Red hat at the South China Sea

What happened to the new red hat?

Here it is at the Palm Beach Resort near Sematan, in Sarawak.  The resort faces the South China Sea.

Late afternoon on our first day at the Palm Beach Resort, we hired two bicycles and rode to Sematan where we stopped for a coconut drink.  We bought some exotic fruits at a farmers market - dragon fruit and mangosteen.  We were forced to buy deep fried bananas in batter too. I know what you're thinking..

 

More on rivers, caves and bats

With only two days to spend in Gunung Mulu National Park, Saturday was spent doing the standard tourist circuit - the 'Show Caves'. These are the four caves which are the most accessible from the Park HQ. After breakfast we were taken along the river by long river boat (four passengers plus the guide and boatman per boat) for 20 minutes or so to the 'Penan' village. The ride was spectacular - thru the muddy brown water with dense forest either side for most of the way. The river was quite wide but the boatman steered to avoid obvious obstacles (fallen logs) and presumably shallow parts.

A short video clip we made of our trip down river on a longboat between Mulu National Park HQ and the Clearwater cave.  See the Penan village on the right.



The 'Penan' people are a nomadic tribe of the Borneo forest who the Malaysian Gov't have 'persuaded' to a settled lifestyle. The village stop was really an opportunity to buy some handcrafts (presumably from the makers); we did not really feel welcome to go nosying around the village. We parted with some ringget (Malaysian currency)  for some beadwork. Another 5 minutes by boat to the first caves for the day. First up was a short steep climb to 'Cave of the Wind'. After an interminable lecture by the guide in the sweltering heat (he insisted on giving a full geology lesson to the disinterested tourists and everyone was too polite to interrupt him) we were ushered into the first cave.

If 'Wind cave' is named for the cooling breeze that blows through it, the breeze was on strike. But, it is sufficient to say that these caves were pretty amazing - they were all different, but each with many features of which any one would justify a visit. 'Wind cave' from memory was not that large, but with spectacular stalactites, stalagmites and suchlike cave stuff. Actually any of these caves is an entrance to a system that has been explored to (I think) 140 km, with plenty more remaining to be explored. The guide said the claim to be the largest system in the world has as of last year been passed by somewhere in Vietnam.

From Wind cave it was a beautiful 500 metre cliffside walk to Clearwater cave. Another steep climb to enter Clearwater cave. Once inside, the chambers in this one were massive and there was a sizable river running through this system. The guide took us thru close to 2 km within this cave; you can continue further if you intend more serious caving. Similarly, there was too much to take in at once.

One of the most spectacular things about all of these caves was the exit with the rainforest illuminated in the cave's entrance and the light coming in shafts through holes from the surface, and in some cases small streams cascade through the roof. This is an image that appears often in the Sarawak tourism posters.

We returned by boat for a couple of hours back at Park HQ before heading off to Deer and Lang cave in the afternoon. This was a nearly 4 km walk on boardwalk tracks through the forest which was spectacular in itself. Once we put some distance between us and the incessant babble of a bunch of German youngsters (and they smoke!) we were able to hear the myriad sounds of the jungle - birds and frogs and maybe far off monkeys. The only wildlife we actually saw was a variety of butterflies and the odd weird looking insect. Lang cave was full of more spectacular cave stuff.

Deer cave is the highlight. You smell it before you see it, as it is home to several million bats - of 12 different species apparently. The smell is ammonia from bat poo.

Deer cave is absolutely huge - the bats were just a black stain on the ceiling.  A tourist brochure attempted to explain the size by saying you could fly an Airbus into it.  It was very much a case of seeing for real the stuff we'd seen on nature docos - things big and small.  Masses of cockroaches on the surface of bat poop, translucent prawns with outsized pincers and small fish in the cave pools and a huge hairy centipede curled up in a corner. Leaving the last cave a little whiplike black and white snake crossed our path.

(More cave pics on Flickr)



Abraham Lincoln's profile in the entrance to the Deer cave.

