Our last Mulu Mission was to get one 'adventure' trek into itinerary. We made our way down to the ranger station to book our boats and our guide, and guess what. The day shift clerk told us that the 'turtle' cave only starts at 12, no exceptions. And when we told him that the night clerk promised us the evening before, all he said was 'No, what was her name'. Talk about exceptional service. Of course the icing on the cake was when we asked him to recommend something to do for the next 2-3hours before our flight. His recommendation? Paku 'waterfalls'... I have no words...
So that was a big Fail. Our mission motto was 'not to let Rickey win' (he elected to spend the morning 'resting' in the hotel), so we decided to just rent boats and head over to the clearwater pool and get our swim on. It was a good swim. As it had rained all night, the pool was not as clear as the day before. And since we hadn't gone trekking, the pool was more 'cold' than refreshing. Still, we were not going 'to let Rickey win' and we spent a good hour freezing our nuts off in the pool.
Grabbed lunch at the park canteen before heading back to the hotel to check-out. For once, the POW van was on time. Even our checkout went relatively smoothly and before we knew it, we were on a plane back to Kuching
At Kuching, we split up again, as Rickey, Rugburn and I had reservations at Tune. Mick had arranged another hotel for the rest of the crew as Yen had already driven up to Saratok. We met up for dinner, and I suggested the 'Life cafe', a quaint little place I've been to previously. It was closed. In fact, everything was closed. Looks like everyone had already headed out of town for Gawai. We ended up along the river at my other favourite place from my previous visit.
With time to spare and not much to do, we decided to visit an old haunt of Mick's when he was living in Kuching. The Riverview mall bowling alley. 10RM for 3 games including shoes... incredible value.
Off to bed before the 5 hour drive.
Note on Tune hotel. It seems that getting a good or bad room is depending on the luck of the draw. Our rooms (all 3 of us) on the first night was very good, and very BAD on the second night. We had nice clean rooms with fully working facilities on our first stay, and when we returned on Sunday night, we got different rooms and this time, it was a bad experience for all 3 of us. Considering the rooms were along the same corridor and barely several doors apart, the difference in standard was startling. My room on the 2nd night had a weird smell to it, the toilet exuded an awful stink (and that was before I went number#2), and the shower was drippy. Rickey's sink did not drain (and it also had a weird smell), and Rugburn woke up to a bedside companion (not a hooker... a cockroach). When we compared notes, we realised that individually we all had great rooms on the first night and awful ones the 2nd time around. Strange coincidences, and worse, lousy consistancy from the hotel.
Flight back to Kuching
Kuching Sunset (Horfun's photo)
Old School Bowling Score machine. Brunswick 2000, VGA display (Horfun's photo)
If the shoe fits...(Horfun's photos)
My photo, Rugburn's camera
Rolling in a strange lane (Rugburn's photo)
So that was a big Fail. Our mission motto was 'not to let Rickey win' (he elected to spend the morning 'resting' in the hotel), so we decided to just rent boats and head over to the clearwater pool and get our swim on. It was a good swim. As it had rained all night, the pool was not as clear as the day before. And since we hadn't gone trekking, the pool was more 'cold' than refreshing. Still, we were not going 'to let Rickey win' and we spent a good hour freezing our nuts off in the pool.
Grabbed lunch at the park canteen before heading back to the hotel to check-out. For once, the POW van was on time. Even our checkout went relatively smoothly and before we knew it, we were on a plane back to Kuching
At Kuching, we split up again, as Rickey, Rugburn and I had reservations at Tune. Mick had arranged another hotel for the rest of the crew as Yen had already driven up to Saratok. We met up for dinner, and I suggested the 'Life cafe', a quaint little place I've been to previously. It was closed. In fact, everything was closed. Looks like everyone had already headed out of town for Gawai. We ended up along the river at my other favourite place from my previous visit.
With time to spare and not much to do, we decided to visit an old haunt of Mick's when he was living in Kuching. The Riverview mall bowling alley. 10RM for 3 games including shoes... incredible value.
Off to bed before the 5 hour drive.
Note on Tune hotel. It seems that getting a good or bad room is depending on the luck of the draw. Our rooms (all 3 of us) on the first night was very good, and very BAD on the second night. We had nice clean rooms with fully working facilities on our first stay, and when we returned on Sunday night, we got different rooms and this time, it was a bad experience for all 3 of us. Considering the rooms were along the same corridor and barely several doors apart, the difference in standard was startling. My room on the 2nd night had a weird smell to it, the toilet exuded an awful stink (and that was before I went number#2), and the shower was drippy. Rickey's sink did not drain (and it also had a weird smell), and Rugburn woke up to a bedside companion (not a hooker... a cockroach). When we compared notes, we realised that individually we all had great rooms on the first night and awful ones the 2nd time around. Strange coincidences, and worse, lousy consistancy from the hotel.
Flight back to Kuching
Kuching Sunset (Horfun's photo)
Old School Bowling Score machine. Brunswick 2000, VGA display (Horfun's photo)
If the shoe fits...(Horfun's photos)
My photo, Rugburn's camera
Rolling in a strange lane (Rugburn's photo) 
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