The land of constant rain

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Flying from KL to Kuching again left us reeling at the cost of excess baggage on budget airlines (note to self: pack light next time!). We arrived to Kuching in Sarawak. Sarawak is our first state in Borneo (yes, a part of Malaysia) where we promptly received another stamp in our passport (semi autonomous at that!). Met two Dutch twins in the airport, Patty and Vivien, and shared a cab into town as the buses don't run until September 1st (we were 2 days too early).

Checked into the Oriental Hotel before taking a stroll down the waterfront which was lovely. They call Kuching a "cosmopolitan city perched on the edge of Borneo". Well I'm not sure it lives up to that eloquent description but it is a nice city- when things are open. We happened to arrive a day before Mederka Day (Independence Day) and everything was closed. So we contented ourselves by strolling along the river and through town looking for anything of interest that was open.

We asked around for things to do that night and the next day, searching for Mederka celebrations and were told nothing had been scheduled for this year (bummer we left KL as a big party was planned!). We found out we were wrong. At precisely midnight we were rudely awaken to the sound of loud bangs- fireworks!- and didn't make it outside in time for the only celebration of the day that lasted for a whole 10 minutes!

We did discover a few things during our days in Kuching. Kuching means "'cat" in Malay. This is the cat city. They even have the very first (and perhaps only) museum dedicated entirely to cats! Which was sadly closed. Darn! We did discover that the cats weren't only kept in the museums but there are sculptures of them everywhere. It seemed every roundabout was adorned with one or more cats.

One happy discovery we did make was the local Chinese Temple was having a celebration. Although the true meaning got lost in translation we did find out that it only happens once a year. The devout spent the evening burning paper (that was to represent money) and gave gifts of fruit all spread out on the sidewalk. We also did make a local friend who guided us to a nice restaurant the next day.

The next morning we awoke early headed for the Semenggoh Orang Utan Sanctuary. This sanctuary began rehabilitating orangs in hopes of reintroducing them to the wild. They succeeded. Now the project has moved on to another area of Sarawak as the park has all the orangs it can hold. The park has 12 orang utans that were reintroduced to the wild and they have now had 12 babies born in the wild.

We arrived early for the morning feeding and were not disappointed. The staff at the centre feed the orang utans twice daily to subsidize their diets as the park they live in doesn't have enough food naturally available to support them. We walked the 400 metres to the feeding platform where we stood in silence and waited for the arrival of the orangs. At first fear of disappointment flooded through us which was quickly extinguished by movement high up in the trees.

It was absolutely amazing watching the orangs literally swing through the trees toward the fresh fruit. I had no idea that orangs lived nearly entirely in the trees and use them as their "highways". After all I have only ever seen them in cages at zoos with not a shred of nature around them. First a female arrived from far off in front of us. It took her a good while to come to the feeding platform bending the trees as she came. It seemed to take such little effort from her to actually get there. She bent one tree after the other with her weight and finally made it to the vines heading down to the platform. She quickly dashed forward grabbed a papaya and back up she went. She happily munched away as we heard some more movement in the trees.

In total 3 orang utans graced us with their presence. It was amazing! One spent loads of time on the platform making her way through the bananas (which she peeled one by one before eating!) while another smaller female dashed down to the platform grabbed a whole bunch and raced back up the vine (dropping much of her fruit to the forest floor in her rush). Amazing to see humans closest living relative in the wild. Sadly the orang utans are critically endangered due to the immense amount of logging in Malaysia. Semenggoh itself is struggling for funding as the big business loggers close in. It is devastating to think that my generation may be the last to see orangs in the wild.

After our amazing visit we headed back to Kuching to take in the Sarawak Museum which is supposed to be a gem. We did see a part of it but the rest was closed. Although I think the stuffed animals were a particular favorite of my Dutch friends! 😉 I think "creepy" was the word they used.

