.: ShaolinTiger - Kung-Fu Geekery :.

So after our previous day in Labuk Bay Resort we got up early for breakfast and glorious sunshine.

Yeah it was real hot!

Feeding time was around 11am, we already had plenty of pictures though so we just enjoyed the natural habitat. The turn-out wasn't as good as the previous day anyway (it wasn't that bad - they just didn't come close) and there were a few extra (and noisy) visitors. Took a bit of time to play with the wide angle and the CPL.

Mom was busy practicing taking macro pictures of some ants with her Panasonic.

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So after a short rest from morning feeding (time to copy the pictures to my Nexto PSD) it was off out to another location for lunch.

We headed out in the muddy yet reliable truck, you can see the storm in the distance that we drove into..

The place we had lunch was really in the middle of the plantation, the view from where we were was something like this, you can see the rain started already.

Lunch was simple but nice, trust me when you are up early and out in the wilderness you get damn hungry.

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So we arrived in Sabah to rain sadly, we got there quite early in the morning direct to Sandakan from KL and were picked up promptly by our first guide Adam - a very knowledgeable local tribal guy from the Sandakan area (I forget which tribe he was from, but he said they were river people often farming the flood plains surrounding rivers and estuaries).

The weather wasn't great so I didn't really take any pictures on the way there and it was raining and muddy as hell so the ride (once we got off road onto the plantation roads) was pretty crazy...something like the rollercoasters at Blackpool. So we basically hung on for dear life for the hour or so it took us to reach the resort (we got stuck a couple of times but Adam had some l33t driving skills and got us out of there).

There was hardly anyone at the resort when we got there, actually I think for the morning feeding time we were the only people there and there was a fantastic turn-out of both Silverred Leaf Monkeys (Lotong) and the Proboscis Monkeys (Monyet Belanda) we went to see.

If you don't know about the Proboscis Monkey they are actually an endangered species and if you haven't seen them, you should! People come from all over the world to visit the wildlife in Sabah and Sarawak. You can read more at Wikipedia here: Proboscis Monkey.

The other monkey we got very close to was the Silverred Monkey or the Silver Langur/Lutung which LOVES to eat long beans.

They have the cutest little orange juveniles too, even though this mother was too busy eating her beans..and almost lost her baby.

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Earlier in the year I went for a 5 day trip to Sabah, you might remember I posted a picture of Jackie the Orang Utan when I got back.

Well now I think it's time I started writing about it.

We started out by asking around for a good agent, as we had a limited time and the places we wanted to see were quite far apart it made sense to get a good agent to arrange the accommodation and a knowledgeable local tour guide. I found out an agency based in KK that could help me about, the company is named Labuk Bay Nature Tour Sdn. Bhd. They also own the Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary which we wanted to visit.

We went back and forth a bit sorting out the options, my Mom (as usual) was pretty clear about what she wanted to see and what she didn't want to see. Plus there were a few times we didn't feel the need to spend so much time there, and some we wanted to spend more time.

The finalised itinerary looked like the following, it comes in two sections - Sandakan and KK.

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Every Sunday it was tradition for my and my homeboy Chiu to go down to Lower Wick driving range and have a round on the Pitch and Putt (when I used to live in Worcester). It's a pretty effective use of space with the driving range in the middle and the short 9 hole course around the outside, each hole is basically a short par 3 of around 70-100 yards or so.

I enjoy it more than golf as it's much easier and much less time consuming, I don't get bored or frustrated by the end.

I had a warm up on the driving range first before unleashing my skills on the Pitch and Putt.

Chiu teed off..landing the bloody ball on the green almost every time with his first shot.

Teeing up to whoop my ass towards the end, I lost of course - but not by too much.

After that we headed to a nearby pub for some Sunday lunch - the steak and ale pie was really good!

Anyway that was about that for my UK trip, I took it easy for the last few days, spent some time with my Mom and ate loads!

I had some lovely home made chicken pie.

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So after our quiet relaxing trip to Formby, we headed on up to Blackpool - the thrill center and most famous seaside resort in the UK. The most famous part being Pleasure Beach Blackpool, with the Pepsi Max Big One, which used to be the tallest, fastest and steepest roller coaster of any park in the WORLD!

As we pulled into Blackpool it was dusk, the sun falling behind the horizon and the colours of a late summer sunset appeared.

There were plenty of Seagulls too as it was super windy and they were enjoying the thermal currents.

We could see all the way down the beach to the Blackpool tower and the Ferris wheel on central pier (Blackpool has 3 piers! North, South and Central).

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So after being all the way down South in Minehead and Dunster we headed back home to Worcester.

Then all the way up North to Liverpool! We were heading to the Lake District - one of the most beautiful places in the world, but the weather was rather threatening so we decided it might not be a good idea. We hung around Liverpool for a couple of days, I caught up some Uni mates (I studied in Liverpool at John Moores) and we explored the city a bit (checked out the Tate etc.). I didn't really take any pictures there though as it was nasty and grey, nothing much to take pics of. There was some awesome stuff in Tate though (saw some original Andy Warhol and Picasso!).

After that we headed further up North, our destination Blackpool! An original pleasure beach with tacky shops and what was once the highest rollercoaster in the world! (Pepsi Max - Big One).

We stopped off at a National Park site on the way with a nice beach, a trail and a conservation area for Red Squirrels (which are quite rare) called Formby.

Cute little fellas they are.

With big bushy tails!

Sadly there was a noisy crowd of kids that came along, so the poor little blighters got scared and ran off. It was a nice place to walk around though.

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After A Trip Up The Hill and a Ride on West Somerset Steam Railway the next morning we started off with a solid English Breakfast again, this time we had the full works with Black Pudding!

Unfortunately this was the only food shot I took at my aunt's place in Minehead...she's such a superb cook we just wolfed all the food down without thinking of taking pictures of it! It's such a relaxing place too and alcohol served with every meal (apart from breakfast..). We had a bottle of bubbly every night I think.

Anyway, after that we just walked a little way across town to the mini-golf course at the park (Blenheim Gardens), there was a brass band playing too! The weather wasn't great, but at least it didn't rain.

I came joint first I think, a bit rust at the old putting.

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After our trip down to Minehead and a visit to RNLI we headed up the hill where I took the glorious sunset pictures in 2006.

Unfortunately this time the weather had deteriorated by the time we reached Minehead so it was more grey skies than blue and rather chilly.

The moors were colourful though with the flowers at the end of the season.

We went up with the top down in my aunt's pimped out Renault Megane Cabriolet! Nice red leather seats, it's a sweet ride.

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So after A Trip Up the Malvern Hills in Worcestershire the last dinner we had before heading down to Minehead was a lovely venison burger with potatoe wedges and some mixed vegetables (kinda like ratatouille).

This is the room I was staying in, can you see me in the mirror

It used to be my bedroom originally when we first moved into the house, then when I came back after graduating I switched to the back bedroom (which is larger) to allow for my computer, TV and so on. It was good to be back there, coincidentally my Mom has sold the house now and is looking for a new smaller place.

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