Mulu National Park - not your average man vs. wild experience

We arrived back in lovely Kota Kinabalu, took a transit flight to Miri, stayed a night at the delightful Dellenia guesthouse, then flew out again the next morning to Mulu National Park. We were looking forward to a lovely relaxing stay, unfortunately it didn’t start well as all out bookings at the park had been removed from their little book of bookings.  This is a little scary as you can only fly in and out of the park, so if you have no accommodation you’re stuffed. After some discussion they were able to just give us another room, which was strange as it took me 3 weeks of emailing and checking to get the room we had originally booked.

The park has been awarded World Heritage status, so we knew it would be a beautiful place to explore. On the first day we took a tour with about 30 other people of two caves and a little village market. You could hear Dave’s inner voice of whinge as we walked through the cave unable to hear our guide, behind the most touristy of tourists. This was not the Bear Grylls experience he was hoping for. We got home after lunch relaxed and little, then headed out to the tree top tower which is 50 meters high and designed for spying on the wildlife of the canopy. After an hour we decided to descend as we had seen a total of 1 bird and 23 butterflies.  That evening we were booked in for a night walk, only 7 tourists this time - much better. The night walk was really fun as we saw much more than we did in the time we spent in the observation tower. Strangely the rain forest is rather devoid of animals. But we did get to see huge stick insects, a green tree fog, a green tree snake, Picher plants, massive spiders (even by Australian standards), giant snails, freaky snails, gecko’s, a bird asleep with he head tucked into his own feather doona and lizards. 

A lady selling used nose flutes at the village market..

A kid in the village

A pterodactyl butterfly near the entrance to Clearwater cave

The entrance to Clearwater cave

On our way to the tree top lookout

The next day we got up early to do the canopy walk, which is a 900 meter loop of suspended planks that you walk across 2 at a time. It’s quite a strange experience being up in the canopy but very beautiful. Once again we didn’t see any slow Loris’, Monkeys or Hornbills just pterodactyl sized butterflies. On the second last plank a whip snake was hiding in a tree, he was skinny with a diamond shaped head and rather uninterested in us even when Dave was swearing at him because he couldn’t get the camera to focus on his head. The annoying gross publicly affectionate hippy couple in our group I’m sure disapproved.

Dave heading across

The canopy walk was made by locals and does not harm the trees it's suspended to

Mr Whip snake

In the arvo we walked to the waterfall along a muddy track while being attacked by biting insects (more wounds to add to my coral burn and sand fly stings). The waterfall was very picturesque, the water was the coldest (and most refreshing) we’ve felt in Asia with Dave even struggling to plunge in.  The fish were abundant and too curious/friendly/dodgy for my liking so my shoes stayed on. 

Dave swimming at the waterfall

A picture straight out of a Sounds of the Rainforest CD

One our third and last day we did and easy 10km walk to Deer and Lang's Caves. These were indeed the reason why Mulu is world heritage, they were spectacular. Langs was very pretty, Deer Cave was something out of movie, it's where Batman should live. It houses 2 million teeny bats that are tiny and very very cute up close. Unfortunately the 2 million bats also poo a lot and it was a bit stinky walking past the layers of Guano. After our tour through the caves, we sat at the bat observation area as the bats leave each day between 5 and 6 if it hasn’t been raining. They hadn’t left the cave the last 3 nights but we were really lucky to see them start to stream out. They come out in 'worms', perhaps a few hundred bats at a time. This process must go on for about an hour. Our necks got sore and our SD card ran out of room so we walked back before the last bat exited the cave.

Formations inside Lang's cave

More formations inside Lang's

The entrance to the Bat (Deer) cave

Inside Deer cave, try to use the leeeetle people in the picture to gain perspective

Looking out from within Deer cave, Guano glistening

Mr Benjamin Franklin or Winston Churchill or Sean Penn from inside Deer Cave

A 'worm' of bats leaving Deer Cave

The Bats up close..

