Everyday is a day of its own. Live it and cherish it.
The explorers:
Andrew T
Davinya
Janeni
Marcus
Sonia
Vanushia
Wei Zhen
Myself
Tuesday, 16th June 2009
Our adventure started with M keeping his swiss knife in his unchecked baggage. Naturally, he was asked to discard of it when they found it in his bag as it passed through the Xray scan. So, we had to exit, pass it to my mom and re-enter again.
We were greeted by Sonia and her mom at the Miri Airport. For those who haven't been to the Miri Airport, the architectural designs are very similar to that of KLIA. Then we squeezed (okay la, I admit, my luggage bag took up the most space :P) into Sonia's four wheel drive and headed to her house settled all our baggages down. Sonia and her mom were super nice and hospitable. They bought us some buns and sweet snacks. We snacked and chilled for a bit in her living room.
Later, we had late lunch at Miri City Food Court. I had Kolo mee (Kuching style dry mee), some had Sarawak Laksa.
Our agenda for the first day in Miri was:
Grocery shopping
We were like old people! Discussing arguing about what to and what not to buy)
All this was done in Parkson Mall in Giant. We also bought a kite (Guano!)&frisbee for about RM6 in some random shop in P.M. As Giant did not have the preferred energy bars, we got some from G.K Supermarket)
I think this is where one of our trip songs started.
Whatever you like (you can do whatever you like)
T.I [like o.m.g… T wouldn’t stop bringing up the tune and V helped him too!][was funny nevertheless]
Too many "you can do whatever you like" "you can say whatever you want" "he can say whatever he wants"
Then we went back home chilled and did some stressful (EXTREMELY) packing for Mulu (we took a long long time).
In the late evening, we headed to the beach. The beach looked really magnificent bathed by the evening sky. The sun was setting but it still shone with great intensity. We had dinner by the beach.
Dinner menu:
Midin in belacan
Tekoyong
Omelette
Ayam paprik
Ikan masak merah
ALL the dishes were extremely delicious!
At night, we all bummed in front of the telly (and slept there the whole night through) watching Love in the time of cholera
I quite liked it except that I fell asleep halfway due to exhaustion (from doing what, I dont know).
Wednesday, 17th June 2009 (first day at Mulu)
The next day, we woke up to a dark rainy morning sky
Thank goodness that it poured. The night before was extremely hazy.
A-T-M thoughts:
Now we're in the car on the way to the airport to catch the ATR 72-500 under the MasWings airline to Mulu where excitement and adventure awaits. CANT WAIT! :)
If you haven't seen the ATR before, it is way cool and way small. Capacity is only 68 passengers. Other details are here:
Length: 89 ft 2 in (27.16 m)
Wingspan: 88 ft 9 in (27.05 m)
Height: 25 ft 1 in (7.65 m)
A-T-M thoughts:
Can you believe that the whole Miri airport sold postcards in almost every shop available, had a post box but NO SHOPS WHICH SOLD STAMPS, NOT ONE! And NO POST OFFICE. We were so desperate to send the post cards so that they reached on time, we resorted to asking the nice food-in-the-car-boot selling lady to send it for us. Her being nice said yes. We paid her some tips on top of the estimated 50 cents per postcard. Hopefully
1.it reaches home by sunday as the main point of us sending them was to wish our fathers happy fathers day
2.she actually sends it! She could just throw the post cards away and keep the money for herself.
Well have faith right? :D
p/s: it reached our family members on Monday/Tuesday.
The Miri-Mulu flight got delayed twice. From 9.20am (supposed flight time) to 10.50am to 11.20am. As compensation, we got a free food coupon each.
You should have seen the way M&J jumped out of their seats when they heard Z announce the heavenly words "we have free food"
"FREE FOOD???!!!!!!" Oh the gleam on their faces.
As usual, M sure had a lot of food. He finished his plate of nasi lemak, half my chicken and rice AND V's half chicken AND A's extra keropok.
