Sepilok Orangutan Centre in Borneo

A few years ago I travelled to Borneo to visit the orangutans at Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary and the nearby Labuk Bay proboscis monkeys refuge in Sandakan.

There is a bus that can take you there, but I was being a lazy backpacker and took the easy option. I'd booked a taxi which took me from my hotel in Sandakan, right to the entrance of the sanctuary.

The sanctuary was opened in 1964 to save orphaned orangutan babies in Borneo. And over the years there have been many that needed to be saved from illegal hunting or destruction of  their habitat deforestation. At Sepilok they are taken care of till they are old enough and capable of taking care of themselves in the wild.

Sepilok is not like a zoo where you can walk past enclosures and see the resident animals. The orangutans only come out at feeding times. And so do the tourists. Feeding times are at 10am and again at 3pm when carers drop food on the feeding platforms. 

When I went there were so many people wanting to catch a glimpse of an orangutan, that I had to fight for a good viewing spot on the humans platform. On the opposite side, a carer was putting food out on the orangutan platform. And then we waited. And waited. And waited. After a good 15 minutes, we saw some branches move, but it took another 15 minutes for a mum and her little baby to climb onto the platform and check out the nosh.

I spotted another young male that was trying to get closer to the food, but the mum with the baby wasn't willing to share.

When she disappeared back into the thick forest, the tourists started to vanish as well. I waited a while till most of the crowd had gone off and luckily that I did. As just when I made my way towards the exit, an adult orangutan decided to come and say hello and jump up on the wooden railing of the walkway. He (Or she. I couldn't tell) paced up and down a few times before jumping into a tree and swinging back into the forest.

I did feel that I 'd seen more tourists than monkeys at Sepilok Orangutan Centre in Borneo, but that close encounter with the adult orangutan and the fact that the centre is doing a pretty good thing saving the orangutans, makes a visit well worth it.

Riding the Women Only Train in Kuala Lumpur

Photo by PrettyKateMachine off Flickr

I'm lucky enough that I don't have to commute on London's underground or buses every day, but when I do I absolutely hate it. It's hot, crowded and smelly.


In many countries women can add groping, male hands to that. Including this one! That's why in some countries in Asia there are women only trains. When I was in Kuala Lumpur a while back, I had the pleasure of riding one.

Now I admit I wasn't riding it in fully fledged rush hour, but I have to say it was quite a pleasant experience. No uncomfortable stares, no 'accidental' rubbing and no lost hands. Well, maybe I did get some stares, because as a white Western female giant I stood out like a sore thumb among the tiny, veiled Kuala Lumpurian women.

It did feel quite elite though. It was like me and my female co-train travellers were part of an exclusive women only club. With guards standing by the doors, fending off any confused male travellers trying to make their way into our private carriage. Like royalty I felt.

I'm not really one for gender segregation, but in this case I'm not entirely opposed to having women only train or tube carriages. It does make a girl feel a lot safer when travelling alone late at night. And a little bit like a princess...

Circles in the Sand in Langkawi

Sand circles in Langkawi

Who would have thought that travelling through southeast Asia was so exhausting? After 4 weeks of catching, buses, motorcycles  planes and trains, I needed a holiday!! So I decide to have some beach time on the island of Langkawi.

Even though Langkawi was everything I needed,  I wasn't overly impressed with the scenery of the island and its beaches. Maybe I'm becoming a bit jaded, the more countries I visit?

There was something that caught my eye though. Strolling along the shoreline at sunset, I noticed these fascinating figures in the sand, consisting of little sand balls surrounding a tiny hole.



I looked a bit closer and saw that a small crab was digging its little heart out while chucking sand back onto the surface, randomly creating these pretty figures on a canvas of sand.

Art by nature. Until the ocean washed them away.

Labuk Bay Proboscis Sanctuary

 While most people go and see the orangutans when on holiday in Borneo, I found that the Labuk Bay proboscis monkey sanctuary made for a much more entertaining day out.

Labuk Bay sanctuary is a good place to get up close and personal with these utterly strange, yet fascinating creatures. The sanctuary is located outside of the town of Sandakan in Malaysian Borneo and has been around since 1994. There are about 60 monkeys that live here without fear of losing their natural habitat to developers creating palm plantations for the palm oil industry.Visitors can watch the monkeys being fed from large observation platforms and it is an interesting sight to see.

They’re not the prettiest things around as the males have large bellies and enormous noses that look a lot like... er, well human male genitalia. And apparently in the world of the proboscis monkeys, size does matter as the male with the biggest nose gets the most females. In the local language these monkeys are known as the ‘Dutchman Monkey’ as the people of Borneo thought they looked much like some of their former colonial rulers. (Admittedly, some of my male fellow countrymen do resemble the proboscis monkey... ) The females are slightly prettier as their noses are smaller and less prominent. Although it’s a powerful tool to let the male of the group know that they’re in the mood for some TLC. When she’s up for it, she makes a cute pout which pushes her nose up a bit.

Like I said, you can observe them during their feeds. Which is what I did on my holiday to Borneo last year. As I was watching them enjoy their pancakes, I noticed that one of the females made that powerful pout towards the male next to her. Of course, as you'd expect from a man, he couldn’t resist the offer and while he was still chewing and holding a pancake in his hand, he mounted the female from behind. Not very romantic, but an excellent example of multi-tasking, eating while love making. I don’t think that Dutch men could successfully do the same!!