Saturday, 15 February 2014

Day 15 - Matang Borneo - Semengogh, fairy caves and the beach

  

Aching was an understatement when I awoke. Thankfully today we had a sort of day off. Richard had organised for us to visit Semengogh, a centre that let's Orangs live semi wild. I visited this place last time out of the fruiting season so there were a lot more Orangs at the feeding station than this time but it was great to see the others enjoying themselves. After about an hour we headed back into the van and off we went to our next stop, lunch. 

It was literally a hut on the side of the road, and was a kind of buffet. I honestly have no idea what I ate meat wise but it tasted delicious. Some of the girls that ordered food came unstuck though. Clearly in Malaysia saying no meat gets you no meat chunks, it does not include shell fish or fine slices of meat. Apparently it's rude not to offer a guest meat with their meal. Note to self don't come to Malaysia if you are a veggie.

After we had all stuffed our faces it was back on the bus, by this point we were all feeling the effects of car sickness, colour had faded from our faces and silence prevailed. Soon however we were at our next destination. The Fairy Caves. This place was odd to start with as before us was a giant stair case. Obviously being fitness people TSL ran all the way up only to enter the cave and find a load more steps and steep ladders. But WOW when we got to the top. It opened up into the most beautiful space. At the front was an enormous opening which cast light over the cave and enabled plants to grow. Water dripped from the ceilings to water them. It was truly magical and photos really can't do it justice. We wandered around the paths to see it from different angles. Breathtaking. Of course we ran back down the stairs :) 

Next we had the choice of seeing a giant flower native to Borneo or head to the beach. No brainier the beach beaconed. It took just over an hour to get there and looked fairly unremarkable until we stepped on the sand and looked down it. Everyone jumped into the sea, I tentatively paddled for a while, then jumped in with them. It was as warm as a bath. Beau was teaching me to ride the waves which was pretty cool, I wasn't overly successful and in the end he was just throwing me at them. Soon though it was time to go we still had shopping to do.

We went to a different supermarket this time but we already had a list prepared and bought some essentials like a tea towel and a new knife. Whoever gets our house next is going to be happy and well equipped. 

We arrived home quite late so had steak for dinner, it was very burnt but the taste was amazing, missed steak clearly. 

No comments:

Post a Comment