Category: Travel

Back in Kuala Lumpur!!

Alex’s parents were helpful. They packed our stuff, organized everything and bought us many things.

Sarawak was fun. It was a huge eye opener.

I came back darker and fatter. Alex’s parents kept on forcing us to eat. Yesterday, I ate from 1PM to 9PM, NON STOP!!

So now, all I can say is, I went to Sarawak, came back with gifts, new experiences and a big belly.

GOD DAMN THE BEERS!!

Kelabit – a traditional native ear lobe piercing expansion

blowpipe – also known as sumpit, used as a hunting tool

huge pineapples – ONLY RM3 PER PIECE! VALUE!!

tuak – home made rice wine, very lethal, PREPARE TO DIE HEN AND IVN!!

Sarawak has been a huge exposure to me in terms of nature.

I saw this huge wild boar caged @ a construction yard. Apparently, someone is raring it as a pet. It looks mmm..ugly.

I learnt how to drive a motor boat today! It was easy. It’s like driving a car. Well, not exactly, the way to handle the boat is opposite of a car. If you want to turn left, you gotta turn the handle to the right visa versa.

We drove a 15 horse powered motorboat on Alex’s river (Semenyih River). The river is absolutely filthy. Everybody treats it like a huge rubbish bin. There was once we almost ran over a bloated carcass of a dog. It’s so bloated till it looks like it’s going to explode anytime.

Oh yeah, last night we ate durian kampung (small durian). It tasted like SHIT.

Then today, we had fried maggots. They call it ulat sago. It’s as big as my thumb, looks very juicy. Its flesh feels like jelly and it smells like blood initially. But after frying it with pepper and salt, it deflated. I had 2..it tasted like…

PRAWNS..

god damn maggots tasted like prawns. EUW. Some are a little bit juicy though. According to Alex’s Dad, the maggots were supposed to be juicier. However, he cooked it wrongly. euw..I cant imagine eating a juicier maggot..

So anyway, here are some pictures of Bintulu courtesy of David. thanks mate!

HELLO PEOPLE!!!

THE INTERNET!! I MISS THE INTERNET!!

I’m in Miri now. Waiting for my friends to finish their game @ the arcade. We’ll be heading back to Bintulu in few hours time.

Mulu Cave was superb.

Day 1 @ Mulu, Day 4 @ Sarawak
Alex’s driver, Jack, drove us to Miri airport. The journey took about 3 hours and it was bumpy like a roller coaster ride. We tried sleeping but were kept awake by the sudden bumps and breaks. God damn Sarawak roads.

We took a short flight to Mulu National Park Airport. There we were greeted by our tour guide. Let’s call him Mr. Potato (direct translation from a Chinese comic character, tai fan shu). He just started work hence he was inexperienced. I will deal with him later in this passage.

After settling down at the hotel room, we hiked 3KM to Lang Cave. It’s a small cave filled with stalactite and stalagmite.

We then headed to Deer Cave, the biggest cave chamber in the world. The smell of guano was overwhelming. It is estimated that there are about 2 – 5 million bats living inside the cave.

According to Mr Potato, the cave got its name from deer which drank from the stream that flows out from the cave. Further, he said that the stream water is salty due to guano. However, I took the opportunity to try the water. It tasted fresh. Not salty as claimed by Mr Potato. In reply, Mr Potato said that he himself never tried it. He was taught to say that.

The aforesaid caves were much better than Gua Niah. Gua Niah is dirty and doesn’t have proper routes to travel. However, if you really want adventure, head down to Gua Niah. At Gua Niah, your movement is unrestricted hence you can explore the entire cave.

Then at 5PM, we waited at the observation deck to witness the phenomenon exodus of millions of bats flying out from the caves, spiraling high overhead and ascend to the jungles where they will search for food.

Throughout the entire trip, Mr Potato didn’t say much. I guess it is due to his inexperience. Unlike other tour guides, they would give us interesting facts and so on. Mr Potato on the other hand, was quiet most of the time. However, the conversation below between Alex and Mr Potato cracks me up.

