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Sarawak 23 NOV - 09 DEC 2001
Matt Wegener Alastair Ritchie |
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Sarawak 23 NOV - 09 DEC 2001
Matt Wegener Alastair Ritchie |
We started planning the trip 3 months in advance (01 AUG 2001). I checked return flight prices from DUS (Düsseldorf Airport) via SIN (Changi Airport - Singapore) to HKG (Hong Kong International Airport) on the Internet. Good web sites are: ba-ticket-direkt, traveltopia, billiger-reisen, flug.de, mcflight, ebookers. In the end it turned out that booking it directly with Lufthansa was cheapest (EUR 923).
We also needed flights for the Sarawak trip: JHB - Johor Bahru - Senai Airport, KCH - Kuching, MYY - Miri, MZV - Mulu (abbreviations). Alastair got those directly from a Malaysian Airlines travel agent in Singapore (EUR 248). The Sarawak expedition was an organized tour from Borneo Eco Tours and operated together with their partners Seridan Mulu and Interworld Travel. The JB5 Sarawak package was ideal for us (EUR 766). Last year I went to Sabah also with Borneo Eco Tours.
Friday 23 Nov (Düsseldorf - Frankfurt - Singapore)
I took a taxi to the airport at about 13:00. It was very cold outside, 3 °C. Huge queue at Lufthansa check-in. I bought some Underberg for the Ibans. 4 hours wait in FRA for the flight at 20:30 (SIA 747 Megatop). Had 2 McCafé pizzas and a weiss beer. Bought some wall calendars as presents. Got on the plane. Singapore airlines has a large selection of films and games which you can access on your personal video display with the detachable handset in the armrest. I tried getting some sleep, but it was too uncomfortable.
Saturday 24 Nov (Singapore)
The plane arrived at 15.55, 20 minutes late. I was the first off scum class and straight thru "other passports" quickly. I waited ages at the belt for my rucksack to come through. Alastair met me just outside customs and we took a taxi SGD24 (inc. 5 SGD weekend surcharge) to his flat at Nanyang Technological University (NTU). They are building an extension to the MRT from Tanamerra station to the Expo and airport, so this will be a good alternative in a few years time once it's finished. We got to the flat at 16:45. I sorted out my kit, had a shower and got ready to go out (with the calendar presents).
We got the bus from NTU to Boon Lay MRT (Mass Rapid Transit rail system) where I photographed the very sensible "No Durians" sign. We got out at Buona Vista and walked 10 minutes to Holland village. Shirlene, Alastair's fiancée, arrived in her small red car at the car park opposite the main street. The Italian restaurant "Michelangelo" nearby looked like a good idea. It was very dark inside with only candles for light. The food was excellent. I had a calamari starter followed by meat pasta with a couple of glasses of house red wine. Shirlene had a fish steak, Alastair some pasta salad mixture. Before the main course I gave Shirlene and Alastair the 2002 calendars that I had bought as amusing presents - Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears! Shirlene left after the meal and Alastair and I continued to the Baden Baden German pub at the start of the main Holland village street. We both had a weizen (Paulaner hefe and Erdinger Kristall). Later we took a taxi back to the flat.
Sunday 25 Nov (Singapore)
We had lunch at Kopitjan at the Boon Lay MRT. I had some crap curry with rice and mutton dollops on a separate bowl. Alastair had Chinese style beef, which was much better. We took the bus to Orchard Road where we did some shopping at Marks & Spencer and HMV. CDs were only SGD17 but DVDs were expensive e.g. SGD 60, also for the Germany 1 : England 5 DVD which I almost bought. We had a break at Spinelli (similar to Starbucks) next to the Citibank.
For dinner we went to Chijmes to China Jump after a Victoria Bitter and a Tiger at Father Flannigans Irish pub. We also entered the football prediction competition. I estimated 2:0 Alastair said 1:1. I had chicken and BBQ ribs with jacket potato. Taxi back. (The score for the Celtic:Rangers match was something like 3:1 so we both lost).
