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On Saturday 11 March 2006 we took a seven hour train
journey from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur. The seats were fantastic, with
loads of space and the views of the Malaysian countryside and jungle along
the way were incredible. The view from our hotel room was straight over
the city, towards the Petronas Twin Towers. We would have had a perfect
view of it had it not been for an HSBC building in the way!
We only had two nights in Kuala Lumpur city centre so
as soon as we got up we went to the Petronas Towers, queued up for a
ticket that gave us a time slot to go up the towers. We duly collected
our ticket for a tour that was meant to start at 2:30pm, four
hours later. One of our friends from Southampton, Vic, told us that if we
approached the tour desk when nobody else was around they may let us in
straight away if we said that we had only got a short amount of time in KL
(Kuala Lumpur) and was there anyway we could get an early time? He was
right! They disappeared into the back, came back with new tickets for
10:30am and let us through there and then! Thanks Vic!
So up we went to the Sky Bridge positioned at Level 41
of the 88 Levels, 170 metres above the ground, connecting the 452 metre
high Petronas Towers, the tallest twin towers in the world.
Kuala Lumpur was a thriving, bustling city and we
stayed in an area called "Bukit Bintang." One of the roads adjacent to
the hotel had one side of it completely dedicated to foot massages! We
went to one called "Best Friend Foot Massage" which was so good we went
back again later that day and had a half-body massage (top half if you
don't mind!) We had a couple of more mature Malaysians give us our foot
massages and you could tell that they were very experienced from the pain
they could inflict without notice, yet they still managed to relax you!
We specifically asked for them again that afternoon as Mok noticed all the
injuries I had ever got playing rugby, just by massaging my feet!
Unfortunately he was busy so this little, frail-looking, old lady
introduced herself as my masseuse! Little and old she may have been, but
England would not have lost a game in the Six Nations with her in the pack
I can tell you! She unknotted every muscle in my back and beat the stress
out of me, literally! Afterwards, however, you felt totally relaxed and
we had one of the best night’s sleep we have had in a long time!
From Kuala Lumpur we flew to Borneo for five nights in
the jungle. We stayed at a place called Sepilok Jungle Resort which was
just outside Sandakan. This place really did look like an oasis in the
jungle, it was incredible. It had boardwalks from the rooms to the
restaurant and that zigzagged over lakes and through brightly coloured
plants and trees.
Next door to the resort was an Orang-Utan
Rehabilitation Centre that we visited a couple of times to see the younger
Orang-Utans being fed. This place has no boundaries, no enclosures, no
fences, it is in the jungle and all the animals are free to come and go as
they please. Many of the apes that have been rehabilitated there no
longer come down to the lodge at feeding time as the aim of the centre is
to make the Orang-Utans totally independent and this is working with
tremendous success.
However, twice a day there is a procession of
Pig-Tailed Macaques and Orang-Utans that make their way to the feeding
platform. The monkeys just walk along the boardwalk straight past you (a
good sign that they have never/rarely been fed by visitors) whilst there
is a rope system in place for the Orang-Utans to make their way out of the
jungle and onto the feeding platform. The apes just hang around,
literally, waiting for the person with the buckets to arrive. In the
morning it is bananas and in the afternoon milk and sugar cane. This is
merely a supplement to their diet and a chance for the centre to make any
necessary observations. There is not anywhere near enough food for them
to survive as this would not help in the aim of making them in dependant.
We were also lucky enough to see two species of snakes
at the centre as we were walking out, what we think was a Pope's Pit Viper
and a baby Wagler's Pit Viper. We also saw a six feet long Mangrove Snake
at the resort.
From Sepilok we went on an overnight trip to a little
village called Bilit on the Kinabatangan River. After a two hour trip on
an alleged road in a 4X4 with the tyres let down we arrived at the
village. Our accommodation for the night was basic, but good, although it
wasn't mosquito-proof as they said! I got bitten no less than
twenty-three times that night and ten of the bites were on the soles of my
feet!
The trip was well worth it though, out on
motorised canoes, we crept along narrow inlets looking
for wildlife. We saw Long-Tailed Macaques, an Otter, Crocodiles, some
great birds, such as the Stork-Billed Kingfisher, Oriental Pied Hornbill
and Serpent Eagle, as well as the Proboscis Monkeys, which is endemic to
Borneo. These guys are an amazing colour and have really pronounced noses
which they use to call out to other monkeys.
From Borneo we flew back to Kuala Lumpur, where we
stayed in Sepang and went to the Malaysian Grand Prix! We managed,
somehow, to get tickets on the front row of the start/finish straight,
right opposite the Ferrari Pits and about 100 metres down from the Winners
Podium.
Angela was in awe as she is a massive Schumacher fan,
which we also happened to be surrounded by, but I had to cheer on Jenson
Button. In qualifying Jenson ended up on the front row but was just
beaten to pole by Giancarlo Fisichella. Schumacher had to drop ten places
as he changed his engine after the Bahrain Grand Prix! Shame!
The drivers are driven round the track before the race
to wave at the crowd. We shouted out to Jenson as he went past and
managed to get a thumbs up from him as our, well, MY, England flag stood
out like a sore thumb amongst all the Ferrari supporters! The biggest
cheer of the day happened on the first lap however, when boring, boring,
grumpy Hakkinen crashed out of the race! Fisichella won, with Alonso in
second, so a one, two finish for Renault. Jenson finished third so at
least one of us got to see the diver we were supporting on the podium! |