed! It is really humid, I was sweating like hell. The trees are massive and tall, and there are whole loads of noices all over the place. Apart from the chirrs of the cicadas you would always hear some noices in the leaves up in the trees... Monkeys jumping around, birds or any other animal.
Reaching the beach I was watching the crabs, which were busy making small little balls out of the sand surrounding the entry to their very homes... sweet, isn't it:
But what was even more impressive was the night walk: rangers would walk with all interested people through the jungle, looking for and pointing out the various different animals you would not see during the day... I LOVED this frog. I named him Pavarotti: singing for us (well, ok, not for us I guess...), not scared at all, even proud of all the attention driven to him - isn't he amazing?!
But also the snakes and lizards in the night were really impressive - and the spiders (like the one on the photo above) of course...
Bidayuh Longhouse
Back in Kuching and off again: together with my CS-host and another CSer we were to go to a traditional longhouse. And thanks to our CS-host who knew all the people we were not joining a group but stayed there indipendently thus much cheaper :)
Longhouses are the houses where the native people of Borneo were and are still living in. These houses differ depending on the tribe. In fact, it is not one house for one family, but a huge long house (makes sense, doesn't it?!) on stilts with many compartments for the individual families and a broad part in front of these compartment shared by the whole community.
We were going to Kampung Annah Rais, a longhouse of the Bidayuh tribe. In this longhouse they are quite used to tourists, which wasn't too bad for us, as just the three of us could participate in many activities usually provided for bigger groups. The head of the community introduced us in the tradition, showed us many different old tools of the tribe and even tought us how to shoot like a Bidayuh hunter...
you should beware of me now, as soon as I'll hit the black center regularly I'll go off head-hunting :)
In the evening a musician of the tribe introduced us into the very typical instrument:
It is all made out of one piece of bamboo. You know how artists are when they are talking about their art... He was so touched and completely taken by his very instrument, which he had even built all by himself. And if you want an idea of his music, here's a short video of him performing
The next morning we were heading out early in the morning to go trekking through the jungle.
After around two hours we arrived at a river where we three stayed swimming, sunbathing and glancing at the amazing butterflies (I never saw sooooo many so incredibly beautiful and huge butterflies in my life!), while the three locals who had guided us went in the jungle to collect wood for the bamboo rafts.
But before we were to hit the river on the bamboo rafts they cooked a dish for us in a very typical way: a soup with chicken heated in a big branch of bamboo together with rice wrapped in bananaleafs... hmmmm
And off we went on bamboo rafts back to the village...
Semenggoh Wildlife Centre
The next day, which also was my last day in Sarawak, I went to the Semenggoh Wildlife Centre, where half-wild Orang Utans are taken care of and prepared for their final release into the jungle.
These Orang Utans are half-wild, meaning that they are still taken care of, are feeded every day and prepared to get released in the jungle. However, in case they find enough food by themselves, which at the moment is highly possible as all the trees have loads of fruits, they simply won't show up for the feeding times...
The other CSer who stayed at my CS-host went there twice and didn't see not even one monkey. I had more luck: I went there once and saw them all! It was brilliant... And I can't help but putting many photos of them here and even a video, they are too gorgeous not to be featured like this!
I would love to be even half as flexible as they are, it's amazing!!
Sabah
Tip of Borneo
After my intense week in Sarawak - every day I had been visiting something - I spent nearly one week at the Tip of Borneo to finally get the rest I so much needed after travelling for such a long time. Those of you who have read my last entry may have felt my tiredness... Well guys, great news: Silke is back to life!! Fully recovered!!
I was quite lucky to have found this eco-resort when checking the internet for budget options in Borneo - which as already mentionned above is in fact quite difficult; and even more in Sabah. It was exactly what I needed - I knew I had up to 6 days there before I had to move on to Sipadan - and I stayed till the very last second!
So, what is it all about?!
This resort is for me a perfect example of how one could invest in the local community and preserve not only the local tradition and culture, but also the nature!
And furthermore helping a local orphanage.
The heart of it is Howard Stanton, a guy from Great Britain with an amazing life experience so far (and he is only 11 years older than me... wow, I have some target here!!). I only know bits and pieces after chatting with him every now and then: he's been working in the Caribbeans as diver in a search-and-rescue team whilst running a "really crazy" (his own words!!) bar and restaurant there. He joined the Indian national-team in kabbadi for the first ever to happen World Championship in this sport after having participated in only one training, and he is now referee for this very sport. After having lived in various places all over the world and having worked on a ship, he settled near Kudat, where he started to build up Tampat do Aman about a year ago. And the whole resort is still growing and not yet completely finished - some more chalets and a museum are still to come. And the fact that it's still in the growing makes it even nicer giving it a really cosy and family-like atmosphere.
He really set importance on keeping the tradition of the Rungus people alive - the local people in this region. He speaks their language, knows about their traditions and beliefes. And in order to keep these traditions alive and in memory and show it to the locals and tourists he is building a museum within the resort. But also the restaurant at the beach serves traditional Rungus dishes and sells Rungus necklaces. The longhouse, with individual and double rooms, is of course also a typical Rungus longhouse.
This resort definitely deserves the attribut "Eco": Everything is as ecological as possible: showers - under the open sky - with water collected from the roofs, compostable toilets, and there are even some animals living on the resort as well: a few ducks, chicken, and a sweet little cat.
Oh, I didn't mention the beach yet, did I?!
well, I guess pictures say more than thousand words... And yes, you really have the impression of being all by yourself!
I watched the sunset every day at the beach, it's spendid!
