It was another early wake up which always seems to be the trend. That was ok because we had fallen asleep pretty early and without real dinner. Eating at “cafeteria-o-clock” (read as around 4PM) plus snacking. I was really hungry for breakfast. We checked out the hotel breakfast and there were a lot of choices, it was fast and easy so we decided to go for it. It was tasty and it provided us an opportunity to sample almost every local specialty.
Our driver for the day picked us up on time. Her name was Carol. She talked to us about Kuching as we drove out to the reserve and then the reserve itself. We were headed to Semenggoh Nature Reserve in hopes to see orangutans. At the reserve they take orphaned and rescued orangutans and teach them to live in the wild. When they are released they are allowed to roam free in the national park. They put out breakfast and lunch every day in hopes that one or a few come back, but this is never guaranteed. As we pulled up to the center Carol offered us some advice: “If orangutan chase, must run. Not to the jungle. To the open space.” “Oh and no screaming.” So this has happened before?
I was super excited, but totally unsure I would be able to run from an orangutan and not scream while simultaneously running in the correct direction or even have enough sense about me to know what the correct direction was. That seemed to be a lot to ask. Maybe it would be better just to try to make friends and hang out?
Borneo has lost 100,000 orangutans since 1999 between deforestation and hunting. It turns out that Borneo has the largest deforestation rates in the world with 350,000 hectares (ha) cleared every year for the last 15 (1 ha = 107639 sq ft. or 2.5 acres or the size of an international rugby field or the size of Trafalgar Square in London. Just for funsies lets multiply that is 33.6736 billion sq. feet every year. Heartbreaking.). It doesn't help that the orangutan's reproductive cycle is 6-8 years long. It is currently estimated that only 70-100K Bornean orangutans are left. Their are only two other types of orangutans (both live in Indonesia) and they are just critically endangered.
We gathered in a covered deck and waited for one of the trainers. He arrived and the first thing he said was “You most likely won’t see an orangutan today.” He continued to say this again and again and again and again and again and again.
They hadn’t seen one for days. It apparently was “fruiting” season where the orangutans could find more than enough provisions in the woods so they didn’t need to come back for bananas. He kept talking about lychees and other delicious fruit that they liked better which they did not provide at the Center.
As I began to progress through the stages of “Not Seeing An Orangutan” grief, I found myself angry that they only provided bananas. I was in agreement with the absent orangutans, lychees are way more interesting and delicious. We walked down the trail to the area of banana presentation and began to wait. We were told we could wait for as long as we wanted or up to an hour and half whichever came first.
I would bet very few people make it to the 90 min mark because of the very hungry helicopter sized mosquitos who are not in the least put off by the combination of natural stuff and DEET bug spray. Maybe I should have been on malaria prophylaxis after all.
Not much time had passed when they reported that two, a momma and a baby were actually headed our way. They began to call for them. Then we got the news that there were already 2 (another mom and older kid) at the place we had first gathered.
Shortly after we began to hear them slowly crashing through the trees. Short-lived was my remorse. I was so super excited. Maybe it would be fun to get chased? Ok probably not. They arrived and were amazing. Strong, beautiful, graceful, and the baby was super cute. I could have watched them forever.
After a while we moved to see the other two who were being coaxed down from a tree with a bottle of milk and some lychee fruit.
We wandered the rest of the reserve and saw crocodiles and pitcher plants.
It was time to head back to Kuching to see what was on the other side of the bridge. We decided to walk to the traditional town and gave up about half way there and called an Uber. Into the little strip of town we went where we found more cool cakes (A refused to enter because he had had enough cake previously. Valid, but isn't there always room for cake? I am sure it is unrelated that I left the shop feeling a little sick). We bought some water and decided we were done with that side of the river took a questionably free ferry where they sold virility juice across towards Chinatown. 
We wandered in an area we hadn’t seen much of before and through some food markets with more poundage of ghee than I like to think about. We stopped and bought different flavors of dumplings including taro and chocolate and then went to another food market and got the ice dessert that Kuching and Borneo is famous for. We "accidentally" got all the ice desserts (3 in total) because i didn’t really know what I was ordering with the first two and I had a vision (albeit not a very clear one) in my head of what this should contain.
We strolled back through Chinatown and ended up with more dumplings (Mmmmmm) and then a vegan restaurant where we decided to try their homemade rice wine. It was pretty good, not too sweet, not too dry and with a crisp and distinct taste: not quite sake, not quite wine. We also snacked on the dumplings and other random acts of dim sum I had picked up along the walk.
After this S headed back to the hotel and A and I headed to get a blind massage (a nonprofit organization that he had found out about that benefits vision impaired people and the massages are done by the blind). There was only room for one of us so we decided to check out a different part of town. On our way out of the massage place we met a guy who was also traveling. He asked us if we would like to join him for a beer so we did. On the way to the bar of his choice he told us about a massage parlor that we passed where the woman had attempted prostate massage on him, which he added was included in the regular price. Yikes!
After chatting with him for a while we decided we were hungry and stooped at a restaurant and got veggies and fish balls (an attempt at protein which we weren’t having very much of). Then we back to the hotel to get S and head out first for drinks and then dinner. Drinks we had at a bar that also made their own rice wine. It was alright, very different from the first, possibly more potent. The vegan place was definitely winning. Then on to dinner.
Dinner was excellent and in a really cool place called the Junk. The theme was antiques and each room was filled full of different ones from the region. We tried this rice wine as well here. I think after 3 you become an expert. I also think that it is likely you will never have the same tasting rice wine twice even in the same restaurant.
After dinner I would lose my navigation privileges for the rest of the trip as I tried to find a place where a lot of travelers go. I led us in at least 3 circles “very certain” of where I was going until S and A finally intervened. Despite this, I still maintain that I have a really good sense of direction.
More about Borneo Orangutans:
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/02/15/585983258/borneo-has-lost-100-000-orangutans-since-1999
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