We are now back in Kuala Lumpur after 5 days in Malaysian Borneo.....I'm getting a bit more slack at writing these blogs so this one is being done from memory and some notes made over dinner on the last day! We have been staying with my friend Amanda from school who I've not seen for 10 years and It's been great. The best part is staying in a flat with a sofa and washing machine as well as enjoying yummy food from the hawker stalls down the road and seeing the town through the eyes of a local like we did in Singapore. Anyway my mum decided to come out and meet us for 5 days to go to see the orangutans and that is what this blog is about....

Saturday 21st November

We went to the airport in KL early to meet my mum who came on a flight from the UK. We then all jumped onto a connecting flight to Sandakan which took 3 hours- it's not as close as you think! After a short drive from the airport we arrived at Sepilok nature reserve. This is a lovely collection of huts right on the edge of the jungle and after checking in we got some lunch. Dissapointingly it was western food with caesar salad and creme caramel, however in case we did not appreciate it the first time round the leftovers arrived again for dinner in buffet form! In the afternoon we decided to go next door to Sepilok Orangutan rehabilitation centre for the 3pm feeding. We walked along the boardwalks to get to the feeding area and were greeted by lots of big orange faces waiting for their dinner. They live freely in the forest after goig through a rehabilitation programme but the project still puts food on the feeding platforms for those that might not be so good at finding their own. There were also lots of very hopeful looking monkeys hanging around who were rewarded when the guy holding the bananas turned his back for one second and they were able to grab the whole lot and run off chattering! We stayed there for a while and after the crowd had gone were rewarded with one huge orangutan jumping down onto the boardwalk right next to us. They are so gorgeous and human like (in fact they are 94.8% genetically identical to humans.) On the walk back to the centre we saw a tiny flying squirrel jumping through the trees so all in all a good nature spotting afternoon. When we got back to the jungle lodge we took a walk through the orchid gardens and then after dinner fell asleep with the jungle chorus of cicadas and frogs. Well mum didn't because she had her earplugs in but she was quite jetlagged with us being 8 hours ahead so can be excused.

Sunday 22nd November

We were collected in the morning and went back to the rehabilitation centre to see a film about the orangutans called "man of the forest" (orang means man in malay and yes you guessed it utan means forest) It showed the plight of them in the face of the palm oil industry which is devastating Borneo's rainforest and also about the work of the centre. Once found throughout Southeast Asia, this species of ape now survives only in small populations across the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. Just ten years ago the estimated population was around 27,000, today it could be as low as 15,000. As well as sharing 96.4% of human genes, these gentle creatures can also catch most of the diseases that effect humans including tuberculosis, pneumonia and polio. The centre go far and wide to rescue them especially the babies that are often kept as pets. They then put them through a lengthy rehabilitation process which includes showing them how to find food, climb and build nests. They are the only primates to build nests and make up to three a day to have a kip in. The film showed all of the very cute babies who have another human trait of loving hugs- lots of them were clinging on to each other almost permenantly. When they are deemed ready some are released into the huge jungle next to the rehabilitation centre but others that are more independant get released into a different reserve which is twice the size of Singapore.

After the film we went back to the feeding station that we visited the previous day. Throughout the hour that we stayed we saw about 4 come to collect some breakfast but were pleased that we had come before as there was much more activity. We then went into Sandakan and after lunch got into a boat for the three hour journey through virgin mangrove, wetland and rainforest on Sabah's longest river Kinabatangan to Sukau rainforest lodge. On the way we were lucky enough to see a family of 5 wild Orangutans including a tiny baby eating their lunch in the tree alongside us. Apparently this is very rare and our guide told us they are only sighted about once a month so we felt very priviledged. AFetr arriving at the lodge we were met by Winston our hilarious naturalist (more on him later) and put our stuff in our room before going to the dining area to get a banana fritter and witness one being stolen by a cheeky monkey in a matter of seconds.

We then climbed into a little boat for a trip upriver wildlife spotting. Straight away we saw a herd of pygmy elephants just up from our lodge enjoying some food and taking a dip in the river. We stopped and watched them for a while and the great thing was that being in a boat allowed us to get much closer than we would have been able to on land. Further on we had our first sighting of the hilarious proboscis monkeys. They have huge noses that look like witches ones you put on at halloween, these combined with a huge pot bellied stomach (something to do with their digestive system) make them extremely comical. Other spots included huge beautiful hornbill birds and a black squirrel which looked a lot more exotic than our grey ones at home...