Monday 26 Nov (Miri, Sarawak)
We left the flat at 05:45 by Mercedes Taxi (normal in Germany, but luxury in Singapore) to get to the Malaysian airlines bus terminal at the Copthorne Orchid Hotel on time. The bus took us across the causeway from Singapore to Malaysia heading for Jahor Bahru Airport (JHB). After a half hour wait at the Singapore Checkpoint - one of the passengers had decided to cross the causeway on her own on foot, leaving the rest of us fuming on the bus wondering where she had got to. Eventually we started up and went across, quickly through the Malaysian customs, to find the missing passenger (wearing a very silly hat) waiting for us on the other side. One of the other passengers took it upon himself to tell off the miscreant.
Uneventful journey on to JB airport, the back way through all the Kampongs. Then flew Malaysian Airlines to Kuching, connecting to the 12:30 flight to Miri - arrived at Miri at 13:10 to be met by Luke from Seridan Miri (partners of Borneo Eco Tours), to take us to the Rihga Royal Hotel, Miri - very plush! Checked into the hotel, Alastair went for a workout in the Gym and a swim in the pool, which was beautiful and huge, but the water wasn't very clear. The beach was undergoing renovation - there was a huge JCB digger sitting on it! I was phoning the office and writing postcards.
Went into Miri in the evening on the 18:00 hotel shuttle bus. The town seemed very quiet with not much to do, we drew a blank in my quest for "dodgy gear" - there weren't even very many good places to eat. Eventually we settled on the Chinese seafood place opposite the hotel - excellent food and reasonable prices, a very good find. We had steamed fish, special veg with prawns and quail with seafood-fried rice. Then back to the hotel bar and cocktails - I had 4 cocktails, a Strawberry Daiquiri, followed by a Pina Colada, an AK 47, and a Long Island Iced Tea, which were nice. Alastair had two Black Russians and a Margherita. We tried to get me a Tiger beer uniform, but the woman wearing it couldn't understand why I would want one! Some things just defy explanation.
Tuesday 27 Nov (Mulu, Sarawak)
We had a quick breakfast and were then taken to the airport by Luke our tour rep at 08:00. We were only allowed 10kg max hold luggage and then we had to get on the scales ourselves so that they could calculate the weight of the small Malaysian Airlines De Havilland Twin Otter plane (max of 19 seats, non pressurized propeller plane). The flight was only 40 mins. I could see what the pilots were doing and really feel every move and air pocket. We flew at 1180m max height according to my watch. According to Luke the other airline (Vision Air) gets you there faster "because the pilot's American".
We landed at the small Mulu airstrip and were met at the airport by Reynolds a young Malaysian guide. Before the airstrip was built, it was an all-day trip upriver from Miri, at the sea). It was quite a shock to see the mess that the logging operations make from the air. Saw the resort from the air as we came in to land, and were very quickly through the terminal building. Baggage reclaim was more take it off the trolley than collect it from the conveyor belt. We got on the hotel courtesy minibus and it took 15 minutes to reach the Hotel - the Royal Mulu Resort. This resort complex is in the middle of the jungle built on stilts with more than 100 chalet rooms. After checking in, we went for a tour of the hotel - saw the hotel longboats, canoes, and rock climbing routes. There seem to be more things to do than just the caves - going to see the pinnacles looks like a good couple of days, and Gunung Mulu takes 4 days - 2 if you rush it and don't look at the view. We also checked out the canteen across the river - much cheaper for beer and dinks than the hotel! I had a beer and Alastair a coffee before we headed on to the hotel dining room for lunch.
After lunch, we met our guide, Reynolds, to go to Lang's cave and the Deer cave. After a short drive to the Mulu National Park HQ we trekked 3 km on plank walkways through the jungle investigating the plants and creatures en route. We saw a pygmy shrew, several lizards, butterflies, millipedes, tree monitor lizards and an amorphallus tree. Eventually we arrived at the Lang cave. We saw the most amazing calcite structures that were millions of years old. 1cm of growth was equivalent to 100years. We saw stalactites, stalagmites, columns and tentacle style things. One particularly memorable one looked like a frozen waterfall, while another was like a series of fans descending from the cave roof. Nice.
