Monday, August 08, 2005
East Malaysia menu! (Part 1)
I went for a backpacking trip to East Malaysia recently.
From KL, I flew to Kuching. I spent a couple of days there and went over to the Bako National Park.
Thereafter, I took a bus to Sibu. From Sibu, I travelled up the Rejang River, passing by small towns like Song and Kanowit and reaching Kapit. After a nite at Kapit, I went further up river and pass some rapids to Belaga. From Belaga, I took a 4WD along the logging road and reached Bintulu.
From Bintulu, I took another bus to Miri. Unfortunately, I could not confirm my arrangements with Bario so that was struck out of me plans.
Instead, I went to Brunei (changed buses 5 times). After a couple of days there, I took a boat out to the open sea and back to Sarawak at Lawas where I travelled over land all the way to KK.
From KK, me mate took me to Tambunan, Keningau, Tenom and then back to KK. From KK, I flew back to KL.
Here’s a brief account of me trip to East Malaysia recently:-
DAY #1 (18/7 Monday)
KL – Kuching
Flight was good. It was really hot in Kuching, tho. The place I stayed (the guest house at St Thomas’ church) was really good. The caretaker, Elsie was extremely nice!
Din really do much – walked around, made me arrangements for Bako National Park, then met up wif Ru for dinner and after that, coffee!
DAY #2 (19/7 Tuesday)
Kuching – Bako
Woke up late (stayed up ready Harry Potter) and by the time I reached Kg Bako, it was quite late in the day. Met Kathy at the jetty and had lunch together while waiting and hoping that others will arrive – the boat will charge us the same price no matter how many people are on it.
Kathy is a traveller from the UK. She has been travelling in this region for a couple of years. It was nice to hear her actually calling out my name correctly! She wanted to eat cockles but they had some other conical shaped seashell which she had big trouble eating. A local from the next table (who looked like the HK star, Eric Tsang) come over to help!!!
Anyways, 2 other ladies from Holland arrived and all 4 of us shared to boat to Bako. It was a wonderful ride, all 5 of us (plus the boatman) on a speedboat out into the open sea.
Upon reaching Bako and checking in, I decided not to waste time and did a circular walk – the “Jalan Lintang”, a 5.25 km walk. For details of the walk, you can read this.
The walk almost killed me! It was really hot at some parts and I was sweating buckets all along the way! But when I got back, Kathy told me of the proboscis monkeys near at the mangrove area. I dragged meself over there to watch them!
Then back, a shower and I slept til bout dinner time.
I joined Kathy for dinner who introduced me to 2 other travellers from the UK – Sarah and Lee. “Sara Lee”!!! We had a really nice time chatting and sharing our experiences. They were having their beers while I had me teh-tarik!
When I went back to me dorms, I found out that Sarah and Lee were staying at the same dorm but in another room. We sat on the small porch outside – feeding mozzies – and chatted til Lee could hardly keep her eyes open! After that, I stayed up and read Harry Potter!!!
Oh, there were another 2 Brit girls in me room – very nice and considerate cuz I owke up really late and they were trying to keep as quiet as possible. One of them was a redhead and she reminded me soooooo much of Holly!!! Holly is a wonderful girl I knew when I was in London some 12 yrs ago. She was a small kid back then. She was killed in an accident a couple of years ago and this blog is actually named after her. If she is still alive, she’d been around the same age and the girl in me room that nite. She (the redhead in me room) spoke just like Holly and she was sooo jealous when she found out I was reading Harry Potter!
Check out the pics taken during this day here!
DAY #3 (20/7 Wednesday)
Bako full day
I went on the Teluk Pandan Trails today – one leads to a cliff wif fantastic views and the other leads down to the beach whre the famous sea-stack can be seen.
To read more about these trails, go here.
I got back in the late afternoon and slept by the sea side for a while! Then I went over to the mangroves again to see the proboscis monkeys. Kathy was there too and we both sat quietly there watching the wild life.
