Dutchman meets Orang Belanda

Posted on December 9, 2013 by janstu

Recently I have visited my friend Joe Yap in Sabah. We had a nice time, full of activities. Here is a detailed report: Sabah November 2013

One highlight was the Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary, located about 50 km from Sandakan.

Near Sandakan there is also the better-known Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary, but I preferred to see the Proboscis Monkeys. Why? Because these splendid animals with their characteristic big noses and their potbellies are called in Malay: Orang Belanda, which means Dutch Man ! Not really a compliment for me and my compatriots… haha. Are our noses really that big? And our bellies that pot?

Here is a Dutch Man in all his glory.

And here is a Dutch Lady with her child. She has a pot belly too, but her nose is smaller.

The Proboscis Monkey is endemic to Borneo and considered an Endangered Species. Years ago I had seen them in Bako N.P in Sarawak, but only from a distance. Here they are used to humans and come close, especially during feeding times.

During our visit there were two (adult) males, each with his harem. Several of the females had children. These monkeys are really a photographers delight! Here is a collection of pictures.

: Man with his wives

: Mother and child

: What is my man doing there?

: A penny for your thoughts!

: Enjoying his lunch

: Contemplation

: Protecting her child

: It is raining..:-(

: Another mother with baby

: The second male

: After lunch

: Walking back to the jungle

Besides the Proboscis Monkeys, there are also Silvered Leaf Monkeys. In Peninsular Malaysia you can find many of them in Kuala Selangor. Beautiful animals.

Here also a few more pictures. They have long beans for lunch

: Mother and child

: Male

: Having his lunch

: Don’t touch my food!

There are also a few hornbills (Oriental Pied)

We enjoyed our visit tremendously, although I can understand that not everybody is happy with this project. The sanctuary is a small strip of mangrove forest and belongs to a oil palm plantation, as can be seen clearly on Google Earth.

A very small strip, hardly a sustainable habitat for a (fairly large) group of monkeys. They depend for their food on the Sanctuary and are almost domesticated. Exploited, say the critics. Very different from the Sepilok approach where the Orang Utans are taught to live independently of humans. Here are Tripadvisor comments, varying between “terrible” (21) and “excellent”(178).

My advice: visit the Sanctuary and judge for yourself 🙂

Europe trip 2013 part 3

Posted on September 25, 2013 by janstu

When I was discussing my travel plans with my Malaysian friends, one of them mentioned Liechtenstein. It is a tiny country (160 square km, population less than 40.000) between Austria and Switzerland. We decided to have a look and spend a night there.

On our way from Hall we had lunch in Feldkirch, another medieval gem in Austria. It would be easy to spend a full holidays in Austria!

Liechtenstein is not part of the European Union, but belongs to the Schengen zone, therefore no border control or passport formalities. It is rich and expensive, has nice countryside, but nothing special. In the (characterless) main street of the capital Vaduz we met a VIP (the prince of Liechtenstein?) with his security guards. We found a supermarket, and bought food for an alfresco dinner…:-)

The next morning we had a look at the castle of Vaduz, where the Prince is still living. Then we crossed the border with Switzerland. It was the first time we visited this country and probably it will also be the last time.

Our destination in Switzerland was Grindelwald. This mountain village is situated at the feet of the mighty Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau mountains. With a special train you can reach the Jungfraujoch, at an altitude of ~ 3500 meter. This was the main target of our trip, to see the snow and walk on it. But would the weather be favorable? We arrived in the rain and the next morning we could see fresh show on the mountain slopes. The pictures show a lake on our way to Grindelwald, the view from our hotel room and the fresh snow the next morning.

We decided to try our luck and bought tickets for the trip. Expensive, ~ 145 Euro pp. The train is a rack train and the ride consists of two parts. First you go from Grindelwald to Kleine Scheidegg. It was quite cloudy but sometimes we could see the mountains, which gave us hope.

The second part goes through a tunnel in the Eiger mountain. The train stops at two locations in the tunnel where windows have been made, so you can look out. The first stop showed only mist and fog, but at the second one, Eismeer (Ice Sea), the clouds were breaking and we had a good view of the glacier. Impressive!

When we reached the Jungfraujoch station, this is what we saw.

Difficult to describe our feelings. Exhilarated, almost emotional. You just could go out and walk on the glacier. Yes, it was very cold…:-)

You can easily spend hours here. But go slowly, or you can get dizzy because of the high altitude. The highest point we reached is at the Sphinx observatory. It is possible to walk to the Mönch hut, but we were not equipped well enough for that hike. There is also the Ice Palace, dug out in the glacier with ice statues, freezingly cold but interesting.

: The Sphinx Observatory (3571 m)

: The Mönch mountain (4107 m)

: The Aletsch glacier, the longest one in the Alps

: Mountain landscape

: glacier crevasses

: Walking in snow

: Cold!

