Took Andy to see his family in the jungle (he does have very long arms you know!). Stayed in this lovely forest lodge where they kept giving us rambutans to eat from their garden. Waiting in the rainforest for the orangutans wasn't easy - it was so hot and humid in there. Katy asked me why there was water dripping down my face! The orangutans were amazing. We were very lucky that a large group (including a mother with a tiny baby clinging on to her) came down to feed. They have all been rehabilitated after being rescued from around Malaysia. The feeding platform they come to is the last stage in their rehab - hopefully they return to deep into the jungle and are never seen again.
Also saw lots of macaque monkeys who were pinching the food from the orangutans and then later on raiding the bins outside the cafe. We also saw a wagless pit viper on the jungle boardwalk. We stopped to take a photo - it was so beautifully green - we didn't know at this stage that it was very poisonous!
That night there was a massive storm that raged on throughout the whole night. The thunder and lightning shook the wooden hut that we were staying in! I ended up with 3 girls in bed with me and Andy had to sleep on their mattress on the floor. It was still pouring when we woke up - got soaked just taking the few steps down to breakfast. Fortunately we had a 4WD to take us to the airport - the road from the lodge was heavily flooded and the main roads to the airport also. We had decided to leave early and just wait 4 hours at the airport - good decision as we're not sure we would have gotten through if we'd left much later.
Flew back to Kota Kinabalu where we had a meal and watched some traditional Malaysian dancing before all the power went out. Floods, powercuts... another day in Asia in the monsoon season I guess! Flew up to Penang up nearish to the Thailand border early next day.
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