Wildlife-spotting in Borneo

After two weeks of fun in Western Malaysia, we really thought it was time to stop fannying around and time, to see an orangutan.  Spontaneously, we booked a flight for the next day and NEEEOOWWWW: we arrived in KK.  A traumatic 7-hour coach journey surrounded by vomiting and unhygienic humans left us sitting in the dark, on the side of a roundabout, in the middle of nowhere... however, at the sight of a familiar 'Wildlife' T-shirt peering out of a 4x4, we were transported to a beautiful hostel surrounded by baby turtles, lakes and monkeys jumping around in the trees; Sepilok.

On our first morning we managed to crawl out of bed at 9am and make it the Orangutan Rehab Centre by 10am.  The red apes swung to the feeding block from all directions and we were able to view seven of them fighting over the biggest banana.  We were, at first, a little sceptical of the Sepilok 'Rehabilitation' Centre but were pleasantly surprised by the fact that the crowds weren't so big that we could not see the animals and that it was not simply a zoo built for tourists but actually a fantastic cause! The charity rescue orphaned animals or those that have been inappropriately kept as pets.  They are taught survival skills such as climbing and foraging (what an amazing job those guys have!!!) before being released into the protected forest to fend for themselves.  It was wonderful to be able to see a snippet of all this up close!!! 

The next step in our wildlife adventure was to head to Bilit Lodge on the river bank, where we spent two days cruising the waters in a tiny boat, spotting completely wild orangutans, the hilarious proboscis monkeys, silver monkeys, long-tailed macaques, pygmy elephants, a crocodile, a range of hornbills and some other funky birds.  It was like safari on water and we got lucky(!) 

Diving the Perhentian Islands, Malaysia

After the combination of Kuta and Kuala Lumpur, a serious craving for a relaxed atmosphere and the ocean were kicking in.  The Perhentian Islands were the perfect answer.

We jumped off the boat at Long Beach on the smaller island which seems to be oh-so-creatively named...'small' and as always with our hefty backpacks stumbled to the nearest, and cheapest looking, accommodation available, 'Symphony'.  Which we later found out was known for robbery and abuse from the staff - brilliant.

Perhentian Islands, we were told, are one of the cheapest places in the world to gain diving qualifications whether it be basic Open Water or your dive-master.  So, after refreshing on one or two delicious lassies, we spoke to Matahari Dive Centre and managed to swing an excellent deal of around 200 pounds each to for both our Advanced Divers course and accommodation (with a power shower!!!!).

We highly recommend diving with these guys (it's the bright orange dive shop out of the many dotted along the shore).  They treated us amazingly well and were all lovely! They warned us of the negative stories they'd heard about Symphony and allowed us to stay in the Staff Accommodation for a night as all the rooms were full.  Although, this ended up with the entire dive centre seeing Jodie completely stark naked as we were sharing their shower room and failed to control the foreign locking system.

Adding to our wonderful stay, was the family's three year-old, adorable daughter who allowed us to attend her birthday party and was forever grabbing our hands for a dance with her.  Her father gave us fruit straight from the trees and helped us to arrange our boat off the island and bus to Penang.

The diving itself was pretty amazing.  We were able to see small sharks, turtles, sting-rays and of course many incredibly colourful fish.  We were able to experience wreck and night diving which we hadn't previously and both were seriously cool.  During our safety stop on the night dive, we each turned off our torches and as we moved our arms and legs the plankton lit up luminously green! Amazing!!!!

Our navigation dive on the other hand was hilariously dire! I (Jodie) managed to forget how to control the compass leaving us well and truly lost.  You know you are in trouble when there's not a reef or a single fish for company.  HAHAHA very confusing.

Anyone thinking of diving, do it!!! Just go to Perhentian and become a dive master!!! (that's our plan) and say hi to Dee and Crumb from us!

Meg and Jod xxx