Leaving Mulu via another ATR-72

The next day we flew back to Miri, stayed the night at Dellenia again before heading off the next morning for Kuching.

Philippines….Manila and Coran

Arrived at Clark Airport, which is Manila’s version of Avalon. So it’s about 3 hours from the centre of Manila - the advantages of flying a low cost carrier are questionable in every country. Surprisingly Manila’s sprawl was visible about ½ an hour into our trip and went on for Km’s. It put’s Melbourne’s sprawl to shame, it was truly an urban concrete jungle to be reckoned with, a mega city like Jakarta. As we neared our destination we also spotted a mega mall that went for at least 8 Km’s and makes Chadstone look like forest hill chase. The huge gap between poor and rich is so apparent in Manila that it's shocking to see with a near non-existent middle class. If the poverty gap doesn’t shock you, Manila serves up some more surprises, including what looks like a record number of KFC’s, McDonalds, JollieBee’s and Pizza Hut’s. This Americans sure left behind a  fast food nation legacy. If you’re still not shocked the security guard at quaint little restaurant with a gun will. Or perhaps the guard at the ATM and Petrol Station with a pump action shot gun in his hand while he opens the door for you will. The frequent security checks of car boots and gloves boxes,  the doors always locked in your car policy or a frisking before a movie might. We haven’t even started to mention the sex trade, but we’ll get to that.

So we checked into a dirty stinky hostel that we pre-booked. Big mistake, thanks again Lonely Planet. But we decided to ride it out till morning as we were leaving the next day so we rolled out our own sheets, pillows and sleeping bags to protect us from the sliver of dirty foam mattress and prayed for morning. Our destination the town of Coron on the island of Busuanga which is part of the chain of Palawan (love an archipelago). A place put on the world map for it's brilliant wreck diving.  We rolled out our own sheets, pillows and sleeping bags to protect us from the sliver of dirty foam mattress and prayed for morning.

The next day we arrived in Busuanga, via a Cebu Pacific Airlines ATR-72. A rather pleasant flight through mountains and clean air until we landed and pulled up on a short and bumpy runway. The airport was in a paddock surrounded by lush green hills and farmland. It was a lovely site, even if the plane seemed out of context. We spent the next 3 days relaxing by the seafront at SeaDive which was literally "on" the water. Dave did 5 wreck dives and a thermal lake over 2 days and I joined him for the last 3. The ships which included supply and cargo as well as a war ship were part of a Japanese convoy during  WWII and were sunk by a flock of American fighter planes. They were amazing if not somewhat claustrophobic to dive in. We were  also lucky to see lots of beautiful Nemo‘s, a yellow spotted boxfish (teeeeeeeeeeeny and very cute) along with the normal lion and reef fish.

The Manila sprawl, from the ATR on our way to Coran

An island off Coran...an example of the beauty the Philippine archipelago

Our sole plane at Coran airstrip

A beautiful sunset at dinner from SeaDive

Yet another sunset

And another evening's sunset

I really miss work...this pic is for all you sucker's in your office chair

The entrance to Barracuda Lake, one of Dave's dive sites

On our day off we hired a moto and rode to a village that we were told we could hire a kayak from. We arrived, drove around a bit and then found ourselves in somebody’s back yard. The man who owned the yard was very nice and helped us find a boat we could hire. On offer was a tiny wooden canoe that was so narrow our bum's didn’t fit in it so we sat on the bamboo crossbars. With our one paddle we made our way to the shallow reef of the 7 islands. But before we could snorkel we had to also make our way across a drop off of deep water to a pontoon where we would pay for an entrance ticket. As we made our way towards the pontoon the canoe suddenly started to take on water, but we couldn’t scoop it out… so Dave jumped out, I jumped out and before we knew it, there we were floating with a dry bag, thongs, hats, other miscellaneous items, a missing paddle and a canoe full of water and submerged. It was pretty deep and I freaked out a little not knowing which items to save and what we were going to do. Luckily the man from the pontoon came over in his identical canoe, tied us to the back and took us to his floating platform. This man had no teeth, was most likely 80 and was still able to pull our boat up, fix it with fishing line, as well as haul me up onto the pontoon too. Then he took us back to shallow water. He was very nice and I am so glad he was there to save us!! Thank you Bleeding Gum's Murphy!

