It’s 2024! Should we feed the wildlife pancakes? The GOOD & BAD of Labuk Bay, Malaysia 🇲🇾

We were always told not to feed the wildlife, especially human food. But when we visited the Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Reserve, and we saw that they were feeding the proboscis monkeys there “pancakes,” we began to wonder how ethical this place actually was.

But as we delved into the history of Labuk Bay, as well as information regarding the proboscis monkey, I realized that every story has two sides to it.

Just like a pancake.

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Transcript

Previously on “Two Up and Overloaded” -

Marisa: Oh, this is the jungle bridge of my dreams!

We were traveling on our KTM 250 Adventure motorcycle through East Malaysia and the island of Borneo. But suddenly we hit a bump, and then disaster struck.

Tim: Yeah, the spring fell off. So either we need to permanently tie something up. 

Marisa: I’ll go look for it. 

Tim: All right.

Marisa: I see it!

Thankfully, we found the missing spring, got it all repaired by a local mechanic, and we're able to head on to our next destination, Sandakan.

Tim: So most of Borneo's roads are pristine. 

Marisa: Awesome. 

Tim: They're amazing. But this road that we were on in the day, was a little beat up. 

Marisa: Yeah, it really was. And the day had started out so great, so beautiful, but it was going to be a long day, and we were coming to the end of it. We were coming into the city of Sandakan, and that one single road into the city was pretty beat up. 

Tim: A lot of potholes. And what kind of threw me off and made things

a little more frustrating was the mirrors. Because of all the bumps, the mirrors kept on kind of shifting down. And so when I wanted to make sure that I can go around somebody, that no

one was behind me, all I can see is the ground, and it was just kind of a bummer. 

Marisa: Hm. I miss my Double Take mirrors. This thing, every bump, it shows me the ground again. I can't keep it up! 

Yeah, I'd fixed it, I took the little sleeve off, and I tightened the screws that tighten on that ball joint, and it just kept still slipping. And I really did miss our little DoubleTake Mirrors that we had on Dorco for so long because they just stay right in place, and there's no messing around with them. We've noticed in action how awesome they truly can be, and we definitely highly suggest them. Great mirrors, KTM Adventure bikes, anything with the word Adventure in it should have a pair of DoubleTake Mirrors on it.

Marisa: So we really needed another break after all those bumps along the road. 

Tim: Yeah, and we lucked out again like we usually do with finding a place with food that is edible for me. Which means no prawn, no fish, no anchovies. 

Marisa: Sometimes that's quite difficult to find in Malaysia because they do love their seafood and anchovies on everything.

Tim: And seafood and fish are the same, and anchovies are not fish. So I'm like, "Any fish?" And they're like, "No." And then I get it and there's a bunch of anchovies. I'm like, "But there’s anchovies," and they’re like, "That's not fish." And I'm like, “Ah!”

Marisa: But we've been getting pretty lucky at some of the places. And in general Malaysian food is amazing, it's so good. 

That was delicious! And we only have an hour and a half left on our long journey today, so that is excellent. This road is very, very bumpy though, full of potholes and construction.

Tim: So we got back on the road refreshed, and then we got a little bit more refreshed because it started to rain.

But on some of these hot days, the rain is in and out just like a really quick little lost cloud. 

Marisa: Yeah, and it's so hot that it really is refreshing more than anything. And then the rain stops, and then you're back into the sunshine and all that wind from riding on the motorcycle just dries you up right away. And it's like a refreshing little shower. 

Tim: This is very true. And for me, that's like my daily shower, that's it. I'm like, I'm clean.

Marisa: And we had hoped that the road would get better as we got closer to Sandakan, but unfortunately, that wasn't the case. It continued to still have lots of potholes and just be a pretty beat up road. 

Tim: Yeah, and traffic got a little bit more congested as we got closer. Any major city, that's obviously what happens. 

Marisa: But once we got into the city of Sandakan, it's a gorgeous port city. The roads widened out, it was beautiful.

[Sandakan - Malaysia]

After all our trials and tribulations from the day and that long, long ride, we finally made it to our destination. And we were very excited to be there because it is very near a reserve of wildlife that we had been dying to go see. This is the story of our time at a place where we came across a very, very unusual creature. We also discover why they are called Dutchmen in the local language. And why they eat… pancakes? Because the more we delved into what really is going on here, the more we realized that there are two sides to every story. 

Tim: Like a pancake. It's got two sides.

Intro: Hey everyone! Nice to have you here. We are Tim, and Marisa Notier. I ride in the front. And I’m in the rear. We travel the world and we pack too much gear. Oh, all the places we’ll go! Through rain and through sleet and through mud and through snow. Oh, all the things we’ll see! We’ve been to a country or two. Or three! Oh, all the fun we’ve had! To have you along, would make us real glad. So give us a like, and hit subscribe to join us along our epic ride.

[This episode is brought to you by Doubletake Mirror.]

[Foldable, indestructible... www.DoubletakeMirror.com]

Marisa: So you pulled the motorcycle up to the outside area of this hotel where we were going to be staying. 

