Nancy was obviously the diligent one in regard to selecting pictures and narrative to post on our blog in regard to our experiences in Borneo (Sabah & Sarawak) over Spring Break. However, I decided that I wanted to take time to review some of my pictures and accompany them with comment.
Below is a picture of Nancy standing by the large sign near park headquarters at Kinabalu National Park. The sign displays "the record book" in regard to the annual race from park hdqts. to the top of Mt. Kinabalu, an elevation gain of about 8,000 ft. (from 5000 to over 13,000 ft.). While the normal hike to the top involves an overnight in a mountain hut (2 days total), the men's record to run to the top and back is less than three hours!
On the 31st of March we flew from Sabah (Kota Kinabalu) to Sarawak (Kuching) and stayed for three nights at the very nice Hilton Hotel. While there we took a day-trip to the Semenggoh Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre (cf. Nancy's posting below).
The "Rehab Centre" is now something of a misnomer since the orang-utans in the nature preserve are really wild, but do come periodically to feeding platforms, especially when fruit is not in season in the surrounding forest. Of the 24-25 animals now in the area, the majority were born right there in the forest in recent years. The "chart" pictured below gives the names and ages of the orang-utans in the preserve. A male ("George") had to be relocated when he became a threat to the alpha male, "Ritchie."
One of the exports from Sarawak is pepper (as in salt-and-pepper). Pictured below is pepper being dried prior to processing.
It was fun visiting the Sarawak Cultural Centre (again cf. Nancy's posting) where I took the picture of Nancy taking a stab at playing a very simple marimba-like instrument!
While Nancy was busy at the EARCOS (E. Asia International Schools) Conference, I signed-up for a half-day of river-rafting in the nearby foothills of Mt. Kinabalu. It was great fun -- especially when I got teamed-up in a raft with two good-looking young women, Jane and Daisy, who are teaching Mandarin at the Shanghai American School. The picture of the three of us in action on the river cost me RM15 as a print and was kindly scanned by Nancy. - rw
3 comments:
Nice narrative to provide more context to the pictures.
somehow the guide looks like the only one paddling.
That's right, Nzol! The guide wanted us to pose for picture that he knew would be taken right then, & offered to us for sale later! - Dad
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