Thereafter, I took a walk along the beach – it was low tide and made it to the other beach, Teluk Delima where the erosion patterns on the sandstone have exposed beautiful colours and created bizarre shapes. There was this alien looking rock too. I clambered over the barnacle covered rocks to as far as I could go – met another guy there who was “stuck” on top of a rock!!! He climbed up there to take a pic but had difficulty climbing down so I had to help guide him down!
After that, I enjoyed the sunset at the beach – the sun setting behind the Santubong Mountain.
That nite, a couple shared the dorm wif me – an American girl wif her Aussie boyfren.
Check out the pics taken during this day here!
DAY #4 (21/7 Thursday)
Bako – Kch
Back to civilisation! Went for a movie too! Fantastic 4!!! Ru took me to Top Hat for dinner – yes, mussels, prawns and lobster, all at reasonable prices!!! A big surprise awaited me there! Tan Hock Chuan and Cains were there! There were in Kuching for a case.
After dinner, Ru took me to her office where I downloaded the pics onto me Epson photo album online. And yes, coffee again!
Bad news is I was having this really bad pain in me neck – must be the bad posture I adopted while reading Harry Potter late at nite in Bako! :-(
DAY #5 (22/7 Friday)
Kuching full day
Ru picked me up in the morning to go to Court where we watched THC in action. Thereafter, THC invited us to join him for lunch – dim sum at Hilton!
I did some shopping in the afternoon and was supposed to have Mee Tomato for dinner wif Ru. But instead, Ru’s parents invited me over for dinner. Good stuffs – her dad cooked crabs which was excellent! There was oso roast duck which I cleaned off (did I frighten yr family members wif the amount I ate, Ru?). I was telling meself that it was prolly the last good home cooked meal I’ll have for the next 2 weeks!
After dinner, we sat around reading papers (yes, I was news starved) and I checked out Ru’s bro’s aircraft collection.
Then it was out for a quick drink before dropping me off at the bus station for me overnite trip to Sibu. It was not sumthing I was looking forward to, to be honest! Stuck in the bus for hours, leaving the familiarity of Kuching and frens, having the really bad neck-ache, going into the unknown! But at the same time, the thrill of adventure kept me going and excited!
Check out the pics taken during my stay at Kuching here!
To be continued…
From KL, I flew to Kuching. I spent a couple of days there and went over to the Bako National Park.
Thereafter, I took a bus to Sibu. From Sibu, I travelled up the Rejang River, passing by small towns like Song and Kanowit and reaching Kapit. After a nite at Kapit, I went further up river and pass some rapids to Belaga. From Belaga, I took a 4WD along the logging road and reached Bintulu.
From Bintulu, I took another bus to Miri. Unfortunately, I could not confirm my arrangements with Bario so that was struck out of me plans.
Instead, I went to Brunei (changed buses 5 times). After a couple of days there, I took a boat out to the open sea and back to Sarawak at Lawas where I travelled over land all the way to KK.
From KK, me mate took me to Tambunan, Keningau, Tenom and then back to KK. From KK, I flew back to KL.
Here’s a brief account of me trip to East Malaysia recently:-
DAY #1 (18/7 Monday)
KL – Kuching
Flight was good. It was really hot in Kuching, tho. The place I stayed (the guest house at St Thomas’ church) was really good. The caretaker, Elsie was extremely nice!
Din really do much – walked around, made me arrangements for Bako National Park, then met up wif Ru for dinner and after that, coffee!
DAY #2 (19/7 Tuesday)
Kuching – Bako
Woke up late (stayed up ready Harry Potter) and by the time I reached Kg Bako, it was quite late in the day. Met Kathy at the jetty and had lunch together while waiting and hoping that others will arrive – the boat will charge us the same price no matter how many people are on it.
Kathy is a traveller from the UK. She has been travelling in this region for a couple of years. It was nice to hear her actually calling out my name correctly! She wanted to eat cockles but they had some other conical shaped seashell which she had big trouble eating. A local from the next table (who looked like the HK star, Eric Tsang) come over to help!!!
Anyways, 2 other ladies from Holland arrived and all 4 of us shared to boat to Bako. It was a wonderful ride, all 5 of us (plus the boatman) on a speedboat out into the open sea.