Tim: Yeah, I like to park under awnings because it does rain. And there's limited parking citywide everywhere, and all the motorcycles park on the sidewalk to make more opportunities for cars. So I'm not trying to be disrespectful to pedestrians but trying to give another parking spot to a vehicle.

Marisa: Yeah, and everyone's cool with it. 

Tim: Oh yeah, of course. But you might always be like, "Why is he always parking on sidewalks?" And it's the thing, the thing to do.

Marisa: We arrived in Sandakan. That last little bit of road was very bumpy, full of construction, full of very polluting trucks in front of us, a lot of traffic. So it was slow going, it was tough going. Tim did a good job though. We are hot and sweaty. I'm going to take a shower. Very happy that we have this nice hotel. We're going to be here for two nights because tomorrow we are going to go see some monkeys! That's exciting, but I'm right now really excited for a shower. See you later.

Tim: That night we went to a night market. 

Marisa: One of the things that I love that they always have at a night market is satey, and those

are skewers of chicken and beef, and they're marinated in this awesome

sauce. And then... 

Tim: Awesome sauce! 

Marisa: There's more awesome sauce that goes along with

it and it is a peanut-based sauce which I love. But Malaysians love their night

markets! Pretty much any town or city in Malaysia that you go to, there's going to be a night market somewhere. 

Tim: That's very true. It's kind of like the scene from like Aladdin or Indiana Jones where they just pop up like out of nowhere. They're like, “pop, pop, pop.” And I'm like, "And they're into existence now, here we go." 

Marisa: Here we go. 

Tim: I am a big fan of night markets but I was really excited for what the next day was going to bring us.

[Southeast Asia Journey - Day 128]

Marisa: So the next morning we were planning our day to Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Reserve.

Good morning everyone. Whoa! 

Tim: Too much? 

Marisa: Too much light. It's bright out there, it's hot out there, but we are going to go out and we're going to see the proboscis monkey today. Now we saw some of them back in Kalimantan on the Indonesian side of Borneo when we were on that river cruise and we were looking at the

orangutans. We got to see orangutans very up close and personal. But the proboscis monkeys

were way up in the trees along the river. And so we didn't really get a very very good

look at them, and they are amazing looking.

So there is a rehabilitation center and sanctuary for the proboscis monkeys around here in Sandakan.  So we're going to be headed there today and see if we can see some. Very exciting! 

Tim: Yay!

Marisa: All right. So today all we're packing since this is just a day trip is in our back bag we have our gear and then we'll have our shoes on top. And that's literally it. Yeah, we'll be extremely un-overloaded today.

Curb-side pickup! All right, here we go.

[Music]

Tim: So the road there went into and cut through some palm oil plantations.

Marisa: These were beautiful. The trees had grown up to be so tall, and the morning light was just streaming through them. And the road was kind of cool because it was dirt. 

Tim: Yeah.

Marisa: Some visitors to Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Reserve find this place controversial. That's because it's a relatively small reserve, only 400 acres, and it's surrounded by palm oil plantations. It's even founded by a palm oil company. And we haven't even gotten to the feeding of the pancakes yet.

But the truth is this whole piece of land was slotted to be cleared for palm oil in the 1990s. All of it gone. But the palm plantation owner noticed these wonderful monkeys here, and decided to set up the reserve for them to forever have a home. Yes, it's not huge, but it has been a literal

lifesaver for the monkeys that live here.

Tim: We understand, and we wish that these monkeys had millions of hectares. But for someone to stand aside and say, "Hey man, you know, we should give at least something out of what we can give back." And as a private citizen, or at least as a business owner, not even a government mandated thing, super good props. I mean, this man lost profits in order to help nature. That is something that many corporations nowadays, that is not their motto.

We have read some online reviews that some people thought it was very sad that this palm oil place had just left this little corner of beauty and it should be everywhere, etc. But the truth of the matter is that they were at least kind enough to preserve some, and that has inspired other places to also realize how special these unique creatures are. 

Marisa: Yes! 

Tim: That's my fun facts. 

Marisa: I like that, yeah. It really is the two sides of the pancake. 

Tim: It is. It's like flipping a pancake in the air. 

Marisa: If this episode doesn't make you hungry for pancakes, I don't know it will. 

So we get into the park, and there's these gorgeous boardwalks that go along through the wetlands and the rainforest there.

[Music]

Tim: Oh, there's these huge tadpoles. 

Marisa: Yeah!

Mudfish things? 

Tim: Mud flappers. They're like evolution in the weirdest state. They're like, "I'm not water-bound or land-bound. I'm just this ugly thing."

Marisa: And finally, we get to this Platform A area which is where the first morning feeding is going to take place for the proboscis monkeys. 

Tim: Yeah, but when we got there, there was a gentleman making a very unique sound to nature, like he was calling Kong or something.

[strange call]

Marisa: So when we got there, there were no monkeys coming and these guys were feeding the monkeys on the platform, but there weren't any monkeys coming. 

Tim: They were just chucking pancakes into the forest. I'm like... "This is your tourism board here? Just frisbee-ing pancakes into the forest and going, "Gra!"

