Luxury Amidst Head Hunters

October 6, 2010 (Happy Birthday Melissa!)
Mulu National Park, Sarawak, Borneo

I was relieved when the sun came up and Josie, Emily and I rolled sluggishly out of bed. We decided we should do one more thing before our flight and made our way to the observation tower to try and spot ourselves some critters! I think I could forgive our mouse visitor from the night before if I were able to catch a glimpse of the elusive moon rat (busybaby) that I so desperately wanted to see. Lo and behold, our trek to the tower was in vain; the only animal we saw in the tower, besides the spiders, was one red bird. Yes, one bird. Oh well, we can say we tried at least.

With our things packed we waved farewell to our jungle home and made our way to the airport where we sat and waited…and waited and waited. *Pshhhhh* over the intercom ‘Ladies and Gentlemen the flight from Mulu to Miri has been cancelled today due to weather.’ We couldn’t believe it, well we could, but we didn’t want to. I think the last thing we wanted to do was rough it out one more night in the middle of the national park having eaten everything on the menu twice and played so many games of cards. Fortune was on our side this fine day however, as we were rebooked on the next flight tomorrow AND were being taken for a free night’s stay at Mulu Resort (the high class lodging for the non-backpacking visitors to the park.)

We sprinted through the rain to our room and threw ourselves onto the soft mattresses. Before you knew it, the a/c was cranked on full blast, coffee was brewing and reruns of CSI were playing. We couldn’t help but smile from under the covers of our respective beds as we waited in luxury for our even more luxurious dinner. We seated ourselves near the front of the restaurant so we could have a nice view of the cultural show and began feasting on the gourmet buffet. Not only had we been surviving on salted fish and gooey ladyfingers all week, but I don’t think we’d had a truly gourmet meals in months and months and months. Cheesy au gratins, skewers of lamb and steak and fish, salads and sauces and fruits and breads, kebabs and endless desserts…I’m actually hungry thinking about it now! I don’t think we’ve ever been so over satiated in our lives, but oh man did we enjoy it.

Our meal was completed with a full on culture show put on by the hotel’s award-winning dance troupe. They did various dances from the different tribes and influences on the island complete with a fog machine and man being raised over the crowd on a bamboo pole. The dancing was definitely entertaining, but afterward was even more fun. People were able to come up to the front and take pictures (I got to wear the warrior headgear and hold a spear) and then we got to participate in a couple of tribal games. The first was blow darting. Borneo used to be known for its headhunters and one of the ways they would get people would be through blowing darts—so we got to try our skills and blow the darts out of long bamboo shooters and try to pop balloons at the other side of the room. I got it on my second try and with some practice I think the 3 of us would make excellent Dartists. The second game consisted of a crisscross pattern of bamboo rods that were hit together in a rhythmic pattern by people in the center of the rods. As a jumper (which the 3 of us and our new Chinese friend were) one has to jump in between the rods in the same rhythm without getting your foot crushed as you hop through…and the rhythm speeds up as the game goes on. So we were hopping like rabbits over a fire and, while I’m sure they were being easy on us, managed to escape unsmooshed!

Before we went to bed, one of the hotel staff approached Josie and asked if she, along with Emily and me, would join the hotel owner and staff as the Guests of Honor at the flag raising ceremony the next morning. The thought of having to wake up earlier than necessary cast a brief ‘No’ in our minds, but we decided that, not only would it be rude to decline, but how often do you get to be Guests of Honor at a hotel that you aren’t even supposed to be staying at? So, with the news of our celebrity spreading through the resort like wildfire we stealthily made our way back to our rooms to avoid the paparazzi. No, I’m kidding, we made our way back to bed, watched some tv and slept like 3 little jungle orphans who had just been adopted by Daddy Warbucks.

Livin' in a Spelunker's Paradise

October 5, 2010
Mulu National Park, Sarawak, Borneo

Today was the day of our time at the park that I think I was most excited for: SPELUNKING! We were lucky enough to finagle a guide, Roland, for just the 3 of us which turned out to be perfect. Roland met us at the park headquarters and we got in another long tail boat up the river on our way to Racer Cave (yet another cave featured on Planet Earth, for reasons that will probably make some readers squeamish!)