We decided to take the guide up on an evening trip out by lamplight because I was desperate to see a crocodile. We kept getting warned about how huge they were and told not to put our fingers in the water but the only one we saw was a baby one skulking in the redds which must have only been about 1.5metres long. Still it's flashing eyes did look evil. We also got to see the elephants still eating and swimming and a monitor lizard that looked like a branch on the tree. I'm still not sure if there was a monitor lizard there or whether our guide was trying to make us feel better about not seeing a big croc.

Monday 23rd November

We woke up to the sound of Gibbons and hornbills at 5.30am ready to bee on the boat as the sun rose at 6. We headed downstream and up a small very quiet estuary where we saw lots of proboscis monkeys a deinfate massive monitor lizard, hornbills and a lovely brightly coloured kingfisher. It also gave us a chance to see how much of the rainforest had been destroyed for palm oil, you could see the plantations so clearly, in some places there were just a few metres of rainforest left alongside the river. It was very sad to witness the destroying of the animal's natural habitat and made you realise why there were so many animals alongside the river- it is the only area they have left.

After a short powernap we reconvened at 10am with the head naturalist Winston. he was a hilarious character, born British but raised in Burma who had spent all of his life living in the rainforest with a special unit of the Malaysian army that are based there. Having already enjoyed 2 tiger beers before I had even woken up properly he proceeded to take us on his "the jungle is a supermarket walk." We were, however accompanied by another guide who later informed us that this was because although Winston had worked there for 6 years and lived in the jungle all of his life he frequently got lost. On the last memorable occasion he went missing for 6 hours with some newleyweds on their honeymoon and was brought back by a local after finding his way to the river bank. We didn't see any animals on our trek but were highly entertained by Winston's stories which included

• How to keep a jungle animal as a pet- you lock it up for 3 days and then give it food it can't get like mashed potato. After that you can let it free and it will come back.
• The time he found local men with a crocodile walking through the forest. he felt sorry for the croc so bought it from them. He made it a pen but the croc was depressed and wouldn't eat so Winston slit it's throat. When he tried to skin it, however, it was still alive.
• The time he got bitten on the bum by a venomous snake
• How his wife comes from the headhunter tribe "so you can see why I had to marry her" (said about 30 times) which preceeded lots of gruesome details about how they would eat the brains and make soup in the skulls.
• How elephants like chocolate because someone was eating some once in their hut and one put it's trunk through the window

You get the gist- he was absolutely hilarious. After that highlight it was back into the boats in the afternoon to go upriver to a lovely peaceful oxbow lake. I still had my eyes peeled for crocodiles and even put my hand in the water for about a second to see if I could tempt them but no luck. We did see more lovely proboscis monkeys though and Charles was excited about holding a leech!

Tuesday 24th November and Wednesday 25th November

Another early start for the three hours back to Sandakan. We then changed onto another boat and commenced what we were told was a one and a half hour journey to Lankayan island where we would spend our last 2 days. 3 hours later we were soaking wet from the huge waves crashing over the boat and sure that the driver was lost as he kept peering around in a not very reassuring manner. we eventually arrived and I manage to fall out of the boat covering my legs in scratches and bruises. It was all worth it though as the island was stunning. It was absolutely tiny (I mean tiny- it took about 15minutes max to walk leisurely around the circumference) and housed just 23 gorgeous huts. After settling in and enjoying doing nothing we decided to do a lap just before sunset. We were rewarded by seeing loads of tiny baby turtles that had just been born making a run for it from where they hatched down the beach into the sea around our legs. It was an amazing site and one of the best so far. They have a breeding program on the island and later we saw them relase some that they had hatched but it wasn't as special as seeing it happen naturally with just us there. We spent the next two days just chilling out, eating lots of food and reading books in the hammocks. We had the best huts on the island right at the end and it was stunning- we could have spent a week there! Cold rainy London seems so far away when you're sunbathing in tropical heat on a desert island!

Thursday 26th November

A much less painless and smoother boat journey back to Sandakan, 3 hour flight and one hour taxi ride later we were in a lovely hotel (Maya) back In Kuala Lumpur. We enjoyed the gym and pool and then an amazing buffet dinner. Especially Charles who loved all the fresh nyona cakes in the all you can eat dessert buffet! The hotel was lovely with a great view of the huge Petronas towers which look quite spectacular lit up at night...

So back to now- as I said at the beginning we are just enjoying KL for a couple of days (especially the food!) and then are going to set off up Malaysia on our way to Thailand...