Birds Nest Fern
When the alarm went off this morning at 6.30am neither of us we too impressed it has to be said. Yesterday was a lot of walking and with the heat and humidity we were pretty tired. We managed to get up and out though to meet our guide at 7am and with 6 others made our way to the canopy walk. The LP bill the canopy walk as ‘easily the best in Southeast Asia’ and although I haven’t been on any other canopy walks in this part of the world I’m inclined to agree with them. It was fantastic. Our guide started off the tour by telling us all about his grandfather who was a witch doctor and all the magic powers he used to posses and all the plants, leaves and berries he used to use from the forest for all kinds of medicine. He then went on to tell us how he had converted to Christianity and as a result lost some of his powers but gained others, this part I wasn’t so sure about but he believed it all and that’s all that matters really.
The canopy walk
The canopy walk is 480m long and a good 20m above the ground, which although isn’t such a great distance, when you’re way up in the canopy of the trees walking along an almost tightrope it is actually quite a long way. It was really well done as well, the walk goes in a huge almost circle, we were the first group of the morning and by the time we had finished another group had set off on the walk but we never saw or heard them along the way. We didn’t see any animals or insect life but it seems in Mulu the main attraction is the primary rainforest, the caves, the mountains and pinnacles, not a lot of room left for animals I guess. It was a great walk and well worth getting up early for.
Back at the cafe we just about had enough time to grab a bite for breakfast before we decided to head off to find the morning market. It’s supposed to be about a half hours walk from the park past the airport, which isn’t actually that far, but all our previous walking had been under the shade of the rainforest whereas this was out in the open and in 35 degrees heat it was very HOT! We never found the market, apparently it closed around 10.30am but we did manage to find a nice little spot by the river where we could paddle our feet and Keith went for another swim. After a cool down we started to make our way back to the park and the conversation turned once again to his Havaianas and just so Keith could demonstrate how indestructible his destructible indestructible flip flops were he insisted on attempting a brief run in them.............need I fill you in on what happened next?! :-) He claimed it was the victory dance at the end of the little run that broke them again rather than the run, mmm I beg to differ!! :-)
Back at the park there was just enough time to visit the Tree Tops Tower before we needed to leave for our flight. The tower is higher than the canopy walk by quite a lot and it gives another very different view of the rainforest and tree canopy. Ideally I think it’s for bird watchers but for some reason it’s only open between 9 and 3 when a lot of the birds are no-where to be seen. What we did see though was a snake, not too sure what type it was but it was up in a tree a little distance from us so as long as it couldn’t move faster than us we were ok!
View from the Tree Tops Tower
Strangler fig
Our snake find
All throughout the park there are interesting notice boards giving information about the specific area you’re in and the kind of things you might see there, as well as how the rainforest actually works and interacts with itself. One of the courses I studied at Sussex Uni during my degree was Tropical Rainforests and all the info was really coming back to me. It’s a very interesting subject area and so great to see the things I learnt in the books actually for real, up close and personal.
The people I had met so far on my trip who had already been to Mulu were right, it’s a great park with so much to see and do, tiring as well though especially with all the walking we did and in the heat and humidity, we really enjoyed it.
The mountains of Mulu NP
Longhouse near Mulu NP
This afternoon we were flying back to Kuching. Mulu airport is very very small, so small in fact that there’s only 3 flights a week in and out of there with MAS Wings and those flights are like buses stopping at 3 different places. Fortunately for us, on the way to the park we were the first drop off and on the way back we were the last in the schedule, with the flight already having come from KK via Miri. There were just 10 of us getting on the plane in Mulu and all of us tourists. Once we had checked in and weighed our own bags for the check-in lady (!) we made our way through security into departures. Now as it’s a domestic flight they allow you to take water of any size and quantity through onto the plane, and any amount of cosmetics and toiletries etc etc, what they don’t allow though is Swiss Army Pen Knives which (once again!) I still had in my day pack! I tried to blag my way through it (once again) but the security guy was having none of it so I had to go back and locate my hold bag. All of our bags were still sitting where we had left them totally unattended and accessible to anyone anywhere in Mulu (!), I could have put the knife in anyone’s bag but of course thought better of it (seeing as I did actually want it at the other end) found my bag, popped the knife in and headed back (a little red faced) to departures! Will I ever totally remember about that small security issue?
Once back in Kuching we headed for the Pinnacles Guesthouse again which we had booked on the internet the night before and just as before when we were there they didn’t have our booking but believed us anyway, took our money and showed us to our room. It’s nice to be back with a little bit of air-con if we’re honest
This evening for dinner we decided to cross the river again (this time getting the correct boat) and head to where the locals seem to eat. From the main city side of the river just opposite from where the Hilton is you can see bustling waterfront activity which we guessed (correctly so) was a food court of some sort. I’m not sure how many tourists they actually get going over as we seemed to be the only ones there at the time and the people there seemed genuinely pleased and a little surprised to see us. There were actually 2 identical outdoor food courts there separated by a 5 min (if that) stroll each with 17 different food stalls to choose from. We ate at the first court and it was delicious. Keith had Mee Kumpung, a speciality for that stall apparently, and I had my usual of Mee Goreng Vegetarian, veggi fried noodles, yum!
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