After the Lang's cave, we went to the Deer cave (aka the BAT CAVE), apparently so named because the deer used to gather there to drink the water coming out the cave. It is home to about 3 million bats, and several thousand swiftlets, which produce 2-3 tons of droppings per day, the inside of the cave was liberally sprinkled with them, although the smell wasn't too bad. We saw the Abraham Lincoln profile, and went through the cave to the other entrance - seeing a fluorescent centipede on the way. We also saw the greenery at the eastern end of the cave, known as the "Garden of Eden" - you can see why. On the way back, we saw more interesting insects, and the algae growing on the rocks. Once we were out of the cave, we went down to the bat observation station - which is designed to look like a bat.
At about 5.30pm we saw the bats beginning to gather at the cave entrance, and they began to stream out like a long ribbon, several thousand bats in each squadron. It looked almost like a swarm of ants crossing the rock face before they could be seen against the sky. This went on for 30 minutes, with some streams lasting for 2-3 minutes. Apparently the record is a single 22-minute stream. Then we headed back to the park HQ to the accompaniment of the "Walk Walk" cries of the tree frogs. We also saw some fireflies along the way.
It took only 35 minutes to get back, after which we went back to the hotel in a minibus. We had dinner in the Chinese shanty canteen opposite the resort across the bridge - meat, rice and vegetables, cheap but tasty, and were joined by a bat which was picking off the insects clustered round the lights. (MYR 15 for the dinner with rice soup - mixed meat and green beans). MYR6 there for a can of Tiger, it was MYR18 in the hotel restaurant!
Wednesday 28 Nov (Mulu - Kuching, Sarawak)
Boat trip to Clearwater and Wind Caves. Got up at 07:30 for breakfast, to meet Reynolds at 09:00. The air-con wasn't quite working as it should - the room was freezing! Sorted out our bags for the flight and had breakfast. I had the local set - a huge bowl of Laksa, Alastair had the western food.
Met Reynolds at 09:00 to be told that we had to use alternative transport - the usual boat had a damaged propeller and they were waiting for a new one to come up from Miri. Set off up river. We went upstream, stopping at Mulu village to pick up our lunch, went past the National Park entrance (underneath the wobbly Indiana Jones bridge) and then went upstream to the Penan settlement. Had a look at their handicrafts - mostly woven mats and bags, God bless our home embroidery pieces, crosses, and wooden utensils. Alastair purchased an ironwood spoon; I bought a big ironwood spatula useful for e.g. serving pizza slices.
We went back to the boat and headed on towards the Wind Cave, up the river- quite exposed to the sun, and very winding. Quite a lot of tree trunks in the water, as well as half submerged rocks and gravel shallows. Most power came from the outboard, but there was one section where Reynolds had to punt us through with a pole!
We came round into a very shaded stretch with a landing stage, which reminded Alastair of the eerie scene from the film "Apocalypse Now" with the B-52 tailplane. The landing stage was where we got out to go to the Wind Cave (Cave of the Winds). The first part of the Wind Cave was much the same as the other sections of caves that we'd seen, but the second section, after the vent hole, was spectacular. It is called the "King's chamber" because many of the stalagmites look like chess pieces.
We also saw the cyano-bacteria, white flakes growing on the limestone and slowly dissolving it, turning hard rock into a muddy paste. After about 40 minutes, we went back to the boat for a short ride to the landing stage for the Clearwater cave. It is actually off the main river, up a short tributary, which is actually the outflow of the river in the cave itself. We stopped for a short coffee break before going up the 202 steps to the Clearwater cave. The cave can actually be reached by "adventure caving" from the Wind cave - 8km and the record is 3 hours. Most people take 5 or 6.
The river runs through the bottom of the cave, so it was rather noisy with the sound of running water. Its flow rate is 150,000 tons per hour in the wet season, about 100,000 tons per hour today. The sides of the cave showed the action of the river, as it washed away the limestone. The bottom of the river was covered with knife-like flakes of rock, which are apparently very sharp. There is no polishing action, as there would be in a surface river, as there are no suspended particles.
Went down the steps to try the water temperature - very chilly. According to Reynolds, the temperature is 24°C - it felt a lot colder than that. At the entrance to the Wind cave, we saw some rock formations caused by a bacterium which attacks the rock, which only works in sunlight - so the effect is craters of a particular shape, from which you can see the effect of the sunlight.