Upon arrival, we hopped out of the boats and Roland handed us our gear which consisted of a hardhat with a flashlight attached to the front…yes, that was it J As this is a spelunking cave there is no artificial light once inside and let me tell you, it gets a little eerie. We started out slow and steady as Roland explained to us the formation of the cave and showed us fossils leftover from the river that had once gushed through its chambers. As we continued we realized it was getting darker and darker until we reached our first obstacle: squeezing through a miniature crack in the wall. As a first time spelunker I had my doubts about my abilities in the maneuvering department, but after watching the others fit, I passed through my bag and matrixed my way inside the next room where we came face to face with some of the cave’s locally named residents: Racer snakes. Now, these aren’t your ordinary snakes; these are snakes that live in caves. Yes, they live in tiny cracks and openings and crevices (like the one we just squeezed through) and lay in wait for their prey. Impressively, the snakes have developed a heightened ability to recognize infrared heat and, along with sensing movement from the flicking of their tongues, are able to literally strike flying cave swallows and bats out of the air. Sssssstinkssss to be a sssssswallllowwww (that was my best snake impression if you couldn’t tell.)

As if the thought of snakes slithering around you in the pitch black wasn’t enough, enter cave creature number 2. I guess I hadn’t completely noticed the glittering of tiny diamond-like specks throughout the cave until Roland had us stop and shine our headlamps around the room. I remember thinking ‘wow, diamonds? Gold? Silver? Some crazy undiscovered mineral?’ Nope, none of those. Upon closer investigation and a spotlight on the subject at hand, we realized the little sparkling gems were actually the eyes of the Woodsman spiders that also called the cave home. Now, I’ll be honest I wasn’t thrilled about the snakes (except I had already known all about them from Sigourney Weaver) but she failed to mention anything about spiders, literally as big or bigger than my hand in some cases, watching us as we delved deeper. After a fairly traumatic experience following the watching of Arachniphobia when I was younger (a giant spider ascended from the depths of the faucet in the bathroom sink-much to the dismay of my brother and me) I am not the world’s biggest fan of our 8-legged friends.

Still, the show must go on. The next item on the agenda (besides avoiding the stares of 1000s of leering eyes) was our first of five descents into the bowels of Racer. I had had the impression that we would be walking down some paths and seeing some creatures, etc. but when I realized we were going to have to repel down the sides of sheer, slippery walls, my adrenaline was pumping. Roland lead the way, talking us through the process as he effortlessly made his way from one crack to the next ledge to the next free grip to the next swoop and swindle. His basic advice was to hold on tightly to the rope, sit back using our feet as the base and trusting our hands to move from point A to point B to point C down the rope. Did I mention this was in complete darkness and without any harnesses? We made stops here and there throughout the cave, checking out cave crickets (which are MASSIVE and have antennae at least 5x that of regular crickets), tiny cave crabs and scorpions, examining different rock formations and basically soaking in another life experience. By the 5th rope I was taking the riskier paths down the walls and even had one part where I basically had to push off the wall, dangle over a crevasse in the floor and leap to the other side. Now, my mother would have probably preferred I take the safer option, but when in R(acer Cave) right?

We finally made it to the grand chamber at the end of the cave and Roland had us turn off our lights and experience pure and total darkness. You literally cannot see anything. No matter how much you strain your eyes the only thing you can see is the image in your head produced from the ghostly chorus of the bats and swallows as they flit in organized chaos above your heads. It’s like you could be on the ceiling and they could be on the ground or you could be running and they could be standing still; there’s just no way to grasp it. It’s the closest experience I can use to describe the feeling of invincibility. Cool.

The way out of the cave was almost harder than the way in as we had to rescale all the walls we’d just worked so hard to get down. After climbing up waterfalls and 90 degree shelves, we made it out into the daylight with no real injuries, just a few slips and quite a bit of mud on the clothes. UNBELIEVABLE! I think I was the happiest kid in the candy store—that experience will remain one of the top things I will ever do.

