Borneo Continued... Miri, Mulu NP, KK and Uncle Tan's

After we finished up our incredible week in Kuching, we took a flight to the not-so-gorgeous city of Miri, in northern Sarawak province, just south of Brunei. Our only reason for stopping over in this grey, dreary town was to catch a connecting flight on a smaller plane to Mulu National Park, Sarawak's "premier national park and largest conservation zone" and also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Mulu is only accessible by 15 minute flight on a Fokker 50 prop plane, or 12 hours on the river. We chose the plane.

Mulu is an incredible place to visit, nestled deep in the northern interior of Sarawak, Borneo, and features the largest limestone cave system in the world, thousands of species of plants and animals, and three mountains dominated by dramatically eroded features- including the Pinnacles, which are dozens of fifty-meter high razor-sharp limestone spikes formed by the constant splatter of raindrops onto the south face of Gunung (Mount) Api, 5 million years ago.

Back in Miri, though, we checked into an abysmal, disgusting little squalor-hole, Fairland Inn, and set out on foot in the rain to find eats. In desperate search of halfway-decent looking (or just smelling... we'd take smelling) food, we had a moment of weakness and actually bought (and consumed) stale cookies and boxes of milk from a grocery store on the street in the rain. We spent the rest of the evening holed up at Fairland playing Egyptian Ratscrew.

The next day we couldn't wait to get back to the airport and fly to Mulu. It was really amazing seeing all that untouched rainforest out the plane window, with no mark of man-made features or development cutting into the landscape. Once we landed, we were ushered by van to the park HQ, about 500 meters from the airstrip. After visiting Taman Negara in peninsular Malaysia and then Bako and Mulu National Parks in Sarawak, we definitely think that the organization, resources, cleanliness, and helpfulness of guides at the parks on Borneo is markedly better. Mulu's accomodation was spacious, cheap (50 RM for private, large hardwood-floored fan room with private shower and Western toilet), and very clean. The Cafe Mulu was a little overpriced, but the food was good quality, averaging about 11 RM each per meal.

Catt, on arrival at Mulu

As soon as we arrived, our Dutch friends from Bako National Park, Carina and Johan spotted us from the river that runs below the entry walkway into the park, and we met up for lunch. We spent the next two and a half days with them having great conversation over meals, swapping stories about American and Dutch culturisms, kite surfing, and crazy reality TV shows. It was great having their company, and we hope to see them again in the US or Europe!

After lunch, we decided to head to Deer and Lang's caves, hoping to catch the mass exodus of bats from Deer cave as the sun set that evening. Our guide took us to Lang's, first. It is the smallest of the 4 caves open to the public ("show caves", as they refer to them) and has weird and beautiful rock formations- curtain stalactites and coral-like growths. Even without a tripod, Catt was able to catch some amazing pictures. The man has got a steady hand.

We then continued to Deer Cave, which contains the largest cave passage in the world. We were told that St. Paul's Cathedral and six soccer fields could all fit inside the opening. Even after walking 1 km into the mouth of the cave, it's sheer enormity makes one feel as though it has barely been entered. The cave mouth is 174 meters high, and far up above live thousands of bats, as well as swiflets, whose nests are highly coveted by the Chinese for bird's nest soup. Indeed, per kg, swiflets' nests cost the same as silver in the outside world. The ground of the cave is covered in black guano, and if you point your light on it you can see thousands of grubs and worms living in it. The cave is also home to some truly gigantic spiders- watch where you put your hand!

the view from Deer Cave's mouth out... the rocks sort of look like Abe Lincoln's profile

That evening we waiting at the observatory to see the millions of bats fly out of the cave in protective doughnut formation into the night sky in search of food. Unfortunately, it was raining, so the bats were a little sluggish- and took an extra two hours to exit. By the time we started our walk back to our accommodation, it was already dark.

Megan gazing up at the limestone cliffs at the bat observatory

The next few days we had the chance to do several great hikes- to Paku waterfall in knee deep mud with Carina and Johan (somehow we staved off leeches), a walk on the jungle canopy suspended bridge (more impressive than the one at Taman Negara, and longer!), a trek through butterfly-filled jungle to Moonmilk Cave, and a longboat trip to visit Clearwater and Wind Caves. The Clearwater cave system is thought to be the longest in Southeast Asia, and deep inside, features the subterranean Clearwater River, which flows through a five km. passage and is, at its widest, about 90 meters across. Strange to see such a large waterway, running underground in total pitch blackness. Afterwards, we were able to take a refreshing swim in the jungle pool outside the cave entrance off of Selingau Melinau.

Clearwater and Wind Caves:

swimming outside of Clearwater Cave

Pictures from our trek to Paku Waterfall, the Canopy Walk, and some funky bugs:

with Johan and Carina on the canopy walk

Catt and a massive tree trunk in Mulu National Park

The hands-down strangest experience we had at Mulu was the night-time ghost disco music. We'd be lying, half-asleep, when through the still, jungle air we heard a blaring "Burn, baby burn... disco inferno... burn, baby, burn." Apparently not the carousing departed spirits of the tribes of the Melinau, but rather a restaurant, just beyond park headquarters, which blasts 70's tunes every night from like 10:00 PM until God knows when. Very strange. And disorienting.