(while tracking thru the jungle)
Mr Potato: That is the sound of sikatak.
Alex: sikatak? Is that an insect? You mean Cicada? (an insect)
Mr Potato: No no, not cicade. Sikatak!

Unknown to him, he wrongly pronounced cicada. Si katak means frog in Malay.

Day 2 @ Mulu, Day 5 @ Sarawak
Our itenary of the day was Wind Cave and Clearwater Cave.

We took a boat to Wind Cave. It was boring.

However, Clearwater cave was great. A huge river flows underground.

At an extra fee of RM20, we ventured deep into the cave. The water level rose up to our chest and was bloody cold. So cold that I can feel my balls shrinking.

The route was muddy and slippery. At one point, we had to climb up a slippery wall. I had no problem thanks to rock climbing. However, Aik Keong had problem climbing up due to his size (huge). 3 of us had to push him up the wall. This wasn’t the last, he tripped and slipped many times. Oh yeah, before the journey even started, he ripped his pants while trying to climb over a fence. His last words at the end of the trip was, “this shall be the first..and last time..”

Overall, the route was an easy route. But there were some parts which were dangerous. There was once we had to stay low on the ground cause if we slipped, we would fall into a pit and disappear.

After caving, We spent the entire day swimming at the river.

At day 2, Mr Potato had it again. While we were trying to cross the river, our boat, driven by Mr Potato didn’t work. We were stuck there for 15 minutes. Our initial thoughts were
A: the boat’s engine has gone kookoo.
B: the boat was too heavy hence it could move.

We finally found out what happen to our boat the next day. It was Mr Potato’s first time driving a boat…. That’s why it couldn’t move.

Miri
Initially a boring place. We visited some dirty beaches and so on. However, things got interesting as we visited this humongous house at the beach side. It was soo big till it took us 5 minutes to walk from one end of the wall to another end of the wall that faces the beach.

Then later at night, I met this really HOOoooooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT girl working @ a sourvenir shop. She looked mix but in fact she’s pure chinese. She was sooooo hotttt till…. I spent about RM90 @ the shop buying sourvenir. 😀 She gave me a RM20 discount. w00t w000ttt. But….

WHYY WHYYYY WHYY MUST SHE BE IN MIRI…WHY!??!?!!! Anyway, I passed her a note telling her to email me if she comes to KL. /me prays she comes to KL..

So boys and girls, I better run now, will update again once I get back to Bintulu. Btw, good job Frank! Cya guys!

Since it’s Nicole, David and Joo Pern’s last day here, we decided to visit Niah Cave. 2 cars, 7 people. The journey took about an hour plus. After that, we had to walk about 3KM through the jungle to get to the caves.

The view was magnificient. Further, there were loads of natives harvesting bird nest. The process was scary. All they had to climb was just a thin bamboo stick.

The rest wore shoes. I wore slippers. God damn guano, they’re every where! At one point, it was raining guano. EUW.

We ventured deep into the cave, taking routes which were not set. The highlight of the day was when we found a bottomless pit. William and I tried walking on the side of it but froze after looking at the bottomless pit. My balls shrunk man..

However, the natives seems to be pretty cool about it. They used a think wooden plank the bottomless pit. I was literally on my knees, trying to get back to the other side.

Gang @ Bottomless pit!

The exit

The gang @ the exit
So the journey ended about 1PM.
We picked a Swiss hitch hiker on the way. Not hot at all, she’s a middle aged Geography teacher. After travelling for half an hour, Alex’s Mercedes stalled. The car broke down.

The other car didn’t know that our car broke down hence they continued their way to Niah town. Alex and the Swiss lady had to take bus to the town to look for them, while William and I were stranded in the middle of no where. We had no food and drinks, no shops nearby, all they have was some Iban long houses. For the next half an hour, William and I were subjected to inhumane torture by the hot scorching sun and dangdut music from a nearby long house. We took refuge at a nearby but stop.

We’re lost..
Thank god for the bus stop, we would be BBQ alive if it was not for it.

Next stop… The biggest Cave Chamber in the world.. Mulu Caves tomorrow! I’ll be there for 3 days hence to my guestbloggers, BLOG BLOG BLOG !!