Mi Mi's post !!

Mi Mi’s Post!

I’ve hacked into Apsara’s account and stolen her blog. That’s right, I can do whatever I want. After all, I am dominant, I am the alpha female, I am Mi Mi.

I don’t think Apsara quite knows what she’s talking about. I mean, she was going to feed you the WRONG information. Us orang utans DON’T under ANY circumstances steal cameras and wallets . . . although those little i-pod touches you have are, quite attractive!!

I’ve got to make my bed EVERY night. I’m not talking straightening the covers and turning down the sheets, I’m talking gathering together branches and leaves to place in the fork of a tree. Humans are LAZY! That’s right I said it all of you reading this blog are LAZY! You all just pull up the doona on your beds while the magnificent Mi Mi makes my own marvelous tree forked bed every night!

I’m strictly Arboreal! In fact we orang utans are the only primates who live ONLY in the trees! But we can’t jump, which is why our enclosure is covered in lianas for us to swing on, it’s how we get around! I just couldn’t get over is the fact that they called us “Man of the forest” I mean HELLO people there are women here too! Finally women got a quality, instead of man they have called us person of the forest!! Still not woman but it’s ok! 

My home is being threatened by some, horrible humans. They are logging the forests and putting our lives at risk because if all the forests are gone, where do we live? I still remember lying on the forest floor whispering “Ma ma, are you there?” I got no response she was lifeless, killed by a falling trunk. Caged for eight days I was finally rescued by an orang utan rehabilitation center. Our forests are being destroyed to plant Palm Oil plantations. How do people NOT realise what they’re doing . . . or do they mean what they do?

The little kids around me are really annoying. Although, they’re orphans, like I was. They were brought here after their mum’s died when the forest was cut down, like me. It would have to be the only reason because orang utan mums NEVER abandon their child.

I only knew the father of my children for 10 days, you see that’s how long the courting process is. He then heads off to do his own thing, while I, like all orang utan mums, teach our children everything they need to know about living alone - we teach them for 7 to 8 years. They’ve got to learn to be resilient and independent because we live mostly solitary lives. 

Chikita in particular is very cheeky. She uses her cuteness to her own advantage and is being sponsored by EVERYONE, including Apsara. I can definitely see the “HUMAN” side of Chikita because she doesn’t want to climb trees and is too lazy to make her own BED (Or nest)!! She’s a bit of a princess I must say but then again, she learnt from me!

I spend half my day looking for food - honey, young leaves, bark and flowers. BUT, this feeding platform saves me hours of my day .. so I sometimes come down here to grab a snack. It’s also really fun, it’s so entertaining watching all the humans huddled together trying to grab photos of me, I told you I was special, “Paparazzi”! I actually don’t know if humans have eyes because all I see are black rectangles covering their faces. I can’t believe how stupid they look! AND they say we have 96.4% of the human DNA and are the closest living thing to humans - but I reckon we are way more intelligent. We only worry about food and shelter and looking after our kids - our life is SO much more relaxing! 

Apsara thought she was going to have the last word! I mean, she is going back to Sydney tomorrow and thought she was going to finish her blog. BUT, I managed to take over - and the marvellous Mimi had the last word! Alpha females always do!

GAYA Island

Gaya island:

• crystal waters
• white sands
• Kayak racing.
• swings
• fishing nets
• Sunburnt bodies.
• Forgotten Sunscreen.
• Snorkelling freely
• Vibrant Fish.
• Amazing coral.
• Five star Star fish! 
• Speedy Stingrays.
• Yet another, rainforest walk.
• Rickety canopy bridges.
• Spiky Ratans.
• Graceful Butterflies. 
• huge afternoon thunderstorm .. again.
• And mosquitos, LOTS, of mosquitos!
• No insect spray.

“What a nice night. I think I’ll leave the door open”.

Big mistake Mum!

Covered in red insanely, itchy and irritating dots (the three i’s!).

Magic island

must go again!

View from our room

Another rainforest walk

Paradise in Nature - a poem

PARADISE IN NATURE

Gliding 

drifting 

skimming

Above a different

world.

Water is Clear

Crystals

Paradise but

Home to 

the underwater world.

Fish everywhere

eating 

playing

swimming about

the vibrant coral.

Nature 

Marine life

Rich beauty

Being destroyed

By mankind.

Sandakan War Memorial

The Sandakan Memorial is on the exact site of the Sandakan POW camp. It’s there to remember the Australian and British POWs but also the Sabahans who helped the POWs a LOT. 

There was great information there which helped me understand even more. I have already written a bit about the POWs when I was in Ranau.  There was a map to show all the WW2 POW camps in SE Asia. 

It is described as one of the greatest Australian military tragedies and atrocities. 