We had probably spent about one and a half hours in the caves then went to a clearing below the two cave entrances where you can look up at the limestone cliff face and wait for the bat exodus. Sometime in the last hour of daylight they start emerging from the caves. After a while small groups of maybe several thousand started appearing in the sky, each group moving like a snake for the few seconds it took to disappear over the forest canopy. This happened maybe twenty or so times and we eventually spotted the part of the cliff they were emerging from (hard to see against the forest background).

Then the real exodus started - the bats must have numbered in the millions with a massive stream continuing for several minutes making shapes (corkscrews and donuts) in the sky as they headed out over the rainforest. A few smaller groups seemed to form clouds and headed to much higher altitudes hanging above the main stream of bats. 

After seeing that spectacle it was time to walk back the way we came accompanied by the sounds of the rainforest's night shift of birds, frogs and insects starting up as we returned along the boardwalk. The last half-hour was in the dark and we saw many fireflies among the trees.

Mulu..

Our flight from Miri to Mulu was #5 of the 9. ‘Mulu’ is the access to the Gunung Mulu National Park, a region of mountains and rainforest located very close to the border with Brunei. ‘Gunung’ = mountain.  We were staying in ‘long house’ accommodation within the National Park HQ, so we were right in among the rainforest.

 

The Park HQ has a simple cafe which does a limited range of Malay meals. The food there is good – Rendang, Laksa, Satays and so on. There is a big resort hotel complex a couple of kms from there where most people stay, but we have not seen that.   

Apparently Mulu gets over 150 cm of rain per month and it rains on about 280 days per year.  Rain set in about 3 pm on our first day with impressive force.  It rained for about 6 hours with varying intensity.

Before the rain we saw a great number of spectacular butterflies and many large skinks just around the accommodation area and a lot of bird noise, not that we could see any birds. 

We sat outside on the balcony for a while to watch the bats which are flying all around, but there was a bit of mosquito activity, so we had to retreat inside.  The frogs here seem to yap like excitable little dogs – not a sound we'd normally associate with frogs.
   

We should have booked more days here.  Our second day was fairly full on.  We saw the four caves that are the done thing to see if you do not have time for more serious tramping and caving in this area. We have seen some of these caves on BBC nature programmes (Attenborough’s ‘Planet Earth’) and feel fortunate to have visited a couple of these sites for real.   More on caves, rivers and bats later..

Miri, Sarawak diving

I went for three dives on different reefs off-shore from Miri today.  Total of 2 hours 50 min in the water btwn 10 and 18 metres.  Very calm and clear.  Saw a lot of spectacular corals and anenomes as well as a lot of the pretty tropical fish you would expect.  Highlights were probably the size and colour of the anenomes and clown fish.  Second dive saw several enormous scarlet anenomes hosting large similarly coloured clown fish.  They are not all of the Nemo variety.  Also encountered a decent size barracouta and school of unicorn fish.  A number of colourful nudibranches and bright blue lobsters (with white antennae) were seen.  There were 7 divers on the boat - the two Malaysian dive leaders, two  local divers, a couple of Aussies who have been diving in various spots around Malaysia and Indonesia + me.

Another interesting aspect was seeing the oil rigs out there - boats are not allowed within half a km of the rigs. The black speck on horizon in the picture above is an oil rig :-)

Apparently whale sharks are often seen on these dives, but not today.  Also ran into a school of small squid.  Very cool.

Time to crash - only up late to see whether BBC World Service will say anything about the NZ-Paraguay game.  Not a mention. - Harold

Worst smelling fruit on earth

Harold referred to durians earlier:

"We'd come across a Durian vendors cart.  The King of Fruit as the locals call it.  Or as an old guide book described it, 'looks like sh*t, smells like sh*t', best taste it to make up your own mind.  After some hard sell we gave it a try - it was not too bad to me, which is a sign that you may have spent too long in Asia."

 

 Durian to take away.

We didn't.

No durians (stinky fruit) on trains

No durians (stinky fruit) on trains
Originally uploaded by thewideblueyonder

We have come across this sign in both Singapore and Sarawak.

Miri

We are in hot, humid Miri.  Several mosquitos are keeping me company as I type. Using a sticky keyboard over a sticky internet connection - extremely s...l...o...w.  Harold is catching up on the soccer at the golf estate where we are staying.  The infamous sound of vuvuzelas is overpowering the commentary.  This awful sound is wrapping itself around the world.  It seems to be everywhere.  Grrrr..

