All In A Morning's Walk

Labuk, April 2nd 2011

I signed up for a morning walk tour which cost 30 RM per person. It's only an-hour-journey. But if you are one with a passion for nature, you will call it worth for the experience. If you are one with a passion for nature, you must know that there things that can't be valued with money, such as what I and Dina had experienced on April 2 2011 morning.

 Our morning walk was scheduled to start at 6:00 AM, but we were 15 minutes late at Nipah Resort's lobby. Jhon was already waiting. He didn't seem upset at all being kept waiting. Ah, later it turned out that our opened-van hadn't arrived yet. LOL.

Jhon brought with him a plastic bag filled with pancakes. "Are we going to see proboscis again?" Dina asked with sparkling eyes.

"Yes, hopefully," Jhon answered.

 "A-au! A-au!" Jhon started calling. But no proboscis were in sight.

Jhon explained that proboscis use to stay insight until the sun shines in. Oh well, it had been raining pretty hard last night. It's just a perfect time to sleep in. Pancakes can wait.

The night I was in Sukau it also rained pretty hard. The next morning, the British tourists' morning walk was canceled, because it wouldn't be possible to walk into the mud. Besides, there would be many leeches.

Therefore, when it rained last night, I already gave up hope for this morning walk. It was also one of the reasons I didn't come to the lobby at six sharp.

On the contrary, Jhon replied, "Of course we are going. Why shouldn't we?" when I confirmed the morning walk.

"Can we walk through the forest?" I asked, still a bit in doubt.

"No problem," he answered.

As you can see now, it's really not a problem at all.

My first time standing at the brim of Sulu Sea.

If only the sky was clear, this platform, Platform C, would have been a perfect spot for viewing and capturing the sun rising.

It was here where Jhon told us the stories about the animals we met on Platform B the day before.

Several eagles flew across us. This one is a Brahmany Kite, I guess. Jhon, please confirm... 

 Off it flew into the clouds.

 This one is a white-bellied sea eagle. Dina was amazed how Jhon could tell from such a far distance whether it was a Brahmanian Kite or a white-bellied sea eagle.

 This was my first time seeing a woodpecker in real life. Unfortunately, the tree was too hard. I couldn't capture it pecking the tree. It flew away soon after.

Back into the jungle of mangroves.

  Suddenly... look!! Dina and I almost leaped off the bridge. Look, look!

"Yes, that's Six Finger," Jhon said.

"How do you know it's Six Finger and not just another proboscis?" Dina asked Jhon.

"Just look at its hand," Jhon answered.

True.

 Six Finger was very excited with his favorite breakfast. Probably lunch and supper, as well ;-)

Do you know how it feels when you can make an animal happy?

Aha. At first Six Finger examined the piece of pancake in Dina's hand. "Wait a minute. This is someone new. I must be careful," Six Finger thought to himself. He finally grabbed it, but still took a closer look at it.

 This the piece of pancake. Sugar free. Looks yummy, doesn't it?

"Okay, another piece, please, Madame."

  "Six Finger will follow us until the exit gate," Jhon told us, and yes so did Six Finger.

All the way through the bridge, a macaque followed Six Finger from behind. Six Finger walked with full confidence and Macaque followed with full guard. They both knew too well who Jhon is. Macaques aren't to mess up with Jhon.

At one point Six Finger got tired of being followed around. He sat down. Macaque sat down also.

Six Finger looked at Macaque and asked, "What is it? You want my pancake?"

Macaque held his head upright. "Hmphhh!" he sniffed. "Would I ever munch on such a thing? Hmphhh! That's not my stuff at all!"

My note:
I didn't photoshoped these animals! And, both moments really did happened one after another. You can check my EXIF data!

This is the end where Six Finger stopped following us. He gave his final look to Dina.

 Six Finger retreated into his sanctuary. Macaque suddenly was out of sight.

"Oh, no!" Dina half screamed. "Where's the macaque?! Did it take Six Finger's pancake?"

"No, it didn't," I replied. "See, the pancake is in Six Finger's mouth."

"Ah, clever boy!" Dina sighed.

Apparently, Dina had developed a hatred for macaques just within a night. LOL

"They take the proboscis' food!" Dina explained. "So bad!"

Free of the macaque, Six Finger enjoys his last bite of today's breakfast.

  Mudskippers were frequently seen. Some of them were larger than the ones I saw in Vietnam. But a mudskipper looks like a snake to me. And I don't like snakes. Not at all.

I don't really like crabs either. But, I do like blue. Very much. If there were a blue mudskipper, I would have captured it, too.

Back at Nipah Resort, we continued with breakfast. The menu was simple. But we got a big glass of coffee and plenty of milk. Just as the way I love the color blue, so do I love coffee.

I noticed this unique plant growing below the veranda where we had breakfast. Dina was also amazed. I have never seen leafs growing on a leaf. And the shape of the tiny leafs are like flowers.

 Look how the tiny flower leafs grow!