: In the Ice Palace

: Polar bears

: Penguins

: Sherlock Holmes

: The Ice Bar

The Jungfraujoch is called the Top of Europe and it certainly was the Top of our Europe trip. Worth every Euro. We have been very lucky, both one day earlier and one day later the weather conditions were bad!

Europe Trip 2013 part 2

Posted on September 23, 2013 by janstu

From Salzburg it is not far to the romantic small town of Hallstatt, situated on the shore of a lake.We stayed there three nights, to explore the region. Besides enjoying the atmosphere of the place, we visited a few popular tourist attractions.

On our first day we took the cable car to the Ice Cave and the Five Fingers. The Ice Cave fills up completely with snow and ice during winter, even in summer this ice remains there.

We also visited the nearby Mammoth Cave (not that interesting) and then took a second cable car higher up. Fabulous views of the Hoher Dachstein massif (2995 m). Nice flowers. And a mountain hut, with food and beer, reminding me of my younger days as a mountaineer..:-)

After our lunch we walked to the famous Five Fingers. A metal construction, resembling a hand with a beautiful view of Hallstatt deep down. Not suitable for people with fear of heights…:-) A popular place for paragliders

The next day we visited the salt mine. Hallstatt has a glorious past because of this mine. In the past miners mined the rock salt and to take it out they used slides. These slides are now a tourist attraction. Big fun!

An “attraction” of a very different kind can be found in one of the churches. Because of its location, Hallstatt had only a limited space for a cemetery. Therefore after not so many years old graves were emptied to make space for new burials. The skulls of the deceased were treated with respect, painted with names etc, and kept in a chapel. Very impressive.

After Hallstatt we continued our trip in the direction of Switzerland, passing on our way the Krimml waterfalls. Impressive falls, the highest in Austria and, according to the website, the 5th-highest in the world. That however is cheating, as the falls consist of three separate tiers!

We had planned to spend one night in Innsbruck, but instead decided to stay in the small, medieval town of Hall in Tirol, not far from Innsbruck. An unexpected, pleasant surprise.

Penarikan recce – part 2

Posted on August 19, 2013 by janstu

In an earlier post I have reported about my friend Chadel’s plan to paddle in his canoe from Muar to Pekan, using the Muar, Jempol, Serting, Bera and Pahang rivers with a portage (penarikan) at Bahau. In that post I described our recce from Bahau to Muar.

This time we started again in Bahau, but now we followed the Serting river as closely as possible. The Serting river is a small one, running through palm oil plantations and Felda land. Chadel had bought topo maps of the region.

During our traditional breakfast in a mamak near my condo, we studied the maps and found a meandering route that would cross the Serting river as many times as possible.

Here is the Google Earth map of our route (in red). The rivers are marked in blue

In Bahau we first checked the two locations chosen by Chadel for the Pull Out and Put In. The original penarikan was from the Jempol river to the Serting river, a distance of about 500 meter. Chadel is considering to take the canoe out a bit earlier, from the Muar river. Considerably longer distance, about 2.5 km, but he could then use existing roads, which would make the portage a lot easier. Here are the Pull Out and Put In places.

Pull Out , Muar river

Put In, Serting river

After lunch in Bahau we started the actual recce. Altogether we crossed the Serting river seven times. We took pictures at each crossing; when you click on a marker in the map below, you will see the correspondig picture. All the way, Serting remains a small stream, at least in this time of the year. Often trees have fallen in the river, a potential risk of puncture when you are paddling over them.

View the Recce in a larger map

The confluence of the Serting river with the Bera river is located in the middle of plantations and not accessible by road. The Bera river is a real river, draining the Tasik Bera, about 10 km south of the confluence. The Bera river flows into the mighty Pahang river, the longest and biggest river of the Malay Peninsula.

The mighty Pahang river

We arrived late in Pekan, wanted to stay overnight in the scenic Rest House, but that was fully booked, so we found suitable accommodation in the Melati Inn. Pekan is a sleepy hollow, but, driving around, we found a good Chinese restaurant and after our dinner we had coffee at a lively Malay stall near the Pekan riverfront.

The next morning after breakfast we looked for a suitable pull out point. An easy decision, what could be a better location that the Pekan riverfront itself! When Chadel finishes his heroic expedition here, the Sultan of Pahang and the Prime MInister (Pekan is his constituency) can welcome him…:-)

Pekan has a few nice mosques and an interesting museum: the Pekan Water Craft Gallery . It is an open-air museum, FOC, with an interesting collection of various types of boats. They even had information about the Bahau Penarikan! Not completely correct, they take the portage distance as 300 yards, which is not true. And it is suggested that the Penarikan route was discovered by the Malays, while it was actually already used by the Chinese before the Malays came to the Peninsula. A sensitive issue…:-)

Here are some pictures of Pekan

: The scenic Rest House

: Melati Inn, less scenic but ok

: Comfortable room

: Not many Chinese restaurants

: Good food

: Pleasant stall at the Riverfront

: Sultan Abdullah mosque (1929)

: One of the new mosques

: Sultan Abu Bakar Museum

: Interesting sculptures

: The Watercraf gallery

: Inside the gallery

: The Royal Houseboat

: Info about the Penarikan

: Jetty at the mouth of the Pang river

: The South China Sea

On our way back we visited the Pandan waterfall near Kuantan. Many visitors as it was school holidays.

