From the Philippines to Borneo

So we leavc Boracay and take an extremely concerning ferry boat ride back to the island of Mindoro (the port town of Roxas). We are headed for Sabang beach in the north of the island, but first must make it across the tempermental sea. Aboard the ship we rock back and forth and side to side over the choppy whitecapped waves underneath. The boat literally leaves the surface of the water and crashes back down, sending giant bursts of white water up to the top of the ship. Perhaps it's my inexperience in the nautical arena, but I don't think this is a good thing. However, as you've probably guessed, we survived.
We make our way up to Sabang via very mini-van and jeepney. A nice lady named Puri takes us to a great little cottage that sits just a few feet from the lagoon's edge. It's a bit rough inside, but there's a wonderful patio in front where Mel and I enjoyed some drinks and song. (I brought the mini-guitar hoping for this kind of scenario.) The "touts" are quite prevalent and offer us various goods and services, but they always seemed to meet our declines with a "bahala na" sort of attitude. Quiet in the day here, but a bit scandelous at night with the strip clubs ( or "discos"), many bars, foreigner-seeking Filipino women....and ladyboys.
Off after a couple nights in this very interesting town and bound for Borneo. We meet Ronald Go, our trusted taxi driver in Batangas who escorts us back to the International airport in Manila. We didn't find him right away and found the local police a bit sketchy, what with the knife-sharpening friend and the police allowing us to use their phone if we paid a price that was "up to us." Not all fun and games in the Philippines. But, we arrive to the airport safely and are soon airborn toward Malaysia.
Safely landed, we deboard in both Mel's and mine first Islamic country. We didn't know quite what to expect of Kota Kinabahlu, the capital of the western state of Sabah. Met a German who met two Malaysian ladies who took us into town for a few Ringgit each (Ringgit being the currency here.) Stay at the Hotel Holiday, a nice bare necessities type place in the city center. We walk around and immediately notice the cultural diversity of this country. There are men in tunics, women in burkas, Chinese and Arabic signs, Indian restaurants, Filipino influences and so much more. The people are an eclectic mix and seem to be all smiles when you exchange a glance. We are greeted by quite a few "hellos" and "where are you froms", as well as, many waves from the locals. The city is also surprisingly well developed. The Malaysian economy, although apparantly not doing very well at the moment, is clearly superior to the Philippines. It reminds us a lot of Taipei with nicer buildings, fully-paved roads and artistic landscaping.
We start off the following day for Sandakan, a city in the Northeast part of Sabah where we are to begin our tour to Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center and cruise through rain forest along the Kinabatangan river, near the town of Sukau. In Sandakan we stroll the streets and take in the grittier, but possibly even friendlier, side of Sabah. It's a dusty little town center by the port and the smiles and waves are quite frequent. And the cultural salad is evident on every street corner. We had a nice dinner on the waterfront and headed to bed, early 740 rise the next day.
Morning came and we met our guide Mirwan who began the day by guiding us through a very interesting market outside of the hotel and to the van. He is a great guy, very laid back, but enthusiastic about his country. We also met our tour-mates Mark and Mel, Jocelyn and Di. All great folks, indeed. Mirwan or 'Wan' gave us the lowdown on the events of the day and some background about the Sepilok center.
Sepilok finds and rescues orphaned orangutans (which means 'people of the forest' in Malay) and rehabilitates/reintroduces them into the wild. It is a gradual process that takes years, but it is working to restore the numbers of orangutans in the wild. The deforesting through logging and palm-oil plantations has widdled down the population to endangered and left many orphaned. Sepilok, working with the government to help educate the country's residents, has done amazing things. The tour visits help bring much needed funds and increase awareness. Plus it's pretty radical for us, too.
Anyway, you walk along a boardwalk through the forest and find an open area that resembles a large house deck in the middle of the forest. Surrounding are several platforms, ropes and wild rainforest. No cages. No bars. Soon we spot a few of these incredible creatures swinging aptly by hands and feet. They seem so comfortable swinging from branch to branch. With incredible luck, an alpha male comes to the platform and gives everyone a rare treat. He is enormous and looks more like a gorilla than an orangutan. The crowd is stunned. A few pig-tailed macaques make their entrance, but don't get much from the big daddy. Wan tells us there would be more, but the other males don't dare come round when poppa is there.
Beautiful creatures.