9/7 Goodbye Mulu & Goodbye Hamish 😥😥

You can't trump a canopy walk, but another walk through the rainforest was still pretty awesome to start my last day 😥. 

More of the Botany trail, including the wildlife observation shelter (but sadly no wildlife),

 breakfast, and then another rainforest walk - part of the Paku Loop trail.

Once Hamish was up and breakfasted, we check out of our hostel and then did more of the Botany trail. If you ever can't find or afford a guide, just walk with Hamish - he's a wiz for spotting wildlife and answering questions!

Hamish showed me how because this creature has senses in its wide head, it lifts it's head up if you put your finger in front of it. 

Then sadly it was time to say farewell to Mulu. 😥

It's been a magical 3 days. Staying in the rainforest, seeing such an abundance and variety of flora plus the occasional weird and wonderful creature has been delightful. I thought Mulu would probably be the highlight but  once again I would have to give actually being here an 'E' for 'exceeds expectations. 😀

Seeing my flight in my emails Google maps warned me to check congestion on my way to the airport, and indeed a car did pass us on the 30-minute walk. More relevant would have been checking the weather as it was a very hot 30 minutes. 

At the airport I noticed that there's no one at the baggage screening machine unless someone actually turns up. Its a very small airport!

No sickness flying back to Kuching, so I was able to enjoy looking at the cloud formations, the rivers and coastline.

Interesting but not so pleasing were the fields cleared for logging and palm oil plantations. 

Some not-so-fun facts:

Because logging in Borneo produces ten times as much commercially valuable wood per hectare than in the Amazon, over 80% of the tropical forests in Borneo have been logged. If all logging roads built in Borneo between 1990 and 2009 were placed end-to-end, they would wrap around the Earth nine times! Having just spent three days in protected rainforest, this sight from the was sobering. 

With two hours before needed to be back to check in to his flight to Kuala Lumpur, we headed to the Malaysian-Chinese Friendship Park, which was built by the Chinese government to celebrate 30 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries. 

Just before I left a Chinese friend told me about an early Chinese explorer who made many voyages across the ocean. I'm guessing this must have been Zheng He in the 14th century, commemorated in this huge statue. 

When he travelled to Borneo he took 500 Chinese court maidens to present to the Sultan of Brunei in marriage! Building a Friendship Park is a much better idea. 

Time for a drink in the very hip Chinese tea chain, Chagee. My iced grapefruit jasmine tea was delicious. 

Back to the airport and the time had come to say goodbye. I vainly tried to holdback the tears as these 10 days of adventure with my son coming to an end. 😥 So sad and so thankful!

And so thankful to be heading home to the rest of my precious family.❤️

8/7 Mulu Day 3: Canopy, Conversation, & Lagang Cave

Today's blog post is brought to you by the letter 'C'

1. Canopy

What better way could there be to start the day than a walk through the rainforest? A walk through the top of a rainforest! 

Our 450 m walk above the floor of the rainforest was simply extraordinary. I can't remember an experience more magical and serene, except perhaps watching the sunset above the clouds at Mount Yotei in Hokkaido, Japan.

The fact that this is our last full day and so my time travelling with Hamish is coming to an end, and the fact that I was walking 30m above the ground added to my emotions, but I have to confess I was beginning to choke up. 

So thankful for this beautiful place and a chance to experience it. 

2. Conversation

Having breakfast while we looked out over the river, Hamish and I talked history, politics, health insurance and 'where would you rather live/travel?'

Precious time together!

The tree top tower, some down time and Rojak Malaysian salad for lunch, and it was time for our third C ... 

3. Lagang Cave 

It was sad to be coming to our last cave but amazingly, it turned to be the best. 

What was Lagang's Point Of Difference? 

Was it the long crevices?

the amazing stalactites and staligmites?

the striking black markings caused by minerals and bacteria seeping through the ground and rock above?

the birds with nests and chicks inside the cave?

or the sediment layer of solidified volcanic ash from an eruption in the Philippines 200 000 years ago?

No.

What was the thing that was the that made this experience the best?

Not a thing but the absence of a thing. 

The absence of light. 

Darkness.

