Days 326-330 - Penang, Malaysia

PULAU PENANG (23/11/09-27/11/09)

After the intense natural experiences in Borneo we decided to do something completely in contrast. After spending the night in Kuala Lumpur we got on a bus and travelled four and a half hours to the island of Penang and it's main city; Georgetown. Penang is famous for it's incredibly diverse range of cultures including Indian Hindus, Chinese Buddhists, Malay Muslims and Christians of all nationalities. What makes it so special is that all these races, cultures and religions all coexist completely harmoniously on the same streets. For us it meant several days wandering around a fascinating array of shops, restaurants, buildings and people.

A Malaysian chocolate boutique with try-before-you-buy samples of absolutely everything. Note the large smile.

Also on our list of foods to try was the infamous Durian. We had previously only smelt it's pungent odour in shops and markets- kind of a mixture of off fruit and sewage. Anything which smelt that bad had to be worth trying. It is considered a delicacy by many and consequently is fairly expensive. However we spotted a small one on a roadside stall and the stall holder was kind enough to cut it open for us and let us sit at one of his tables.

To be perfectly honest we had not expected to like it but it really took us by surprise how bad it really was. How can anyone actually like this stuff?! Imagine if you can a kind of slimy custard covering a large stone with a thick, rubbery skin covering it. Then imagine that the custard tastes strongly of cheese and onion and that the cheese it considerably off. This will only get you half way to how revolting this fruit is. Don't expect to see this in the exotic fruit section of Sainsbury's any time soon- this will NEVER be exported to the UK.

Elinor trying, and probably failing, to hide her instantaneous nausea from the from the stall holder.

Having recovered (almost- the after taste lasted most of the day) from the trauma of Durian we went to the Penang National Park where they have suspended a canopy walkway in the tree tops. More fairground ride than nature experience we nevertheless had lots of fun bouncing the rickety bridges to try and make each other fall over.

On such a religiously diverse island there obviously has to be many mosques, churches, synagogues and temples to cater for everyone. We visited Kek Lok Si, the largest Buddhist temple complex on the island, which includes this seven story white and gold pagoda.

The complex as a whole is huge. There are many wealthy Chinese businessmen in Penang who regularly make generous donations to the temples allowing them to be constantly renovated and expanded.

All the statues and buildings are extremely brightly coloured. Most are really quite garish although some are genuinely beautiful.

Hundreds of incense sticks are burnt in large bundles as offerings.

A rather half-hearted impression of a Buddha.

Kek Lok Si is sometimes called the 'Temple of Ten Thousand Buddhas'. No one seems to really know the exact number but there certainly are hundreds of pictures and statues wherever you look.

As long as it is brightly coloured it seems to be acceptable. Well crafted seems less important.

Having said that this 10m (30ft) gold warrior was as well made as any waving cat that we have seen.

Another example of the immense amount of funding the temple has is this 30.2m (100ft) bronze statue which was erected in 2002. It is of Guan Yin, a female Bodhisattva or enlightened being.

The highest point on the island is Penang Hill at 833m (2,723ft) above sea level. From sea level a funicular train takes you all the way to the top- an unpleasant 30 minute trip in which the operators cram in the passengers tighter than a tube train at rush hour.

A view over Georgetown from Penang Hill. In the distance you can just see the massive Penang Bridge which connects the island with the mainland and spans 13.5km (8.4miles).

Adam was happy to find some Nephila- very large tropical orb-weaver spiders.

Right at the top of Penang Hill is a small Hindu temple. Looks like they employed the same architect/painter/sculptor as the Buddhists though.

One of the upshots of staying in a town with such a large Indian population- great curries!

Day 325- Borneo, Malaysia

KINABATANGAN RIVER (22/11/09)

Dawn on the Kinabatangan. We got up early and were straight on the boat.

Thick mist still hung in the jungle but as the sun came over the horizon it quickly burned it away.

Just as the sun started shining we spotted this Gold-Ringed Cat Snake. It was the first wild venomous snake of our entire trip which was very exciting (for Adam). It is rear-fanged, however, which means that it poses very little threat to humans.

Blue sky! It seemed like quite a while since we had seen such a thing.

Yes it's another monkey, but one we hadn't seen before- A Silver Langur.

As we navigated down a narrow channel we spotted a large family of Otters- at least 15 of them. They were extremely quick and disappeared in an instant although we managed a couple of snaps before they did.