Apparently the Clearwater cave is home to a unique plant, the hanging single leaved plant. The caves were just amazing - definitely to be recommended. Back down the steps to the shelters for a picnic lunch - fried chicken, rice and vegetables, followed by green mandarins. Alastair took a swim in the river, by the spring. The water was clear, clean, and very cold, especially at the deep pool of the spring itself. The water was shallow (knee high) up to the spring, where it suddenly shoots down - so deep we couldn't see the bottom. I decided not to go swimming; I took photos. A very slippery log, easier coming up than going down, was the access plank to the river pool.
Following the Clearwater cave, we also went down the Lady cave, named after a stalagmite in the cave, which in profile looks like a statue of the Virgin Mary. There was also a rock formation that cast a shadow resembling a couple kissing. At the end, there's a vent with a dead wild boar at the bottom, and plenty of swiftlets flying around. It's easier to hear them than see them. After lunch, we headed back to the hotel - the boat went a lot quicker downstream. Later on, they started having trouble with the outboard - the principal reason being to avoid damaging the propeller. Another longboat overtook us - it was really motoring.
Back at the hotel, we sorted out our gear and headed for the Mulu airport in heavy rain. The airstrip at Mulu is quite fun - we saw the very young pilot from Vision Air, his aeroplane looked larger and faster than the MAS Twin Otter. The flight to Miri was uneventful, there was a good view of the cockpit from where we were sitting, I was more intent on what the pilots were doing than what was happening outside. Short wait at Miri for our connection to Kuching - a Boeing 737. It was nice to walk across the tarmac to the plane in the sun - not so much fun if it's raining, that's what the luggage trolley full of umbrellas was for!
At Kuching, our new guide for the next three days met us, Francis Robert, and he took us into town, telling the story of Rajah Brooke on the way. Checked into the very plush Crowne Plaza hotel, opposite the Khatalistiwa Café and next to the Parkson department store. While we were checking in, a couple of women came sprinting down the stairs and ran past the front doors. A couple of moments later, they were followed by a pair of security guards from the Riverside shopping center, by which time the women had disappeared. It later turned out that the two women were shoplifters and they had hidden in the Ladies' toilets of the hotel. Presumably the guards just waited outside the doors until they came out.
We had a welcome drink in the Karaoke lounge of the hotel (with karaoke accompaniment, the Japanese guests were actually quite good) before going to Top Spot Seafood Restaurant (an amazing place, on the top level of a multi storey car park) for dinner. I had a lot of fun (hard work and very messy) eating black pepper crab and prawns. Alastair had sea bass - much less effort for a lot more meat. Then we went on the Kuching-by-night tour - along the riverside to the Istana and the square tower and courthouse, back via Jalan India - meeting some rather dodgy people along the way. According to Francis, many of them are Transvestites and Ex-Men.
Thursday 29 Nov (Skrang River, Sarawak)
Journey to Iban Longhouse on the Skrang River
We met Francis at 09:00 and got into the bus for the 4-hour journey to the boat landing area on the Skrang River. We traveled down the highway towards Miri, stopping at Serian to look at the vegetable and meat markets (lots of durians) and for a coffee (I had a beer). Dropped in on Francis' family to drop off some food and saw the lads fixing the motorbikes, also two of his sons and a couple of nieces. Drove on down the road to Lachau for lunch at a popular Chinese lunch spot, which was empty when we arrived at 13:00. At 13:15 a few buses full of day-trippers came by, and they quickly filled up all the remaining tables. Lunch for the bus parties seemed to be what kept the coffee shop in business. Lunch was excellent - fried chicken, fried rice, local spinach, curried chicken and beansprouts. Afterwards I was introduced to the local coffee: default and subtraction - black, no sugar is Kopi-O-Kosong!
After lunch, we continued on for 1 ½ hours to the Skrang river, past the forestry experimental station, pepper plantations, churches and so on, until we reached a small longhouse by the Skrang river, where we transferred to an Iban longboat - narrower and deeper than the Orang Ulu longboats at Mulu, and somewhat less stable as well. Francis explained that the keel board is Ironwood, for robustness and long life, while the sides are a softer wood and are replaced several times during the life of the boat.