The delayed flight was surely a blessing in disguise. Only minutes before that, we were walking around the airport area looking for affordable food, only to find that everything there was way over the budget. So we ended up deciding to stay with empty stomachs. (okay, actually we did have SOME food. From the Kancil car lady. But it was VERY minimal!) The main reason we didn't buy the food was so that we could save money to buy food stock for the hike to camp 5, hike up and down to and from the pinnacles and hike from camp 5. (as you can tell, it is a lot of hiking which = a lot of food needed) (hence, no money left to spend on RM11 nasi lemak)
The Mulu airport was a very simple one with very few flights a day. We waited for the van which transported us from the airport to the headquarters. We paid RM5 only to find out later that it only would have taken us less than 10 minutes walk to reach it. byebyeRM5.
Oh yes, for the first time in my life, I really felt the pinch when it came to finances. Every cent counted. I think this applied to all of us. We were all trying our best to keep our spending to the lowest possible. Without your parents there, you can't just FEEL like having starbucks or FEEL like having whatever's nicest on the menu. You have to take into account the price and fill-ability (if that’s even a word :p).
Henry, a Penan guy was our guide for the day. He was very friendly and helpful. He led us to the
1. Lang cave
2.Deer cave (largest cave in the world-it sure was big!)
It took us about 1 hr 45mins to walk to the cave on elevated wooden walkway through the tropical rainforest.
Along the way, Henry would tell us all these intriguing stories and facts.
True facts:
The Rattan tree has ants living in it. When you touch the bud of a lateral stem, you will hear this subtle rattling sound.
It's actually ants in the stem of the rattan vibrating together. There exist a symbiotic relationship between them; the ants and the rattan plant.
After the two caves we went to the Bats Observatory to watch bats fly out in "groups" in a sort of spiral formation.
It was like watching herds of wildebeest migrate as seen in some Nat Geo programmes. This was a first time for me and I enjoyed the experience.
Even with the use of the pair of binoculars that I brought, the bats looked very non-bat like. They looked more bird-like.
After the long long long walk back to the Rainforest lodging area, we immediately went for dinner at the café (Wild Mulu). Btw, I strongly recommend staying at the Rainforest as the cafeteria is just a few steps walk along the corridor from the rooms. Our room was called Ramin (they were all names of wood trees. Eg:Benuang....)
It was a scrumptious dinner. The fact that we were famished most of the time helped a lot with making almost every meal a great one. Beggars cannot be choosers. For dinner, I had chicken and potato curry, V fish tom yam, and A.T beef rendang rice)
After dinner we spent almost 1 good whole hour planning and buying the necessary food. You should have seen us. Planning for lunch, dinner, breakfast, lunch, dinner and breakfast again was not cool and not easy.
The rooms in Rainforest are pretty neat. The toilet has a heater and is so big that it could fit an extra bed in it. I really cannot see why they made it so big. Excessive space? Our room had 4 single beds. The room came with a water boiler (kettle) and shower towels.
The night air was nice and cool. It was accompanied by the melodious sounds of crickets, frogs and plain nature in the background. The soothing sound has this subtle hypnotising effect on you and makes you want to doze of right away.
A-T-Ms:
All I need to do now is dry my hair. I just took a refreshing shower and I cannot go to sleep with damp hair. In the mean time, I'm lying on my front with my head and hair dangling out from the side of my bed hoping for the hair on the back of my head to dry off asap.
Thursday, 18th June 2009 (second day at Mulu)
Breakfast menu at Wild Mulu cafe
Western style
1egg (fried or boiled)
1 sausage
Baked beans
1 toast
Fresh fruit (canned lychee)
Mulu special
2pancakes with fresh fruit
After breakfast, we travelled by Sampan along Melinau River.
The "captain" of the Sampan was Philip and the "co-pilot" was No-Name-Face. (later on we found out that his name was Richard)
The sampan ride to the Longhouse from the dock at the HQ took 20mins. That was our first stop. There, we bought some souvenirs and our very own tribe rattan bangles. The B.T.W tribe? (is that what we stuck with in the end? Or was it guano tribe? Haha!)
