Sibu, Bintulu, then Niah National Park

November 2nd-4th (Wednesday-Friday)

It's strange that, even with a few weeks left in my trip, I'm feeling quite rushed by now. I would have liked to have hung around Kuching for a little while longer. It was a pleasant city, and I met Dennis, a guy from Indonesia on his first backpacking trip.



But, away I must, so I take the boat up to Sibu, which was a lot like the boat I took in Cambodia away from Phnom Pehn, only this time, instead of the fruit and food hawkers coming on and off at each stop, the entertainment was pirated movies all sharing the thematic qualities of good-guy kicking bad-guy butt. Not very interesting.

After a scrumptious noodles, fern (midi) and sweet and sour tempura fish lunch at a food stall, I catch a quick bus up to Bintulu for the night. The first hotel had huge cockroaches so I quickly checked out and got a more decent night's rest at Highland Inn (RM 58). Nothing of note in town, so I fall asleep watching whatever channel the front desk clerk was watching (it kept changing to a new channel on the whim of the clerk).

OK. Next stop is Niah National Park. Only a couple hours up from Bintulu (but then a RM 15 taxi ride from the junction), it's famous for its archeological significance. The 40,000 year old skull is credited to be the earliest evidence of homo-sapiens in Southeast Asia.

The trail to the caves is along wooden planks, and after a short detour to the longhouse to goof off with some kids, I have the whole afternoon to spend exploring the caves.



The larger caves in the front are inhabited by tens of thousands of bats during the day and tens of thousands of swiflets during the night. So, if you can imagine the sheer tonnage of guano produced every day, you can guess what one of the industries here is. Also, the bird nests have apparently been collected for centuries, to satisfy the strange diets of the Chinese. Now, the collection is strictly regulated by season and amount. (There are two well-designed museums at the park that explain both guano collection and birdnest harvesting. The harvesters hoist themselves on top of bamboo shafts maybe 50m tall to scrape off and dislodge empty birdnests. A guy on the floor scurries to catch the fallen nests before they tumble away into the crevices).



In the back, there is a moon cave which is pitch black and stinking of guano. Here live the guano collectors and birdnest harvesters, in crude tents lit by small lamps. Eerie. In a separate cave lie the longboat coffins and some cave paintings, though both are behind barbed wire fence and thus not easily appreciated.



The fun really starts on my return. I try and catch the "changing of the guard" at dusk when the swiflets return and the bats leave. I stay too long though, and the return path is pitch black and the jungle is roaring with activity. (Fireflies and luminous fungi do sparkle along the way though, which is quite cool.)



Upon return to the river, I find no boat waiting. I've returned too late. After a futile half and hour or so shouting and banging, I decide to swim the narrow river. It's much deeper than I thought so I leave my bag behind, strip down to my skivvies and wade across. On the other side, I realize I have no Malaysian money for dinner. D'oh! Also, I don't really want to leave my bag there overnight for the monkeys to get at. So, after some embarrassing housecalls and explanations, I am able to retrieve my bag.

All's well that ends well.

The next morning, I've become a bit infamous among the staff. I'm also told that there might have been crocodiles (eep). However, they do like my story of disturbing the ghosts in the empty houses on the other side of the river.



But, that's that. Niah National Park is quite nice. In fact, Sarawak and Borneo have been fantastic so far, despite all of my mishaps. I hope to one day return again and to be able to explore it more fully and more slowly.

After Niah, I head straight to Miri to organize my trip to the Mulu Pinnacles. It'll be nice to rest a day or so and to eat some good food. I've read that stingray is the local speciality here.

Oh, Selamat Hari Raya. I've decided that my swim across the river was some sort of cleansing ritual.