27 May 2010 - Layover in Kuching
Summertime...and the living is easy... The 3rd annual LOD trip brought us to the friendly shores of West Malaysia. After 2 years of standing the Mick up for his Rice Wine Festival plans, this year, we had to make it all up to him.
Took the Thursday afternoon tiger flight out to Kuching where we stayed over for a night before taking the early Friday morning flight to Mulu. The crew split for overnight lodging as Mick has arranged for himself, Horfun, Kelson, Ripken and Dan to bunk over at Yen's place. Rickey, Rugburn and I got rooms at the Tune Hotel down in Kuching old town.
Tune hotel is run by Air Asia, and its very much like a budget hotel. You pay a cheap rate for rooms, then additional fees for any luxuries. In our case, we bought 12 hrs of air-conditioning, and Rugburn and I decided to splurge a little and bought towels as well. The rooms were surprisingly pleasant. Not the biggest rooms I've been in, basic, but very clean and it had a fantastic shower. Up until our 2nd layover (story on day 4), I would have easily recommended Tune for anyone hitting Kuching for 1-2 night stopovers. Now, I'm not so sure (read more later).
Once everyone had settled in and dumped luggage, we met up for a stroll around old Kuching town and headed to 'Top Spot' for dinner. Dinner was gooooood. We had sambal stingray, steamed fish, sauted squid, thai-style chicken, belachan midin, oyster sauce stewed cabbage, butter prawns, and all that for.... $240RM (which included Pat's vege dishes)... amazingly cheap, yet very delicious. Oh, and Rickey's dinner was steak from 'Tim's steakhouse'. Supposedly, they ran out of ceasar salad.
After dinner, we headed over to a Iban bar close to the hotel. The bar was literally a lean-to by the side of the bridge. Had my first taste of Tuak (rice wine) and I definitely liked it. Looking forward to more Tuak when we hit the longhouse.
Bits of the oil spill from the tanker collision
Tune Hotel, Kuching
Basic Room, relatively large bed (easily sleeps 2) and no other luxuries
I loved the shower. Excellent water pressure.
The corridors of Tune
Our 2nd evening in Kuching had a spectacular sunset, but I didn't carry my camera around that evening.
Sambal Stingray. It was a huge piece, probably an entire wing.
Horfun ordered butter prawns, but the dish arrived as cereal prawns. Still, it was damn good.
Empty plates.
The Iban bar we went to. I really like the decor.
Took the Thursday afternoon tiger flight out to Kuching where we stayed over for a night before taking the early Friday morning flight to Mulu. The crew split for overnight lodging as Mick has arranged for himself, Horfun, Kelson, Ripken and Dan to bunk over at Yen's place. Rickey, Rugburn and I got rooms at the Tune Hotel down in Kuching old town.
Tune hotel is run by Air Asia, and its very much like a budget hotel. You pay a cheap rate for rooms, then additional fees for any luxuries. In our case, we bought 12 hrs of air-conditioning, and Rugburn and I decided to splurge a little and bought towels as well. The rooms were surprisingly pleasant. Not the biggest rooms I've been in, basic, but very clean and it had a fantastic shower. Up until our 2nd layover (story on day 4), I would have easily recommended Tune for anyone hitting Kuching for 1-2 night stopovers. Now, I'm not so sure (read more later).
Once everyone had settled in and dumped luggage, we met up for a stroll around old Kuching town and headed to 'Top Spot' for dinner. Dinner was gooooood. We had sambal stingray, steamed fish, sauted squid, thai-style chicken, belachan midin, oyster sauce stewed cabbage, butter prawns, and all that for.... $240RM (which included Pat's vege dishes)... amazingly cheap, yet very delicious. Oh, and Rickey's dinner was steak from 'Tim's steakhouse'. Supposedly, they ran out of ceasar salad.
After dinner, we headed over to a Iban bar close to the hotel. The bar was literally a lean-to by the side of the bridge. Had my first taste of Tuak (rice wine) and I definitely liked it. Looking forward to more Tuak when we hit the longhouse.
Bits of the oil spill from the tanker collision
Tune Hotel, Kuching
Basic Room, relatively large bed (easily sleeps 2) and no other luxuries
I loved the shower. Excellent water pressure.
The corridors of Tune
Our 2nd evening in Kuching had a spectacular sunset, but I didn't carry my camera around that evening.