On our boat ride back, I got to talking with Roland about his life. His family is part of an indigenous tribe from the area and his father grew up right on the river we were boating on. The tribes used to paddle boats, sometimes for days, upstream to areas they’d burned for farming. Roland said that a lot of the forest we saw in the area is actually secondary growth from these burned spaces. He said that modernization sort of forced the tribal people to move locations and that his father moved his family, on foot, to Lampak in search of a better life—one in which they could have better access to medicine, work, etc. He said he still spent a lot of time on the river as a kid and grew up racing long boats with motors they’d find and refurbish. He said he wanted to preserve this land that meant so much to his people and as such he became a guide. It was fascinating to hear about his experiences and how his way of life was still so much attached to the river and the jungle-some really amazing people in the world.

We decided to take a 3 km hike through the jungle after lunch as our last hurrah in Mulu Park. Along the way we saw more snakes and spiders and lizards and the like and made it to our much deserved final resting spot: Paku Falls. Now, I can say that I’ve seen more amazing falls in my lifetime, but it’d be hard to say that these weren’t the most refreshing. The 3 of us spent some of the afternoon swimming and floating in the river below the waterfalls and once again looking up in awe at our surroundings amidst the deep green of the Rain Forest. I think it’s fair to say that we were absolutely wiped after our time at the park. We had packed a serious amount of activities into a short amount of time, but I can safely say that we left with no regrets. There are definitely some other excursions that I would do were I ever to come back, but I think we got everything and more out of our randomly booked flight to Borneo (thanks for the special promotion AirAsia!)

My head hit the pillow after our full day with every intention of falling asleep, as visions of bats and snakes danced through my head…BUT one little critter thought it would foil my plans and keep me awake pretty much alllll night. The previous night we’d had a little visitor (presumably a mouse) that found its way into our plastic bag of bread and other goods-not to mention the ants that found my peanut butter as a perfect oasis from the steamy jungle. Anyway, to prevent said mouse from eating our food we double wrapped the bread in plastic bags and put it on the nightstand between Emily’s and my bed. I was awakened in the middle of the night to the sound of crinkling plastic and I immediately reached for the night stand. The noise stopped. Okay, it was just the wind. 5 minutes later…crinkle crinkle crinkle. I reached out again…it stopped. Now I was getting a bit peeved, but readjusted the bag and rolled over. I must have fallen back to sleep, because before I knew it the sound was back. I grabbed my phone and turned on the flashlight to investigate and saw that a hole had been nibbled through one of the bags. Great, not only is our bread getting eaten in the middle of the night, but I am literally sleeping next to some creature that I cannot see. Not knowing what to do I retied the bag and rolled over only to be awakened again—this time I got up and moved the bag across the room hoping to quell the little bugger. OH NO. Mighty Mouse found his way across the room and continued munching and crinkling all through the night as I tossed and turned, my visions of bats and snakes replaced with mice and rats and prehistoric jungle rodents gnawing at my sleeping body. Daylight couldn’t come soon enough. Thank you so much MULU, truly the experience of a lifetime, but I think it’s time to go.

Wind, Water and Walking

MULU National Park
Sarawak, Borneo, Malaysia
Monday, October 4, 2010

It wasn’t all too difficult to wake up early, as we’d had an early bedtime and there aren’t really any blinds in the dorm so it gets bright. We downed some breakfast on the front porch of the café and met up with our guide for today’s adventure. Our group was lead to the longtail boats that would bring us up river to the new caves, so we made ourselves comfortable and took in the beautiful scenery. Along the way we stopped at a Penan village for a quick trip to the market; the Penan are a group of people indigenous to the region the park encompasses and make their livelihood off craftwork and the river. After our trek to the hill tribes in Thailand we aren’t too keen on just stopping in to snap photos of native people as they are sometimes exploited, so we tried hard to strike up conversations with the locals and after learning about some of the processes they use for craftwork, etc. felt a bit better about contributing to their communities. Such amazing people all over the world, but I have to say the Penan have some of the most amazing views we’ve seen.