Having explored the cat city we caught the express ferry to Sibu, in the pelting rain. 5 hours later we arrived in Sibu, in the pelting rain! We ran to the terminal building soaking ourselves and everything we owned in those 50 feet and desperately hailed a taxi to our hotel - which ended up being a whole block away.

Sibu had a fascinating central market where they sell every type of fruit (including durian that smells of death), veg, seafood and chickens. Many of us in the Western world eat chicken I know but have you ever bought dinner when it was fully alive! Here they sell them in the traditional style- wrapped in newspaper. Must make for a frustrating day for the chicken being wrapped up snuggly in a newspaper tube waiting for someone to come and buy you for dinner. I explored the market and the 7 tiered Chinese temple behind before buying our overnight bus ticket to Miri.

An overnight (and speedy) bus ride later we arrived in Miri only 2 hours from the Brunei border. Wishing they made better headrests on buses (ones that actually hold your head still whilst whipping around corners) we promptly collapsed into bed. Woke up to discover we were in a horrible hotel and promptly found some place else to stay.

Explored the botanical gardens, which was more like a big park, and the local shopping mall before heading back to the hostel via a good local restaurant (that played Madonna during my entire meal!).

Headed to Mulu National Park. The park is not very far away but you can only reach it by boat or by plane. Seeing that the boat ride takes longer and is more expensive I decided to fly to Mulu to take in the natural wonders of the place.

I arrived and booked my afternoon to explore the canopy walk (the longest in the world) and Deer and Lang Caves. Met up with the tour guide (obligatory) and it promptly began to pelt with rain. We stopped a few feet later where he declared if the rain kept up we would have a canceled tour on our hands. Luckily he saw our sad faces and we pushed on through the rain. By the time we arrived at the walkway the rain had stopped and we had an amazing walk through the canopy. We were 25-35 metres off the ground (and over the river at some points) walking through the trees. A really wicked experience. Spent a couple hours looking around before catching my next tour to Deer and Lang Caves.

We started easy with Lang Cave and its many formations and followed it up with Deer Cave.

Deer cave is the largest cave passage in the world and boy is it impressive! Just over 2 kms long and 150 metres wide and high it is mammoth. Walked through in absolute amazement to the "Garden of Eden" where the cave roof fell in allowing a beautiful green lush landscape to grow. Sadly cameras aren't made for caves so I didn't get any great photos.

The cave is also known for its millions of bats and the exodus they make nightly. We witnessed this from inside the cave and sadly the weather turned by the time we got to the proper view point. It then proceeded to pour with rain as I trekked the 3.5 kms back to headquarters.

Dry season show yourself!

It rained (hammered it down) all night into the morning when I was due to go on my next cave adventure upriver. Stopped just before I hopped into the boat and we made our way up the swollen river to Wind and Clearwater Caves. These caves weren't nearly as impressive but still fantastic. Clearwater Cave has a full river running through it which was quite a sight. Got the longboat back down the river enjoying the view all the way and actually got dropped right across from the airport. I must say that's the first time I ever arrived for a flight by boat!

Back in Miri now and heading for Kota Kinabalu (KK) tomorrow and into Sabah (our next and final Malaysia state-I think we have seen them all!)

I thought I would leave you today with a few things we have learned in Malaysia:
1. Just because it's dry season doesn't mean it doesn't rain (everyday!)
2. Always look both ways crossing a one way street (what does that sign mean anyway!)
3. Sidewalks are for parking your motor bike and streets are for cars.. meaning pedestrians walk somewhere in between
4. "Yes, yes" doesn't actually mean yes.
5. Cats are nice until you have to live in a hostel with 6 of them and their cranky owner.

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Photos

Kuching
the cat city

Palace
Kuching

Man of the Forest
the meaning of Orang Utan

Comments

[nz]

that arrow - direction where muslim face when praying

[Christine knupp]

wow
It is great to see some pictures of orang utangs in the wild. It is rather sad to think that our generation may be one of the last to see them in the wild. Thanks for sharing these pictures.