Borneo (part 1)

I've been a very bad blogger lately. I'm putting this down to the harsh realities of the real world encroaching on my holiday - every time I go online I seem to get caught up with things to do with my real life. Tax, tenants, CRBs... I don't want to go home! Still, with less than a month to go it's time to face the harsh reality, and to make sure we make the most of the time left. Which brings me to Borneo (part 1).
We restricted our Borneo adventure to Sabah, and started the 2 weeks in Kota Kinabalu (or KK). We arrived at the backpackers which Kev had proudly found on hostel world - very cheap. And in the midst of an industrial estate. Still, the beds were comfy and the internet was free. We only had 1 full day in KK - and to be hones, that was enough. We caught 2 buses to get to the city centre (at which point I asked Kev if he'd actually looked the backpackers up on a map). The city centre wasn't really that exciting. Actually, I can't think of too much to say about it, other than that Kev got a haircut. And that we tried to walk back to our hostel, getting a sinking feeling we may have gone wrong somewhere when we reached the airport runway. 6km out of town. Luckily a kind man on his was home from work noticed us looking lost and gave us a lift back. It turned out the hostel is actually within a short walk of the centre after all. So the 2 buses were kind of unnecessary.
The next day, we escaped the city to head towards Kinabalu National Park, the home of Mount Kinabalu, the highest mountain in South East Asia. Kev was keen to climb it - I have recently realised that I don't actually have to climb mountains if I don't want to, and didn't want to. Unfortunately, it turned out to be very expensive to climb (mostly due to the cost of accommodation near the peak) so in the end neither of us went up. Instead, we walked one of the other trails in the park, a 5km (ish) walk through the jungle. It was great - until it started pouring with rain and we both ended up completely soaking! Still, the area is lovely and made a nice change from beaches and cities. The room we were staying in was great - a proper duvet (as it actually gets quite cold at night) and a DVD player - luxury for us! Slightly more alarming was the bathroom, with see-through walls directly into the jungle (which didn't quite reach to the top of the room), and huge, nasty looking spiders with big fangs hanging around. Just the view you want when taking a shower! We dranks lots of coffee and hot chocolate, and felt like it was winter. The temperature must have dropped to at least 17 degrees...
After the national park, it was time to move on to Sandakan, where we would be meeting my Mum for a few days touring the area and seeing some of the wildlife that Borneo has to offer. We arrived a day early, and I have to say our initial impressions of Sandakan were not exactly wonderful. We arrive in the evening, when most of the town seems to be shut down, (or so we though before we had spent more time there) and the owner of our hotel was, well, as grumpy as his reputation in the Lonely Planet implies. Still, the rooms were good (the best showers I think we've had all year!), as was the pizza hut pizza we got delivered to it. Yum!
The following day was a lazy one, until the evening when we caught a taxi out to the airport to meet my Mum. It was great seeing her after so long and the next day was the beginning of our tour - a complete treat for me and Kev. Nothing to organise, nothing to think about. The first stop on our tour was turtle island - an island set up as a turtle hatchery, with only 40 guests allowed to visit each day. The island was really easy to get to - around an hour by boat off the coast of Sandakan. Also in our group were a lovely Australian couple (originally from Hong Kong) with their very young (and very cute) baby girl. That baby got a lot of attention over the day! As the turtle action only begins after dark, we had a full day to enjoy the beautiful island. Another treat for me and Kev - beautiful rooms to stay in and really good food. I don't think either of us have eaten so much in months! We spend most of the day on the beach and in the sea. We also took a wander around the small island, where we saw huge dips in the sand made by the turtles laying eggs (we later found out these were mostly decoys, dug to confuse predatory monitor lizards), as well as tracks made by the turtles to and from the sea. It got us all very excited about the evening.
We were told that the turtles can begin to arrive on the beach any time from about 8 to about midnight, or maybe even later. We had our fingers crossed for a relatively early sighting. Before dinner, we watched a really good video about the turtles and the laying/hatching process. No sooner had we finished dunner, than we got the call we were expecting to wait for - turtle time! We all trudged down to the beach (very quietly and carefully of course!), and there she was - a huge green turtle laying her eggs. Completely still in the hole she had dug for herself, with a warden collected each egg as she laid it. Around 50 in total. The rules for watching this are very strict so as not to alarm the turtle, and it was quite an experience to witness. After she had finished laying, we left her to cover her eggs (she doesn't notice them being removed) and to dig decoy holes. We made our way to the protected hatchery holes, where the eggs were to be buried safe from the predatory birds and lizards. Once we'd watched them being buried it was time to see the newest arrivals on the island - turtles hatched that night and ready to be released into the ocean. 70 or so tiny turtles scuttling down the beach to the sea (with one or two clearly not fancying that and trying to go the wrong way!)- they just didn't look big enough to be off on their own. It doesn't surprise me how few make it to adulthood, but I guess the conservation project can only do so much to increase the chance of survival for this beautiful species.
The next stop on our Borneo adventure was the Orangu-tan rehabilitation centre. By now we were beginning to realise how lucky we were with our guide/driver, Dan. A fantastic guide, happy to give us any information we asked for and very knowledgeable on the whole area. He dropped us at the centre, and we watched another very good video before it was time to see the orangu-tans. We learnt how all the animals brought to the centre have been rescued, mostly at a young age, and often as a result of deforestation. The film took us through the rehabilitation process, showing how the young animals are taught the skills that they would usually learn from their mothers in the wild, and gradually encouraged to live more and more self-sufficiently. Some take to this better than others, but it seems like a really good place. We all lost our hearts to them, even before we'd seen one! When it was feeding time, we made our way to the feeding platform and waited. And waited. Whilst we waited, we watched a large number of 'normal monkeys' (or Macaques) who were determined to eat as many of the bananas intended for the orangu-tans as the could. They were pretty amusing. After a while, a warden appeared holding a young orangu-tan by the arm and leading him up the steps. However, as I was watching this, an adult with her baby appeared behind us, and walked (less than a metre away from us) across the area we were standing in to the feeding platform. She was just great. So human-like. Occasionally, a monkey would attempt to steal a banana from under her nose, and she would give it her best 'teacher-look', until it ran away. When she had finished eating, she kicked over the bucket of bananas, and walked off, leaving the small monkeys to clean up.
I really want an orangu-tan for my birthday. Please?