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Published: November 15th 2009
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Hello
Stu and I are now officially jungle people...well as long as there's a well defined path and someone has swept for snakes before we arrive!
On our last day in Kuching, we headed off to the Bako national park. It was a beautiful day and the hostel lady had assured us it wasn't going to rain. After the usual entertainment on the public bus, we had to take a short boat ride to the park. I was not amused to see the 'Beware of the Crocodiles' sign as I boarded the very small wobbly boat. When we arrived it was very much a scene out of The Beach. It felt like we had arrived at a tropical island all to ourselves.
So off went along a pretty rough trail into the jungle. I was worried the tarrantula hat would not have enough power to stave off the crocs. However, we climbed quite a bit up hill and soon I was content that the crocs couldn't climb. We were treated to an early show by the proboscis monkeys, a favourite because of their ridiculous noses. They reminded me of an old man who had taken too
much whisky in his time.
We headed on full of hopes when a little rain began.... enjoying the respite from the heat, we decided not to put on our waterproofs straight away. Big mistake! The rain got harder and within seconds we were soaked to the skin. We were expecting the leech army to start attacking, but so far no show (there are leeches in Borneo that drop from the trees to get at you....tarrantula hat has new roles!!!). Despite the non stop rain, the route was spectacular. We saw some strange meat eating plants and heard much rustling in the bushes but were unable to see the cause. Towards the end of the route we saw a bunch of silver leaf monkeys and some bearded pigs. The pigs looked friendly enough, but apparently they can easily dissembowl a human with one strike of their tusks. We kept a nice distance.
We were sad to leave Kuching. It's a really relaxed and unassuming city with loads of places to eat. But on we go onto a ferry across the South China Sea and up the Batang Rejang river to a town called Sibu. The river is known as
the Amazon of Borneo and it was a huge, muddy, winding, impressive sight. However we were a bit shocked by how much wood we saw floating down it. It soon became very clear where it was coming from. We had heard about the destruction of the rainforest in Borneo but we didn't expect to see it at first hand. Boats and boats filled with timber from the rainforest were sailing down the river. All along the river bank there were sheds filled to the rafters with logs. It was quite a shocking sight, made worse when we found out that most of these beautiful slow growing dark wood trees would be sent to America to make plywood.
The town of Sibu wasn't great. There seemed to be a swarm of birds outside our window, and I swear, occasionally, one of them would land on the sill and peck at the window! Next stop Miri after an 8 hour bus trip in monsoon rain. Would have been ok if the bus had been watertight!
The main attraction in Miri is the nearby Niah caves. It was a 3k walk to the caves through primary rain forest. We didn't see
to much along the way except for the occasional bird, butterfly and lizard, but Stu was lucky enough to spot a flying lemur. The noise in the forest was incredible. Again we heard lots of rumbling in the jungle but couldn't spot what was making them. I have to admit, we were occasionally relieved not to see the creature that was creating the noise. Once we arrived at the caves they were incredible. We headed through them on a small wooden walk way and we both needed hats this time....to protect us from the bat poo. These caves are the home to the birds that create their nests from saliva and then the chinese eat it in birdnest soup. There were some locals collecting the nests using massive sticks with torches on the end. A lot of people are killed each year collecting the nests to create this weird delicacy.
Parts of the cave were very slippy (with the poo) and at times my torch didn't seem to make a dent on the total darkness of the cave. One of the caves had some ancient cave paintings and burial boats still preserved. It was a great trip but walking
through the jungle is completely draining.
Moving on again tomorrow. Borneo feels like one big adventure!
Love
Lisa and Stu
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