Mulu I miss you!

The journey begins on 11th July 2008 with a flight early morning to Miri, Sarawak and followed by internal flight by MAS Wings to Mulu using Fokker.

Its been a great experience for me, as this is the first time I ever boarded a Fokker.

The 30 mins fly from Miri, brought me to another world. Its full with trees, mountains, river and sunny day. At first I am so lost at the entrance of the Mulu National park. Seems like I am departed from human civilization, no traffic jam, no cars, no buildings, no sky scrapper. I was stunned and been wondering what in the world I am doing here?

Well the excitement started with me getting my room at the Nationak Park HQ. Roland was friendly and kind enough to make our arrival a comfortable one. My room has 4 single beds, with hot shower and air-cond worth RM145.00 per night stay for the whole room. But I wonder why need aircond when we stay in jungle? Well my fellow colleague can't blend in nature, as they are born in KL and they are urban creature. I start to understand and realize how lucky we are indeed.

The tour and excitment begins with a 3KM board walk to 2 caves. My tour guide is Roland, this is the 2nd time we encounter with Roland. I walked along with the group behind me, with Roland and few other friends. We happily chatted and was given an invitation to stay at Roland's house for a hot meal of phython meat muahahahaha no thanks, yukky lar....

Along the way, I spotted alot of beatiful creatures. Stick Insect, spiders, hammer head worm, odd colored caterpillars, ants and not to mention sumpah-sumpah and lantern bug. Deer Cave and Lang Cave stand mightily awaits its tourist without any complaints welcomes me. in the end of the 3KM walk. The smell of guano reminds me of Gua Tempurung and my own house back in Taiping. Soon it was raining and I was so upset that there is a possibility that the bats are not going to show their aviation skills. Well I sat at the bat watching area, and praying that I could witness the bats exodus to finding their dinner. And when I was about to give up, miracle has its own way to reflects its strength. Millions of bats left the cave into the forest to find their food. Swarming out like giant snake in the air, it is really an eye opener to me. Millions of them, expressing its nature sense by demonstrating several different formations.

On the second day, I was put in a long boat, driven by 2 penans and 30mins up the stream I headed. I arrived at one of the Penan settlement, Kampung Batu Bungah. having to feel the daily life of the Penan, makes me feel glad that I am living a luxurious life back home. The journey then continues on with long boat trip again to Clearwater Cave and Wind Cave. Wind cave King's Chamber is really amazing. I am glad that I had live today to witness what nature has left for me millions year ago till today. The stalagmite and stalactite formation is awesome! The clearwater cave has its own way to win the hearts of it's visitors. Thundering sound of the river water flowing through it and opens to the stream is a specialty of this cave. After lunch picnic, again I was put in the long boat. And this time I headed to Kuala Litut. I was left there with my friends at the river bank, and lead by jungle trail to Camp 5. This 8.8 KM which took me 2 hours to finish really sent a strong message up my mind that car and air-cond is the greatest invention in human civilization. Along the way I meet a Lun Bawang fellla named Eugene or Yu Gin according to some people there. He show me some shortcut and show me the way to Camp 5 and not to mention, show me a river spot for me to have a dip and few creatures to admire on.

I have learn on thing there n then, when things get so critical, when you are left witht the choice to wait or to keep on moving, although you are too tired to move on, the pressure of unknown environement pressure did miracle. I didn't where i get this strength to keep on tailing Eugene. Till one time, Eugene turn back and smiled and say "Cepat jugak kamu kejar saya"

Ish is not matter of cepat or not, I really wanted to be with someone who knows the place well. Hehehe i kiasi la.... Eugene brought me to a river to catch a breath.... he is really a nice orang asli, he told me lots of stories regarding his people and the place it self when we are soaking in the icy cool river! OMG, is like an ice cream heavenly treat on a sunny day!

Then Eugene says that we should get going, because its going to rain soon and camp 5 is not far away...yea rite, for him of course near la, he so used to this journey, he can even make his way out in the nite through the jungle!