The 7 islands, with the Pontoon in the distance

Dave and Bleeding Gums fixing our 'canoe'

Me recovering on the pontoon from the boating accident...

After we recovered we snorkeled with Nemo's and other beautiful fish

The Village we borrowed the Canoe from..

We headed back to Manila for 2 days of exploring…a plane ride and taxi journey to our new residence called Sohotel. We weren’t sure what to expect, but after that last hostel we didn’t care. We arrived at a rather strange looking motel, like a bit blue factory. As we alighted the Taxi there were heaps of staff who were very friendly and helpful. We sat in a waiting room that looked like a bus. Then we were taken to a room which included a big comfy bed, clean large bathroom, desk, room service, a/c, wireless, phone and cable TV. Bargain!! The only rather entertaining feature was the place doesn't hide that it will cater to those who wish to engage with Customer Care Ladies. For example you can hire a room for 3, 6, 12 or 24 hours. You get toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, soap and a condom on arrival. There is a small little menu of sex toys you can order through room service, your room has it‘s own foyer with and extra door so staff can‘t see in the room when they deliver stuff and there is a window, but it‘s the size of the TV and has it‘s own door to block out the light. But apart from that we saw and heard nothing of these ladies and their patrons while staying there. 

The waterfront off the bay of Manila

Malate Church, on Church day

'In Need of a Customer Care Assistant?' Well they were right next door to where we were staying, convenient much?

Let's not forget the special items you can order through room service. For those curious souls 'click to enlarge'.

The next two days we spent locked up in our room or walking the streets in search of malls and supermarkets. These places offer excellent AC and security, everyone is frisked on entry. We wandered shops, saw the delightful 3D Toy Story 3 and had a coffee at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. Then walked home in search of Jeepney’s which are the chicken bus (public transport) of the Philippines. These fully aluminum stretched jeep’s are blinged, pimped out and filled us with envy knowing we only get Hitachi trains to ride at home.

A  classic Jeepney! (see the blue Sohotel in the background)

More Jeepney's

Some local ink, on a 45 year old man.

On our last day we took the 3 hours bus ride back to Manila…to then be stung with a 600peso pp ($15) Terminal Fee, which we didn’t account for. Not to worry, we’d use the ATM’s at the airport, tried it and they didn’t accept international cards. We pleaded with the manager for help. He said twice someone would drive Dave to the local ATM, but it didn’t happen. As likelihood of missing out flight and staying longer in the Philippines was becoming more and more a reality, I stressed out and Dave cracked the shits at the ridiculousness of the situation. Surely there should be international ATM’s at an International airport that stings you a fee to use their terminal? Berwildered at what we could do, we tried to use the duty free shop to no avail, we seemed doomed. Till one of the staff I was talking to about our ordeal whipped out his wallet and paid the fee for us. Just like that. It was a blessing, miracle and wonderful. You can’t deny the Philippines people are a lovely bunch.

Kota Kinabalu - Campaign to Weight Gain

We pre-booked a 7.30am bus from Semporna to Kota Kinabalu and unfortunately while walking to the bus stop Dave slipped on a curb an twisted his ankle. We then spent the next 10 hours on the bus watching his ankle grow from Skelator to Kankle. Unable to walk once we got off, I carried our bags and hailed the cab while Dave hobbled and hung onto my hiking stick. As usual the bus station was at least 10kms from town but we enjoyed the ride as Kota Kinabalu is a lovely little city (capital of Sabah).

