Hornbills, leeches and wait-a-while

Poring Hot Springs
The day after we climbed Mt. Kinabalu we spent at Poring Hot Springs; an open-air bath with hot water coming from a nearby spring with hot , sulphuric water. Apparently, the bath was first built by the japanese when they invaded Borneo during WWII. Feeling quite rested, albeit with sore thigh muscles, I endeavoured a trek to Air Terjun Langanan - a 120m high waterfall in the middle of the jungle. The walk took about 90 minutes, was mostly uphill, and very pleasant. It was hot and humid, but the canopy of the jungle acted an effective shield towards the intense sun. There was not much in the way of wildlife - much of the wildlife in Borneo are very shy to humans - but I saw some magnificent trees, with massive trunks and bases of up to 8-10m including the ridged roots.
Being alone in the jungle, even if walking on a well made path, was very intimidating. Not knowing what might come at you out from the undergrowth, and hardly recognizing any of the sounds of the forest was an exciting experience. The waterfall was nice, and the temperature cool, but it was the lone walk that made the trek worth it. Later, we soaked in the hot waters from the springs, which was nice but nothing extraordinary. However, as we walked from the bath in the early evening, the Cikadas were playing so loud I thought I'd hurt my ears. A truly marvellous performance, and something everyone should listen to at least once.
At poring we also saw a half-dead Rafflesia, the world's thickest bamboo, with straws as thick as my thigh or a malaysian girl's waist, and lots and lots of bugs; some as big as your fist.

Kinabatangan River and the Jungle
The night after Poring it was time for our defining moment; one night in the jungle along Sungai Kinabatangan, going for a wildlife spotting night walk and sleeping in hammocks. We started out with a leasurily cruise along the river, and spotted several types of monkeys and birds. Among them were the quite common long tailed and pig tailed macaques, red- and silverleaf monkeys and also the rarer funny-looking proboscis monkey. The birdlife consisted of egrets, hornbills, herons and eagles, but sadly no kingfisher. The elephants who sometimes visit the river had unfortunately left at the end of the flooding season a few weeks earlier, and we saw no wild orang-utans either.
After dinner, which was still lovely even though served from a couple of plastic containers and quite cold, we went wildlife spotting with our head torches in the dark. Just so we're clear: when it's dark in the jungle, it's pitch black. Looking for light reflected in eyes out in the jungle was exhilirating, and even though most of the spots turned out to be spider eyes - creepy! - I managed to spot a couple of eyes high up in a tree.
There was much excitement amongst our guides as they realised it was a western tarsier. It was quite far away, but I think everyone got a good look at it, and I have some photos to show later. Unfortunately, the only photo where my flash really hit the target, without being shielded by leaves or other tree trunks was the one where the tarsier looked away in order to flee. I think I might be able to do some magic with the other photos too, though. It was really a too-cute-for-words animal, and I'm very happy to have spotted it.
The rest of the walk was mostly looking for leeches, jumping over fire ant trails and getting stuck in vines that the aussies called Wait-a-While. A lovely name, just as Forget-me-not, but which is wrong since the Wait-a-While is endemic to Australia.
After having spent a sweaty night in the hammocks, we went for a morning walk to look for birds. The fire ants were all asleep, but we still had leeches to worry about, as we were looking for birdlife in the jungle and around the nearby oxbow lake. This proved to be the lake that I wrote about on facebook earlier, which has been under restoration by MESCOT/KOPEL. Sitting at the lake at dawn, looking at the birdlife and the fish in the water, it became very clear why they considered it necessary to remove the infectuous Salival weed from this lake. Just sitting there for a couple of minutes, we got to see eagles, hornbills and other birds. Afterwards, when taking down my hammock, I noticed blood on my shirt, and realised I had got bitten by a leech and not even noticed it. A much nicer experience than I had expected, as I never got to see the thing.
On the way back to the MESCOT HQ, we took a detour by their eco camp, which is currently under construction, but to be completed soon. The eco camp is built by locals and volunteers, and funded through MESCOT/KOPEL, and it should be a real treat to visit once it's ready. Situated just by above mentioned oxbow lake, and inside real wetland forest, it should provide a comfortable way to experience wildlife. I would highly recommend anyone going to Sabah to check it out. While there, we also finally managed to see a couple of lovely kingfishers, and the wildlife spotting was nearly complete.

Miso Walai Homestay and Orang Sungai culture
Our accomodation for this night was with a malaysian family with limited knowledge in english. They were exremely hospitable, and the language barrier was not much of an obstacle. The particular family me and my roommate John stayed with had two wonderful kids of 6 and 2 years. The 6 year old girl was very curious, and touched every button on every gadget I was carrying. Even though cutlery was available, I ate my lunch with my right hand, just as my hosts. It was an interesting experience, as I found that eating with your hand gives yet another sensation - touch, in addition to taste and smell - to eating. Highly recommended! Unfortunately, we only stayed with this family, who lived in a very basic but charming house built on stilts, for one night. I think a week or two would've been necessary in order to feel really at home, and not just as intruders.
During the evening we had a packed schedule at the MESCOT HQ. We were shown how to use their fishing gear, and we had a cooking lesson. I can't remember the names of all the dishes, but I have a picture of the whiteboard which I'll provide later. As far as I can remember, the dishes were deep fried chicken, fried weed with egg and some sort of gourd curry with carrots and tomato. As my guide now knows I'm a big fan of chili and spicy food in general, he set us up with doing a local sambal, consisting of prawn paste (belacan), red onions, lime juice and most importantly malaysian chili. The malaysian chili is similar to Piri Piri, but smaller and hotter. I tried one (raw) the size of a grain of rice, and was sweating for half an hour.

Update: What I didn't have time to say last time was that at the end of the evening we got to experience a culture show. Normally I'm not very keen on such things, but this one actually proved to be very authentic. We saw malaysian dancing and a short show of silat - the malaysian martial art. At the end we even got to join the dancing, and I quickly realised that I did not have that rhythm in my blood. It may have looked easy, and I actually tried to remember some of the dancer's movements, but I still failed miserably. Much fun was had, though!