We headed upstream, with many small boys jumping into the river for our/their entertainment (school holidays in Malaysia). The river is narrow and twisting, and seems quite deep in places. Our helmsman was a real expert at reading the river, knowing exactly where the shallows and the deep channels were - a lifetime of experience. The river trip took 45 minutes, past many bamboo fish traps, which look like preaching pulpits, and moored boats at other longhouses, farms and fishing sites. We could see the clearings for farming and farm shelters past the riverbank trees. Apparently Iban couples use these shelters on their honeymoon as well - more privacy than in the longhouse with the rest of the family.
We rounded a bend to see the longhouse standing above a gravel bank on the river, with some other longboats pulled up on the bank. We later saw more, of various sizes, on the tributary river (the Marat), which gives the longhouse its name - Nanga Skrang-Marat. We were introduced to our accommodation (described as a 5-skull hotel (instead of 5-star)), a longhouse-style dormitory a short distance away from the main longhouse. The guesthouse is a joint venture between Interworld Travel and the longhouse people, apparently it gets quite busy sometimes, but we were the only guests there on that day. It's a long wooden hut with corrugated iron roof, and sleeping platforms with mattresses and mosquito nets on either side. There's an open verandah at the end and a covered walkway down the side facing the river.
Once we'd sorted ourselves out, we went to look around the longhouse. This one contains 24 families and is about 150m in length. It is organized into a central passageway, a covered area for receiving guests and doing jobs like weaving and mending the fishing nets, an area outside where we could see the Ibans preparing the pepper, and private apartments for the families. The most important families live in the middle of the longhouse, with the headman's house being no. 13 - apparently this isn't unlucky in Iban culture, and you can't trick a spirit by calling it 12A or number 14 anyway!
We didn't meet the headman, as he was away on official business, but we were greeted by his son-in-law. Francis explained that the role of the headman is more as speaker of the house than prime minister - all major decisions are made by a 2/3 majority vote by the longhouse residents. The requirements are that the headman must be a man of good standing and character, and a supporter of Barisan Nasional, as opposition longhouses go to the back of the queue for the government handouts.
The longhouse is surrounded by many other storerooms, pigsties, a boathouse where wood is cured, and a blacksmith across the river - they buy iron in bars and then work it into the tools they need. We also saw the fishpond and the water butts for treating pepper (white pepper has to be soaked). The water pipe for the longhouse comes from a waterfall up the Marat river.
We had tea at the longhouse, with the headman's son-in-law again, and saw the skulls - very old, a remnant of the headhunting days a century or more ago. Other prized possessions included swivel guns (cannons) and a framed portrait of the Queen and Prince Philip, plus the obligatory pictures of Dr M (the PM) and the King and Queen of Malaysia. We returned to the guesthouse while Francis prepared supper. Dinner was excellent, rice with chicken, pork and vegetables. We ate in the headman's apartment, again with his son-in-law. Inside the apartment, there were gifts from all over the world, plus family portraits and huge clay storage jars and bronze gongs. Francis explained that although they no longer keep their daughters in an upstairs room, they do have a separate sleeping area for the maidens in the main room. The kitchen was at the back, and several of the apartments had electric lighting. We could hear the generators going outside. After dinner, we had an impromptu craft fair where we were able to buy some bits and pieces - Alastair got a mat, and a couple of cases, I bought a mini blowpipe with darts, an ironwood longboat model and a key ring.
Once the fair was over we presented our gifts, my Underbergs (bitter German herbal liquor) and Gummi bears, Francis' crackers, and Alastair's pens and notebooks, and the longhouse people put on a show - first of all in tribal finery, feathers, silver belts, headdresses and all, followed by impromptu dances by all the longhouse people, after which they collected their share of the prizes. The Underberg caused some surprise! Once all the Ibans had performed it was our turn, we probably caused much amusement with our hopeless dancing. There's no place for self-consciousness in a longhouse. We tried rice wine - Tuak - with our dinner; it was very tasty and not too strong. After the dances, we tried distilled rice wine, which was not unlike whisky in taste, very potent. According to Francis, Islam never caught on with the Ibans because they like their pork and their Tuak too much. Christianity's message was much better received, although the majority of the people in this longhouse follow the traditional animist ways, hence the spirit trees at the entrances.
