Since arriving in Borneo we’ve seen fantastic wildlife, once we’d adapted our vision stick insects bigger than logs appear, bugs bigger than mugs, loads of lizards-this forked tongue monitor lizard sneaking around the rubbish bins has obviously found a taste for cooked food!

Stick Insect

A N Other Bug

Monitor Lizard

Sabah seems to have more vicious animals than Sarawak. The mosquitoes here are feasting on me, they adore my natural citronella and positively devour my ‘tropical strength’ Deet, so nothing works and now red bumps dot eclectic patterns from my feet to my face.

And today I encountered two more particularly annoying forms of wildlife a) the human variety and b) jellyfish.  Both during a trip out to the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park, a collection of five islands off the coast here, a Mecca for divers and an oasis escape from the city heat.

The human variety (a rare mutant, humans on the whole being friendly, honest and genuine, in my experience) was the ticket agent. The ferry terminal here is chaotic, a heaving mass of humanity, with few fluent English speakers. We brought what we understood to be a genuine ticket, only to find ourselves left behind on the jetty, minus transport, when everyone else left enmasse!

At which point I had a full scale tantrum. Which did the trick. Magically seats were found for us on a just departing local ferry and within minutes we were sailing over the choppy waters of the South China Sea to the translucent blue seas and coral reefs of Mamutik Island.

We still have no idea what happened but decided not to worry about getting back and enjoy the gorgeous day, settling down on a shady table under the coconut palms. Off into the beckoning warm waves I dived, floating happily in the warm shallows…until nasty nips from nasty wildlife number two, jelly fish, introduced another type of ‘sting’!!  Luckily not too bad, but enough to ensure I ran back up the beach as fast as I’d run down.

We paddled, explored the inland jungle walks, stalked the foraging monitor lizards, admired the glistening coral reefs and the vast shoals of fish, and generally relaxed away from the dust of the city.

Luckily a crew member from a ferry company sought us out on the sands to explain the boat number and procedure for our return (we must stand out even more than we realise as the island was busy with weekend day trippers). This to our surprise was just as we were told, so our castaway fears were ungrounded.

The boat trip back went via other islands and past the Filipino stilt villages which line Gaya Island. Locals here warn against visiting this island and blame the high incidence of street crime/begging on their presence, but our boat crew were Filipino and lovely so who knows?

There certainly is an ‘edge’ to K K which I did not sense in Kuching, the dark alleys lined with street dwellers look dangerous especially at night, the beggars, especially children, are everywhere, there are considerably less English spoken/understood, but there is also a fascinating depth of sights/sounds here due to the multi ethnic, multi layered, community.

Tomorrow we leave for Sandakan-again by plane, this is the world’s third largest island and distances are phenomenal. Watch this space.

The pinnacles of Mulu disappear into the mists and we bid a sad farewell; moving on to Sabah, the Eastern side of Borneo. Surreally, as we had to ‘transit’ in Miri, the 20 or so of us had to run off the plane, up into the terminal, queue for immigration, and run down again, within 10 minutes, leaving everything on board, the engines still running…now that was a weird requirement. Especially as Miri is still in Sarawak, so not even in this new state!!

Arriving late at night in a noisy city after the total silence of Mulu felt intrusive; hard to adjust to the hotel sounds/traffic noise, but also good to have wi-fi and be back in touch with the outside world…our room has a fantastic view of the city (we‘re ‘up’ market’ at last, hehe) and there is a fair amount of wildlife even here (butterfly sitting on the path). We walked up the hill to the observation tower watched by troupes of monkeys; I shall miss their constant Asia presence in England.

view over the rooftops to the South China Sea from our hotel room

Local Butterfly

The evening promenade along the waterfront to sit admiring the spectacular sunset over the South China Sea, refreshed by the sea breeze, is great fun . There are enormous markets here with everything/anything, from the steaming food courts (accompanied by the enormous rats!) fruit, fish-the fresh fish from the sea fills the air with a distinctive aroma, dried goods, Chinese spices, you name it you can buy it here. There are cavernous halls of souvenir stalls, handicrafts, and a massive night markets. Before my final flight back to England, when at last my baggage allowance will be generous, I shall shop here in earnest!!! But for now I am content to spend time ‘window’ shopping.

Sunset over the South China Sea

Glorious!

Post storm morning sun brought out the most amazing butterflies! I’ve never seen such phenomenal colours or such enormous wingspans, or the sheer quantity of diverse designs. Wandering up to the Paku waterfall on our own Paul and I saw so much wildlife, lizards drying in the heat, stick insects lying on the path, dragon flies flashing across the waters as we sat admiring the falls in the shady banks.

Butterflies

Lizard

Stick Insect

Paku Waterfall

And later today a truly wonderful experience. The unique sight of the bats in their full glory pouring in their millions out of the Deer Cave spiralling into the sky. On our final evening we finally got to see the entire ‘show’-the waves of bats on our first evening had been moving enough but this massive outpouring reduced me to tears of joy!