Marisa: So we are waiting for the monkeys to show up. And we did see one in the trees very far away but he hasn't come to the food. They have a couple handfuls of "pancakes" they call it to feed them? I don't know, but they keep calling the monkeys to come over and none have come so far. So we're just going to be patient. I mean, who doesn't want to eat pancakes, right? They have to come eventually. 

Tim: And I just thought there'd be better food. Like bananas guys. Like, what the heck? Everybody loves bananas. 

Marisa: These monkeys don't, no, these monkeys don't eat bananas. 

Tim: They ate pancakes. When they first came upon them, Darwin said, “Ohh.”

Marisa: They're coming, they're coming! One just jumped on the platform!

But eventually the monkeys came. And once they came, there were tons of them!

[monkeys grunting together]

Marisa: It was amazing! 

Tim: It was absolutely awesome. And they're so funny looking! 

Marisa: Yes!

Wow! 

Tim: And the males have this large Gonzo nose that when they grunt they go, “bah!”

[grunting]

And the female monkeys... 

Marisa: They're so cute! 

Tim: They're so cute with their little cute noses. 

Marisa: Yeah, I mean their noses are funny too, but they're more like Whoville noses. You know, from the Grinch? They just kind of are upturned or kind of out a bit. 

Tim: This is very true.

And the funniest part is that in the Malay language they call these monkeys  Dutchmen monkeys. 

Marisa: Yes!

Tim: Because they have Dutchmen noses.

Marisa: Well, I don't know why call them Dutchmen monkeys.

Tim: I'd ask you but I don't want a really hard side profile of my nose for too long.

Marisa:  We're both Dutch. 

Tim: We are both Dutch.

Marisa: Oh my gosh! It just walked right past me! That was so cool!

Proboscis monkeys have long pendulous noses, especially in the males, and they can only be found on the island of Borneo. The locals gave them the nickname in Malay and Indonesian of “monyet balanda,” Dutch monkey, or “orang balanda” meaning Dutchman. This was due to a supposed resemblance to their Dutch colonizers at the time.

The crazy thing is they're so humanlike not just because of how they look, but how they act. They sit around in these slouched potbelly groups and just grunt as they eat. 

Tim: Just, "Mah! Mah!" "Mah!" It's like they're talking politics. 

Marisa: Or religion.

Tim: It's like Congress, pretty much Parliament. We were witnessing a session.

Marisa: Proboscis monkeys have webbed feet and hands, which are also quite hairy. And they love to swim in water. They tend to live in mangrove forests, wetlands, and around coastal areas. The monkey's main diet includes leaves and fruits. But since the Labuk Bay Reserve does not provide enough of their natural foods to survive off of, their diet is supplemented here by fruits, vegetables, and apparently pancakes.

Tim: I do have to say when I lived by myself, my diet was highly supplemented with pancakes.

Marisa:  Yeah, I don't know what's up with the pancake thing. I mean, I think the problem is they're translating it into English as "pancakes" and whatever it is that they're feeding them, no matter what, it's not what they would naturally have because they just don't have enough of the variety of their natural foods in that reserve to begin with. So it's more like a zoo in that they have to feed them other things. 

Tim: It's more of like a fiber bar. 

Marisa: Yeah...

Tim: I don't know what's in it. But it's surely not a banana pancake. 

Marisa: No, it's not a banana pancake.

So these monkeys do have big bellies and they say it's because in their natural diet they like to eat fruits that are not ripe, and so the fruits and leaves just sit in their bellies and ferment.

Tim: Like Vikings.

Marisa: What?! 

Tim: Skol! 

Marisa: Like Vikings?

Tim: They just sit around with fermented bellies.

So this place was turning out to be insanely awesome and we were only at Platform A. There's a Platform B, and there's other areas to just walk around. The amazing things we saw, this is definitely on our little Borneo motorcycle adventure tour. So you too can see the little monkeys and the little pretty women monkeys, and the baby monkeys. They walked right by us! 

Marisa: Oh, the monkeys walked right by us! But the monkeys here are so used to people that if they come into our space, you just let them walk by and that's up to them. And they seemed totally chill, and they did come very very close. It was pretty awesome.

[www.2UpAndOverloaded.com/BorneoTour]

Yes, if you haven't already heard, we are going to be starting a motorcycle tour here in Borneo! And this is one of the places that you will be going to if you sign up for our tours. This is true. Riding around with a bunch of monkeys, and then you might see some proboscis monkeys too. So check out our link to our little web page that we've made about this tour if you want all the details on it and the link is in the description below.

Tim: So we left Platform A and we we're

going to go to… 

Marisa: Platform B. 

Tim: What...?!

Marisa: Next time, we run into some pretty naughty monkey business.

Okay, so apparently it is not a good idea to leave our motorcycle here while we go to platform B. And the reason why is because of the macaques.

No, no, no, no... Not my helmet. No!

But all of that will be in the next episode. So thank you so much for watching this video. I hope you liked it. If you did, please give us a big thumbs up and hit the subscribe button below, and we'll be seeing you next time. 

Tim: Stay safe everybody. 

Marisa: Bye!

Peace.

"Mah, mah, mah!" 

"Mah!"