It started out where the night before, i was saying goodbye to my nephew and his cousin after 2 hours of counterstrike. his father owns a beach house in Binsuluk, which is after Bongawan, and before Membakut. or in layman terms, roughly about 2 hours from the town of Kota Kinabalu. So he invited me for a 2 days 1 night stay there where we'll be fishing most probably, and taking some of his mom's parent's around.
so the next morning, nicely packed, but only to realize i forgot my toothbrush when i was at my cousin's to wait for the others to meet up there. after a long wait and a long dull drive to binsuluk, i was amazed to find out it was a very big beach house, and really beside the sea, hence, the beach house name. after some lunch, i was already imagining myself fishing my ass of and laughing to myself thinking taroi would be so envious of me by now. hehe. but then my nephew told me we'll be going to see some proboscis monkeys. my eyes twinkled with excitement. if you dont know what a probscis monkey is, its actually an almost extinct species of monkeys, where their fur are brown, with red face, and this is what disinguish them the most compared to other monkeys. they have really long noses. btw, my nephew's mom's friends, turned out to be 2 Japanese volunteer sensei, and 3 other students. and i must say, i was brushing up with my ni hongo a LOT. hehe. loved it.
soshite, we went to see the monkeys, WHICH, was very very difficult, as we were not in the mangrove trees as they are. we were cruising in one small boat that my cousin owned and drove it there to the primates habitat. but before leaving, we dropped some binturs in the river. binturs are a 'bubu' version of crab catching system. pretty cool. so we drove to the monkeys habitat, and as we were cruising there, we saw some fishermen working hard in their boats to look for their halal rezeki. somehow that moment reminded me, how you know, when the boats drive by, in the movies, these locals would wave at random strangers and smile politely as if u were driving in a housing area where every knows you. and you know what? they really do DO that. i mean, they waved nicely as we pass by, and gave us honest smiles and nods. didnt think that was a fact until today. next thing i need to find out is whether african kids really do chase your car as you drive into their village. who knows, it might be true.
so we arrived at the mangroves, and like i said, it was really difficutl to see them, as they were jumping, running around behind thick mangroves trying to avoid contact from humans. but the second time when i saw them the next day, there was one monkey, who was sitting, red-faced, and stared at us curiously. at that time, i felt like i was jeff corwin or steve irwin explaining to the tourists the facts about the monkeys, the food that they eat, the defensive system, the hierarchy somewhat. only problem is, my knowledge was based on baboons that i watched from national geographic. eheheh. but they did almos the same thing. and their normal diet is very healthy, where they eat petai (like anyet, that's why she's a monyet), ulam, basically all bitter types of plants. and the monkeys only seem to go out around sunset by the river. probably like humans, they enjoy watching the sun setting in west.
that night, kondo sensei gave me the chance to wear a yu katta, a traditional summer casual attire for the japanese. and i must say, again, from my TV observation, i thought the reason they walked with small steps were just because of their culture. BUT as i turns out, the attire actually constrains one's movement and hence you can only take small fast steps if you're rushing to the groceries. eto, that nite, totemo yokatta desu yo.
i thought we were just going to retire for the night, only to find out later, we went kelip2 watching, or fireflies watching. i must say, it was so breathtaking. all we did was sit in the dark, by the docks at the river, and watch at fireflies that spark in the darkness on the mangroves' leaves, and they were like christmas trees that just sparkle in the middle of nowhere. i was looking up the dark sky and saw stars sparkle and looked down, and felt that the stars were down here with me and it was moving around probably mating, probably trying to look for something, and all i could say was... Subhannallah. it was great. later in the morning i could not imagine if the small lights in the distant in the forest were some potheads smoking some blunt and are amused by themselves and started waving their blunts around to entertain themselves with the light. hehehe. but it actually is fireflies, because i caught on, so rest assured.
the next morning, woke up at 5, and we started a boat ride again, this time not in the river, but to the middle of the sea. so i brought my fable fishing rod with me. we went to a 'bagang' where, it actually is man-made platform in the middle of the ocean on the deep waters, just right before it goes down all the way into darkness. the size of the bagang was roughly about a size of a family room, one might say like the room i used to have in colonie apartments. in the middle of it is a small pondok with a roof over it for the fishermen rest as they stay there and wait for schools and schools of fish. and i must say, there were a LOT of fish. i fished a lil but not for long because the tourists were getting bored. they probably dont know the value of fishing. heheh. and i must say, ive only casted like 6 times, and i got 1 fish. and that was only because i used a big hook on the first few times, and changed to a smaller one later. it was not much of a fight though, mainly because a barracuda had already injured the fish badly. and i must say, this weekend, i'll be going again insya Allah. huyeaah. i got to see the sunrise, and went back in the speed boat but through the river this time instead heading towards the that was beside the beach house. it was... breathtaking. all i ate there was fresh fish, fresh fish all over again. and it was so relaxing staring at the ocean and sip one cup of tea, and look how much ive been through in just one whole weekend. the feeling... priceless. later at night, as i was driving back, i was staring at the ocean in the darkness again, but was so amazed, where, like fireflies, lights were being lit up on the bagangs by the working fishermen, in the middle of the ocean. there were so many bagangs along the coastal line of the west side of sabah up ,until the end of daerah Bongawan. like fireflies, like vegas, heck vegas lights cant compare to what i experienced the past weekend......
on a barge heading to Kuala Penyu
on a boat to see Proboscis Monkeys. (no pics for monkeys though, google it up. so hard to snap the camera)....
Pakcik Puteh, the guide to our tour, while pakcik eddie was manuvering the boat....
Kondo Sensei to Watashiwa (yukatta o hakimasu) to Amy San, to Asaka sensei.....
The crew....
an example of a bagang....
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