 Dave's Kankle

Arrived to the Lavender Lodge, lucky for Dave we had a room on the 3rd floor which was also lucky for me as I got to carry all our bags up too. Dave spent the next 2 days in bed with a bag of frozen peas and I enjoyed some quiet time. Once Dave could limp we started to explore and found the gem of KK, the market. This market is the home of the most fresh, cheap and delicious food. It sits on the waterfront, where most nights there is a beautiful sunset. The market boasts fresh grilled seafood as you wait, grilled chicken, rows of yummy deserts like pancakes, sesame balls, doughnuts and our favourite fried bananas! You can get 6 banana’s,  2 pancakes, 2 sesames balls and a custard for 80c. With so many treats at such crazy prices it’s hard not to stock up after eating a delicious Mee Goreng for $1.50...and we all know eating 27 deserts before bed is a great way to keep in shape. Luckily KK has many a mall and we walked to I think all of them over the 10 days we resided there. I bought a new pair of shorts and a T-shirt as 1 of the 3 I wear has gone see-through, not so great for Asia. Borneo is also in the middle of Monsoon season which means the rain turns on like a tap, instantly and very heavy. The amount of times Dave and I walked back into our guesthouse as drained rats because he refused to buy an umbrella (no room to pack one) was quite funny.

Dave selecting some seafood from the market

 Satay Chicken anyone?

Fresh seafood on offer, including giant lobsters and groper

One of the other activities is white water rafting on the Padas River, we booked a tour and took a bus with many happy to be alive asian tourists …after 2 hours on a bus and 40 mins on a really old train we arrived.  There were 7 major rapids, all of which were large and scary enough to make people scream, except Dave of course. It was usually a decision for me as to whether to hold onto the boat or to hold onto the paddle. The most hilarious event was seeing one of the rafts capsized with it’s contents rolling around in their life jackets…recommended. 

Sexy outfit..

Our rafts on the way up to the rapids

Rafting down the Padas with Riverbug (courtesy SMH)

Kota Kinabalu is close to a cluster of small islands which are part of the national park, you can visit one or more of these in one day for snorkelling, relaxing or walking. There are several companies that offer speed boat services to, from and in between them so it was really well set up. The first day we decided to visit Sapi and Mumutik. Unfortunately when we arrived at Sapi it was covered in tourists, mostly Japanese holiday-makers who are undyingly happy to be alive. So Dave and I decided we would walk a trail (grade IV trek more like it) around the island to find a more secluded spot. Disappointingly we were unable to find a beach that wasn’t covered in broken TV’s.  However we were able to spy was amazing creatures that could only be described as croc bodied, dinosaur headed Monitors…only problem was that we had forgotten to put the SD card in the camera so we had no proof. We were then taken to the next island which had more sand real estate and  less life-vested snorkel clad day-trippers. Here is where I was slaughtered by sand flies.

The trail around Mamutik

A monster on the track

Wild Pineapple!!

Dave by a huge tree that's been taken over by vines

A Mamutik monitor

An oldie from Sapi Island

Due to the regrettable camera incident we decided to return to the islands 2 days later to capture what we had seen the first day in which the sun was shining and monsters were present. The only difference this time was the sun wasn’t shining and the Monsoon was angry. The first half of the day we were able to get some lovely pics and went for a nice walk around Mamutik. During our scheduled boat to Sapi the swell was hilariously large showering the old ducks with huge gushes of sea water and lifting stern of the boat well into the air. After arriving alive and photographing the Monitors at Sapi we took the a boat back. It was light little speedboat with one extremely camp man, 2 extra screaming girls and 3 old ducks. This was one of the most hilarious and terrifying rides home I’ve ever had. The first half was rather funny as the boat slammed against the huge swell. The second half was mostly terrifying as the perfect storm moved through and drenched us with skin stinging rain and huge waves… everyone screamed (except Dave of course) all the way home. 

Blocking out the sun, down the KK main road

Boats on the waterside of KK

Having a break...Dave also realised at this point he had found his calling

The board walk...on a lovely June day...

Inside the fruit market

The next day we had to leave our little home away from home and make our way to Manila. Again it was sad to leave…we look forward to returning to Borneo after the Philippines.