Mulu

December 28, 2002 - January 4, 2003

The airport us situation in Miri was confusing but I managed to get to the airport in time to catch my Twin Otter flight to Gunning Mulu NP. Once there, I faced the prospect of doing, well, something for the next 6 days. Truth be told, I hadn't really done much research o Mulu. The word was that it was a really cool place and I should go there. So I did.

It turns out, Mulu is mostly about caves and a couple of climbs. And, much to my dismay, everything cost extra. I hadn't really budgeted for that and there were no money changers or ATM's in the area.

The bats, at least were free. Every night about 1 million bats exit the caves in search of food. They fly out in long streams and odd formations. The first day, I went out with only the compact digital camera. It was pretty well useless for the bats. Not much good for the pygmy squirrels. I caught the bats with the telephoto the next day. I never saw the squirrels again.

Over the next couple of days, I visited 2 show caves (Wind and Clearwater) and one adventure cave (Racer). The later was unlit and involved climbing ropes to reach some chambers. I also managed to slip on some mud and punch a small hole on my elbow. I didn't think it was that serious but the park manager thought differently and off to the medic I went. He cleaned up the wound and gave me some gauze and antibiotics to ward off possible infection.

I spent New Years even at Mulu. There was a low-key gathering at the cafe across the footbridge from the park. The Park Manager received a bottle of whiskey for being the "best customer of the year". We shared in that. Foreign tourists and some teachers from Saba played musical chairs for 8 cans of Tiger beer. Strangely, and not really intentionally, I won. The cafe owner is an Iban and displayed his skill at the warrior dance. He was quite good, much more impressive, actually, than what I had seen at the long house.

After struggling with the issues of money, changing flights, and the inadequate preparation, I decided not to climb the Pinnacles. The final nail was the arrival of a new girl who was actually prepared and wanted to go. The trip maxes out at 5 people. If I went, she could not. I stayed.

I didn't know it when I made the decision but it was just as well. I woke up the next morning feeling not too well. I was ok enough to see the mammoth chambers of the Deer Cave and the complex formations of Lang's Cave. But I think I would have had a tough time with the Pinnacles.

The next day was just a casual day of confirming flights and resting.

I returned to Miri the next day, planning to clear off my backlog of travelogs and other Internet tasks. That's when I found my server inaccessible. I scrambled to get ahold of Benton to restart the machine and then went off to Niah Caves for a day.