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.❤️