Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Hello strangers
Thanks for all your messages, seems ages since we last updated this blog. I've just managed to put the Turtle Island and Sepilok Orangutan pics up, so have a browse at your leisure. Unfortunately I can't upload any of our recent pics because this computer isn't recognising our camera (our Turtle Island and Orangutan pics were uploaded from a CD) ...oh well.
Anyway, enough of the formalities, we've had some more crazy adventures the last couple of days. We're currently in Miri, or more precisely in the executive lounge at Miri airport...posh eh! We've got a 5 hour wait until our flight leaves for Kuching so we thought we'd treat ourselves to a little bit of luxury...as much food and drink as we like (i've had 5 slices of cake already...yum!!), a massage shower, internet, TV, golf!?!...groovy!!
Ok, so what have we been up to...well, after the Orangutans we had a brief stay at the Seaside B&B in Kota Kinabalu. For most of our group this was the last day of the tour. For us, we were staying on to do the second part of the trip - a trek around the southern part of Borneo, Sarawak. So it was goodbye to Nat and Sarah, Lynne and Lindsey, Helmut, Mariann, Ibone and our guide Richard
After many fond farewells we left Kota Kinabalu and took a flight down to Miri to meet our new tour guide Ryan and two new travellers, Becs and Karen - both from the UK. The next day was an early start - 6am, to embark on a 10 hour boat ride to Mulu. That was an adventure in itself. The boat looked like a plane from the outside and was packed to the brim with old, sweaty Malay men carrying boxes of dried fish. We decided that it would be more comfortable, cooler and less smelly if we sat on the roof, so we precariously walked along the edge of the high speed aircraft come boat and scrambled up onto the roof. It was a good decision because on the way we saw a couple of monster crocodiles - they were HUGE!!! Didn't have the camera to hand unfortunately so you'll have to take our word for it. The last leg of our river cruise was by longboat - as its name suggests it was a long boat, and we made our way up the beautiful Barang River to the Mulu National Park, our home for the night.
Another early start the next day...5.30am, and a 8km hike through jungle to Camp 5. This was our base for the night - a beautiful but very basic lodge next to the river. The next morning we attempted to climb another mountain - Garung Api...or at least it felt like climbing a mountain. It was 2.7km up extremely steep terrain...when I say steep I mean parts were just a ladder or rope from which we had to hawl ourselves up the rock face, and abseil back down!!! We weren't amused. The goal was to reach the Pinnacles, a set of spikey jagged limestone rocks...a pretty awesome view we were told. Unfortunately we never reached the Pinnacles...we were tooo slow. We had to reach them by 11am, any later and the rain would set in and it would be too dangerous to be out on the mountainous track. We started at 7am and trekked until 9am, about 1.5km, at which point we decided to head back down on the advice of our mountain guide. It was a wise decision as it took us about 4 hours of slipping and sliding, and a few cuts and bruises, before we made it back down to camp 5. We were a little disappointed but proud of ourselves for giving it a go - it was afterall a very technical climb and one which required lots of physical fitness...so we did good!
The next day was another 15km trek through jungle to reach Deer Cave, the largest cave passage in the world. It was incredible and we've got some awesome pictures. We then spent the evening watching a million bats exit the cave passage like a plume of smoke - amazing.
I'm afraid our times up again. Our flight to Kuching has just been called so we've got to make our way down to the gate. We're off to do another homestay for the next couple of days, this time with the Iban tribe - the Headhunters! Should be fun! We probably won't be able to update the site again because after our homestay we'll be flying back home. We're looking forward to seeing you all again though, but not looking forward to the rain!!!!
Take care,
Lots of love, T and M xxxx
- comments