Eventually, we went back to the guesthouse for a nightcap (finishing off the distilled Tuak) and a bedtime story - Francis told us about his experiences as a tour guide, including a very funny story about a pair of Dutch women who went skinny-dipping at the seastack at Bako National Park and got their bag with clothes stolen by the Macaque monkeys. He also told us about Iban rituals and customs, like the system for assessing the suitability of a couple. First couples cannot marry, and "generational" differences are also a no-no. Essentially, it goes something like this. Suppose there is a common ancestor, A. E and F cannot marry as they are first cousins, but H and I can marry as they are second cousins, even if they are several years apart. However, J cannot marry I, even if they are the same age, because that is considered as incest. If the couple are really set on getting married, the curse can be broken by the medicine man. The ritual involves sprinkling pig's blood on the couples' heads, then washing it off in the river, and the wedding usually follows immediately after this ritual. Francis told us that he's only ever seen this ritual once.
Iban burial customs vary between the animists and the Christians. The animists are buried with their most cherished possessions, with their feet facing the rising sun. The cemetery is always the other side of the river from the longhouse, and the coffin has to be taken there by the most difficult possible route, to make it easier for the spirit in the long run. Christian Iban are also buried in a cemetery across the river, but their cherished possessions are burned. We weren't sure why that is. Eventually, we finished the bottle and went to bed after midnight.
Friday 30 Nov (Kuching, Sarawak)
Return from Nanga Skrang-Marat to Damai Beach Resort, Kuching.
I woke up at 04:30 after hardly any sleep (Alastair thought the anaesthetic helped him sleep quite well). The animals moving around outside were very loud, and a dawn chorus - cockerels with frogs forming the bass section. Stayed in bed until 7.15 am listening to the longhouse folk going to work, but didn't manage to get any more sleep. The jungle really is noisy!
At 8:15, we went for breakfast in the Longhouse, an excellent spread of banana fritters, egg, sausage and bread, provided by Francis. We were joined, once again, by the headman's son-in-law, after which we went back to the guesthouse to sort out our stuff and take some photos.
We tried our hand at blowpipe shooting (shooting two in succession was quite difficult, you hold one dart in the pipe with your teeth) with the help of two of the older men. They were ex Sarawak rangers, the force that provided Iban trackers to British and Commonwealth forces in the Malayan Emergency and the later Confrontation with Indonesia. Francis was a pretty dab hand with the blowpipe, just imagine what the boys who really have to hunt with one are like - although they mostly use shotguns for big game such as wild boar. It is the 21st century after all. After the blowpipe demonstration, we loaded our gear and ourselves into the longboat and headed downriver. It was quite sunny, with other longboats travelling down the river overtaking us - obviously in a hurry. I think our boat was taking it slowly for the benefit of the tourists! At the landing station there was a huge traffic jam of parked longboats.
On the way back to Kuching in the van, we had a look at Sri Aman, where the peace treaty ending the communist uprising in Sarawak was signed. Francis told us the story of the Malaysian fast food chain, Sugar Bun - apparently the founder originally wanted a KFC franchise! We stopped for lunch at the Taman Rekreasi Ranchan, near Francis' home. It's a very pretty park with a waterfall, and picturesque bridges, and we went up the tree tower - you can't actually see much from the top, but it took up 5 minutes. They filmed "Farewell to the King" here, starring Nick Nolte. A commercial flop, but Alastair remembered seeing it on a sleepless night in Glasgow - the kind of film they show at 23:30 on BBC 2. It's a nice spot, near Francis' family home - he says that the picnic shelters are usually filled with people at weekends, and people rent the chalets there for barbecues as well.
Checked into the Damai Holiday Inn Beach Resort, on the peninsula next to the Sarawak cultural village. The room was OK, but the Crowne Plaza was much better. The restaurant was quite good though, we had a very tasty chicken curry for dinner, and at long last I managed to find myself a banana daiquiri! Great.
Saturday 01 Dec (Bako National Park, Sarawak)
Bako National Park
The Hotel restaurant actually had Roti Canai (Roti Prata) for breakfast! (Alastair's favorite). We met Francis at 09:00am to be told that the tide wouldn't let us go through to Bako until 11:30 or 12:00. In the meantime we visited the Cat museum at Kuching North City Hall. The place was a fascinating mixture of the historical and the truly kitsch - there was even one exhibition sponsored by Whiskas, and another of all things Hello Kitty. One interesting exhibit was the cats of Borneo - the Leopard Cat, Clouded Leopard Cat, Marbled Cat, Malay Civet (not a proper cat, but a member of the bearcat family) and felis cattus, the domestic cat - the one on display was called Puss and was killed in a hit and run accident - he had won several cat show prizes in Kuching. Kuching means Cat in Malay. I had my photo taken in the silly cartoon display thing.
