Blogs from Gunung Mulu National Park, Sarawak, Malaysia, Asia
September 26th 2011
Sore from yesterday we get up and enjoy another hearty breakfast of instant oats with no flavour. At half past seven we start the 8.2 kilometre hike to the boat. It takes two hours, ten minutes and not the three hours the guide expected. And the boat is already there so no hanging around. It takes 30 minutes to get back to the HQ and our first stop is the cafe for food. The cards come out and we don't move very far. I swap photos with Paul and Samantha and the English girls come and go. Two o'clock Netta and I say goodbye to Australia, Paul and Samantha and get on a taxi with Michelle (Canada). There's a chance we'll see Paul and Samantha again in the next two weeks. The Mulu airport isn't big ... read more
September 25th 2011
Paul's alarm goes off at 05h00 it's cold and dark and we get up at 05h30. Breakfast is oats, the breakfast of kings. If kings feasted on instant oats and hot water. Our guide is waiting and we start the trek at six. We have until eleven to et to the 2,200 metre point. The first 200 metres is easy, it's a path and the start of the jungle, then it turns slippery and steep. It dries out after another 200 metres, but stays steeps. The path is rugged, but artificial. There are ropes and markers and a clear path to follow, but it's not easy. Before long we're all soaked with sweat. At the halfway point (1,200 meters) we take a break and leave half our water behind. Someone (Australia?) asks about needing a rain ... read more
September 24th 2011
The alarm goes off at 08h00, I'm the only one to get out of bed before 08h30 so no breakfast. Well, a packet of crisps from the park shop. We're just in time to catch the boat up river to the caves, with the obligatory stop at a tribal village (read: mud huts around a market selling tourist tat). I've seen enough 'tribal villages' now to consider just staying on the boat. Back in the boat to the pier outside the cave entrances. First Wind cave, which has two entrances which (with thermal currents) causes a constant cooling draft. The Clear Water Cave is the longest tunnel in SE Asia. The guide is sure to mention, more than once, that (for a fee) we could have caved between the wind cave and the clear water cave. ... read more
September 23rd 2011
At seven the alarm goes off and 15 minutes later so does the next one. Shower, dress and down for breakfast (more free toast. Leave the GH a little after eight and catch a taxi to the airport. The airport layout is a little weird, you have to get your bag checked before you can check-in. And back out past the security gates to get to the terminal. The security on the terminal isn't as tough as some countries, I leave my laptop and a bottle of water in my bag when it's scanned. I don't empty my pockets and still don't set off the metal detector. There's only one waiting area and only one door out to the gates you have to walk from the terminal to the aircraft across the runway. It's a twin ... read more
Gunung Mulu National Park
Published: September 7th 2011Asia » Malaysia » Sarawak » Gunung Mulu National Park
September 7th 2011
From Kuching I caught a local bus to an intersection and then walked for 20 minutes to the jetty for the boat bound for Sibu, only to find out that it was already booked out hours earlier. So I jumped into a taxi and headed across the other side of town to the long distance bus terminal where I found a seat on a bus leaving at 10am. It was a pretty boring 7 hour ride with not a great deal to see. After arriving at the Sibu bus station and finding out the local bus to the centre had stopped running for the day, I jumped into another taxi and found some nice accommodation in the middle of town. Sibu is not a very pretty city, it mainly acts as a commercial centre for the ... read more
August 6th 2011
Mulu National Park Returned now to Kuching after 6 wonderful days in the huge Mulu National Park in Sarawak. We stayed in surprisingly luxurious accommodation at the park HQ, big bungalow with a garden to sit out and watch the birds. The weather was also kind to us, it only rained at night and only one leech was spotted in the whole time! The park is a World Heritage site and known particularly for its caves and bats. We did lots of long (and short) walks around the park and visited all four of the show caves. These are spectacular in their size. The caves are all different with species of insects, bats and swiftlets living in them that the guides point out. One day we did what is called the Garden of Eden Valley walk, ... read more
Caves, some full of bat crap…some RANCID clothing…and eerily tiny swimming suits…on MEN! AHHH!
Published: July 23rd 2011Asia » Malaysia » Sarawak » Gunung Mulu National Park
July 6th 2011
After much deliberation over the past couple weeks, we finally decided that we would go to Gunung Mulu National Park since Jessie found a killer deal on a flight to get there. We were definitely on the smallest plane Nate has ever been on, but pleasantly surprising at the same time. Considering how insanely cheap our tickets were, we were shocked to be fed AND served something to drink on an hour and a half flight. As soon as you land, it’s pretty easy to tell that you’re in the middle of nowhere and there isn’t much going on outside of the park. Actually, the airport is just for the park, there is no other civilization for miles. The airport itself is also pretty basic, as well as the…um…taxis. If you don’t feel like walking to ... read more
July 4th 2011
The 2nd day in Mulu was to go to the other 2 show caves and then fly to Kuching. I got up and it was pouring. Put on all my waterproof gear and joined the guide for the caves. We took a little jetty driver for 1 hour until the caves. Went into cave if the wind first. It is supposed to make a loud whistling sound vuut there was no wind. Had some bizarre cave formations however. Then went to clearer cave which has a fairly large river running through it. The mouth of the cave looks like it has jagged teeth. This cave goes in for about 130km making it one if the longest in the world. The longest is also in Mulu. On this trip there were the Australian couple from the last ... read more
July 3rd 2011
I'm writing this on my iPod so will update this with more detail when I get access to a computer. I'm in the pontiak airport waiting for a flight to Jakarta. Everyone here smokes and in the airport too. Gunung Mulu was pretty fun, albeit quite tame considering. I flew in on the morning of the 3rd and walked from the airport into the park area stopping by my hostel about 20m from the park entrance. It was essentially one big room with roughly 25 beds. Relatively clean but quite basic. Went into the park and went for a hike for about 3 hours to the moonmilk caves and then to a treetop tower. Every trail here is either boardwalk or concrete. Quite upscale and kills the adventure of being in a remote forest. Moonmilk caves ... read more
June 5th 2011
Well technically we're back in Miri right now but we were still in the National Park this morning............... So, 4 days of jungle fun to catch up on. Here goes. Thursday we left Miri and took a 30 min flight to Mulu in the heart of Gunung Mulu National Park. We met our guides and fellow travellers at our hotel on pick up in Miri, the other travellers were a Malaysian family from KL - mum, dad, 3 sons and one son's girlfriend. They were all absolutely lovely and a pleasure to travel with, just the sort of people you're happy to spend a few days with. Mulu seemed hotter and stickier than Miri, if that's possible. We flew on a small plane, the airport was tiny but all pretty efficient. We got a minibus to ... read more
