I envy you

said Luca, the Italian driver who picked us up at the gas station in La Spezia.
"I´m not going to Genova but I can take you out of this place closer to your destination"

YES PLEASE! We had been stuck for an hour.

It´s been 73 days since I´ve been away from home. I left on 29th April on a one way ticket to Istanbul.
The idea was to hitchhike with a buddy for some weeks, especially in the Balkans. That all change however and I´m currently on the third phase of my trip. It feels I´ve only just begun and quite honestly I don´t feel like going back yet but it seems that people may have got tired of seeing my constant travel feeds. :D

Macam dunia sempit karena CS

With Couchsurfing the world becomes small.........................................................................
Never truer after meeting Horia this weekend, a sensitive intrepid traveller. My host,James, from Solo, Indonesia got in touch with me to help out his friend who was about to make his way to North Borneo. While sharing our Indonesian experiences we found out we had a mutual friend in Erik,whom we've recently caught up with while Erik is exploring Indonesia, Horia in Makassar and I in Bali. Later, after we got him settled in my home, we discovered more mutual friends as he added me to his FB. "YOU KNOW FATMA AND YOHANN TOO?"
Serendipitous chance or not I thought of putting up a rough timeline of all our meetings!

Rainforest World Music Festival

Bus pass and my 3 day pass!

While waiting for the bus back to Kuching from Bako, I overheard a traveller telling another that most Malaysians couldn't afford the pricey ticket to the festival and it would probably be full of tourists, 

something which he especially wanted to avoid, how wrong he was! While it may be true that most 

locals can't afford a full 3 day ticket, it does not however mean that they could not go for a day as there had been big discounts months before the event. Malaysians all over the nation throng to 

Sarawak for this event, including moi, a hop and skip away from the neighbouring state ^.^

A village life

The kampung house from outside

The road out the village, most of Kinabatangan has lost its jungle to Palm trees sadly

Inside, the kitchen where the hub of activity is ,the children come to play and the women gather to do 

chores or just to meet and chat. Under the vynil flooring is the earth itself. Behind me from where I stand to take this pic is the living room where we slept, well actually I was meant to stay in the smaller house for guests but a spooky intruder in the night made me move my bedding into the main house, I thought it was a rat that had ran across my face, but they told me it was the cat, maybe that would explain the clammy paw I felt on my hand when it was softly treading across me before my nerve broke and I jumped of the bed. Yes laugh! it was not fun :(

I rather imagine the cat than the rat!

Sometime during the stay my host apologised for not having the city comforts of home. I told her I didn't mind it at all, as long as there was a toilet and a door to shut it and a decent spot to sleep then I can rough it out.I certainly wasn't complaining! That is part of the adventure,to see how rural people live and to push the boundaries of my comfort level. I knew what this trip entailed and not having 5 star comforts does not faze me! I just don't like creepy crawlies in the dark >.<

I feel like this cat too! it's still too early to be up! 

Farewell picture

Sukau

 I've always seen many newspaper promotions for Sukau but thought it an expensive weekend getaway. For one thing, I'm a city girl and I don't pretend to be a tree hugging nature lover eventhough I'm surrounded by all the greenery and amazing nature in and out of my city,it just never sat at the top of my list of places to go. I decided to go as one doesn't necessarily have to venture out of the country just to travel. Doing something new somewhere else is an adventure in itself :)

Nevertheless, the marketing for this place really made me curious about the tranquil wonder of the place but since it's in my state I guess one never wants to do things that are within reach. Also I'm not big on doing things solo, if I didn't have anyone to go with then I wouldn't go so I was really glad for this opportunity. The initial plan was a visit to Gomantong Cave, Batu Tulug, Sukau river cruise, and Tabin Wildlife reserve,however the 3 days for this was rather short and also we didn't have the proper vehicle which meant we had to scratch Tabin off because of the difficult and rugged roads. Think of those Dhakar rally roads and you get the picture.

The first day we left the city at noon as we had to pick up the group from different locations,coupled with frequent potty stops we finally arrived at the home of someone in the group. This trip home for her was partly to see if she could start out a village homestay and our group were her guinea pigs trying out her family's hospitality. Dinner and then  some drinking and card games made it a very late night for us, so needless to say we did not wake up early enough to go to Gomantong Cave.

Kinabatangan River,

No pygmy elephants to be found! 

Spotting for wildlife

Proboscis monkey

At first we saw a group of females with the young and also some juvenile which didn't have the prominent nose haha. After our boat went to different nooks and bushes we finally beheld the glorious backside of a large male sitting all by himself. We made a lot of noise to get him to turn around for us, after all the annoying noise we made he deign to show us his profile briefly and quick as a picture-happy Japanese we snapped his profile. Immediately after that he moved behind a branch with more foliage and hid from our view.

Hello , you handsome stud!

 As we turned back to the house by the river, a younger male spotted our boat and came trashing down through the trees to screech at us, guess we disturbed his peace with the speeding boat. Proboscis males like the one pictured above are usually alone and distanced from his harem family and they do not interact with humans much, which is good for them. Sadly we did not see any pygmy elephants which I was rather hoping to see in the wild. So many travellers I met have see a herd of 10-40 elephants. At least I would have another reason to come here and perhaps stay longer at a river lodge and partake in some day and night treks and maybe catch a better picture of a hornbill. Anyhow enjoy the wildlife pics from my friend, who has a better camera than my point and shoot :)

Sunny Sunday

At the beginning of the street (but technically the end of our roam)

I can't remember when was the last time I set foot at the Sunday Market so I decided to go along with a friend who was showing around his surfers. The market holds no appeal for me as I don't really enjoy jostling elbows or pushing through a crowd of sweaty people who have taken root to whose attention is held by something fascinating at a stall. As with any flea market one can find almost everything here. Turtles, ducks, little furballs, mice, plants, and of course handicrafts and street food.

The Sunday Market was sometimes the highlight of a family outing. I remember my brother being lost here. I enjoyed it a lot when I was a kid; eating junkfood, petting fluffy dogs or cats and always wishing for something I could never have, ah the bliss of childhood. Now I can barely stand being wet from the humidity but it's always nice to come and see what new fad or silly miracle tonic is being sold in the market :)

Fighting fishes

Real life image of Pixar "The Birds"

If I was little, I'd be prodding and petting them :p

Oldest store on the street

Still doing things the old fashion way

My maternal grandfather had a grocer store before, I wonder if this was what it was like in his shop.