Next, we explored Wind cave & Clearwater cave(In it was Young Lady Cave [reason for the name: in the cave there is a stalagmite formation which forms a lady lookalike in the shadow.] In the Y.L.C, I took a picture of the shadow of V's side profile. Hence, I officially renamed it Young Lady V Cave.
It was a 15 mins sampan ride from the Longhouse to the caves.
Halfway through the 2nd cave, I realised that I could only visit so many caves. The view gets rather monotonous after a while.
It took us about 1 hr plus to reach the destination where we got off and started trekking to camp5.
Record: 2hr 45mins trek including 15mins break. 8km trek to reach camp 5.
Poor A&M had to get off many times during out sampan ride to the trek entrance to help push the sampan due to the shallow river condition. All the other sampan-ees had to get of every now and then as well to reduce the load of the sampan so it could move. I felt so bad as I was the only one who didn’t suffer the walking on hot stonesunder the blistering sun (although I did suffer the sting of the sunrays :D). Why? I had an ingrown toe nail condition. And every time I walked in the river, I would accidentally kick a stone or rock and it would start bleeding and it HURT LIKE HELL. So I had to be like a princess (I didn’t want to okay!) and sit in the river while some pushed the sampan and some walked.
When I saw Camp5 ground from a distance, I never felt happier in my life (okay, maybe that is an exaggeration. But you get my point!). The walk to Camp5 felt like it was never going to end.
Camp 5 ground was infested with bees and insects. Every moment, you would hear a bee buzzing by your ear. And trust me, it wasn't a nice sound. The bees were all the more attracted to us because we were giving out fresh stale sweat aroma :p
The toilet was pretty decent. But even that was infested with insects. I had to keep watch of an insect (unknown name) massaging its feeler and legs while I showered. My eyes were fixated on the insect the whole time.
We played in the river for a while. The water was freezing. There was a rope hung from a tree which you could use to swing to and fro and fling yourself into the water. I told myself that I would do that the next day after our insane hike up and down from the pinnacles.
That night, J,M,A and myself cooked dinner. All the kitchen utensils and apparatus were more than enough to cook a decent meal.
Dinner menu:
Rice + tuna
Macaroni (instant macaroni from the packet)
I want to write about the two 1.5litres bottles per person story but I'm really too lazy now. (maybe I'll expand on it another day)
Friday, 19th June 2009 (third day in Mulu)
The anticipated climb up and down to and from the pinnacles happened today. Approximately 3/5 of the journey was 45degrees climb. The rest of it was 60degrees climb all the way. Boy, it wasn't easy.
Word of advice, anyone scared of heights (not just a minor phobia, but a real fear) please train before you attempt this hike to test your ability to endure vertical fright.
If you think that the ascent is difficult, wait till you start your descent. I was with S for most of my ascent and descent was done half with V and the other half with A. M's money paid for the guide was surely worth it as he got personal attention from Jenny the guide the WHOLE WAY UP AND DOWN! Haha. Lucky boy!
Poor J didn’t make it to the pinnacles. Her shoes just weren't serving her right. At first, we tried pushing her to do her best to continue the journey but alas, the guide advised her to return to the base camp. Jenny said that we had to travel at a certain pace to reach the pinnacles. If anyone should not reach the ladder (about 1800m ++ (?) from the base camp) by 11am, they will not be allowed to proceed the journey to the pinnacles. So, J made the decision to turn back. It didn’t feel so nice leaving a member behind. The worst part was that she had to trek downhill, back to the base camp, all by herself!! That part worried me quite a bit. Although I've been trekking so many times in the jungle before, I still do not feel at ease being in the jungle all by myself even during broad daylight. Thankfully, J reached the base camp safe and sound. :)
A.T was the first to reach the peak with the guide among the whole team (we had other foreigners in our team as well).
