I'M IN MALAYSIAN BORNEO!

Hello hello! It feels like an awfully long time since I last updated, although it is only a week. So I will try and remember accurately the things I've been up to since arriving here in lovely Kuching. After my epic sleeping session to get over the journey, I spent a couple of days exploring the city and finding my feet with this whole 'lone travelling' thing. I have to say I am doing very well at it currently! Kuching is a lovely little city on the banks of a river (not sure which one, oops!). It's got a colonial history and there are some very interesting museums and loads of cultural-type stuff to do here. The museum of ethnology is great, really reminded me of Western park museum in Sheff! Felt right at home. Lots of stuffed animals, shell collections and skeletons. Tiny bit creepy, but definately worth the visit! It is also Ramadan at the moment, and Malaysia being a Muslim country everything is gearing up towards Hari Raya (Eid Ilfitri), which is on friday and is going to be a big party! There's a really festive air to Kuching at the moment. It is has a very large Chinese Buddhist population and last night was the final night in 'Ghost Month'. The 7th lunar month when the spirits are free to roam the earth. There were loads of bonfires and offerings and the air was filled with the smell of incense. All to appease the spirits of course, but it is exciting and very atmospheric.

After a couple of days mooching about Kuching (I cooked spaghetti! exciting!) I booked to go to Bako national park for a couple of nights. This is a really exciting trip, as it's all DIY and not really a tour-group thing. First you catch a bus, then a little motor boat that drives you out to the park which is on the northern penisular of Sarawak. Incredible views of the Gunung something-or-other mountain cloaked in cloud. I went with a lovely Korean girl I had met at the hostel. We arrived on the beach to see the rare Probiscos monkey casually sitting in a tree (there are very few left in the wild). So off to a good start with the wildlife spotting! Did the 'small loop' jungle trail that morning. Never been so hot in all my life. Jungle trekking is amazing, you really feel like Indianna Jones; clambering over roots and waterfalls, the buzz of the insects all around you. But they don't mention that you look like you've just stepped out of a hot shower. The humidity is INTENSE, and it makes even small distances feel alot further. We did about 5.7km in 3 hours, which is quite good going. In the afternoon I did a short trail to a secluded beach by myself, it was lovely and peaceful and I saw some more monkeys. It's perfectly safe to trek alone in Bako, you sign out at HQ and the trails are very well marked. The other kind of monkey on Bako is the dreaded Macaques. Your one mission when trying to eat anything is not to get it stolen by these little kleptomaniacs! They will literally steal your food from under your nose (my breakfast too!). So at first they are cute, then they are fasinating, by the time you leave most people have personal vendetas against them! And then there's the wild boars... HUGE ones. They are very tame and friendly though, they may look a bit scary, but they are really like the park HQs mascots. The accom is pretty basic at Bako, but you kind of expect that for the jungle. On the second day I trekked with Matt, a fellow northerner, on the 'long-loop' trail. For the second time in as many days I think I lost my body weight in sweat. It was a good trail though and good company. We did that one in 5 hours, and it covered some pretty rough terrian (yes I'm quite proud of my trekking accomplishments!). The final day I trekked to Telok Kecil beach with an American/British/naturalised Japanese guy (what a hoot!). This was my favourite trek and had absolutely stunning scenery. Felt so priviledged to be out there seeing these incredible things. Exhaustedly returned to Kuching that night and swapped hostels to a much nicer (and cheaper!) one called Threehouse. It's so lovely there I feel like it's a second home. Run by a fantastic Swedish lady who I'm becoming firm friends with. I have such a good feeling about Kuching. Been here just over a week but already so at home. It's also nice to just relax and have some days where I just do nothing, watching DVDs in the living room at night and meeting so many lovely people everyday. It really doesn't feel like I'm travelling alone to be honest. It's great to be able to do whatever I want, when I want to, and then go out for dinner or day trips with other travellers too. I'm spoilt!

Since getting back from the jungle I've been taking it pretty easy (felt like I was coming down with a cold, but it's never really materialised... just annoyingly in the background). Went on a great bus adventure with two British medics who are over to do there placement in Indonesia, to some caves called 'Fairy Cave' and 'Wind Cave'. It was hilarious as the three of us stumbled about in the dark with only one torch between us! Got on so well it felt like we had known each other for years. They also helpfully diagnosed my toe (which is still swollen) as not-broken but with fluid on, wheyy! Yesterday I went to the Cat Museum of Kuching (Yes, it's a museum completely dedicated to all things CATS!). Kuching means cat in Bahasa Malaysia so I guess that is why they have the only Cat Museum in the world right here! I was in heaven. Literally everything from the history of cats to Cat Stevens records to sizeable displays of catfood! Highly entertaining.

Today I was supposed to get up and go to see the Orungutans, but may have over slept a little... by 4 hours. Oops! Feels a bit like being a student again, living communally and all. I will make a special effort to see them before I leave though, it is Borneo after all! Tomorrow I will hopefull go on another adventure to a longhouse. These are the traditional houses-on-stilts that the orignal peoples of Borneo live in. I will tell you all about that when I get back :)

That's all for now folks! take care, miss you all.

Ellie