Sambal Stingray. It was a huge piece, probably an entire wing.
Horfun ordered butter prawns, but the dish arrived as cereal prawns. Still, it was damn good.
Empty plates.
The Iban bar we went to. I really like the decor.
28 May 2010 - Mulu and the Bat Signal
Those of us who stayed in Tune, grabbed breakfast in Kuching town. I've been there before, so I knew exactly where I wanted to go for some morning kolomee goodness. As it turns out, when we were there, we noticed these huge meat buns being served to every table (except ours). It was obviously a local favourite, so we decided to order one to sample. It was very good. A tennis ball sized meatball encased in a thick, soft pillow of dough. Yum.
Off to the airport for our flight to Mulu.
As usual, we hit the ground running. The moment our little turboprop plane landed, we scooted off to the hotel, dropped bags and made for the National Park. Our first stop, the ranger station to get more information and arrange for guides/tours. We made it just in time for the afternoon expedition to the Deer and Lang's caves.
Interesting facts to take note of. 1. You need a guide to go into the caves. 2. Each expedition is timed. There is no bargaining, lollygagging or dillydallying. 3. Best thing to do is grab the brochure from the ranger station and plan your trip accordingly so that you hit all the caves, and any other sights you want to see. All timings are printed in the brochure (I wish someone had told us that before our trip)
It was a 4km walk to the entrance of the Deer and Lang caves. On the plus side, the entire walk was either on boardwalk or paved. There was no option to deviate from the path which is good and bad. The path was also relatively well lit with lights every 10m or so. That helped on the walk back, though some of the lights did not work.
The caves were quite spectacular. The Deer Cave being the previous holder of the 'largest cave passage known to man'. Coincidentally, when we booked the trip, it was still the 'largest', but was recently surpassed by the one discovered in Vietnam. If you really want to enjoy the caves, leave your camera behind. Humping my camera/lenses/flash/backpack/water...etc for 4km, then trying to setup good shots was a pain.
At the entrance of the caves was a little amphitheatre built for viewing the amazing flight of the 3 million or so bats living in the Deer cave. Every evening at dusk, the bats would begin their journey out to feed. They would spiral in a tight formation containing hundreds of bats and then make for the jungle. Sadly, we did not catch the show. It was drizzling and the bats would not come out. We tried the bat signal into the skies, but to no avail.
Once dark settled, we trekked the 4km back, and hopped on the POW lorry back to the hotel. (traveller tip 249: When booking at the Royal Mulu, request for a table outside or FAR from the stage). Since the booking for our hotel came from Yen's office, the hotel staff must have thought we were VVIPs. They put is in the table right on the stage. And every night, from 8-830pm, there is a "cultural show" for tourists. The 'show' is nothing more than a 'malaysia truly asia' spectacular of epic fail proportions. We learnt our lesson the hard way, sitting through what must have been the most uninspired performance (including actors expressions...they were more bored than us) of the diversity of ethnic groups and cultures in Malaysia.
Of course a 'cultural show' would not be complete without the traditional bamboo pole dancing (not what you think), and the 'get-a-guest-to-blow-a-dart-and-hit-a-balloon blowpipe competition'. Only one person from our table got up to try (no points for guessing), and obviously he missed. Evidently, Rickey needs 2 shots with a big pipe in his mouth.
Friday night is Karaoke night at the hotel bar. It seems that Karaoke night was meant for staff not guests. (Tip to Royal Mulu... Guest facilities are for GUESTS. Don't let your staff hog the guest facilities, it sets an ugly example. Especially when they can't sing and are making a nuisance of themselves). I crashed soon after since I couldn't get to see Ripken show off his lungs. Turns out the rest of the guys went over to 'Stella's' across the river for drinks (I shall talk about the cost of drinks at the Royal Mulu later), but they got kicked out at 1030, cos 'Stella's' was closing. The ridiculousness of it all, was when the guys came back to the bar and the staff of Stella's was competing with the Royal Mulu staff for worst rendition of 'My Way' (This will be discussed in my report on the Royal Mulu)
I love Kolomee... Blanched noodles tossed in pork fat, served with charsiew, shallots and minced pork. Delicious.
The 'Ta Pau', or Big Bun.
Big as Rickey's hand.
Our plane to Mulu
How did I take this photo if I was on the plane? How did the astronauts take the Apollo landing on the moon?