Hurrah! The rest of us that went on with the journey managed to reach the pinnacles. A job well done to all of us.
The hike from the ladder starting point was like an obstacle course with ladders, ropes, balancing bars, trenches and more. It felt very similar to rock climbing as well. It was super duper fun. I enjoyed that part of the climb the most. It was the most interesting and in a way, challenging. It didn’t just require stamina anymore. Now, skill and agility was needed.
At about 1500m, both S&I suddenly felt a change in the air. It wasn't the normal air we usually inhale. It was… pure fresh air. I promise you, it was something different. I've been into numerous jungles and been up mountains, but never have I breathed in air that smelled so.. invigoratingly green, cool and clean. Breathing in the air at that altitude was something I had never experienced before. Truly, it was stimulating and as paradoxical as it sounds, breath-taking. I don’t know why it happened in this forest and why at that altitude (it wasn't very high up), but it did. And at that moment, I understood what it meant when people describe breathing in fresh green air (which sadly I can't do very well and I know it isn't doing any justice to it but I'm doing my level best to explain what I felt) in books.
The hike down was so traumatizing I don’t even want to talk about it. :p it was basically, goodbye thighs and knees. AND it was superbly boring as it felt like the journey never ended. (you keep seeing the same things and taking the steps down in the same manner that it gets really tiresome)
The worst part was that I needed to go to the toilet super badly.
That was basically my driving force. TOILET!
A.T and I reached first among our group. Then with limping legs(just me), we walked to the river with J and we chilled there for quite a bit.
Then S,V&Z reached next followed by M later on. HURRAH!
A,J and I prepared dinner.
Dinner menu:
Rice+sardine
Maggi mee
That night, we took our sleeping bags, layed it out on the ground and star-gazed for quite a bit. The sight was spectacular.
A.T fell asleep halfway and starting snoring. We also found out that he TALKS IN HIS SLEEP!
Saturday, 20th June 2009 (fourth day in Mulu)
(no time to write in words)
Woke up in pain
Supposed to leave campsite at 7.30 only left at 8am
Breakfast : all the leftover food
Milo cereal
Tuna and biscuits
Jam butter crackers
Started trek to the river
8km in 2 hrs
Coming to camp 5
8km in 2 hr 50mins
Hmmmmm....... Pain is good?
Z dropped V's bottle (or was it V accidentally dropping her bottle into the river because Z didn’t clip it securely?) into Sg Melinau while crossing the bridge. Thank goodness it wasn't anyONE that fell in.
We Reached the river at 10.45am
Sir Thuan Sir was the commander in-charge for the whole trek back to the river. He kept hurrying us. Haha!
As predicted, the sampan ride was filled with endless stops where T&M got down to push!
Actually, it was more of T pushing and M touching(the sampan). Haha! [sorrrrry, I couldn't help but include that in ;)]
I was so sleepy, I even fell asleep in the crazy afternoon sun, sitting upright with sunglasses on in the sampan. :):)
*Random
Andrew : if you had two monkeys, what would you name them?
Vanu: Andrew. Thuan. So i can go ANDREW! THUAN! COME HERE!
T &I thought we had lost our IC and cash TWICE!
We filled up our hungry stomachs at Wild Mulu for lunch.
Showered
Almost missed (99% miss 1%catch) (this time, we were the 1% exception) our flight to Miri
T,V,Z and I walked to the airport
As we were approaching the airport, I saw ppl boarding an airplane which looked like the one we were supposed to board
So I asked Z, "How long more till our flight departure time?"
Z: 15mins
M: WHAT?!!?! RUN LAH!!!!!!!
So we ran and when we reached, the counters were closed and gates were closed
We ran to the office and started begging them to let us board
"Please la. We have no money, no accommodation, no nothing"
After much anticipation, begging, more begging and and whole gunny sack of anxiety, they said yes!
But we weren't allowed to check in our baggages.
