The Road Less Traveled

Ricky enjoying his afternoon @ Semenggoh Wildlife Centre

I began my tour of Kuching this afternoon. Instead of seeing cats (which is exactly what Kuching means in Malay), I was heading towards the Semenggoh Wildlife Centre In Padawan (where the orang utan are housed; they are only found in Borneo & Sumatra). It was quite a wait to get those sexy chimps down from their high places! Relaxing... enjoying life to fullest, that's all these apes are doing! All they had to do was getting fed & yet they are taking their own sweet time! Life is a bliss, isn't it? Makes me wonder about what life is all about. Lucky fellas!

But, as Forrest Gump said it well "Mama always said life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get". We humans rush through life... makes us wonder what we achieved in the end. Instead of preserving humanity (look at some of the children in Africa), we are preserving these orang utan instead. I suppose as human as I'm, I do think human life is of much higher value (from human standpoint, that is). Oops, my friend Ivan will surely give me a kick on that!

I was having a discussion my colleagues just last week about Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie adopting kids from Cambodia, Vietnam, Namibia, Ethiopia... I wonder why they did what they did and if they have a higher purpose in doing so. With their own biological children, will they be as fair as they could be? Just having questions, not looking for answers though.

Today, I also saw some Pitcher Plant at the Wildlife Centre. Jenny (小玲) who shares the same Chinese name as one of my cousin drove me there. It's the first time I've seen such carnivorous plants. I was informed by one of the park guide that the liquid in these plants have been used to make shampoo! Is this for real?!?!?!

We then went to the Kuching city center in the evening. It's a nice compact city with British touch, obviously. Many of the old buildings are still around & well refurbished. This area reminds me very much of Melaka (Malacca). Kuching is a pleasant surprise. I won't mind retiring here at all!

Contact: Jenny (Mobile) 012-8800138. Plate No. HQ863.

Today's Read: Chimps exchange meat for sex (Fox News), For chimps, candy is dandy but steak is quicker (Reuters)

Today's Video: Forest Gump - Life is like a box of chocolates (YouTube), Germany's whistling Orangutan (Reuters)