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Published: December 21st 2010
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From Brunei, we got the bus down to Miri, a border town in Sarawak, West Borneo. Miri was mainly going to be used as a stopover before heading on to the famous Niah Caves but we decided to spend a full day looking around the town. It is pleasant enough with various gardens to walk around, a mosque and a Taoist temple. The Taoist temple impressed us the most. From outside, we didn't think that it was going to be so beautiful because of the urban surroundings but once we went into the courtyard, we were stunned by how exquisitely decorated it was. There were clusters of huge red lanterns hanging, dragon pillars, intricately-carved doors and religious icons. Adam particularly liked the sequence of large paintings which all seemed to tell their own humorous, poignant or intriguing stories.
From Miri, we got a bus to Niah Caves National Park. We were staying in the grounds so settled in and then went for a walk intending to get a peep at the Great Cave. However, we headed in the totally wrong direction and ended up walking over 3 miles to a nearby town. It was quite nice though as we passed
by longhouses situated along the river. We found it really sweet when the children would run up saying "Hello!Hello!" When we asked a local directions to the Great Cave and was met with a confused blank stare, we knew we had to head back.
The next day, we fared much better and got the small boat across the river to walk through the jungle to the Traders' Cave. The Traders' Cave was in use until the 1970s and workers with their families would live here collecting swiftlet nests to sell to the Chinese as delicacies. Swiftlet nests are as valuable as gold but very dangerous to get as they are situated so high. We had a look around the cave before going on to the Great Cave. It is unbelievably huge, stretching 250 metres wide. After admiring the vast entrance, we switched on the head torches and followed the wooden-planked stairways for a closer look. It was discovered that the Great Cave was once used as a burial site and a skull dating 40,000 years old was found here, making it the earliest found record of human inhabitancy in the world. The beauty and size of the cave was
incomparable to anything that we have ever seen. As we walked through the cave with the sounds of bats and birds flying above our heads combined with the constant dripping of water from high above, it was sublime. The colours and formations of the rocks make it a very unworldly environment. We then entered the Moon Cave which is a pitch-black section. The rock arches over you as you walk (and stumble!) through. At one point, we switched off our lights just to get a sense of how devoid of light it was. One way to describe it is that it was like a Lord of the Rings film set with these massive structures looming above us which could only be seen when our light hit their surfaces. Eventually, we emerged back into the light and carried on the route to the Painted Cave. The Painted Cave was also used as a burial site although it doesn't date as early as the Great Cave. What makes this place so fascinating is that drawings were found depicting the burial process and spiritual journey of tribe members. There was also 'death ships' that were excavated in this cave. After we had admired
the pre-historic art, we headed back to the Great Cave to wait for the 'Changing of the Guard'. This occurs every evening when swiftlets head back in the cave and bats head out for a night on the town.
It was getting pretty dark so we made our way back to the pier to catch a boat. Disaster struck! We got to the pier to find it completely deserted. No lights. Nothing. We didn't panic at first thinking that there must be someone around. However after shouting 'Hello' for half hour, the blood pressure was definitely rising. It was very dark and we had heard that there were crocodiles in the river so Gabrielle was jumping at every sound. It started to pour down so the lights got turned on to distress and we started shouting for attention. Another half hour passed and we were starting to think that we were going to have to sleep in the jungle for the night, when the most glorious sound of a boat churning its way around the bend of the river reached our ears. We could have kissed the boatman but we managed to restrain ourselves.
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Dom Morris
non-member comment
Sounds like you two are having a cracking time! It's been really interesting reading your blog..looking forward to the next instalment;) Take care x