On the way, i feel someting wrong on my knee area, but is not my knees giving up, is something different, itchy yet pain. Oh don't you guess, yes pacat! hahaha i don'y know wat to do, i don have salt with me! so i ran up to Eugene, and ask him "Boleh tolong tak?", yes that was the words that I could utter, becasue i don't know how serious or should i freak out, but then i jz show him the pacat from the place i stand. And to my shocked, he came to me with his hand in his parang! wah! need or not use parang chop the pacat? what happen my leg ar? seeing me face turn green, with his comforting look and efficient hands, he took out, no not the parang, but one bottle of duno wat cream, he took some off it and rub on the pacat. The pacat drop off leh, wah! amazing, i was amazed, but then i keep myself calm n cool, because i dun wan to be so sakai....
he give even apply some of the cream on the bite spot, and the bleeding stops...hmn holy cream la! wah i am enlighten, i am such a sampat sakai! Then we walked another 200m, the jungle tracks widens to some taste life!

Camp 5 is very scenic, with river and mountains surrounding it, no communication line, is really a heaven to get away from hectic city life. The night breeze is cold and no mosquitoes! According to the local, the mosquitoes were eaten by bats. Thank you bats! There I meetup with my guide Jerry, a skinny and nice penan. Very friendly and suportive.

The next day, I woke up at 5 AM, get ready for a treacherous day. Climbing the Mount Api, a total off 2.4km which elevates me up 1200Meter above sea level proven to be not an easy job. Each of us need to bring 3 liters if water for the climb, which one of it will be left at 900m mark. Reaching the pinnacle is really a hell as the rocky steps seems like endless and the last 400m of rock climbing is really a great challenge. I would say, stamina alone is not sufficient. Stamina plus mental power is essential. I started the hike at 6.45am and reach the pinnacle view point at 11am. Spend an hour up there and start descending at 12noon. If you think that getting up is terrible, I would say getting down is horrible!

At 800 meter, my whole body was giving up and i feel dizzy, i don't know why, but feel like vomiting la...hehehe not to mention my knee really hurts! yea really hurts! Luckily Ezra was there at 800m point, he gave me some pain killers and i oso got some choco left, so take a rest while waiting for the rest, GC was so excited to reach camp 5, and we thought that LL and VC was in front, but then we are wrong, their water bottles still at 800m, yea, we are the first two from our team to reach 800m mark I slept at 800meter and suddenly it started to rain, oops, me n GC rush down like mad, you wouldn't want to know how hard it is to get down when the rocky terrain is wet and slipery!

I manage to reach the Camp 5 at the foot of Mount Api at 4.30pm, spending 30minutes for a short nap at 900m. It was a nightmare but I am very happy that I made it without much preparation.

The next day I went back to the Mulu National Park via the same route. 8.8km of jungle trek, 1 hour long boat. Its very hard this time round with sore muscles on the thigh and pain on the knee due to climbing the pinnacle. At night, I participated in the night walk, looking for nocturnal animals and insects. I was with Andrew a dark skin Penan, hehehe actually i confused whether the person in front of me is andrew or a tree, i am confused! First time ever in my life i saw big stick insect, gecko and moon rat. The guide and me was frightened by the moon rat who was looking food along the walk way. But i think the moon rat terkejut to see me rather than the way around. Its obvious, the moon rat ran for its life back to the bushes during the encounter. Poor moon rat.

after the canopy walk, few of us decided to go for a drink. At the nearby stall, we sit down and had a drink. There was a bunch of tourist enjoying the night and entertained by some of the guides. Yeah those guides also act as entertainment artist, singing and dancing local tunes and dance steps. I saw Andrew, Eugene and Ezra there....hehehe so coincidence.

The next day, I went to the canopy walk. Relaxing and soothing. Fresh air and sounds of the jungle is really a blessing. And without realizing, its time to leave Mulu National Park. I am quite sad to leave that area. Its been so relaxing (apart from the pinnacle climb) and adventurous (pinnacle climb).

Arriving back to KL I feel like I just had a wonderful dream, and waking up, I am back to reality. KL.... hectic and polluted atmosphere.

Thats all for my 5D 4N experience at Mulu National Park. Apart from the pinnacle, I would recommend Mulu National Park as a get away for urban people. But for those who are active and daring enough, the pinnacles awaits you.

I will include some contact of people that you could contact and make arrangement if anyone would like to go to Mulu. Till the next post, I need a break now, hitting the bed. Good week ahead everyone!