After a steep hike from the river we arrived at Wind Cave so named, as you may have guessed, for the wind that whistles its way through the passages and corridors. It is part of the longest cave system in the world and contains some really beautiful formations including groups of white bubble wrap looking wall coverings called moon milk. The three of us decided to walk to the next cave rather than hop back in the boat and hiked our way through some thick jungle and across some narrow walkways literally built into the faces of the rocks and hanging over the flowing waters of the river; Indiana Jones would have been proud.

Clearwater Cave is also obviously named; yes it has clear water inside of it. Actually it has a gorgeous, ancient river which carves its way through the smooth inner cavern providing the soothing sound of water against stone. Along with the clear waters the cave is known for some of its formations, one of which looks like the bust of a female sculpture, and it’s phytokarsts which are razor sharp, metallic outcrops that have been worn away by water over the years and provide the cave entrance with a beautiful fluidity in its walls.

We were pretty beat after the mornings’ activities (and having just hiked up and down 200 vertical steps) so Josie and I decided to take a dip in the crystal blue pool that forms as the cave river enters the jungle world. The water was absolutely freezing, but once the initial shock was absorbed we tapped into our inner Tarzan and began swimming with the schools of fish and leaping from fallen logs into the transparent wetness. It was one of those moments where you just have to sit back and soak in the moment: swimming in a river that was emerging from a cave in the middle of the jungle in Borneo. Whoa. Our boat was waiting for us as we dried off in the sun and took us back to the headquarters where we had some lunch and waited for the Canopy Walk.

5 of us walked along the familiar jungle boardwalk to the first in a series of towers linked together by suspended rope bridges about 20-25 meters above forest floor. Since we went on the tour in the heat of the afternoon sun, our chances of spotting any animals were pretty much shot, but we did get to see many interesting trees/plants and learned a lot about the various levels of the canopy and about the Rain Forest in general. Okay, I’m a nerd at heart. BUT, did you know that there are different types of jungle rivers and some of them are actually so stagnant they become sterile and are basically inhospitable to life? OR that there are parasitic plants that drain the nutrients of other trees in their scramble to reach the sunlight? Cool, I know. The rest of our afternoon was spent lounging about, playing cards, eating our ant infested snacks and wiping sweat from our foreheads. Seriously the jungle could not be any more humid.

Our third event of the day was the Night Walk in which I hoped to see a bush baby—basically a tiny sloth-like creature with giant eyes and little suction cup fingers. They’re on the cover of the Borneo guidebook and ever since learning we’d be going there I’ve been researching them. While we didn’t actually see any, just knowing we were so close was comfort enough for me, I guess… The walk itself though, was really cool. Bagley, our guide, was shockingly good at pointing out little night creatures in the darkness with his flashlight. We saw everything from monstrous moths to stick bugs to spiny lizards to tarantula dwellings, bug eating pitcher plants, and a few snakes among other things. Actually, the first snake we saw made Bagley leap about 3 feet in the air in sheer terror. He informed us that “I not like snakes.”

We finally made it home and somehow managed to sleep despite having just been witness to the crazy things that call the night home.

2011: Return to Thailand and Blogging

So I've taken a bit of a hiatus from the blogosphere and who knows, maybe no one reads this thing anymore. However, I'm making it a resolution of mine to get all caught up and rehash the details of my past, present and future in SE Asia.

Since I last posted I was able to spend a month back in the US enjoying the amenities, food and luxuries of home. It was so incredible slipping back into a not-so-forgotten time when I spoke English all the time, didn't have to wear baby powder to stop sweating and where snow is a way of life in December. I found it much easier to readjust to life after being away for over a year than I anticipated, well that is to everything except the cold! It was so comforting to know that not a whole lot changed while I was gone and that my family and friends are still the same and still there, in the flesh. After the initial smiles and screams and hugs and more hugs, it was as if I'd never left; it's that kind of stability that gives me the ability to make all these seemingly wild decisions to live and work and travel to places so unfamiliar and different from the stability.

