Is it just me or is before 9:00 a.m. too early to have already had an adventure?
We saw orangutans in the wild in Sakau, but we wanted to get a better feel for what they actually looked like. We decided to step it down a bit and go to an orangutan rehabilitation center, Semenggoh, in order to have a closer encounter.
To help protect the orangutans and rehabilitate them while enabling people to see them, visiting hours are only during two daily feeding times: 9:00 a.m. and 3 p.m.
There are two buses to get to Semenggoh, both of which depart from the bus station that is 2 kms from our place at 7:15 a.m.. The next bus isn't until 9:50, so it's the 7:15 bus or bust! We got up with plenty of time and had an extra 10 minutes buffer (just in case). However, 6:45 happened. 6:50 happened. 6:55 happened. Now it takes at least 20 minutes to walk to the bus station from where we are staying (as we tragically found out the day of the morning thunderstorm at the bus shelter when we arrived in Kuching). We barely have enough time to make this bus!
6:56 and we are huffing and puffing as fast as we can towards the station. 7:13 and we are crossing the final turn towards the bus station. Suddenly, Pallavi sees a bus. Is that our bus????? I'm blind as a bat even with corrected vision, so how do I know? All I know is that we're almost out of time and if that's one bus, the other might not be far behind. I then hear Pallavi exclaim, run Sarah run! (Alright, maybe not in a Forest Gump style, but lets just pretend it was). Just like many bus chasers before me, backpack on my back, purse held in one hand, and a map in the other, I take off. I don't care that I look like a slightly insane person. I don't care that cars are going to have to get around me. My eyes are set on only one goal - the bus!
Which we had missed! We looked everywhere. Around all corners, asking people (who weren't so thrilled to speak to me, probably given that I still looked a bit like a slightly insane person and it was only 7:15 a.m.). We asked at the ticket counter, who confirmed that yes, we had missed the bus. "Wasn't it early?" we asked. They looked at their clock, clearly 10 minutes faster than our satellite controlled phone clocks, and said nope, we left on time. Pallavi, thinking outside of the box asked, "is there another way we can get there?" "Sure," said the ticket taker, "just take this bus here and get off at [insert station name] and you can get a mini bus from there." "Are you sure? Are the mini buses regular enough?" "Sure!"
Onto the second bus we went. We traveled along, got off at said [insert stop], and waited. No mini bus. We tried to find a local who spoke English. All of them seemed to say that there wasn't a bus. The bus had passed. What to do? It was 8:30. The feeding is at 9! We looked at a map. It didn't look like we were too far away, but how far, who knows?? Desperate, I asked our 3rd Pay It Forward ride person, who spoke English and, when I asked if she could drive us, she said just get in.
We got to the gate at 8:45 - but nobody told us it was another 1.3 kms walk, uphill, to get to the feeding. We again set off really quickly. Huffing, puffing, desperate to make it there. We've come so far. We're not even on our second cup of coffee. Suddenly a car comes towards us, from the center, and a window is rolled down. It's a woman who had seen us huffing and puffing when driving to the center, dropped off her family, and had turned back to come and get us! That's Pay it Forward ride person #4.
It was worth it. The orangutans were so cool to see up close. It does feel a bit like a cheat, but at the same time, it isn't a zoo either. Plus, the center is doing great work to rehabilitate the orangutans. The objective is for them to not have to come to be fed at all. Out of the 27-30 orangutans they have in Semenggoh, we probably saw 8 or 9 of them, including the alpha male Richie. Two of them even came down from the tree directly above our head, to stand less than 2 meters away (remembering the chimp who tore that woman's face and hands off, I kept my distance).
By 12, we were on our way home to just chill and relax. I'd say we'd earned it!
We saw orangutans in the wild in Sakau, but we wanted to get a better feel for what they actually looked like. We decided to step it down a bit and go to an orangutan rehabilitation center, Semenggoh, in order to have a closer encounter.
To help protect the orangutans and rehabilitate them while enabling people to see them, visiting hours are only during two daily feeding times: 9:00 a.m. and 3 p.m.
There are two buses to get to Semenggoh, both of which depart from the bus station that is 2 kms from our place at 7:15 a.m.. The next bus isn't until 9:50, so it's the 7:15 bus or bust! We got up with plenty of time and had an extra 10 minutes buffer (just in case). However, 6:45 happened. 6:50 happened. 6:55 happened. Now it takes at least 20 minutes to walk to the bus station from where we are staying (as we tragically found out the day of the morning thunderstorm at the bus shelter when we arrived in Kuching). We barely have enough time to make this bus!
6:56 and we are huffing and puffing as fast as we can towards the station. 7:13 and we are crossing the final turn towards the bus station. Suddenly, Pallavi sees a bus. Is that our bus????? I'm blind as a bat even with corrected vision, so how do I know? All I know is that we're almost out of time and if that's one bus, the other might not be far behind. I then hear Pallavi exclaim, run Sarah run! (Alright, maybe not in a Forest Gump style, but lets just pretend it was). Just like many bus chasers before me, backpack on my back, purse held in one hand, and a map in the other, I take off. I don't care that I look like a slightly insane person. I don't care that cars are going to have to get around me. My eyes are set on only one goal - the bus!
Which we had missed! We looked everywhere. Around all corners, asking people (who weren't so thrilled to speak to me, probably given that I still looked a bit like a slightly insane person and it was only 7:15 a.m.). We asked at the ticket counter, who confirmed that yes, we had missed the bus. "Wasn't it early?" we asked. They looked at their clock, clearly 10 minutes faster than our satellite controlled phone clocks, and said nope, we left on time. Pallavi, thinking outside of the box asked, "is there another way we can get there?" "Sure," said the ticket taker, "just take this bus here and get off at [insert station name] and you can get a mini bus from there." "Are you sure? Are the mini buses regular enough?" "Sure!"
Onto the second bus we went. We traveled along, got off at said [insert stop], and waited. No mini bus. We tried to find a local who spoke English. All of them seemed to say that there wasn't a bus. The bus had passed. What to do? It was 8:30. The feeding is at 9! We looked at a map. It didn't look like we were too far away, but how far, who knows?? Desperate, I asked our 3rd Pay It Forward ride person, who spoke English and, when I asked if she could drive us, she said just get in.
We got to the gate at 8:45 - but nobody told us it was another 1.3 kms walk, uphill, to get to the feeding. We again set off really quickly. Huffing, puffing, desperate to make it there. We've come so far. We're not even on our second cup of coffee. Suddenly a car comes towards us, from the center, and a window is rolled down. It's a woman who had seen us huffing and puffing when driving to the center, dropped off her family, and had turned back to come and get us! That's Pay it Forward ride person #4.
It was worth it. The orangutans were so cool to see up close. It does feel a bit like a cheat, but at the same time, it isn't a zoo either. Plus, the center is doing great work to rehabilitate the orangutans. The objective is for them to not have to come to be fed at all. Out of the 27-30 orangutans they have in Semenggoh, we probably saw 8 or 9 of them, including the alpha male Richie. Two of them even came down from the tree directly above our head, to stand less than 2 meters away (remembering the chimp who tore that woman's face and hands off, I kept my distance).
By 12, we were on our way home to just chill and relax. I'd say we'd earned it!
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