It was a tragedy because:

• The most deaths of POWs were between Jan to Aug 1945 when the war had almost ended.
• The Australian military’s rescue mission “Operation King fisher” failed badly when they were told the POWs had moved camp (but they hadn’t), the military then aboughted the mission.

It was an atrocity because:

• of the way the POWs were killed, it was so brutal and inhumane.
• The Japs had enough food purposely starved the POWs
• POWs were over worked building the airstrip 
• the POWs were ill & very weak with malaria, beriberi, dysentery, malnutrition and tropical diseases. They had no medical supplies and Red Cross was prevented from entering the POW camp.
• the Japanese tortured them cruelly and punished them in horrific ways.

The Japanese in charge of the POW camps were put on trial after the war for war crimes. Some were executed by one the main Japanese soldier, Major Suga, committed suicide before he was tried.  [There's so much more that I could write about WW2 in Borneo, but this is all for now).

October 1945, after the Japanese surrendered, Australian army went to look for the remains of the Sandakan camp to find anything that belonged to the POWs or the Japanese.  

Australian army looking for POW graves

The local Sabah people helped the POWs who escaped. They also worked in the underground network to help the Allies (eg Australia & Britain and US)

Here are some quotes from Aussie POWs:

Rainforest Discovery

We left Sukau eco lodge after breakfast and got the boat back to Sandakan which took more than 3 hours. After lunch at the old Sabah hotel, we went to the Rainforest Discovery education centre. 

It’s a bit like Singapore’s Botanic Gardens, except there are leaves on the path !!!!

getting on the boat from Sukau to Sandakan

Leaving Sukau lodge

Mum's favorite: Heliconia

There was a rainforest canopy walk and examples of ALL SORTS of tropical flowers, plants, seeds - everything. 

There was also an information building which OF COURSE Mum and I looked at .. for a loooong time!

I learned about  economic plants (to sell and get money for), such as vanilla, cocoa, coffee, tea and the dreaded oil palm. 

Coca Cola is the biggest user of vanilla, and vanilla is the second most expensive spice after saffron. 

Malaysia is the world’s biggest producer and exporter of oil palm!. It produces 47% of the world’s supply of oil palm. 

I learned about medicinal plants (such as ginger for nausea, garlic as antibiotic, chilli - for lots of things). Australian researchers discovered that people who eat spicy food regularly sleep better. Spicier foods increase your blood flow and make your heart pump and raise your body temperature. in hot climates you sweat and this makes you feel cooler because the sweat evaporates.

Water lilies are another type of aquatic plant, their roots are submerged into the muddy soil  at the bottom of the river or lake (this is “permanently saturated soil) and some float on the top of the water.  

They’ve adapted by having:

• large flat leaves to help them keep afloat.
• air sacs for floatation (just like little kids wear floaties on their arms).
• smaller roots so water can diffuse into the leaves more easily.
• less rigid or stiff stems because the water supports them and takes the weight. It also makes them more flexible. 

I’ve just done a unit on microorganisms at school. I discovered scientists found a new fungus in Sarawak Malaysia in September 2011. They named it after SpongeBob Squarepants - spongiforma squarepantsii. 

And here are photos from the canopy walk. I definitely know about the layers of a rainforest now which Mum says is Year 7 Geography!

Last afternoon on Kinbatangan River

LAST GLIDE AROUND THE KINABANGTAN

Although the long tailed macaque is the most common primate in Malaysia - the one I saw today was a five star - for me!(our guide ranks animals by stars!). It was the tiniest little baby macaque (about 6 or 7 weeks old) who was exploring its world maybe for the first time. He was very mischievous, naughty, misbehaved and he reminded me of someone I know.  

He was curious and obviously wanted to explore. He was a risk taker and resilient because he tried to climb everything and kept on going even when he fell down - many times. His mother kept close to him, but WAS more interested in eating the seeds and berries, although at one point she gently put her big hand on his little head as if to say “calm down little one”. (that’s happened to me a few times, but Mum’s hand isn’t as big as the macaque’s). Here are some photos.

When we first came down the river 3 days ago an elephant herd greeted us but today just a mum and her bubby came close to the river’s edge to farewell us. There seems to be a lot of single mums and their child in Borneo - Orangutans, Pygmy elephants, pig tailed macaques, long tailed macaques, Proboscis monkeys - and Mum & me!!

Borneo elephants usually live in herds of 10 to 20, and feed along the river banks. A herd is led by a single senior female (just like Mum, she leads the herd at home). Males leave when they are sexually mature about 10 or 12 years old, but females seem to stay with the herd for life (unlike me who will ditch my herd to lead my own!). 

Another interesting fact, at least for me (you might not be that interested!) is that Borneo elephants’ tail almost touches the ground (the Asian and African don’t). 

We saw a yellow and black snake, I don’t know what type it was, except it was a poisonous mangrove one.