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Published: April 8th 2013
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I only spent one day in Miri due to time constrictions with my travel plan, but upon my arrival I immediately wished I'd allowed a bit more time. My friend and I decided to hire a car and visit the Niah caves an hour outside of town. The caves are considered one of the great wonders of Sarawak and we felt it would be time well spent.
We arrived at the caves around 1030am, got a map, and rented head torches for 5 MYR. It's about a 3.8 km hike through the rainforest to the caves. Luckily for us, my friend was a biology major when he was in uni so watching the small wildlife along the way was a lot of fun. He was always able to identify what we were looking at and what said creature was doing. Most likely I would have missed quite a bit if I'd done the hike alone. We saw a variety of insects and some birds, and even a squirrel I'd never sen before. The trees and plants were pretty amazing, too, though nothing like how the rainforests are depicted in the movies. Much of the boardwalk trail follows a murky river
and we kept joking about watching for crocodiles. (There was a sign to beware of them at the entrance to the park.) We never did see any.
We reached the caves after a slight detour (an unmarked boardwalk to the left that resembled what our map said we were supposed to do... 1 km later). People used to live in the caves in order to harvest the birds' nests. (Many Asian cultures think the nests have healthful and medicinal properties.) People today still climb up to get the nests, but even after a few hours in the caves, I'm not sure how they do it.
The caves start out light enough to see without a flashlight, so I was confused as to why others already had their head torches on... and why were they wearing gloves?
Further in, the cave opens up into a space so vast words cannot describe it. I've never seen anything like it. In some places there were openings on top letting light shine in, bits of blue sky and green trees barely visible. One opening directly overhead even had water slowly raining down, individual drops sparkling as they fell. It was like
being in a movie, right before the hero has the great revelation that will save them all from some horrible fate. Overhead, bats and birds flew, singing and squealing like a reminder we were in
their home.
The reason for the gloves soon became apparent; if you want to grab a railing--since much of the walkway is slippery--they're covered in droppings. The whole experience gives new meaning to the expression "Batshit crazy." We later figured out the walkway was slippery for the same reason. It was like walking on ice in the dark.
After the big spaces was an area small and dark. Pitch black. We turned off our lights to experience absolute darkness. It was darker than anything I'd ever experienced or imagined. No light from the stars or the moon or a home in the distance. I could touch my nose with my hand and not see it. It was strange not knowing exactly when my hand would make contact. It was equally silent, too. It felt strange to suddenly lose two of my senses.
Slipping and sliding along, we eventually made it to the end. Relief. We sat down for a brief lunch, not
wanting to really touch our food with our hands. The painted caves were further ahead but closed for renovation.
We hiked back out, were swarmed with butterflies, and then sped along back to the park entrance, marveling at it all. Nature truly is glorious.
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