Four days later, we bid Mulu adieu and flew to Kota Kinabalu, or KK as it is locally known, the capital of Sabah province, and a great city on the north coast of Borneo. We checked into a little place called Backpacker's Lodge/Lucy's Homestay on Australia Place, run by a very friendly, spunky, middle-aged Chinese lady named Lucy. It was a great find, and the perfect place to celebrate Merdeka. Merdeka Day is Malaysia's independence day... and since the entire country was celebrating its 50th birthday, this year's celebre was especially big. Our first evening in KK, we had a tasty Indian dinner with friends we met enroute from the airport, Stephan and Martina. The next day, we headed via boat to Sapi Island, part of a national park off of the north coast of Sabah. The beach had clear blue water (and many Malaysians, out to enjoy the afternoon). Some Chinese tourists even asked us to take a picture with them!

boat jetty from KK to Sapi

Later that night, we arrived back at Lucy's. After a great Italian dinner at dirt-cheap prices (promotion for Merdeka), we got back to the backpackers. Sweet, little Lucy emerged from her loft room, bedecked in a leopard-print blouse and announced that we were "going clubbing" at her favorite bar, Shenanigans, a quasi Irish pub-cum-scene spot on the ground floor of the Hyatt hotel in Kota Kinabalu. There's no way we could refuse her offer on the eve of the biggest national party in Malaysia in fifty years, so we joined her for the fun. Megan had to borrow some of Lucy's heels, since flip-flops apparently don't cut it at Shenanigans. All libations were exorbitantly priced, but the scene was worth it just to see all the Malaysian 20-somethings in their finest attire, breaking it down to a Filippino cover-band that played American top-40 hits from Fergie, Dr. Dre, Lauryn Hill, Beyonce, and of course, Bebot, the Black Eyed Peas Tagalog hit. After the club, we headed back to Lucy's, for a perfect view of the fireworks on her rooftop deck.

Shenanigans

Megan with Lucy at Shenanigans

The next day, August 31st (actual Merdeka day- they do fireworks the night before, at midnight), we bid Lucy goodbye, and jumped on a local bus to the long-distance bus station. The bus fare was free because of the holiday, and the driver was excitedly waving a Malaysian flag out the window the entire ride. We caught a coach to Sandakan, on the north-east coast of Sabah and we're off. En route, we got some pretty good lunch included and a viewing of Rush Hour 3.

At Sandakan, we had already reserved a room at the "Mayfair Hotel," highly recommended by Lonely Planet and Rough Guide for been spotless, a great value, "cooling" A/C, and for the DVD players in each room. The owner, a very eccentric Chinese guy (Mr. Long) lets guests borrow DVDs from his extensive collection for free. This place was heaven.

Once again we got another fireworks viewing, this time over the Sandakan waterfront, before watching "Stomp the Yard" and heading off to sleep.

The next day we were excited to get to Sepilok, a town about 16 miles inland from Sandakan. From there, we were going to Uncle Tan's Wildlife Camp, an isolated campsite, only accessible by boat, down the Kinabatangan River smack in the middle of some of the best wildlife viewing in all of Borneo. We arrived at the camp's operations base in Gum-Gum, had some lunch, and were off in a tiny mini-van to the boat dock. The wildlife spotting began as soon as we jumped in the boat. Twice a year, an endangered herd of Bornean pygmy elephants treks near the camp on their way upriver in search of food, and the elephants were in the area the week we arrived. Packs at the front of the longtail boat, we took off with our excited guide Agai to find the elephants. After an hour of combing the riverbank in search of "elephant smell," Agai found them. We were totally unprepared for this encounter, from our dress to our mindsets, and as we clambered out of the longtail onto the muddy banks, everyone's hearts were pounding. We scrambled through brush, muddy and bleeding, and climbed over the embankment. The scene we encountered on the other side was incredible- 20 or more elephants grazing, not more than 10 meters from us. Some of them were quite territorial, and gave us warning honks. Some even tried to intimidate us by approaching us. Catt and the guides were right up in the front, snapping pictures and observing them. They elephants are much larger in real life than you would expect (even the babies). We have never been so terrified and awe-inspired at the same time. Throughout the next few days, we came across them on several hikes. A few times when we unexpectedly ran into them our panic got the better of us, and against sounder judgement, we'd take off running for our lives through the jungle, crashing noises in pursuit behind.

Throughout our wonderful three days at Uncle Tan's we slept in the jungle, didn't shower, got covered in mud, and had some of the best experiences of our lives. We got to see orang utans (mother and baby) feeding on fruit high above our camp in the trees, a tarantula, probiscus monkeys asleep in trees on the river at night, macaques playing on the river banks, crocodiles, kingfishers, hornbills, and of course, the elephants. Here are some pictures of the wildlife we encountered:

kingfisher bird on night boat ride

egret

eagle

crocodile

giant millipede... oddly, they smell very sweet, like almonds... really nice smell, actually

cotton bugs... there are actually dozens of white, tiny bugs in this picture

orang utan in the wild

our group, "spider"