Welcome to Gunung Mulu National Park
The bridge over to the Royal Mulu
That's Stella's and another view of the bridge.
The Royal Mulu Resort. Where you pay 400 a night and get no service.
Those are our rooms. We were in 201, 202, 203, 204
There was a GAP.
Ready for the first mission
Entrance to the park proper.
All bridges lead....somewhere.
Mission 1: Deer cave and Lang's cave
Lang's Cave
Click on the picts to see it in full size. See if you can spot the tiny little people in the second picture. Only then can you appreciate the enormous size of the cave.
The entrace to the 'Deer Cave'. This is where the bats swarm out at night (supposedly).
Waiting for the bats to appear.
Off to the airport for our flight to Mulu.
As usual, we hit the ground running. The moment our little turboprop plane landed, we scooted off to the hotel, dropped bags and made for the National Park. Our first stop, the ranger station to get more information and arrange for guides/tours. We made it just in time for the afternoon expedition to the Deer and Lang's caves.
Interesting facts to take note of. 1. You need a guide to go into the caves. 2. Each expedition is timed. There is no bargaining, lollygagging or dillydallying. 3. Best thing to do is grab the brochure from the ranger station and plan your trip accordingly so that you hit all the caves, and any other sights you want to see. All timings are printed in the brochure (I wish someone had told us that before our trip)
It was a 4km walk to the entrance of the Deer and Lang caves. On the plus side, the entire walk was either on boardwalk or paved. There was no option to deviate from the path which is good and bad. The path was also relatively well lit with lights every 10m or so. That helped on the walk back, though some of the lights did not work.
The caves were quite spectacular. The Deer Cave being the previous holder of the 'largest cave passage known to man'. Coincidentally, when we booked the trip, it was still the 'largest', but was recently surpassed by the one discovered in Vietnam. If you really want to enjoy the caves, leave your camera behind. Humping my camera/lenses/flash/backpack/water...etc for 4km, then trying to setup good shots was a pain.
At the entrance of the caves was a little amphitheatre built for viewing the amazing flight of the 3 million or so bats living in the Deer cave. Every evening at dusk, the bats would begin their journey out to feed. They would spiral in a tight formation containing hundreds of bats and then make for the jungle. Sadly, we did not catch the show. It was drizzling and the bats would not come out. We tried the bat signal into the skies, but to no avail.
Once dark settled, we trekked the 4km back, and hopped on the POW lorry back to the hotel. (traveller tip 249: When booking at the Royal Mulu, request for a table outside or FAR from the stage). Since the booking for our hotel came from Yen's office, the hotel staff must have thought we were VVIPs. They put is in the table right on the stage. And every night, from 8-830pm, there is a "cultural show" for tourists. The 'show' is nothing more than a 'malaysia truly asia' spectacular of epic fail proportions. We learnt our lesson the hard way, sitting through what must have been the most uninspired performance (including actors expressions...they were more bored than us) of the diversity of ethnic groups and cultures in Malaysia.
Of course a 'cultural show' would not be complete without the traditional bamboo pole dancing (not what you think), and the 'get-a-guest-to-blow-a-dart-and-hit-a-balloon blowpipe competition'. Only one person from our table got up to try (no points for guessing), and obviously he missed. Evidently, Rickey needs 2 shots with a big pipe in his mouth.
Friday night is Karaoke night at the hotel bar. It seems that Karaoke night was meant for staff not guests. (Tip to Royal Mulu... Guest facilities are for GUESTS. Don't let your staff hog the guest facilities, it sets an ugly example. Especially when they can't sing and are making a nuisance of themselves). I crashed soon after since I couldn't get to see Ripken show off his lungs. Turns out the rest of the guys went over to 'Stella's' across the river for drinks (I shall talk about the cost of drinks at the Royal Mulu later), but they got kicked out at 1030, cos 'Stella's' was closing. The ridiculousness of it all, was when the guys came back to the bar and the staff of Stella's was competing with the Royal Mulu staff for worst rendition of 'My Way' (This will be discussed in my report on the Royal Mulu)
I love Kolomee... Blanched noodles tossed in pork fat, served with charsiew, shallots and minced pork. Delicious.
The 'Ta Pau', or Big Bun.
Big as Rickey's hand.
Our plane to Mulu
How did I take this photo if I was on the plane? How did the astronauts take the Apollo landing on the moon?
Welcome to Gunung Mulu National Park
The bridge over to the Royal Mulu
That's Stella's and another view of the bridge.