Chadel is planning to do the real expedition around March next year. I wish him good luck!

Ulu Rening adventure

Posted on May 19, 2013 by janstu

The last waterfall I visited was the Upper Tebing Tinggi waterfall in Perak, see A Dream Come True , end of March. That is a long time ago for a waterfall addict like me, I was really craving for a waterfall. Siang Hui had given me info about a waterfall near Ulu Rening, quite remote and not known to many people. A perfect destination for a day trip.

After our usual breakfast in a mamak restaurant, we (Aric, Rani, Edwin and I) drove to Batang Kali, where we bought nasi lemak for our lunch. Siang Hui had provided me with GPS-data and that was very helpful. The beginning of the trail was very clear, later it became more vague, but no problem for experienced jungle trekkers like Rani and Edwin

It took us about two hours to reach the waterfall, about 4.5 km from where we had parked our car. At the end we had to cross the river a few times. The weather was perfect.

The waterfall was a nice surprise, because of the magnificent, very deep pool with crystal-clear water. In the picture you see the waterfall at the back, the water thundering down in a narrow gorge. To get there you have to swim and then scramble up the rocks to the right. Here, in a picture taken by Aric, you see Rani and Edwin trying to get closer to the waterfall in the background.

We spent a full two hours at the waterfall, having our lunch, making coffee, enjoying the peaceful surroundings. And of course playing with the water..:-) Before reaching the pool, the water went down one last step over smooth rocks, so you could slide down.Big fun!

As you can see, the water was very turbulent, not without danger as I experienced the second time I slid down. I was pulled down and back by the turbulence (see video) but I did not panic and managed to swim out. Scary moment for my friends, who were already prepared to come to my rescue! That is why the video stops so suddenly..:-)

Here are more pictures of this wonderful trip.

We were hungry when we came out and Edwin suggested a Thai shop near Serendah. Ky IKEA friends had mentioned this shop a few times, but I had never been there. You must really know where it is, otherwise you will overlook it…:-) We had nice Tom Yam noodles, Fried chicken, and Lok Mei (drink) for RM 41. A place to remember.
Here are two more video clips. The first one shows daredevils Rani and Edwin, conquering the current, so that Aric could take a picture (he is shouting “don’t move” to them, because the picture shown above is actually a HDR composite of three pictures)

And in this video Aric shows how to go down the slide without being caught in the turbulence…:-)

Chatting with my sister in the Netherlands after I came back home, I wondered if I was not getting too old for this kind of playing around.She sent me this cartoon.

The translation of the Dutch text is:

We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.

Thanks, sis…:-)!

Journal 18-2-2013

Posted on February 18, 2013 by janstu

Let me start this journal with Bukit Lanjan. The construction/destruction of what once was a beautiful forested slope opposite our condominium, continues. Here is a view of the slope. Next to the ugliness a picture of beautiful fungus found along one of the few remaining trails.

I celebrated CNY with Aric’s family in Parit Baru. It was a nice family reunion, although of course the absence of Aric’s father was felt by all. .

Here are a few pictures I took during my stay. You may wonder what the pinkish “caviar” in the left picture is…:-) They are snail eggs! The flower in the middle picture is a kind of passion fruit flower. And in the right picture a couple of sun birds is building their nest in a tree just in front of the family house. It is less flimsy than it looks. Click here for a YouTube clip of the nest building activity.

On the third day of the CNY I drove to Teluk Intan, where I met Siang Hui for a waterfall trip. See the separate Ulu Licin blog.

Back home I was invited by my friend Khong for a CNY dinner cum karaoke party. The dinner was nice, the company pleasant, but karaoke is not my favourite pastime, so I left early…:-)

The next day I visited the Nyangung waterfall. Also a separate blog, Waterfall Adventure. During our scramble down the slope to the waterfall I noticed the beautiful “tube” in the right picture. It’s not a fungus but the nest of a colony of wasps/bees. Because of my allergy, I kept my distance, but had to take a picture. So beautiful.

I will end this blog with another hill, Bukit Kiara, where I have my regular morning walk. Also under threat, see my earlier posts about the infamous fence. During a walk with my friend Pola, we came across this recently made (illegal) opening in the fence. Strange that the person(s) who did this, kept the upper part intact. The right pic shows part of the foundation. The fence has been embedded in the cement and will be very difficult to remove.

Fortunately there is still much beauty to be found in Bukit Kiara. From left to right a Bat Lily, a tortoise and some unknown flowers(?) fallen down from a tree.