First Internship Field Trip

Were ordered by my boss to join them for a five days field-trip water sampling along sg. Kinabatangan. My first thought were, wtf who is going to look after Schnoorzy, Sasha, Xena & Xavier? Cant send them to vet as they charge RM 10 per head per day and that my internship doesn’t offer any allowance. due to financial constraint, I have to sort my ex-housemate who is still staying in my previous home to nanny my both children. Xena, I have to let her loose while Xavier was kept in toilet due to his small size body resemble a bigger size mouse. Not a good idea to let him loose seeing there are lotsa stray cats at the backyard.

Will (my boss) & KY (my senior), together we reached Telibong around 6pm, reached Kundasang around 7pm and reached Sukau around 11.50pm. We checked in at Sukau Bed & Breakfast.

wake up around 5am to catch the sun rise at the river bank & i manage to spot a wild Oriental Pied Hornbill (scientific name - Anthracoceros albirostris)!! Then, got the chance to visit the Ox-bow lake, few Danau around sg. Kinabatangan. remember i used to laugh at my girl friends' overreaction toward leaches..now, realized am not that much different from them. during the muddy tracking, found a leach on my camera when i took the camera out from pocket. i was soooo paranoia..did my best to surppress the thoughts of having tons of leaches over my back, in my socks, in my undie, in my backpack..etc. the first thing when back to the lodge, immediately i headed into toilet and took off everything, guess what - NOTHING! not a single leach! hehe what-a-shame xD

Then, as part of the field works, i got the chance to visit Sandakan & Sepilok everyday throughout the trip. Because of that, got the chance to observe the Sandakan lifestyle. well, it doesnt look that bad as in how others described it. quite a beautiful city actually.

Then on the third day morning, i managed to take the video of the three same hornbills species feeding on curry-leave tree. During the fieldwork, got the chance to spot an adult wild boar with three juveniles. Things were able to finish sooner than expected on that day, so me & KY went to Sepilok Orang Hutan Rehabilitation Centre while Will attending a meeting somewhere there. its been one of my dreams to visit that centre, and Will just grant me that dream!! thanks Will :o) will definitely visit there again when am more refreshing & energetic mode. didnt really enjoy much on that visit to the centre as i was kinda exhausted already.

On the fourth day, i have to wake up at 3.50am in order to start monitoring the river water dissolved oxygen from 4am onward for every 15 minutes. Alone under the dim light at the jetty which is a small floating wood platform, kept my eyes wide open, observing the surrounding made sure there is no crocodile approaching, while at the same time, indulged myself into the rhyme of the forest..heard the elephants called, the sounds of trees fallen due to elephant activities, the monkeys noise, the calling of the birds & the insects as well as the often water splashing sounds when the fish jump out of the water.

Then, later when the sun rose, got the chance to lay down and have some nice sun bathing. now am beautifully tanned! :o) then, got the chance to spend some quality time with the deer that caught by the lodge owner. The deer was sorta begging me to let him go..but i cant. he was there alone without any company. so i shared the biscuits i brought along with him, sitting next to him, ate the biscuits together. He became very friendly, he even licked my face and forehead hehe sounds peculiar, but the friendship bond with him was really meaningful to me..as there are something i managed to learn from such friendship. due to emergency changes of plan, instead of stay for another day, we left on that day which was the fourth day.

more photos will be uploaded then.