Days 45 & 46: Mulu National Park Part Two

So I ended part one deep within the cave... And holy HP Lovecraft; look upon what we chanced upon next! Depending on the light, it could be a gaping mouth of part of Cthulhu!

In the evening we went on a nature walk and saw this couple... As I complained before, the Olympus does not focus well on small objects. The video fares a bit better and it a bit creepier to boot!

Same kind of focus problems with this stick insect that we saw the following morning.

But here he is in action:

We had been blessed with a bit of a lie-in (no crack of dawn departures today) and some of us went on a treetop walk. We heard a lot of birds but did not see many.

After this, some of our group went on a hike to a waterfall with a packed lunch. I had decided I would rather rest my knee (it was not hurting so much by now, but the two longest hikes were coming up), have lunch in the open-air restaurant and make sure I was around at the right time to go see the bats.

Everyone actually returned in time, but they were all exhausted and wanted to rest before dinner. So I set off by myself. My plan was to go round this loop trail for about an hour, and then make the trek to the bat amphitheatre to arrive just before dusk.

That loop trail was so gorgeous; it was the best bit of Borneo I'd seen so far. But I don't have many photos (I do have a short video which Blogger is refusing to upload - will try again later), and that is because, when I was about a third of the way round the loop, the heavens opened.

And it was torrential. At first I was thinking how the trees were sheltering me, but then they started dumping buckets of water on me. And there was nowhere to go! So I ran...

I ran back to the lodge and it took an hour or two to dry off. The bats would not have come out when it's raining, so I didn't miss anything. When it stopped we went to a restaurant down the road. And that was it for Mulu!

Days 45 & 46: The paradise of shopping... and Mulu National Park Part One

After hiking back from the longhouse we were driven back to the Miri airport, to catch another short flight to Mulu National Park. But before that, we stopped in Miri, to get lunch and provisions.

The Very Very Mart had a very very good selection of goods...

But THESE were the business! I tried both flavours and wish they were available in other countries! (And why aren't they? Then again, the UK has a better selection of Magnum flavors than the US, too, but none can match these two!)

Let's go inside, shall we?

Shiok! Give your kid this ramen and she'll gape like a goldfish while displaying jazz hands!

There was even ramen named after me! Aww... I'm gaping like a goldfish... (But yes, I've seen enough menus to know that "kari" means "curry" in Indonesia.)

These I had to try. I do like seaweed. They were... OK. But I think I'll stick with Sour Cream 'n' Onion (or Paprika, where available).

I thin I'll pass on this one...

Some of you might remember that cyclamate is what they put in diet sodas, before it was banned in the west. What it would be doing in butter (or is this marg?), I don't know!

Oh so sickly, IMHO...

There's my sour cream and chives on the right; I did not try the honey cheese flavour...

CRIPS? Where are the Bloods?

These lime Soleros were scrumptious, too...

I did not have time to have a tea break here but I liked the sign...

We then had a quick stop at the beach. Not to go swimming, but to have a quick look...

There was a little time to browse at the airport. And yes, I was tempted, but resisted.

The only way to get to Mulu National Park is to fly, and the airport is adjacent to the NP headquarters, which features a lodge, and a Hilton. And that's it. Yes, we stayed at the lodge. But it was very nice! A big cozy cabin with a nice veranda.

This was our room:

We arrived in the mid afternoon, and soon set off for the caves. This was quite a long walk, but a very easy and pleasant one. Again the trail was all boards, but these ones were not slippery at all.

It looks like it's night here, but it's just dark in the rainforest. I admit I have a snail phobia; I kept my distance here!

I reluctantly agreed to have my photo taken ...

I look even more sweaty in this shot!

There was sort of an outdoor amphitheatre where people could sit to watch the millions of bats fly out at dusk. I thought this is what we were going to do in a couple of hours. But we entered the cave much later than scheduled, and when we came out it was pitch black and we had missed the bats! I was pretty disappointed, but I decided I would catch them the next night.

This cave, unlike the one yesterday, was cool inside, and filled with colourful stalactites and stalagmites.

 The rest of my cave photos will appear in Part Two!