The Royal Mulu Resort. Where you pay 400 a night and get no service.
Those are our rooms. We were in 201, 202, 203, 204
There was a GAP.
Ready for the first mission
Entrance to the park proper.
All bridges lead....somewhere.
Mission 1: Deer cave and Lang's cave
Lang's Cave
Click on the picts to see it in full size. See if you can spot the tiny little people in the second picture. Only then can you appreciate the enormous size of the cave.
The entrace to the 'Deer Cave'. This is where the bats swarm out at night (supposedly).
Waiting for the bats to appear.
29 May 2010 - Clearwater and fake waterfalls
lHaving been to the Deer and Lang caves, our next scheduled stop was to see the Clearwater and Wind Caves. This required a boat trip upriver and we tried our darnedest to arrange it the night before (except the incompetent staff at the Royal Mulu were too busy trying to sing to help guests...see report) but was unsuccessful. So right after breakfast, we headed back to the ranger station to book boats and guides.
Getting to the caves this time was easy. A lovely 20min boat ride and we were there. I found that not having to lug my gear for 4km and sweating like a madman definitely helped in taking photos. Remember what I said about exact timings, we got there by 9.00am (Our boat skipped the tourist village, but our other boat didn't), but had to wait till 10.30am to proceed into the caves. We waited and waited and waited and waited with no information forthcoming from the guide. Oh well, lesson learnt. "If you take 2 boats, either both should stop or skip the 'tourist' village'"
The Wind cave was quite nice, lovely formations of stalagmites and stalactites with delicate carvings that did not look naturally made. The Clearwater cave on the other hand, was spectacular. There's a river running through it and it was beautiful. We later learnt that there was a 'beginners' adventure trek from within the Clearwater cave following along the river bed to an alternate exit. Of course our wonderful tourguide did NOT mention that the trek only took place once a day, at 1230pm (it was about 12pm when we finished the caves).
We were so excited about the adventure trek that we went back to ranger station to arrange for one the next morning(we had half a day before our flight out). Remember what I said about the strict expedition timings? Well, turns out the adventure trek (named 'turtle caves') was listed in the brochure with a 1230pm time). But the nice lady at the ranger station said it was 'no problem' and to show up next day at 8am and she'll arrange everything for us. (traveller tip 271: If someone in Malaysia tells you 'no problem, come tomorrow morning', he/she is lying to you to get you to go away. Ask for a name and the promise written down in black and white)
I digress, that's Day 4. Anyway, there's a beautiful pool right at the foot of Clearwater cave, and some of us elected to grab a quick swim. The water was deliciously cold and wonderfully refreshing after a morning of stuffy caves. Taking a dip is a must during the little rest stop between Wind Cave and Clearwater.
Lunch was had back at the Park canteen. Simple food. Cheap and filling. No culinary awards, but no complaints.
Post-lunch, we elected to head down to the Paku 'Waterfalls' before swinging back to the Batstands for another shot at seeing the bat swarms. The Paku 'Waterfalls' is advertised as 1.3km away from the main Deer cave trail (The entrance is about 1km from the ranger station). We lost Rickey on this mission, so the 7 of us started the trek down to the 'waterfalls'. It's not 1.3km if anyone's wondering, more like 2+km. Although this walk was much nicer as it felt more like jungle trekking rather than boardwalk-walking. The path was clearly defined by large river stones, but we had our shoes on honest-to-goodness mud.
The waterfall was as majestic as the walk was short (the walk was not short, and the waterfall was hardly majestic). The park authority should change the name to 'Paku waterdrizzlingfromholeinrock', that would have been a more accurate description. I can't believe that one of the staff in the ranger station suggested we go there. Then again, lying seems to be a common theme of this trip.
The walk back though was fun. It rained (much harder than the water flowing from the 'waterfall'), and we had barely started our trek back when the droplets became bucketlets. This was real adventure trekking, sloshing through the mud, through the jungle. FUN!!! Pity the rain meant that the bats would stay indoors, so we headed back to hotel.
We reached the ranger station by 4.30 but did not reach the hotel till 5.45. "but wait, isn't the park 5mins from the hotel?", I'm glad you noticed kind reader. Let's just chalk it up to another one of the hotel's incompentencies. And I need to mention that they didn't have umbrellas to escort us from the POW lorry to the lobby/rooms. "Budget Hotel?" is your next question? Nope... 400rm a night. Actually now that I think about it, the Royal Mulu reminds me a lot of Singapore govt. 1st world prices, 4th class service.
