So sorry about not blogging for like the last month and a half. It's been insane! I can't possibly describe or give justice to my experience in Malaysia via blog so let me fill you in on some of the most memorable parts of it.
We went to Kuching, Matang Wildlife Center, and Kota Kinabalu during our time in Malaysia. The first two are located in Sarawak( mostly Christian) and the last is in Sabah (Muslim)
Matang Wildlife center is half an hour away from Kuching and it is a rehab center for orangutans, sunbears, macaques, gibbons, and other animals that might come their way. We stayed for 2 weeks and it was quite the adventure. breakfast was at 7:30 am every morning and we would work from 8:15- 12:45ish every day. We were split up into groups and did something different everyday. the assigned tasks were orangutan husbandry, sun bear husbandry, wood, maintenance, quarantine, and construction. For wood, we were supposed to haul 2x4 and 4x4 logs through the rainforest to a location where they were going to build a new ranger station. intense dude. Thats when i hurt my ankle and sprained it while i was on my way to lunch. IT WAS HORRIBLE! I mean, even as i am writing now, my ankle still bothers me. it was really tough dealing with that because we hiked a lot in Malaysia and i had to miss out on sweet ventures. But enough of a pity party... so at 1 pm, we would have lunch and have lectures around 2 or 3 for like 2 hours. Professor Wimberger (science department) flew from the puge to teach the biodiversity course but we also had lectures from one of the main dudes at Matang, Leo. He was from the UK and was like a walking encyclopedia. I kinda felt like i was in APES again because I would learn another thing about conservation, logging, orangs, rehab that would point out to the injustice of humans and you know, depressing things like that. But i gotta say, it was a really interesting class, just listening to someone talk about topics that i never considered. okay so then dinner would be at 6 pm. 3 meals a day. the best meals i have ever had. i would go for seconds and thirds. golly geez. sooo good. I feel like i can say more about Matang but it'd take too long. just know that it was incredible and hot and sweaty and dirty and filthy but also soo sweet. i mean, there was a massive thunderstorm one time with crazy l.ightning and we just played in the rain. tswift anyone? yeah, it was just like that. except no kissing in the rain, or make ups in the rain, or anything remotely romantic. Just a really sweet dance party and singing party in insane weather.
one of my favorite memories was at Bako national park when we went on a night hike and saw fireflies in the mangrove forests. i've never seen fireflies and it was really cool to see them twinkle in the mangrove trees. if you've never seen a mangrove forest before, its a forest that grows along the deltas/ salt water that acts as a buffer. the trees are low and due to the changing tides, all the trees start growing their branches above the tide. So its cool to see how low the tide can get when you see how tall the branches are in comparison to the tide level. Anyways, all i can say is: rela fireflies beat the fake twinkle lights in Pirates at Disneyland.
Malaysia was really hot and humid and i literally lived in filth. The not showering/ being dirty complaints in Mongolia don't even compare to Malaysia because we were literally dirty and smelly everyday. Our clothes didn't dry and we were always tired. Lets be real, me, Miss Niagra falls, def. had a good time sweating every minute of the day... not reallly. but Malaysia really is worth it. The people are so nice and all say hello to you. The food is dericious. and cheap. It is beautiful and the biodiversity there is incredible. you know how you take classes at school and don't learn anything from them? This course and month in Malaysia taught me so much its insane. Man experiential learning...
I feel like this is a lame blog post. I'll tell you abot Malaysia in person.
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