The GeoPark Hotel is situated right in the middle of a pretty awful theme park called "The Oriental Village" but we are staying here so that we can get an early start up the SkyCable this morning. Tickets are advertised for the SkyCable at 35 MYR but can in fcat only be bought as a package, the most basic of which costs 55RM and includes access to the SkyRex (an embarrassingly poor simulation ride), SkyDome (some reasonable graphics) and the 3D Art Museum (more of that later).
The SkyCable consists of two loops of gondolas with the first section rising dramatically to a staging point from where there is a more level climb up to the top, where the SkyBridge is to be found.
The start of the SkyCable ride, the middle station in the distance.
The SkyBridge was originally supposed to be glass-bottomed but in the end only includes a number of rather opaque windows in the floor. None the less, it is an impressive piece of engineering. Access if from the top station as requires quite a stiff walk to reach it.
On the way back from the SkyBridge a small group of Dusky Leaf-Monkeys were feeding near the path. They are shy and gentle creatures, unlike the Crab-eating Macaques which can be very aggressive if they have been allowed to lose their natural fear of humans - unfortunately, tourists' habit of feeding them (or allowing them to take food) conditions them to think that humans are a food source. We have a similar problem in Africa with Vervet Monkeys and Chacma Baboons. Macaques in general exhibit this behaviour but the Leaf-Monkeys are tend to keep their distance from humans.
After descending the cable car we headed for some lunch at the food court and then went off to suffer the SkyRex and the SkyDome. However, things did improve because late in the afternoon we visited the 3D Museum. What a pleasant surprise! It consists largely of murals, some of which stretch onto the floor, against which you are encouraged to pose and take photos from predetermined points of view. We spent about an hour and a half having a whale of a time posing and simply enjoying the perspectives on perception.
The bird on the top of the bottle reminds me of a rhyme I learnt from my maternal grandfather "A wonderful bird is the pelican, His bill will hold more than his belican, He can hold food in his beak For more than a week But I don't know how the hell it can !"