Every other cave we've seen had lights installed to guide the way and to highlight the cave. 

In Lagang the only light was controlled by each one of us - the torches in our hands. 

So unless the person in front of you wanted the joy of showing you something they had just discovered, every sight was a surprise waiting to be discovered by you.

Apparently they had begun to set up lighting in this cave - and I had wondered what the cable was for - but after some early feedback they decided to keep one of the caves in darkness. 

The experience reminded me of my reflection when we visited Jenolan Caves many years ago -

for millions of years the God who said 'let there be light' had been working on these caves with his creative delight. He was longing and looking forward to the day when the people he had made would see his creation for themselves and say 'wow!' What a cause for praise!

As if 3 big C's wasn't enough for 1 day, we walked the 90 minutes round trip to see the bat exodus once more, and this time I was well enough to take photos.

and on the way we saw this cool snail!

and this thin snake!

For our final dinner we ventured outside the park to eat with the locals at the Bamboo Cafe for more good Cuisine and Conversation. 

7/7 Mulu day 2: caves, markets, waterfalls and our 2nd night walk

A good night sleep and I was feeling so much better than last night. An early morning walk through the rainforest was a great way to start the day. 

PThe Botany walk was fascinating. This Belian (ironwood) tree is believed to have been a thousand years old when it died and as it is not susceptible to termites, it is only decaying slowly as a result of the slightly acidic rainwater, and as a result it looks like limestone.

Hamish had hoped to go on the advanced caving expedition, having passed the intermediate stage yesterday, but unfortunately the heavy rain last night led to the tour being cancelled. So he joined me on the normal tour of the same caves.

First, a short boat ride down the Melanau river to a Penan village market.

Having listened to the story of Bruno Manser - a Swiss man who got it into his head to go to the other side of the world and live with a people he knew almost nothing about, and then led their fight against the destruction of their homelands by logging - I was excited to meet the people, as well as support their village and find some presents for our grandchildren. 

Then onto Wind and Clearwater caves. 

The cave system at Mulu is 250 km long, making it the eighth largest in the world, so of course we were barely scratching the surface. But what we saw of the beginning of Wind cave was full of beautiful stalactites and stalagmites.

 For those non-splunkers amongst us, there are stalactites (hold on tight) and staligmites (build up your might). 

A short boat trip and we were at  the base of the Clearwater cave  walk.

Though the plants above aren't particularly striking, it's worth knowing this spot is the only place in the world that they have been found. 

I particularly enjoyed looking up through the top entrance of the cave at the lush vegetation above. 

But the main feature of this cave is the flowing river which has shaped much of it. Unfortunately today the water was not clear, due to the heavy rain last night.

Looking up at the roof of the cave, which long ago had collapsed, was breathtaking. 

At the end I got to chat with Chris our guide to understand a little bit more about how the cave was formed and also to get to know him a little. 

As I asked where he had travelled, he said he hopes to go to Sydney because he has lots of friends there, since he is a Penan Christian in the Borneo Evangelical Church (which grew out of the Australian missionary movement to Borneo in the 1920s, but is now completely led by locals). I shared that I too was a Christian and that I had read about a Swiss man who lived and advocated for the Penan people. I couldn't remember Bruno's name at the time, but Chris immediately knew who I was talking about and said that many of the people in the villages here knew about or had known Bruno. It was one of those special moments when the things I had learnt only because I was preparing for a trip, and the people I meet on the trip comes together. 

When we got back, Hamish needed some down time because he wasn't feeling well, so I hiked to Paku waterfall on a boardwalk and a well-marked but muddy trail. Listening again to the story of Bruno when he almost died from a snake bite when he was alone in a rain forest made me a little nervous walking by myself, but I didn't see anything other than this armoured caterpillar.

 The dual waterfalls flowing out of the cave system looked terrific, but after last night's rain there was no way I was going to swim as it's normally possible to do. 

Thankfully Hamish was feeling well enough for our night walk. Having got his eye in on our froggy night walk, Hamish spotted just as many creatures as the guide.

Unfortunately we had to come back early because it started to rain. 

Looking forward to our canopy walk tomorrow morning.