The flight over Sarawak was spectacular.  We followed the coastline and could see several huge winding rivers pouring brown, black or green colour into the sea.  Sarawak is a green world with bits of scarred landscape which might indicate impending suburbia or new plantation. 

We spent the afternoon doing a bit of exploring in downtown Miri and had an evening meal at an outdoor makan ? (food) stall complex at Brighton Beach.

It seems to be the place where Mirians gather at sunset with their families.  It appears to be the nearest sandy beach to town.  We took a Teksi (taxi) home and will have second dinner just as soon as I finish this.

Follow another red hat

The red hat was last seen here....

                                          and here

 

 Then it went missing.  Later, a note appeared under our hotel door..."You left a red hat on the tour bus yesterday"

What to do when your travelogue is named "Follow the red hat" and you lose the hat on Day 1?

                      Buy another red hat.

The red hat

Since yesterday afternoon the red hat has been having its own adventure - without us.  We left it on the tour bus. 

The red hat arriving at Singapore airport

Our first pictures

Futuristic architecture - Singapore











Nearly everything in Singapore seems to have been built in the last 20 years or so. Singaporeans refer to their city as "a city in a garden".   Very tall trees grow on pavements and road medians. Trees, creepers and shrubs are planted in the most unlikely places, several buildings have rooftop gardens.









Update on the Kobo reader : I've discovered that it is sold partially charged and with the 100 free books preloaded.  The required software download referred to in the instructions is only for ebooks purchased from Whitcoulls.  I've started reading Anna Karenina (one of the free books).  The reader handles well, is light weight, easy to store and simple to navigate.  Pity they didn't include a protective cover.

Day 1 in Singapore

Arrived in S'pore about 6 am.  We enjoyed that first blast of sticky heat as we stepped out of the airport.  Singapore seems to be constant movement into and out of air conditioning.  Had a couple of hours sleep, booked a city tour then killed some time by figuring out how to use the MRT (underground & skyway rail system) to go and witness a bit of the Singaporean national sport - i.e. shopping at Orchard Road.   Some of the retail complexes seem to be as large as all of Wellington's shops rolled into one, and then some - and crowded.  4.8m people on a land area the smaller than greater Wellington, and we feel like we bumped into most of them.  The organised city tour might have better been called a tour of religious sites  - the Sultan mosque complex in Kampong Glam, Chinese Thian Hock Keng temple and a Gem factory where we were invited to lighten our wallets.  We saw some impressively kitsch art at the latter place - then a bit of a boat trip on the Singapore River. The hostess of the trip had a few interesting anecdotes, but the talking up of Lee Kuan Yew and the wonders of the Singaporean baby bonus system was bemusing.  The place looks a bit full already to me;  Singaporeans could certainly teach NZers about looking after their environment and the best use of space but maybe it is time to admit that the place is just a little bit full. We forced ourselves out despite tiredness to visit Little India in the evening for the veg thali at New Woodlands restaurant that I'd promised myself.  It was not disappointing - great food.  There were lots of similar establishments that would probably have been just as good, but that is the one I know.   Interesting the response of the hotel receptionist and the taxi driver when we said we wanted to go to Little India on a Sunday night.  They almost tried to put us off - what do you want to go there for? It is full of Indians!  It was worth the trip and we will head back there today - we'll have a look at the Sri Veeramakaliamman temple, and Aletta (aka Alta) might find some decent clothes for this heat when the place is a bit less manic.   We ambled back to the hotel (Alta with blistered feet by this stage - it was impossible to get a taxi in the mayhem)  and noticed a familiar smell (or stench) on the way.  We'd come across a Durian vendors cart.  The King of Fruit as the locals call it.  Or as an old guide book described it, 'looks like sh*t, smells like sh*t', best taste it to make up your own mind.  After some hard sell we gave it a try - it was not too bad to me, which is a sign that you may have spent too long in Asia.  Alta had to buy some jackfruit straight after to get rid of the taste. Finally crashed about midnight with NZ holding Italy at 1-1 in the football.  Pleased to discover today that was how it ended. Alta seems very impressed by Singapore so far.