I will say that it was a bit strange coming back to Thailand after being home. I've never really had a place that I've come back to because I live there. It's hard to explain, but it was just a weird feeling getting back to BKK and negotiating with the taxi driver in Thai to show him I wasn't some foreigner that he could rip off, but someone who was coming back to a second home. I had a place to go, an apartment to open, clothes to wash, things to catch up on, people to see and work to do. Yet, much like home, life in Thailand continued without much interruption while I was gone and, much like home, I've found myself slipping back into the routine.

Work is going well and the more I'm there, the more I'm learning and the more comfortable I'm feeling. My apartment is surprisingly clean and I'm happy. I guess that's something I can be thankful for, an ability to find the good things about wherever I am and truly take advantage of the opportunities I've been given...hmm now, where is the next place I can live?! No, I'm kidding-sort of. I still feel like there is some more I can learn from my time over here and I plan to see that out and then move on from there. That's what life's about right? Living and learning...

I really do want to get all of this caught up as I approach the one year anniversary for some of the travel stories! So, please keep reading, commenting and letting me know how you're doing. Thanks for everything and Happy 2011!!

To The Bat Cave!

MULU National Park
Sarawak, Borneo, Malaysia
Sunday, October 3 2010

An early wake up is something we are more than accustomed to and I have to admit I was pretty pumped for this one. Today we were flying from MIri to Gunung Mulu (Mulu National Park) and spending the next 3 days surrounded by jungles and exploring some of the caves that were featured in the Planet Earth series—for those of you who didn’t know, Planet Earth was generally played on continuous loop in my sr. year college apartment and I may or may not have memorized some of the segments that Sigourney so wisely leads us through!

Anyway, we hopped on our tiny plane and made the 30 minute flight, complete with chocolate milk beverage service, over the jungle. It was an incredible view as we dipped in and out of the clouds and soared back and forth as though aping the paths of the muddy rivers below. A rickety shuttle van picked us up from the 1 roomed airport and, after the driver had to open the door from the inside (let’s just say it wasn’t new), we trekked a short distance to the park entrance. Despite the heat and humidity and the spotting of our first wild snake, I was completely overtaken by the sheer natural beauty of our surroundings. Picture Jurassic Park and that’s where we were staying: the dense trees, the canopy, the noises of creatures unseen. Yes, I was happy.

We immediately went to the headquarters and planned out our activities for the next few days: caves, caves, caves, jungle walks, canopy walks, swims, longboat rides and more caves! The 3 of us lugged our bags along the boardwalks which wove through the park and made our way to our beds; we opted for the cheaper dorm room which was a massive room lined with beds and lockers and came with our very own collection of critters that we were just going to have to learn to live with during our stay. The café at the park served a fairly simple menu at decent prices (considering there weren’t many options near us) and we chowed down on some salted fish, eggplant, morning glory and loads of rice before our first excursion.

Up first was a walk through the rain forest which brought us to Lang’s Cave and Deer Cave, the latter is a main feature of Planet Earth: Caves (told you I loved it.) Along the walk we got up close and personal with the incredible plant and insect life of the park including the world’s tallest flower species, plants with leaves the size of small countries, stick bugs, snakes and endless types of gorgeous butter- and dragonflies. Lang’s is a small, but long and narrow cave which is known for its impressive rock formations. Like a lot of the caves in the park, it was formed by a river back in the day that carved its way through. From here we headed to Deer Cave which, until you’ve seen it in real life, you cannot begin to fathom how immense it is.

As the world’s largest cave opening, Deer Cave literally swallows you up. Looking into its belly, you have to strain to make out the ant-like people trekking along walkways inside as beautiful cascades of water drip into pools and streams below. The beauty is almost overshadowed by the unappetizing stench of guano that wafts up from the depths. Peering straight up, what you initially thought was just a giant black rock formation on the ceiling is actually a colony of over 3 million wrinkle-lipped bats. Along with 12 additional bat species, these winged beasts provide an eerie soundtrack of whirs and shrieks as you hike through their literally endless mountains of droppings. Stepping off the path you find your foot submerged in a squishy sludge (gross I know), but that’s not the worst part: cave roaches and crabs call the guano home and skitter and scatter through the heaps feeding on the leftover nutrients. Yea, imagine being stuck in that!
After witnessing such formations as Adam and Eve’s showers and a spot called the Garden of Eden (a literal emerald paradise visible from the back cave opening) we climbed down to wait for the evening highlight of Deer Cave: the bat exodus. We sat with a view of the cave opening and just kind of waited…and waited…and waited. We’d heard that the bats don’t necessarily leave the cave every night to search for food and were about ready to call it quits when the first stream came into view. Twisting around like a freshly curled ribbon, the bats emerged one after one, million after million. It was actually breathtaking seeing a seemingly endless thread of bats all taking the same path and sticking in the same pattern; sometimes more than one strand would zoom out and together, the two groups would merge and interweave forming a DNA strand across the sky. There were so many bats that you could actually hear their wings flapping overhead as onlookers oohed and ahhed.

