Well, we've had a fantastic day at Bako National Park! No bus mishaps this time, everything went to plan!
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| Hiking in Bako National Park - another very sweaty day! |
Bako National Park is one of the main attractions near Kuching, so despite the fact we were feeling very lazy, we decided we really should make the effort to go. We're definitely glad we did!
The first critter we saw when we arrived was this wild boar (?) which Sam successfully managed to befriend, in fact, it felt so comfortable that it rolled over for its tummy to be tickled. Sam later admitted that he had pushed it quite hard, so it may have fallen over rather than willingly rolled, but the result was the same. Friendly though it may have been to Sam, when I tried to stroke it, it promptly bit my hand! Not such a nice little piggy.
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| It may look cute, but it has an evil streak (so does the boar). |
There were many trails to choose from; we picked one which led to Kecil Beach. It started off a little tricky with thousands of roots to negotiate - not easy if you're as clumsy as Sam.
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| Believe it or not, this is the 'path'. |
Some parts were a bit easier to walk, if a little hot out in the open. I have never sweated so much! (Too much information?)
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| Boardwalk in the park |
It was definitely worth the 3km walk to see this beautiful view! The beach looked very inviting, but the climb back up put us off so we just admired it from afar.
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| View from the top. |
We didn't see any wildlife while we were walking, but when we got back to the entrance to the park we saw this cheeky little chappy with his friends.
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| Cheeky Monkey |
This little guy was just chilling on the boardwalk.
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| Cricket |
And finally, after searching in the trees for proboscis monkeys which are indigenous to Borneo, we saw a group with a guide taking photos of this one in the tree, so got in on the action too!
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| Proboscis monkey - what a hooter! |
Then it was time to catch the boat and the bus back to Kuching.
I have been wanting to have a look in the many fabric shops in Kuching since we arrived, so today I finally got the chance! I bought lots of pretty materials to start some new sewing projects when I get home. What do you think I could make with these?
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| Fabric from Kuching |
When I got them back to the hotel I realised that a couple of them are a lot stiffer than I thought in the shop, perhaps they'll make nice bags or purses. I plan on turning a couple into skirts, just in time for summer back in England!
This one is my favourite, it drapes better than the others and is better quality and with the dark pattern at the bottom I thought it would lend itself to being made into a dress. What do you think?
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| Fabric from Kuching |
Today's artistic attempt...
On Skype the other day Dad had the good idea (which was possibly a joke at the time) to use tea to paint with. Seeing as I don't have any watercolours with me I thought I may as well give it a go, but I tried coffee mixed with a little water instead to get a slightly richer colour. I decided to paint a cute proboscis monkey from a photo by Rebecca Yale found
here.
First of all I drew a vague outline. There's the 'paint' at the ready.
Then I painted on the first layer of coffee and let it dry while we went out for dinner.
Then I added another spoonful of coffee to the mix to make it slightly darker and filled in the dark areas.
Next an outline in ink mixed with a little water. Not my best painting but it was very quick and smells good too!
I'll end today's post with some more links to lovely blogs for you to take a look at :)
