We were on the road again at 10:35 with nice bright sky and only a few wisps of clouds. Annie, Mahani's secretary, came with us to help Mahani. We again went east along the coastal highway past the university and the state legislature. The round glass building that we had been frequently passing over the last several days was the Sabah Foundation. The Foundation manages large tracts of timber and other industries. The profits from these timber lands is used to provide scholarships to young Sabahnians to attend university. As we traveled along, you could see Mount Kinabalu off in the distance, capped with clouds over the top of the summit. It was a very powerful view and one could certainly see how the mountain has played a prominent role in the life of Sabah.
Over the last several days, we have traveled on very excellent main highways. Everywhere you go there is the hustle and bustle of new construction - whether it is road construction, building of new commercial premises, land reclamation from the sea, or housing construction. KK is obviously very prosperous With lots of investment going into the area.
We crossed the bridge at Karumbunai Bay on our way to the crocodile farm. This was a bridge that Mahani had promoted and arranged. It was obvious that this was a major link in the road infrastructure to the rest ofthe state. On each side of the road across the bay, we could see the tidal flats of the mangrove swamps. Small herds of cattle wandered alongside the road. There were a few roadside stalls selling mussels, coconut jelly, and other foods.
We arrived at the Tuaran Crocodile Farm located at Taman Bay in Tuaranjust in time to see the show. Three men were in a concrete enclosure with a humongous 16' long crocodile. The croc had been placed in the middle of the ring and had been "placated". The men were able to walk on the croc' s back, lie down, put their hand into its mouth, and other things that no normal person would dare do, let alone get so close to one of these beasts. This was definitely no docile animal as the croc lashed into action when they poked him with large bamboo poles to move him back to his pond at the end of the performance. There were other small enclosures holding crocs of all ages - from 1 and 2 years of age to 35 years. There were two large pools of green water, each holding at least 400 crocs. A small series of pens held birds and a deer.
On our way back, we stopped at one of the roadside stands to pick up some coconut jelly. This was very tasty and refreshing. We dropped off Annie off at Mahani' s and we then proceeded to a light industrial area where we stopped off at a Chinese restaurant for lunch around 1:30 pm. The food was quite something that we had never tasted before. I managed to use chop sticks to eat the rice, fish, crab, and the beef. Of course, it helped that I used a Chinese soup spoon. We went back to Mahani's for 2:45 to rest.
We rested until 3:45 pm when we went with Annie and Mahani's driver to the Orchid de Villa. We were soon off the paved main highways and along a dirt road going up, down and around the sides of the hills along the side of this deep valley. Down below were paddies and kampongs where vegetables were being grown. The dense jungle was on both sides of the road. You defmitely wouldn't want to stray into this vegetation.
The Orchid de Villa was something else to behold - a well hidden secret, given the sights and variety of orchids to be seen. The atmosphere was like a steam bath - the ideal conditions for orchids. An elderly gentleman gave us a detailed guided tour of the orchid farm. While the farm grew hybrid orchids for sale to the hotels and stores, the farm had a large collection of wild orchids that they were trying to propagate so as to expand these rare orchids.
Orchids can be identified by the fingers of one had spread out - the petals, and the index finger of the other hand held in the middle of the first hand - the pistol. Each orchid that we saw followed this pattern. The orchids ranged from long pink flowers to those that were as small as a pin head. It was quite the botany lesson that this gentleman gave us. Of special interest to me was the fact that 50 of orchids don't grow in the soil. They grow in the air. The seed is occupied by a fungus which provides it with the nutrients to get started. The seed attaches itself to the side of a tree, spreads roots around the tree and takes in the moisture from the atmosphere. Depending on the variety, they can blossom 365 days a year (very rare) to once a year (most common). We also saw a wide variety of pitcher plants of different sizes.
We continued up this back country road making our way back to the main highways. As we drove along this back country road, we saw another part of life in Sabah. The houses, while way off the beaten path, were neat and well maintained. Next to many of the houses were paddies where farm produce was being grown. Electricity and water mains were everywhere to be seen. Even on the highways, everyone was maintaining the speed limit and respecting the right of way in the round-abouts.
We drove quite a distance to let Annie off at her place and then we went into the centre of town to a market to pick up some fruits and vegetables. Another stop and we were back at Mahani's around 6:45.
We rested for an hour and then we were off with Mahani, Lanh, Putri to a Japanese restaurant for dinner. There we met Roger, an official who did road planning for the federal government and Chouw who was a contractor who did soil stabilization along the roads. Roger had formerly been Mahani's. assistant when she was in state government. The variety of food was something else! Again, I managed the chop sticks to eat the food. We were quite stuffed! We got back to the apartment around 9:45 where Sharon had an hour-long massage.