I was beyond happy that I’d gotten to witness such a natural feat and I think I smiled all the way back to dinner (well besides the time we got a little uneasy as we realized that there weren’t really lights along the forest walk when it gets dark!) We headed over the rope suspension bridge to a little restaurant outside the park and indulged in some noodles before heading back. Feeling a bit warm we headed into the information center for some air-conditioned and some learning about the park and it’s formation, etc. We decided to make ourselves comfortable in front of the tv and watched about every informational video about Mulu, bats, nature, etc. that you could imagine before the discs started skipping and we had to head to the room to get ready for bed… I gotta say it’s a bit frightening getting dive bombed by mammoth moths on the way to the bathroom and avoiding the sinister stare of a giant mantis while at the urinal. The dorms were a bit warm as they weren’t air conditioned, but once you were settled in bed and the fans picked up it was pretty easy to doze off to the live version of National Geographic’s Sounds of the Rainforest compilation cd.

Oil's Goodbye Video

As I mentioned in a previous entry T. Oil made us an amazing video featuring our director, our students and the other teachers at Satit Bangna. It's a bit long, but it really gives you a look at the incredible people I spent the last year with. Thanks again Oil! Enjoy!!

Away We Go!

BKK-->Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)-->Miri (Malaysian BORNEO!)
Oct 2, 2010

The morning found Josie, Emily and I a bit tired and groggy. Not only had we just been uprooted from our homes for the past year, but we'd just had quite a late night. We met up with our friends Jade, Pok, Panda, Tony, Alex, Sam and company and went for some dinner at a cool outdoor restaurant at the Suwanlua Night Bazaar. It was really fun to listen to some live music and unwind after all the goodbyes. After some delicious Thai food we made our way to BarBar where we watched Panda do what he does best, DJ. Next stop was our favorite club, Narz for some more tunes and we found ourselves dancing our way to Wong's which was a new place for all of us. It was a small little hole in the wall that you could easily walk right past, but when you walked in (and your eyes adjusted to the smoke) you found yourself in a seemingly war-era pub with photos and paraphanalia covering the walls and surrounded by a crowd of eclectic people who may or may not have come from said era as well!

Anyway we got ourselves in a cab and made our way to the airport to begin our journey to Borneo. You're thinking...Borneo?! What? Where? Why? Don't worry we were thinking the same thing. It's amazing how a cheap flight promotion can take you to a jungle island in middle of nowhere. I have to admit though I was pretty excited--gotta take advantage of the opportunities as they arise! We arrived to KL safe and sound and met up with our friends Josh and Neil who were teachers with some of our friends in NE Thailand and who were also heading on a Bornean journey. It was nice to have some more recognizable faces to hang out with as we waited for our next flight.

After a short flight delay we ended up in Miri in the Sarawak province of Borneo which, even though is a part of Malaysia, we still had to go through customs at. It's okay though--it just means more stamps for us! We were able to find some cabs to the city center and found some beds at Minda Guesthouse. The city of Miri was definitely more built up than I had expected, which wasn't much as I'd envisioned Borneo as only containing jungle. Famished, we made our way to get some street food: greasy, saucy sandwiches hot off the grill. We gorged ourselves and then headed to bed for Emily, Josie and I had a morning flight to the part of the trip I was most excited for: Mulu National Park. Yes, I think we were going to like Borneo.