SHIT.
that meant goodbye mother's swissknife, apricot facewash, herbal essense shampoo and conditioner AND palmolive body wash for me.
So, I had to leave my my mother's swiss knife behind. (screwed) Also, we had to throw all my good toiletries. Sob.
It was a painful lesson to learn. Thankfully, we managed to get our butts on that flight back to Miri. Otherwise, nawh, I don’t want to imagine what would have happened otherwise.
The air-conditioning system was down in the airplane. It was super hot!! And it stank of smelly people all coming from Mulu, heading back to Miri!!
We said HELLO D at the Miri Airport. She reached not long after we arrived. We were all so excited for her as this was her first time travelling solo. We made her a welcome sign saying "Daffy" and stood by the arrival entrance, with the sign held up like a welcoming committee.
At night, we went jalanjalan at the Night Market.
So M says : I don't care D, somehow, tonight you will eat chicken ass!
And guess what?
D ate chicken ass without even anyone trying to stuff it down her throat! HAHAH!
D wanted satay so she went to the satay stall and just pointed to some chicken satay she saw.
She came back to the group and offered us some of the chicken satay she had just bought. T takes a stick. While chewing, he casually says, "Hmmm.. I think this is chicken ass."
D started to panic and questioned if T was talking a bunch a rubbish.
V and M went to the stall where D bought the satay and saw the sign
Buntut ayam rm1
Satay ayam rm1.50
D mentioned before this that she bought the satay for RM1 each. They double checked with the satay seller… and yup… it was positive that THE D had been chewing and swallowing CHICKEN ASS!
Oh boy, it was super funny :p
p/s: the chicken ass had bone :p
*Random
Me: Hey D, do you see any kickapoo in there?
D: Hmm.. I don’t know. (pretends to look)
(swish swish hand in the water "looking" for "kickapoo")
Voila! clean hands :D
After that, we went to the UK Fun Fair in Boulevard Sq. J finaaaaalllly got her wish. Before this, she had been going on and on about the funfair! Haha! It was so cute! I think she was pretty happy that night :p
There was this one amusement ride where people sit in a round on the chairs and the whole (originally horizontal) platform will spin in circles while the platform changes its inclination. Except, this time, the ride was special. While the participants spin their heads dizzy, a guy would shuffle in the middle of the platform where it is spinning the fastest. So we witnessed this. And yes, I admit that it was a pretty cool sight. Until he FAINTED! After about 2 minutes into his cool-ass dance, he started slowing down and bent forward towards his knees as if exhausted. Then he just dropped onto the platform. The ride was stopped immediately and four people rushed towards the centre and lifted him out of the place.
Our first ride was the most violent bumper car ride I have ever sat in. It was so violently fast that some of us actually got bruises afterwards. (eh, now I'm confused. Was this our first ride or second ride?)
(if that is correct) Next, we went on some octopus ride. I spent a total of RM22 just at the funfair. Not cool.
All of us were crazy dizzy after one spinning ride and decided that was about enough of circular rides for the night.
In the Ferris wheel cart, A,J,D and I stood up every time we reached the top, just to be "rebels" (also to take pictures laa:P). Only later we found out that it wasn't so rebellious. :(
Sunday, 21st June 2009
In the morning, M randomly said to us
"Last night at 1am, S&I were sweating together for 20mins (ooOooo) You know what we were doing? Running up and down (eyebrows lift) …….Looking for the car keys! (RIGHT!)"
Discovered migrastick
Niah caves
Painted caves
Dark caves
Journey to niah was bad
Really bumpy
going back time
Ghost stories
Sugarbun
Monday, 22nd June 2009
Chong &Law breakfast
We had Moon Mien, Gan Mien and Chow Zhu Mien(fried mee wet), crysanthemum tea and barley from a bottle (very nicely made).
