Malaysia & Singapore: Touring Kuching, Day 1

Today we got breakfast at the hotel and met our tour guide, Nicole, for a walking tour of the city. We began along the Sarawak river, then went towards the historic part of town and saw colonial-style buildings from the Brooke era, the Sarawak Museum, the outside of the largest Mosque in Kuching, and little India. We went for lunch in Chinatown, trying Laksa and fresh lime juice in an open-air market directly across the street from a Taoist temple, and in the same general decoration and design.

After lunch we wandered through Chinatown/Carpenter Street for a while, then went back to the hotel for a few minutes before boarding a bus to go see the Orangutans!

We arrived at the Semenggoh Wildlife Center a couple minutes after three. We walked on a road through the rainforest to the feeding center where we looked around at the nearby crocodile cages and exotic plants. Soon a park ranger came out to give us a safety briefing. In the best case scenario, we would be seeing the Orangutans in the wild. Each day at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. they feed the Orangutans "boring" food to encourage them to go and forage for themselves. We had come for the second feeding of the day, and a lot of Orangutans had come to the first feeding in the morning, so the worry was that they would be full from breakfast and skip on the afternoon snack. The ranger completed his safety briefing, and about 100 of us began to walk like a line of ants through the rainforest. We were quickly enveloped by trees on every side. We went deeper and deeper along the trail until the path widened out to a clearing with ropes strung between trees and a viewing platform on one side. Another park ranger was gazing upward to the canopy from a wooden platform centered in the foliage. We stood there for about twenty minutes. We were among the first to arrive, but as more and more people filed into the small viewing area, the air began to buzz with chatter, excited toddlers, and opportunistic mosquitoes. We all watched the park ranger's gaze and leaned in closer to hear what was being said through his radio. We were looking for clues that he might know where or when the Orangutans might arrive. The crowd grew restless as the minutes passed without any sign of the animals. (We all have shortened attention spans now.) We were told to keep as quiet as possible, but some children began talking in a happy, sing-song way. This was much to the annoyance of the German tour group in front of them, who quickly shushed the children. That would have been enough to scare me into submission as a child, and sure enough, 'shushing by strangers' frightens children round the world.

After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, Nicole came up to Dr. Perumal and whispered that they had spotted the Orangutans at the entrance, and that our group should sneak away from the viewing platform so that there would not be a stampede out of the jungle. We signaled to the rest of our group, and we left, mumbling feigned excuses about it being too hot and that we could not wait for the Orangutans any longer and that we had to get back to our tour schedule. After slipping away from the group, we power-walked through the rainforest past other tour guides who were headed to alert their groups as well. We went to the location the Orangutan had most recently been spotted, directly above the crocodile cages (Or were they alligators?? Either way, I don't want to meet one in the river at the longhouse. One thing's for sure; I wouldn't take the time to identify it there either.) Anyway, we waited by the giant toothy lizards and watch the wind whip through the trees, each time convincing ourselves that we had seen an Orangutan FOR REAL. The first time I thought that, it was reddish bark. The second time I thought that, my "Orangutan" sprouted wings and flew away. Then we saw the trees sway rapidly and haphazardly, like a small boat tossed in the sea. And there she was. A small face peeked through the foliage. She gave us all the once-over, decided we were not prohibitively frightening, and came out to the clearing. She gained her confidence, even doing cartwheels while hanging from a rope that connected two trees. She had a feast of the fruit at the main feeding area, and seemed very relaxed and content, even with 100-some-odd people staring at her and pointing cameras in her direction. She was not disturbed by the paparazzi, but was rather a nonchalant celebrity.

I keep saying, "I've never sweated more than this in my entire life!" Hoping that the upper limits of my sweating have been reached. But each and every day, I am setting a new personal best for amount of sweat produced.

After the Orangutans, we walked back out of the rainforest to our tour van and drove back to Kuching for Sunny Hill Ice Cream. It is a very popular Adventist-owned ice cream shop where Dr. Perumal used to work. We saw Cindy, a girl we met a church this time and also on the last trip, working there, and she sent us straight to the front of the line and also gave us almond cookies for the whole group! She is so sweet!

From there, we went back to the hotel for a couple of minutes (long enough for a shower! YAY!) then walked to a rooftop food court for dinner. I love this food court because of the ambience of eating outside in the warm tropical air under the stars. It was packed with people, and our food came in scattered courses over the span of two hours. Because of the fact that it is the eve of Merdeka, or Independence Day, the food court was overflowing with people and the food stalls could not keep up.

After a day of sightseeing and lots of humidity, we were exhausted after dinner and went back to the hotel to sleep. Around midnight, we awoke to the sounds of fireworks outside our window. The eve of Independence Day is a big deal over here, and people get the following day off of work. However, we did not see any festivities the following day. I think most people just spent time at home with their families. It gives some insight into the priorities of the people we've met. I always enjoy learning about holiday traditions of other cultures.