After the Cat museum, we headed for Bako, past the football stadiums and state mosque. We arrived at Bako boat launch station at 11:00 to hear that a group of tourists had been stranded on the sand bar by the falling tide. We had to wait for the water level to rise, so we stopped at the coffee shop before heading out to the boat. It still took longer than expected to get to the park, and we even ran aground once or twice. We saw some very large mudskippers, and the fishermen working on the mud flats. The tide was very low - the boatman had to jump out and push the boat over a couple of the shallow parts. We'd asked the boatman to drop us at Telok Pandan Kecil, where the sea-stack is, and had to paddle ashore. We then took the hiking trail back to the National Park HQ. The first stage was through the cliff vegetation, where we saw cicadas and several different varieties of pitcher plant, and saw the Jungle Viagra tree. Apparently it has two uses, as it can also be used as an insect repellent, because it makes the sweat taste very bitter. Passed across the dry zone (which was wet at this point, rainy season) and just as we were coming to the dipterocarp forest we heard some proboscis monkeys crashing through the trees. We didn't see any, because they had been scared away by the group of fat Bavarian tourists who came crashing past us moments later. Went on down to the Park HQ past the (now flooded) Mangrove swamp, so we didn't see any fiddler crabs or mudskippers.
Lunch was at the Park HQ - Curried Mutton and Chicken with Nasi Goreng, washed down with soft drinks, after which we got back in the boat, this time for a high-speed journey back to the van at Kampung Bako. We drove back through Kuching North, where we heard the story of the Bosnian Muslim refugees who all turned out to be related to the chief minister's wife! Got back to the Damai Beach Resort at 17:30, and tried to have a game of snooker - really annoying the group of boys who were waiting to play pool. We tried the Treez bar, where we had hawker style food, Satay and Murtabak. Quite good, though I think the Murtabak was better value.
Sunday 02 Dec (Kuching, Sarawak - Singapore)
Kuching Sunday Market, and Sarawak Museum
There were many more people at Breakfast this morning, the resort really fills up at weekends. We saw Sumo Junior and the rest of his family again - were they the ones making all that noise the night before? We packed, checked out, and met Francis and the van at 10:00 to go into Kuching. Our first stop was the Sunday market, off Jalan Sato, with various lanes called Lorong Rubber 1, 3, 5 running off it. The Sunday market was huge, divided into various sections - vegetables, fruit, fish, poultry, plants, clothing, watches. Some of the fish stalls were ripe - worse than the durians (if that's possible).
We didn't buy anything, although the T-shirts and souvenirs were very cheap, and moved on to the Sarawak museum via the Malay village, where we saw the house where the anti-cession protests were organized. Sarawak museum has a fine collection, with good models. We took a look at the aquarium before we moved on to the civic centre to see the view of Kuching - from there you can see the view of all of Kuching, and how the city is screened by the mountains, which is why there are so few nasty storms. The building was built in 1993, to mark 30 years as part of Malaysia, and the roof is supposed to resemble a Melanau sun hat. The view was pretty good - had the obligatory group photo.
Francis presented us both with an ink drawing of a pitcher plant, which was very nice of him. We gave him a small cash gift for his family, and took our leave at the airport, where we had to sort out the minor matter of not having Sarawak stamps in our passports. (We should have gone through immigration at Kuching before continuing our flight to Miri). The aeroplane back to Singapore was enlivened by a group of 26 extremely loud children from the Church of God in Singapore. They weren't very well behaved and one of them started talking to me about world events and the meaning of life. We should have summoned the cabin crew to subdue him!
We took a taxi back to the flat and reorganized our stuff. In the evening we went to Boon Lay shopping center for dinner in an American style food place.
Monday 03 Dec ....continue to Hong Kong page ..........
e-mail: matt.wegener@web.de
Updated 06 JAN 2002