We paid a total of less than RM5 per person for the breakfast which was a WHOLE LOT. Very very worth the money :)
Later, we got some food from a bakery for the picnic at Lambir. Everything there was very cheap. A huge piece of bun (take cheese and ham bun as an example) was priced at around RM1.30+. Over here, it would have been priced at RM2.50 at the least?
And this applied for everything found there. (except for the home made yoghurt - which was too very yummy [I seriously need to find a new word to replace delicious!])
We bought nice jelly (the kind where its not very sweet and the texture it not too soft) (basically, the perfect kind of jelly for a hot day ;) ) and shared it amongst ourselves in the car.
Lambir waterfall
Second visit to the beach. V captured the sunset on video. Took a gazillion more pictures and just enjoyed our time there in the mixed (it was blue,red,purple,yellow… almost every colour you can imagine could be found there. Mmm.) coloured sky.
After the beach, the lovely friends dropped me at E-mart where I met AhYongEe (took us forever to find the place. Sorry again! I know everyone was extremely hungry) and she took me to see my NgeMa.
Had a delicious home cooked duck dish and some simple soup for dinner. T'was nice :)
I also visited Uncle Daniel, passed some stuff and got some stuff.
That night, we stuck on tattoos. All had similar tattoos. Heart shape with angel wings on the side. The grandpa Andrew T was fast asleep. Us (or me :P) being cheeky came up with an idea to disturb his sweet slumber.
Zhen ready with her water on her palm, myself with the heart shaped tattoo (except that his had the word LOVE written in the bright red heart) in my hands and cameras ready, we waited for the moment to attack…. HIS CHEEK! HAHAH! we stuck it on so quickly and had a GOOOOOOD LOUD LAUGH! Oh my gosh, it was so funny! It took him a good 15 minutes to remove it the next morning. Boy, it was hilarious. :):)
For the second time, my other intelligent (no sarcasm involved) friend failed in tattoo application. HAHA! So after I stuck the tattoos on the behind of everyone's neck, it was my turn. So my dear bestie D volunteered to help me. Just as she patted enough water on the tattoo and started removing the paper, I heard some hesitation in her voice. Lo and behold, my tattoo was stuck….to the PLASTIC! She forgot to remove the plastic. HAHA!
Yes, this is the second time this has happened to me. The first was Ms.WZ, who also happens to be a genius but… fails when it comes to tattoo application. :p:p :D you know I love both of you anyway :)
Tuesday, 23rd June 2009
Dimsum breakfast again at Cafe2020
Souvenir shopping. All of us bought matching T-shirts as a remembrance.
We dropped Zhen at the airport to catch her flight to Kuching.
Bario rice buying
Saying goodbyes (Byebye Sonia&family. Byebye Miri :'()
Taxi ride to Chong&Law- Bought 12 packets of Gan Mien and 4 packets of Moon Mien for 6 stomachs :):)
Continued taxi ride to airport (PAID FRIGGIN 40 bucks!)
Flight back to Kuala Lumpur (home sweet home)
Arrived in the airport and collected our baggage - found out that all the unlocked bags were tampered with and…. T's camera had been nicked. Idiots.
GOODBYE PICTURESSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!! GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My heart..really… broke that night thinking about all the lost pictures. Pictures that cannot be recovered even with 1 million ringgit. :(:(:(:(:(:'(
Next song:
Leaving on a jetplane
"Cuz im leaving on airasia. Don’t know when I'll be back again.. "
Overall, it was indeed an unforgettable and remarkable trip. Precious memories and friendships made & crazy i-never-want-to-relive-it-again moments.
Thank you A,D,M,S,V,Z :)
I hereby dedicate the 16th to 23rd of June 2009 to the Coolio Ocho
p/s: if you find that I missed out any details (which I don’t want to hence did not intend to), please let me know and I'll add it in with great pleasure. I want it all to be recorded down so we wouldn't ever forget. Oh oh and also if I got any facts/figures wrong, correct me please! Less than a week has passed since our home coming and it's already so hard for me to recall the details. LET ME KNOW! ;)
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