jungling

bought a day trip up into the jungle and at the same talked to the kid selling us the trip about hiring him to drive us around the island. He said that he could not talk about it in the office but he would meet us after work. We met up and then walked to the Filipino market for some food. They have fresh fish bbqed up and you walk by and pick out what you want. I got some sort of snapper a tiger prawn and half a stingray. You then sit on these little plastic chairs at a long table. Our new friend Lee walked us through the steps, you fill a bowl with water and then your drinking glass. The bowl of water is for dipping your fingers in since you eat with your hands. Pull off some fish, smash it up into a ball along with rice and shove it in your mouth. It was all quite good. When you are finished you squish little limes into the water, swish your grubby fingers around and now your hands no longer smell like fish. We ended up not hiring hime to drive us around the island, but dinner was good.
Yesterday morning we got picked up in front of our hostle at around 8am and drove an hour or so, we were getting a tour along the way, but i was only picking up on half the stuff our guide was saying. The story of Mount Kinabalu, the tallest peak in all of S.E. Asia. Something about a dragon and a pearl, a prince who dies and a sad princes, who turns into a rock. We were headed to the base of the Mountain, where the is a botanical garden and hot springs. We stopped a couple of times on the way for some photo ops. Had lunch. It was Josh and i, a Malay couple, a young gal from Canada, and an older women from the UK. From the looks of the places we stopped, you could tell that had it been peak travel season, the places would have been packed. The place we stopped for lunch had some 30 tables inside and only two were filled. One by our group and another by a Japanese group.
We got to the garden, which was very cool It had a nice set up, well kept path. The park was not very big but in the acre or so we walked through there were some 400 species of orchids and another few hundred other plants and flowers, there were marked with red meaning they are only found at the base of the mountain, blue meaning they had medical uses and green meaning they were native to all over Borneo. We were showed the smalled Orchid, which was the maybe the size of the tip of a bic pen, heck i would have walked right past it. We were also showed, but not allowed to touch some super rare orchid that used to be sold for $700 to the USA, this is what our guide told us, or at least that is what it sounded like he was saying. We learned a few things, like if we get lost in the jungle there were some plants and berries we could eat and some that would give us stomach problem or maybe die?
The next stop was some cheesy souvenir market, where every stall sold the same thing. This set up is different from Thailand and everywhere else in S.E. Asia. the sellers just sit there fanning themselves or texting on their phones until you touch something, then they jump up to attention tell you the asking price and then tell you they will give you 'special discount' and if you start to walk away they just sit back down, no pressure to buy. Maybe it is just too hot to wheel and deal.
The next stop was the hot springs, some scalding water bubbling up from a rock pool mixing with some water flowing down the mountain. The pools were man made. there was the cool pool and then and area with Japanese style soaking tubs, that you would fill with a spout. Scalding hot on one side and cool on the other. Before we got in the tubs we did a hike up the mountain and across the cable bridges through the canopy. Anyone with any fear of hieghts i do not recommend this, cause we were way up there. Now we are back down, hot and sweaty and jump into the cool pool then make our way over to the tubs. I found an empty tub and turned on the faucet and could tell that it would take at least two hours to fill, so we wondered around and found one that was a little fuller. We ended up sitting, Josh, Me, the Canadian and the Londener in a tub that should probably fit two. You need friends for water displacement in order to sit in a full tub. At this time it also started pouring down rain, so there was no need to dry off or change back into our dry clothes.
Josh is on his way up to the tip of the mountain and i am meeting up with the Canadian gal, and another Canadian from my hostel to take a boat over to the island across the way for some sunning, snorkeling and relaxing. It seems to be clear skies and sunny, then it pours down rain between 4-6 then clears back up in time for dinner.