Jungle

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Hey guys, this is the second time i've had to write this - I did it before, but just as I was about to publish it, the computer crashed - an hour of effort, wasted! So this is going to be a bit more concise.

Anyway, last post I mentioned that we were about to fly to Kuching I think - Kuching is the capital of Sarawak, one of the two Malaysian Borneo states (the other being Sabah, where we are heading next).

Actually, we weren't originally going to stay there, but a girl on the plane convinced us to - she was going on about all the local dishes and cheap places to stay, so we did. Glad we did - tried all kinds of stuff - a soup called Laksa (noodles, soup, meats and loadsa of spices) and Kolok Mee. Also tried a whole load of bizzare fruit, like Tompok (melon sized, and spiky, which smells really bad when you open it, and you eat it by sucking the flesh from the big seeds inside); and Langsan (look like little potatoes, but have segments of gelatinous stuff inside). Actually, thinking about it, we more or less just ate in Kuching - had a load of spring rolls and Char sui baw too.

The next day we set off on what would be a 2 day journey to get to the tiny town of Belaga, where our jungle trek was to begin. We travelled by boat along the main river (no real roads in the region, all covered by dense forest) to Kapit; then the next day on to Belaga. Managed to organise the trek (3 days and 2 nights) to begin the next morning.

Trek was well worth it - lots of jungle, boats, waterfalls, longhouses (local tribespeople's houses - we stayed in the chief's bedroom after drinking lots of the local spirit, 'Hot Water', like rice wine). Got absolutly filthy though, covered in mud and rain and all kinds of rubbish - have just put on some clothes to wash. We also te a whole variety of stuff we found/caught, including BBQ'd frogs and wild melons (not together though).

The day we got to back to Belaga from the longhouse, we basically just relaxed in the afternoon. That evening was Chinese New Year, and a bloke called Daniel, who is the leader of the village as far as we could tell, invited us over for dinner and a few drinks. Then at midnight there were loads of fireworks - all very exciting.

Then this morning we set off for Miri, which involved a 4x4 journey over very slippery, dodgy logging roads, at the end of which we were deposited by the side of a road to wait for a passing bus that would take us the rest of the way. Miri itself is pretty quiet, both due to it being small, and because it's Chinese new year's day today (so people are all with their families or drunk. Or both.).

Anyway, tomorrow we're catching an internal flight to Mulu national park, where we're going to see the world's biggest limestone cave (no idea - hopefully it'll be good), and do some walking and stuff.

Anyway, hope everything is OK back home with everyone. With any luck I will soon find somewhere where I can upload some photo's, and make the Blog a bit more interesting.

Simon

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Comments

[Jenna]

Sounds exciting!
Hi Simon, Sounds like you are having a great time so far. How did your bbqd frogs taste? Like chicken by any chance? Hope you enjoy the rest of your traveling time. Jenna