Upon reaching Bako and checking in, I decided not to waste time and did a circular walk – the “Jalan Lintang”, a 5.25 km walk. For details of the walk, you can read this.
The walk almost killed me! It was really hot at some parts and I was sweating buckets all along the way! But when I got back, Kathy told me of the proboscis monkeys near at the mangrove area. I dragged meself over there to watch them!
Then back, a shower and I slept til bout dinner time.
I joined Kathy for dinner who introduced me to 2 other travellers from the UK – Sarah and Lee. “Sara Lee”!!! We had a really nice time chatting and sharing our experiences. They were having their beers while I had me teh-tarik!
When I went back to me dorms, I found out that Sarah and Lee were staying at the same dorm but in another room. We sat on the small porch outside – feeding mozzies – and chatted til Lee could hardly keep her eyes open! After that, I stayed up and read Harry Potter!!!
Oh, there were another 2 Brit girls in me room – very nice and considerate cuz I owke up really late and they were trying to keep as quiet as possible. One of them was a redhead and she reminded me soooooo much of Holly!!! Holly is a wonderful girl I knew when I was in London some 12 yrs ago. She was a small kid back then. She was killed in an accident a couple of years ago and this blog is actually named after her. If she is still alive, she’d been around the same age and the girl in me room that nite. She (the redhead in me room) spoke just like Holly and she was sooo jealous when she found out I was reading Harry Potter!
Check out the pics taken during this day here!
DAY #3 (20/7 Wednesday)
Bako full day
I went on the Teluk Pandan Trails today – one leads to a cliff wif fantastic views and the other leads down to the beach whre the famous sea-stack can be seen.
To read more about these trails, go here.
I got back in the late afternoon and slept by the sea side for a while! Then I went over to the mangroves again to see the proboscis monkeys. Kathy was there too and we both sat quietly there watching the wild life.
Thereafter, I took a walk along the beach – it was low tide and made it to the other beach, Teluk Delima where the erosion patterns on the sandstone have exposed beautiful colours and created bizarre shapes. There was this alien looking rock too. I clambered over the barnacle covered rocks to as far as I could go – met another guy there who was “stuck” on top of a rock!!! He climbed up there to take a pic but had difficulty climbing down so I had to help guide him down!
After that, I enjoyed the sunset at the beach – the sun setting behind the Santubong Mountain.
That nite, a couple shared the dorm wif me – an American girl wif her Aussie boyfren.
Check out the pics taken during this day here!
DAY #4 (21/7 Thursday)
Bako – Kch
Back to civilisation! Went for a movie too! Fantastic 4!!! Ru took me to Top Hat for dinner – yes, mussels, prawns and lobster, all at reasonable prices!!! A big surprise awaited me there! Tan Hock Chuan and Cains were there! There were in Kuching for a case.
After dinner, Ru took me to her office where I downloaded the pics onto me Epson photo album online. And yes, coffee again!
Bad news is I was having this really bad pain in me neck – must be the bad posture I adopted while reading Harry Potter late at nite in Bako! :-(
DAY #5 (22/7 Friday)
Kuching full day
Ru picked me up in the morning to go to Court where we watched THC in action. Thereafter, THC invited us to join him for lunch – dim sum at Hilton!
I did some shopping in the afternoon and was supposed to have Mee Tomato for dinner wif Ru. But instead, Ru’s parents invited me over for dinner. Good stuffs – her dad cooked crabs which was excellent! There was oso roast duck which I cleaned off (did I frighten yr family members wif the amount I ate, Ru?). I was telling meself that it was prolly the last good home cooked meal I’ll have for the next 2 weeks!
After dinner, we sat around reading papers (yes, I was news starved) and I checked out Ru’s bro’s aircraft collection.
Then it was out for a quick drink before dropping me off at the bus station for me overnite trip to Sibu. It was not sumthing I was looking forward to, to be honest! Stuck in the bus for hours, leaving the familiarity of Kuching and frens, having the really bad neck-ache, going into the unknown! But at the same time, the thrill of adventure kept me going and excited!
Check out the pics taken during my stay at Kuching here!
To be continued…
// posted by imissw @ 1:03:00 pm 