We came out of the channel into a large Ox-Bow lake on which grew many types of lily and fresh water plants.

Amongst the water plants Macaques searched for seeds, fruit and anything else remotely edible.

As we got closer in the boat this large male, probably the leader of the troop, came out of the upper branches and gave us a warning not to get any closer.

The attractive purple flowers of Water Hyacinths.

Back on the main river we spotted another troop of Proboscis Monkeys making their way along the river bank.

The alpha male of the troop. This huge male was so certain of his dominance that he let us get quite close to him. In this picture you can clearly see his enormous nose which is used to attract females and as a resonating device to amplify his territorial calls. The nose can reach up to seven inches in length and Liz says for some reason it reminds her of her brother-in-law.

Day 324- Borneo, Malaysia

TURTLE ISLANDS, SEPILOK ORANG UTAN REHABILITATION CENTRE AND THE KINABATANGAN RIVER (21/11/09)

To our relief the night before had been a success- we had spotted four adult Turtles and countless hatchlings. The hatcheries on these islands have made a huge impact in increasing Turtle numbers in this area and we were glad that at least some of the money we had paid for the visit would go towards keeping them going. Here is one of the three hatcheries on our island. Each protective green mesh surrounds the buried eggs from one nest, including the 84 we saw the night before.

On the beach we saw this large Monitor Lizard stalking around. His large size and fat belly suggest that he does fairly well on eggs and hatchlings that the Rangers do not manage to collect.

As we waited on the beach for our boat back to the mainland we saw this hatchling on it's way to the sea. It had obviously got left behind the night before.

It made fast and enthusiastic progress once it was nearly at the sea, it's specialised flippers clumsy and awkward on the land.

Finally, probably to it's great relief, it reached the sea.

Out in the water it was far more at home and we quickly lost sight of it. Of course there is always the chance that this one might be one of the tiny proportion that make it to adulthood. Unfortunately the reality is that it is far more likely that it got eaten by a sea bird about five minutes after this picture was taken.

Back on the boat we waved goodbye to Selingaan and another exciting chapter of our journey.

So now it was off to the jungle. We had to change guides and were to meet our new one in the car park of the Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre. Lucky for us (unlucky for the people who had paid and were waiting patiently inside) there were three Orang Utans clambering around on the roof of the ticket office as we waited.

We were delighted with our free show and braved the rain to watch them.

No waterproof jacket for her! Despite the fact that she must be very used to the Monsoon rain, it still can't be all that pleasant having all that fur soaked right through.

With the arrival of our guide we set off on the three hour drive to Sukau, a tiny village on the banks of the mighty Kinabatangan River. On the way we stopped to buy a selection of tropical fruit. Rambutans (front) and Mangosteens (round and purple) we had come across before. New to us was the Langsat, a beige coloured fruit slightly larger than a grape. When the thin skin is removed five small segments are revealed. The taste is like a very mild, very sweet grapefruit- delicious!

The Kinabatangan River is sometimes called the Borneo Amazon. The parallels are obvious, it is one of the longest rivers in Borneo and the banks are thick jungle teeming with wildlife. Our jungle trek started with a short boat ride to the other side of the river. This was the start of the trail- we were glad to have a guide!

The warnings about leeches turned out to be justified, almost immediately we spotted this large specimen. We had heeded the advice and were well covered with both clothing and Deet. As a result we almost (Elinor got one on her arm) completely avoided being bitten.

A Pill Millipede, it rolled into a ball for protection as soon as we got near it.

Frustratingly we had only been walking a few minutes when the torrential Monsoon rain started once again. This meant that not only did we get soaked to the skin but any wildlife that was around sought shelter and disappeared.

The rain did not ease off again until late in the afternoon. In a small motorboat we patrolled the banks of the river searching for animals. We quickly found a troop of Long-tailed Macaques.

Next we found a troop of Proboscis Monkeys. You can see on this large male how they get their name.

High in the trees we spotted this adolescent Orang Utan making it's bed for the night.

Just before dusk we sat and watched a troop of Pig-tailed Macaques (named for their short, curly tails) crossing the river. They are competent swimmers but the National Park authorities were worried that too many were being hit by river boats. As a solution to the problem they built several 'monkey bridges' like this one. Simply made of two parallel chains or ropes the Macaques seemed more than happy to use them- probably it's far preferable to getting cold, wet and dirty in the river below.