Even more so because it was unexpected-yet again the evening rainstorm had descended-but we sat in the downpour peering up at the bat hole anyway, and then suddenly the bats poured out of the cave mouth, millions upon millions, a black continuous ribbon streaming up the rocks and out into the sky.

I have never in my life seen anything like it! It took 30 minutes before the bat river drew to a close; leaving us totally exhilarated. A wonderful end to a wonderful stay, Mulu is such a special place; I shall always treasure the memories of this visit.

Sections of the Millions of bats on their evening exodus

Clearwater Caves

Longboat ride along the river today, sitting low in the canoe skirting rocks, trees, rushing rapids, into a local village to peruse the ‘morning market’ of traditional handicrafts and visit the longhouse; now a modern monster of a building as the older wooden style ones had apparently burnt down-though I suspect the lure of comfortable housing may have played a part!

extension half built thanks to ‘restoration’ fund!

The guides here fall into two ‘camps-those from these villages along the river and those who live in the staff quarters arriving with science backgrounds-both equally knowledgeable but very different; those native to Sarawak are keen on the myths and legends of the forest, whilst the others are intent on providing an in-depth intricate biological/geological insight into every aspect of the park.

Riverside village

My favourite fable came from today’s boat ride ‘storyteller’ guide, who recited the fairy tale of the Lady Cave looming over the trees. The name originates from a centuries old fable of a beauty spirited away by demons. When the local villagers saw her stranded in the cave the men agreed that whoever rescued her first could marry her. Alas one, fearing himself too small to be the hero, killed her with a blowpipe so no one else could have her. A strange twist to the tale. In 1977 explorers entered the high ledge to discover ancient bones of a lone female. So who knows??

The Cave of the Winds and Clearwater Cave were another breath taking wonder in this fantastic place. Entering through the cliff face the cave ceilings disappear out of sight, the rushing water in the gorges below caught in our torches, black ‘nothingness’ in endless space.

Our group of 8 walked in silence gazing at the fascinating stalactites and stalactites, the sharp needles of karst rocks, the cotton like string worms hanging from odd edges, we were cooled by the gently wind swirling through, drawn in from the cave mouths above and the river far below as we gazed in awe at the inspirational unique spectacle.

Inside the caves

We emerged blinking into the sunlight several hours later clambering down to the jetty via the 500 odd steps into the cave mouths, only to find the sun rapidly disappearing into tropical storm. The rain descended in a sheet, a black waterfall!!

Our boats were sinking under the weight of the downpour, boatmen bailed out enough for us to set off back before the journey became impassable; the water rose with amazing speed, the rapids we easily navigated earlier was now coming over the sides, drenching us as we cowered in the bowels of the tiny vessel; yet again the true meaning of ‘rain’ forest became stunningly clear!!

 Later we set off for our own unguided night walk,  spotting bizarre wildlife –no bats again due to the heavy rain, but we had great fun exploring by torchlight in the setting sun.

Evening - Local wildlife

Sunset over the rainforest

Mulu 30th/31st March

A beautiful cloudless day to leave Kuching (see Paul enjoying a final doze by the pool!).

Last moments by the pool in Kuching

 We clambered aboard the tiny propeller plane for our flight to Mulu national park, a 90minute hover below the clouds so a superb view of the Borneo coastline, rivers, forests-and deforestation!

Rivers meandering

Scenes of deforestation

The landing strip here is in a field by the park entrance, so the handful of us in the little plane climbed out, dodged the propellers, waited for the pilot to unload our luggage from behind his seat, and boarded improvised ‘cash in hand’ taxi service run by local villagers for the five minute journey here.

Please pass me my bag

It then took longer to check in than to get here; turns out most people come via agency bookings, so us independent souls confuse their system, but luckily for us our booking and the end result matched, apparently a result!! Their online system is, um, basic..

But the park truly is magnificent! Impossible to describe the sheer scale of the Deer Cave; the largest cave passage in the world. It took my breath away! The vaulting roofs are black with millions of bats, hence the nightly ‘show’ where the colonies stream out of the cliff face to forage for food.

On our first evening the bat colonies streamed in ‘wavy wisps rather than the more impressive continuous spiral, but still a tremendously moving sight as they poured out of the cliff face in the setting sun.

Evening Bat exodus

On our second day we swayed over the trees in the high canopy walk in brilliant sunlight, peering down above the dense forest, slowly edging our way along the primitive rope bridges spanning the massive trees, stopping to stare down through the foliage to the river far below. No monkeys then, but later a trope appeared high on the cliff face, illuminated against the limestone rock, shinning down the tree roots to feast on berries in the branches.

Exploring the Deer Cave and its much much smaller neighbour the enchanting glistening limestone palace Lang Cave took us from the heights to the depths of the park floor.  The sunset hours coincided with a sudden tremendous rain/thunderstorm so the bats remained inside, and I can’t say I blame them! We, on the other hand, got incredibly wet!

But walking in the pitch darkness along the 3 km boardwalk back from the Deer Cave to park hq/our bungalow it was as if we were the only humans here; a magical hour with lightening streaking across the night sky, fireflies flickering around us, snakes slithering past us caught in our flashlights-one holding up his frog ‘supper’ proudly in his jaw, and the only sound, bar the rumble and clap of thunder, that of frogs/birds/rainforest whispers.