No wonder I am totally relaxed again now: waking up with the cry of the cocks from the neighborhood, taking breakfast, going cycling, snorkling or just sunbathing during the day, enjoying the sunset at the beach with some nice fresh fruitshakes and watching the stars during the night...
But not only stars in the sky but also in the sea: bioluminescence! (this photo is from the web) Swimming in the night is brilliant: every movement you take the water around you is glowing and blinking...
Those whom I managed to convince to go swimming in the night with me wouldn't want to go out of the water anymore....
("Oh my god, I am here since 6 weeks and have never been in the sea at night! It's amazing, I would have gone swimming every night if I knew!!" was just one out of the many comments about this brilliant game of nature)
Diving on Mabul, Kapalai and Sipadan
This was another highlight of my trip (my trip to Borneo consists of highlights!) The island Sipadan is considered to be one of the world top dive spots. I hope I am not too spoiled now having dived there right after making my Open Water Diver course and I hope I will enjoy other divesites with less animals or a less interesting scenery. Well, I guess I will - diving is too great fun!
In total I stayed 3 days on Mabul Island in the nice diving-resort Uncle Chang. Mabul Island is close to Sipadan, where nobody is allowed to stay anymore. And even the amount of divers per day is restricted and permits are quite scarce.
I slowly slowly built my diving trip up: on the first day I went snorkeling on Kapalai - again another island next to Mabul Island, amazing! On the second day I went diving on Mabul and Kapalai, which was already really great! I can't tell you how cool it is to swim right next to big green sea turtles! Or under them and watch them move smoothly through the water...
But of course the highlight itself was Sipadan on the third day! I was so impressed by the dive spot itself: we were going down to 25meters (oups....). In the shallow water there are loads of corals with many different sorts of fish. And then all of the sudden it just goes down: It is as if you were going down a wall, full with corals and loads of fish, eels and other sea-animals (I am really bad on recognizing different fishes and sea-animals).
Here again I saw many big green turtles, and many white tip reef sharks... It is really impressive to see these animals moving just right next to you! My dive-buddy Tim told me about other places where you can dive with even more and much bigger sharks... wohooo!!
I was quite unlucky though not to have seen the barracuda tornados Sipadan is famous for (check this video, you'll understand why I am a bit annoyed not to have seen them...). But I saw a huuuuuge covey of jackfish, which was as amazing as the barracudas would have been I guess! Everything was getting dark all around us when these fish were swimming around, above and below us...
in this video you can see - apart from my still poor diving skills - how I am swimming in front of them, amazing, hum?!
Kinabatangan River Cruise
The last thing on my to-do-list before going back to Kota Kinabalu, and flying to Singapore, was to participate in a rivercruise, or better a whole 2D2N-trip to the river of Kinabatangan. As big palmoil plantations erased major parts of the rainforest and only a quite tights strip around the river is still untouched, loads of different species are concentrated there and can be watched from the river by boat.
I was lucky that Tim, a Dutch guy (the one holding my breakfast on the pic, while I was making the photo) I met when diving was heading into the same direction as me and was interested in joining the tour. And two Bavarian guys joined in as well, so we were in total a small group of four persons heading to the small village Sukau, where our homestay was located.
It was a brilliant tour organised through the Sandakan Backpackers: it included 4 cruises on the river, by night and by day, and 2 jungle trekkings (leeches were for free!!), food, accomodation and transport - we were not dissapointed at all!
Even far from being dissapointed: we saw many different animals, the highlight of which of course were the elephants!! With our boat we were with just a few meters away of a big horde of elephants, which were tranquilly having their lunch and not caring at all about us watching. And as elephants eat up to 150kg per day, we had loads of time to watch them in detail and make tons of photos.
Click on the video to see this little family (well the big ones are both female, but if one doesn't know, it looks like a small family, doesn't it?!):
But also the monkeys were interested to watch in the wildlife:
I had already seen Orang Utans in Semenggoh, but this time I could spot some of them in their natural surrounding. The Kinabatangan river is also home to the quite rare Proboscis monkeys - the long-nose-monkeys. We saw many of them, as well as loads of Macaque monkeys (you can see these monkeys on the very first picture of this blog story) and others...
As I had already experienced during my trip to Bako National Park, we could see completely different animals during the nightcruises on the river: mainly beautifully colored birds, like this small Kingfisher (this blog story starts to turn into a biology-lesson...).
We were all really amazed by the captain of our little boat: he spotted so many animals somewhere between the leaves, which we only saw when he had approached really close to them.
Borneo was definitely worth the side-trip! I was really amazed seeing so many beautiful animals as well as such great landscape, jungles and beaches! There is still so much more to see - so, I'll be back :)
For those of you, who haven't seen enough wildlife, check out my gallery of Borneo. And I uploaded further videos of animals on youtube, which I didn't put into this story, as well as one video of the night-fish market in Kota Kinabalu.
In this way I really felt a difference to Europe: I had the impression that Australia is so much more made for people to enjoy themselves. All the sport and leisure time facilities - there are free barbeque grills at beaches and at some highway stops - are made for the people. In the Botanic Garden of Sydney I was so surprised about a sign saying like (I should have taken a photo) "We please you to walk on the grass, have picknicks in the grass, touch the trees and enjoy the nature"... I am now just thinking back to the struggles we have in Vienna with the public gardens, where it is often prohibited to walk or sit on the grass. For whom should the grass in the city-parks be if not for the people?! So I'd say: Go on people: sit on the grass, but don't your rubbish afterwards...
So what I am doing here is having as much fun as possible :)
