The lady at the post office, the same one as yesterday, was surprised to see me back again today, I think, but when I explained about Mick and the stamp collecting she seemed to understand my struggles and was very helpful and patient! :-)
After the early morning trip to the post office I was heading down to Niah and the caves there. A further 2 hours on from there is Bintulu and although the LP didn’t really rate it I had booked a flight from there to Kuching the next day instead of coming back to Miri. I think in hindsight I should have gone back to Miri, but if we had the joy of hindsight things would, of course, be a whole lot easier but no-where near as much fun or as exciting or at times as scary.
So first I had to get to the long distance bus station. Since the publication on the LP it seems that all the bus terminals in every town over Borneo have been moved to the outskirts, I can understand why but it does mean you have to get a taxi everywhere backwards and forwards to the terminals which is a bit annoying.
The bus to Niah takes just under 2 hours and cost RM10 and it drops you at the Niah Junction. It’s then a further 15km to the park itself and the only way to get there is with a taxi or a private car (usually a bit cheaper). Again the bus was virtually empty, perhaps it was because it was almost falling apart I don’t know. Getting off at Niah Junction was just me but as soon as my feet touched the ground there was a guy offering me a ride to the park, for a fee of course. I managed to barter him down to a sensible price and after picking up a bit of a packed lunch we set off.
Niah Caves NP appears to be deserted, I noticed one other backpack left in the office area but apart from that I’m not seeing any great signs of life, I know it’s a popular park though so there should be some people around somewhere.
I had read all the info in the LP about the caves as well as a NP guide I was given but still I’m not sure I quite understood that 4km to the caves meant 4km back from the caves in addition to the 2 km or so walking around the caves. Now to be fair my legs are pretty much ok now but even so some of the ups and downs were a little tough. And when I actually arrived at the caves to see how many stairs were involved in it all I could have turned around there and then. Me being me though of course I didn’t!
The first cave you come to is the traders cave and this is where the trading used to go on many years ago for the birds nests that were collected from high within the cave. They still collect birds nests but only during the ‘season’ which I believe is in October sometime. They say the swiftlets birds nests are made purely from their saliva but the raw product is actually quite unappealing in that its interlaced with feathers and poop and who knows what! As to what it actually tastes like, you’re asking the wrong person.
The Traders Cave
The local people also collect guano produced from the swiflets and the bats in the caves, it seems these caves are particularly profitable ones.
It took a good 45 mins to walk to the first cave and along the way I think I saw just one other couple. Just before the entrance to the caves there are a couple of stands when some of the local women sell souvenirs and cold drinks. There was a small family sitting there having a rest and as they chatted I actually thought there were from Europe of somewhere by their accents, later on though when they spoke to me it turned out they were from Scotland! I’ve never been very good with the Scottish accent.
As you approach the Great Cave you get a real feel of exactly how big this cave system is, its immense and it goes on forever and ever. You could see the poles in places where the local people climb up to harvest the nests. I don’t know how high they climb to get them but it was very high and by all accounts it’s a very dangerous activity!
The Great Cave
As we emerged out of the Great Cave on the other side it was pouring with rain and the Scottish family were sitting down to enjoy some Jammy Dodgers I joined them with my packed lunch and we chatted about what we were all doing here etc. It turned out they were both teachers and living and working in Brunei. They were now in their 3rd year of being there and although they said it was very quiet and could be quite boring in a way, they liked it. Their reason for coming there and leaving the UK was so they had somewhere safe to bring up their two children. It sounds like a great idea and I admire that but I couldn’t help but think that that kind of lifestyle just wasn’t for me.
After the great cave came the painted cave which was supposed to be fantastic. I chatted to someone last night at the hostel who said it really wasn’t worth the extra walk and I wanted to believe them and not go really I did, but of course I didn’t and so wanted to check it out for myself. They were right though, despite them thinking that everything they had seen so far wasn’t very good, on this account they were right. I saw it though for myself. The rest of the caves were amazing and incredible. I wonder how these are going to compare to Mulu caves next week?
Before I set out on the trek to the caves I had left my main bag at the park HQ and that is always a little concerning for me in that you really need to make sure you get back there before they close for the night and go home, so that’s always on my mind. In addition to this I needed to get back to the junction to try and get a bus to Bintalu, actually there was no real choice in this, I had booked my flight and therefore I was going.
I had pretty much stuck with the Scottish family all the way back through the caves, they hadn’t bought a torch with them and were worried about the battery life on the ones they had rented so I assured them that there was plenty of life in my torch if theirs failed and so we pretty much stuck together. Once back at HQ I tried to sort out getting back to the junction, there are no buses which do this route so you have to rely on private cars and taxis which when you’re on your own is pretty costly. Fortunately for me the Scottish family had bought their car with them from Brunei and were going straight past where I needed to get out and so offered me a lift. Potentially I could still be there trying to get away from the park! Thanks guys!
Once back at the junction the next bus was leaving in 10 mins so just enough time to get take-away noodles and hop on the bus to Bintulu.
On arrival in Bintulu a taxi ride took me to the only budget place in town, this is why I should have stayed in Miri, the Seaview Inn, needless to say I didn’t have a seaview but by the time I got there all I wanted to do was sleep.
Next morning I’m off to Kuching and as I had eaten on the bus down I didn’t even leave my room I was so tried.
Some of the park wildlife
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