Regency Pelagus Resort - - WOW!

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By the subject line of the title, you should have been able to figure out where we have been lately. This place was absolutely amazing. We have never known what its ever felt like to be royalty, but we were certainly treated as such from the minute we were picked up in Kapit from our hotel by small motorboat. We were greeted with glasses of rice wine and cold towels and a bunch of smiling faces and quickly learned that we were the only four guests at the resort at this time. The grounds were plunked in middle of the jungle along the river, only a 30-minute boat ride upriver from Kapit.

We spent three days at the jungle resort, every minute filled with either a relaxing moment by the pool or reading by the rushing rapids or amazing experiences including jungle trekking on our own and on a guided walk as well as a guided night jungle trek. The jungle trekking was absolutely amazing with the sounds and sights as we intently listened to one of the staff members, Milang, tell his adventures of being a hunter in the jungle, at times fighting for his own survival by living off his vast knowledge of the plant and animal life. He was absolutely amazing, knowing how to cure many ailment using just plants of the jungle. He easily stopped some bleeding that Mike experienced after he removed a leech from his leg with just a simple crushed leaf. As we walked through the jungle, we would stop and just listen with no lights, and he would be able to locate the sounds of individual creatures from among hundreds of noises it seemed and point them out to us when he turned his light back on.

The meals at Pelagus were incredible as well and very diverse, a combination of Chinese, Malay, Iban, and other cultures that influenced the local cuisine. Jon enjoyed polishing off a bottle of the local rice wine single-handedly one night for a mere $4.00 Canadian. The jungle fruits were plentiful as well as the trees offered coconuts, jackfruit, rambutan, and durian (also known as the King of Fruits and often banned in hotel rooms because of their pungent smell). No surprise that no one but Jon enjoyed eating many of these local fruits. When he was missing, he could often be found at the tree at the entrance to the resort building, enjoying a feed of the ripe rambutan that were only in season once every three years as they grew them naturally, without fertilizer. Laura especially enjoyed the local Iban chicken soup and a variety of fish dishes and dessert was always capped with local fruits or ice cream ... or both!

Another highlight at the resort was a trip to Melang's longhouse where we met his family, his wife and seven children, who all lived in a very cozy, simple section of a huge multi-family longhouse. We learned so much about his life challenges growing up in a simple, but impovrished culture where he would often spend days on end in the jungle, just so he could return with enough market fruits or meats to sell or feed his family. It is a tradition to bring a gift to the longhouse so we had brought a bag of pencils, pens, and huge package of crayons, among other things, that immediately captured the attention of Melang's children and other longhouse young ones. The commotion that ensued after giving them the gifts was incredible to watch and it really gave a sense that these children had for such very simple things in life. They were all very appreciative and were very engaged by our prescence. Of course, the longhouse visit would not have been complete without sharing in several toasts of rice wine, locally brewed by Milang's wife and neighbours, who we were secretly asked to judge against his wifes we're certain.

On our last evening at the resort, they brought in extra staff to provide some local entertainment including some live tribal music and dancing, which was a great time and fascinating to watch and humorous to partake in. We all broke out the "A" moves on the dance floor, although Jon refrained from displaying the reverse worm for fear of injury. We all felt the resort was an amazing experience and extremely reasonable for the cost of our adventuring and catering.

So, we left this morning from the resort on these huge motorized longboat of some type that Laura is convinced looks like a cross between an eel and a submarine. After a 4 hour boat ride upriver from the resort where Jon and Mike spent most of the time riding on the rooftop and watching longhouse dropoffs of everything from people to goods to mail. Tonight we spend the night in a small, remote community named Balaga that is very far upriver and we are the only tourists in town and have been for over a week. Its hard to describe the sensation you get when visit a town that is not used to seeing foreigners, but the further we get upriver, the stranger the looks we get, but they are always friendly and curious, and we have met someone by the name of Daniel from Daniel's Corner who has taken us all under his wing and made our stay very enjoyable in the short time we have been here. We just finished enjoying a feed of wild boar at Daniel's Corner and are heading back there for dinner for some type of cooked, rotted catfish and beans, among other local delicacies no doubt.

Tomorrow we have a big travel day of taking a 4x4 vehicle to the coastal town of Bintulu at 7:30am, arriving there by noon if all goes well, and then jumping a quick flight to Kota Kinabalu that we booked today, which is the capital of the Province of Sabah.

Next on the agenda once we arrive should be traveling to Sandukan where we will have easy access to the turtle and orangutan sanctuaries, and possibly some beach time, among other adventures!

Talk to you all soon!

Love,

Jon and Laura

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