Kuala Lumpur & Perhentian Islands

Whilst the events and experiences with the orangutans and large chimpanzees left us breathless with unforgettable memories, Becky and I had one last voyage to make before heading back to Singapore and for me, finally after almost 7 months away, Australia.

This post is the last one to conclude the amazing trip I had. The world has so much to offer, so much to see and so many different cultures to experience; you can choose to stay in the relative safety and confinement of what you know or you can go "live", and yes there are dangers and conflicts, there are wars and viruses, but if you travel with the expectation of safety and awareness it can be a hell of a joyous ride. It has always been that way for me! All my life my travel experiences have been nothing short of incredible.

We spent a day to sight see KL and had a good look around, not so large a city, we visited the main spots, the king's palace, markets at night, but two places in particular took my attention. The "twin towers" in KL are incredible. An architectural feat no doubt, we took the lift up to view the sight across the city. Remember the movie "Entrapment" with Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta Jones?? We ate at fabulous street cafe's and markets and enjoyed a couple of massages. The weirdest part of the time there was the "nibbling fish" - I had NEVER heard of this but there it was!! There are shops in the main part of Bintang, where we were staying where you can have the dead skin off your FEET nibbled off by small fish! Yep, tis true! They LOVE it, as soon as you drop your tootsies into the water they SWARM around you and NIBBLE. Naturally I screamed with laughter and fear! It felt like a mixture of pain and pleasure!! Very weird! Don't think I would 'rush' back for that one! But hey, you gotta try it all!
Our last day in Kuala Lumpur started at 4.00am to catch an early flight to northern Malaysia, a town named Kota Bharu, just south of the Thai border. Taking only small back packs, from there we bused it south to a small coastal town called Kuala Besut to catch a ferry out to the Perhentian Islands. Now I am not sure if you have heard of these two remote pristine pieces of land dotted in the South China Sea, I hadn't but boy did they have 'WOW' factor. Becky's AJ suggested we go and spend a few days there to round off our Asian stay. Surrounded by CRYSTAL CLEAR warm water, white beaches, cheap cheap cheap good food & lodgings and friendly natives, we spent our days snorkeling, dozing, exploring, eating and sleeping. It was wonderful. The photos say it all. We hired a boat to go around the island one day and you can see a turtle in the crystal water some 20 feet down! The days were hot and sunny with one afternoon of heavy rain, a light relief, the interesting photo shows the dark sky in front of our "beach hut" with my Becky walking up from the beach! How gorgeous is my gal!!! The final photo is of the two of us having a fabulous seafood lobster dinner on our last night! It was without doubt a perfect ending to a memorable and touching time away!

Orangutans in Malaysia

Without personal experience one would never believe how these magnificent creatures wish to touch and have contact with you. It seems almost impossible to describe the emotion and instant attachment, the bond and soul touching experience of having close contact with these wild apes. Their human like looks, behavior and characters leave you speechless and in awe. I am not sure where to start or explain the experience I had in Malaysia with the orangutans and large chimpanzees. I wanted to take them all home, I wanted to rescue them all from their cages. I wanted to grab every man and machine that is destroying their rain forests leaving them homeless and stop the carnage. Their deep soulful eyes have touched me forever, I will remember and feel their huge leatherlike hands on my skin until the day I leave this earth.
The birthday gift my beautiful Becky and AJ gave me was the most valuable and priceless gift imaginable. No diamonds, Bollinger or 5 star hotel can compete with the impression these animals leave on your soul. I was a little afraid at first, especially the huge chimpanzees, they can be aggressive; I felt weary to touch their hands when they reached out but within a very short time I "knew" I was safe with them. The look that passed between our eyes choked my throat. We were told not to touch them at first. But very soon we responded with trust and reached back to them. On the second day the keepers allowed us to enter the compound of "Tsunami", a 5 year old orangutan. We were told this was rare as it takes weeks for these apes to trust you enough to come close. On entering the cage, Tsunami, who is stronger than I, walked straight up to me and put her arms on my shoulders. The following photos are a minute by minute diary of our experience.







The keepers told us this was rare and for some reason Tsunami trusted us so quickly. She was so relaxed, she was cheeky and would look deep into your eyes whilst trying to pinch your skin. We laughed and cried and will remember every second forever! Later on she tried to pull off Becky's gumboot - This little 'girl' is VERY strong, she can pull your arm under a cage if she wishes. Our days began with cleaning out cages and raking the public viewing area; this volunteer organization is doing everything they can to save these special creatures but funding is always short. They rely on volunteers like us to keep their work going. Contact me if you wish to volunteer and work with these apes, most volunteers come for one month and the time is split between Kuala Lumpur and the jungles of Borneo. They made an unusual exception for us at Becky's request as it was a dream of mine and for my birthday. The cages are far too small but the apes are loved and cared for. One can see how devoted these keepers are! They are doing their best with limited resources. After cleaning the cages we washed and chopped their food and fed them. They REALLY do love bananas! In the midst of their confinement, they would still play with you, offer you the food back and talk. There was more communication and contact from these creatures than from many humans I know!

There are so many photos and so many priceless moments, like "Anna" when she found the fruit porridge inside the pumpkins and little "Inda", only 6 months old, swinging down from a hammock near her mummy.

Then there was Joe, my beloved Joe, my favorite one, the huge chimpanzee, who licked his giant leather fingers to reach out and pick the freckles off my arms, shoulders and face. I guess he was grooming me. I stroked his head and face and he would angle himself for the right spot. Sometimes we sat for ages just looking at each other holding hands. I knew that he knew, that I knew his plight and couldn't change it. The compassion shared between us was one of the most endearing experiences I have ever felt. I will never forget you Joe and hope to sit for hours with you again.