There is total silence here now at 9pm on our second day, everyone is bedding down for the night, people and animals alike. The park is quiet, we’ve had our own  (required) guide for the caves/canopy walk as there are currently more staff here than visitors, their individual attention which has been incredibly informative and helpful; our cave guide insisted there is a spiritual feel to this park and I have to agree, the sheer scale of everything defies description.

Malay moments

Final day in Kuching and a last chance to explore this charming gentle ‘cat’ city-kitsch statues of pussy cats abound from wall paintings (backpacking cat on the hostel), statuesque stones, and tiny reflective mosaic kittens.

As conspicuous westerners we’ve clearly become a local tourist attraction due to our very odd habit of walking! Security guards wave merrily, staff at the ‘ice cream’ stop K Mart greet us with a smile, Paul’s evening meal gets larger by the day now he’s a regular!  The heat is intense, lightening flickers over the sky-today’s taxi driver insists Sarawak was not so hot when he was a child, blaming global warming.

This morning we took a tambang (small river ferry) over to the Malay Kampungs, small villages, traditional Malay houses, tight knit village communities still existing within the city, meandering around the planked boardwalks, spotting the newer concrete western houses springing up between the corrugated iron/bamboo huts. Despite progress-cars can be seen glinting under the stilts and behind grills, this was an intimate glimpse into the lives of Malay people; our concern about intruding into private lives put at ease as everyone smiled, children came out to wave, teenagers on motorbikes slowed to say hallo.

Back over on the ‘western’ side of the river we wandered over to the Islamic museum for an insight into the highly visible presence of Islam here-the gold cupolas of the Kuching Mosque are a striking landmark, prayer rooms are everywhere (more of them than public loos!). Interesting though it was, the highlight of the visit was the sight of an enormous butterfly, 4/5 inches across, deep indigo blue, which flew over our heads inside.

Time for a swim before the evening promenade-and tonight we pack ready for Mulu National Park. Tomorrow we head into this famous park with its celebrated bat caves and hopefully, more wildlife!!  Bako was a unique experience, but taking the time to get to know Kuching, seeing the spectacular annual parade, wandering around the nooks and crannies of the city/riverside, has given a rewarding insight into Sarawak, where we’ve met with so much kindness.

The complex history of the state is reflected in the town, from the Chinese merchant traders (the Main Bazaar is the oldest street in the city, the splendid Chinese Temples date back to 17th century), the reign of the ‘ White Rajahs’ from Britain, the Brooke family, who took control in the 19th century, the Japanese invasion in 1940s, the political infighting and the proud independence in 1963 when Sarah and Sarawak joined Malay to become Malaysia. Caching is an eclectic diverse social, cultural, architectural, maze, a great place!

Thursday/Friday in Kuching

'Down time’, swimming in the pool here-worth the 20 minute walk to town to have the bliss of floating in the cool blue waters or resting in the shady lush gardens-and exploring the town.

The Sarawak museum complex has a fascinating display of the complex history of the state, plus a longhouse living museum section, an eclectic mix of buildings including an aquarium, natural history collection, and an excellent café with the biggest mango shake I’ve had since I left England!  All free (bar the very cheap café) and the perfect way to pass an exceptionally wet Thursday morning. Unusually the rain was accompanied by strong winds-I was cold for the first time since I left England-not such a pleasant experience!

Like true Englishers abroad we walked back to the hotel clad in our (not) rainproof ponchos, paddling up the ankle deep awash pavements-time for a swim, hehe…

By the late afternoon the sun reappeared and we got to grips with the small ferries which ply the riverbanks, hopping over to see the setting sun from the opposite bank. Paul has a favourite riverfront café where he is working his way through the menu of rice with assorted meats/seafoods whilst I watch the buskers, browse the street stalls, and on Thursday join in with the crowds in a pray march/vigil/ dance (the Hindu one) to honour the Malaysian Airways plane disaster, such a major event here.

Sunset over the river - Thursday

Friday the rain passed and the heat was back with a vengeance. Off we set for the orchid park. An absolute gem-once we’d found it! Alas, we crossed the river in the wrong place, only a few hundred yards wrong, but taking the road off believing it wound round to the aforementioned we found ourselves in the middle of deserted nowhere, heading rapidly away from the river and stranded in the midst of market gardens.  Thankfully a work lorry appeared like an oasis; I flagged it down, and in the back we hopped, bless them!!

The two workmen had little English and were unsure of the exact location of our destination, but insisted on driving around until we found it-miles away; we’d never have got there on foot without their kindness!!

The orchids were splendid; we spent hours there in the impeccably kept grounds, drinking in the glorious colours. Totally alone in the quiet acres of wondrous flowers, humming birds, butterflies…superb.

a selection of Orchids

and not an orchid!

A cool off in the pool and a stunning sunset-Borneo’s rain produces amazing flora/scenery, a feast for the eyes.

Friday sunset