Honey2mooners: Are there any apes in da house?

As far as early wake-ups we had a repeat of yesterday. The bus to Sepilok was at 7:30 and we wanted to at least give it an attempt to get our breakfast in at the earliest time. So after packing up and checking out, we were the first ones in the restaurant as the sun was rising. Once again, no fried banana, but today I couldn't care less. A coffee would do me just fine and then a jet dash to the bus station.

There are no jeepneys in Semporna. There are no rikshas and no trikes. And apparently there are no taxis. The reason why I wrote “apparently” will become apparent now: every car in Semporna is a make-shift taxi actually. As you're walking down the road, if the car honks at you, all you need to do is just turn around and wave at them and it becomes a taxi. The bus station wasn't far, but we just wanted a bit of creature comforts and for 5 RM this could be bought. Although I wasn't sure we were going to get there, when the door nearly fell out when the driver was opening it for Kris. Yet five minutes later we were getting tickets at the bus station.

To get to Sepilok by bus there are is one bus a day at 7:30. Oh true, the schedule says there is another one at 2 PM but it doesn't always run. Tickets cost 40 RM per person. As it was so early there were no stores open in order to buy any food so we hoped for a break in the journey. The road was long, slow and winding, leading us through acres and acres of oil palm plantations, coconut plantation and rainforests. Easy to float away into sleep. At a stop in Latam Datu, I had just enough time to jump out and buy us to jelly drinks: mango and lychee with coconut jelly floating in them, some dried bananas (the little girl selling it to me bewildered me with her smile and promptly gave me bad change, but this time I didn't mind too much) and some BBQ corn chips. Hopefully this food would keep us going until Sepilok. We ended up snoozing part of the ride so before I blinked it was Sepilok Junction.

Couple days ago I confirmed a room at Uncle Tan Guesthouse, which turned out to be just couple hundred meters down the road. While they were getting our room ready, we had our lunch. This place is an excellent bargain. For 100 RM ($33) you get a double room with a shared bathroom and all meals included. While the room is nothing to write home about, it does have a blazing AC (we got our room to 18 degrees in no time), the meals are just unbelievable. Local food with local flavors, lots of seafood, curries, Sabah Vegetable which I came to love so much (it's a kind of a fern which tastes like between asparagus, green beans and arugula. Served as a buffet, you can eat as much as you want, so I know we won't go hungry the next two days. Even wifey can find some meat on the menu without being bastardized by seafood flavors. We exchanged some money, settled in our room and upon a recommendation from the owner went to the Rainforests Discovery Center nearby.

Being tourists again

For a botany enthusiast, this place is heaven. So below I'm including some photos of interesting plants for those of you (especially you Dad) who are fans of flora to make your guesses as to what they are. For couple of hours we checked out their exhibition, the botanical garden and then walked on the canopy tour of the rainforests checking out different sights and sounds. We didn't see any monkeys this time, although we surely heard a lot of them, along with the constant smacking of geckos and nearly electronic sounds of the cicada. A rainforests is such a magical place after all.

Two hours later we were wiped out, ready to crash and definitely ready for a drink. Fortunately on the way back to the guesthouse we found a store. For me it's nothing new, but I was shocked to see that me and the missus finished off a two liter bottle of isotonic standing in front of the store. That's thirst I tell you. Back in the guesthouse we confirmed that we had seats on the bus going to Kota Kinabalu in two days, took an ice cold shower (actually... ice cold water here is a cool 25 degrees, so it's not so bad at all) and while hun was getting ready I grabbed couple games of pool with a fellow backpacker from Switzerland, then some ping pong with Kris. And they actually had some affordable beers in the guesthouse, so we finished one off quite happily.

Observing the crowd you could see that everyone was waiting for dinner, just hanging around the big common hall. A pretty standardized crowd of Western Europeans, Swiss, Germans and Dutch, in their 20s and 30s hanging around the world for anywhere from a month to half a year. Quite a few divers and as it usually goes on the backpacker circuit, a few of them hitting up the same places as we did, or will do. When the dinner was rolled out you could sense excitement in the air, everyone busily astir with plates and forks in their hands. No wonder: dinner wasn't a disappointment. Chicken wings done in a “super spicy” sauce according to Kris (mildly flavored for me, although eating two of the red hot chilli peppers almost brought tears to my eyes), pumpkin in coconut curry, Sabah Vegetable salad, Chinese eggplant in sauce and something that can only be described as a stir fried garden salad with scrambled eggs... weird. Watermelon for dessert. I had seconds... for the second time today. I need to go easy, or I'll start regaining what I've already lost on this trip, but with this tempting food, it will be very difficult.

Eight twenty and it's already pitch dark. Actually, it's been pitch dark for almost an hour and a half: the beauty or curse of equatorial locations. Almost a year round equinox. Internet isn't working so I've no idea when I'll upload this blog entry together with all the wonderful photos I have from today. I guess there is only one thing to do now: have on more beer and go get some shut eye.

So now here is your quiz dad (and others). Identify these plants:

PHOTO 1: ____________________________