We made it to dinner by 6 and got out of there by 8. We had to avoid the cultural show. Mission accomplished. Beer and Minimum in the lounge.
Getting to the caves this time was easy. A lovely 20min boat ride and we were there. I found that not having to lug my gear for 4km and sweating like a madman definitely helped in taking photos. Remember what I said about exact timings, we got there by 9.00am (Our boat skipped the tourist village, but our other boat didn't), but had to wait till 10.30am to proceed into the caves. We waited and waited and waited and waited with no information forthcoming from the guide. Oh well, lesson learnt. "If you take 2 boats, either both should stop or skip the 'tourist' village'"
The Wind cave was quite nice, lovely formations of stalagmites and stalactites with delicate carvings that did not look naturally made. The Clearwater cave on the other hand, was spectacular. There's a river running through it and it was beautiful. We later learnt that there was a 'beginners' adventure trek from within the Clearwater cave following along the river bed to an alternate exit. Of course our wonderful tourguide did NOT mention that the trek only took place once a day, at 1230pm (it was about 12pm when we finished the caves).
We were so excited about the adventure trek that we went back to ranger station to arrange for one the next morning(we had half a day before our flight out). Remember what I said about the strict expedition timings? Well, turns out the adventure trek (named 'turtle caves') was listed in the brochure with a 1230pm time). But the nice lady at the ranger station said it was 'no problem' and to show up next day at 8am and she'll arrange everything for us. (traveller tip 271: If someone in Malaysia tells you 'no problem, come tomorrow morning', he/she is lying to you to get you to go away. Ask for a name and the promise written down in black and white)
I digress, that's Day 4. Anyway, there's a beautiful pool right at the foot of Clearwater cave, and some of us elected to grab a quick swim. The water was deliciously cold and wonderfully refreshing after a morning of stuffy caves. Taking a dip is a must during the little rest stop between Wind Cave and Clearwater.
Lunch was had back at the Park canteen. Simple food. Cheap and filling. No culinary awards, but no complaints.
Post-lunch, we elected to head down to the Paku 'Waterfalls' before swinging back to the Batstands for another shot at seeing the bat swarms. The Paku 'Waterfalls' is advertised as 1.3km away from the main Deer cave trail (The entrance is about 1km from the ranger station). We lost Rickey on this mission, so the 7 of us started the trek down to the 'waterfalls'. It's not 1.3km if anyone's wondering, more like 2+km. Although this walk was much nicer as it felt more like jungle trekking rather than boardwalk-walking. The path was clearly defined by large river stones, but we had our shoes on honest-to-goodness mud.
The waterfall was as majestic as the walk was short (the walk was not short, and the waterfall was hardly majestic). The park authority should change the name to 'Paku waterdrizzlingfromholeinrock', that would have been a more accurate description. I can't believe that one of the staff in the ranger station suggested we go there. Then again, lying seems to be a common theme of this trip.
The walk back though was fun. It rained (much harder than the water flowing from the 'waterfall'), and we had barely started our trek back when the droplets became bucketlets. This was real adventure trekking, sloshing through the mud, through the jungle. FUN!!! Pity the rain meant that the bats would stay indoors, so we headed back to hotel.
We reached the ranger station by 4.30 but did not reach the hotel till 5.45. "but wait, isn't the park 5mins from the hotel?", I'm glad you noticed kind reader. Let's just chalk it up to another one of the hotel's incompentencies. And I need to mention that they didn't have umbrellas to escort us from the POW lorry to the lobby/rooms. "Budget Hotel?" is your next question? Nope... 400rm a night. Actually now that I think about it, the Royal Mulu reminds me a lot of Singapore govt. 1st world prices, 4th class service.
We made it to dinner by 6 and got out of there by 8. We had to avoid the cultural show. Mission accomplished. Beer and Minimum in the lounge.
Mission 2: Wind and Clearwater Caves
Obligatory boat photo for travel blog
The crew that let us down
The first boat
The 2nd boat finally arrives.
Entrance to Wind Cave
Mission to the Clearwater Cave
Mission 3: To the Paku 'Waterfalls'
Mission accomplished... now where is that 'waterfall' again?
We had to pay extra for the room with the stick insect.
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