Activities in Kuching

Hello again, my abandoned English speaking friends. Here you are, the entry I began to write almost two weeks ago.

Again quite behind the Spanish blog... When I started all this I knew it would take time but... it takes more than I thought. I really couldn't write you before, and it has also been a long time since I don't write in the Spanish one. Now I am in London, with jet lag, it is Saturday, 8 in the morning, and I am already in front of the computer translating for the blog (and I have already replied a couple of mails). Somehow this jet lag thing is quite useful.

You might have seen that there are two new entries in the Spanish blog, one of them is about when I am coming back (Ok, I tell a bit about some other things) , too late for that one, and the other one is the one I am writing here.

You already know that I have been twice in Gunung Mulu and that in between these two times I have been doing some activities that I had contracted with an agency. They are those activities I told you a loooong time ago when I began to write about Borneo.

And what are all those activities? I visited a rehabilitation centre for orangutans. I was two days and two nights in an Iban Longhouse. And I also visited Bako National Park. After a month of this, I went back to Bako with Zuzana so she could also see it and I could take more pictures, because just one day was too rush. I will tell you about Bako some other day... when I find the time.

The rehabilitation centre for orangutans is called Semenggoh and it is located close to Kuching. In Malay, as in many other languages, the name is the same, but it is written separately: orang-utan. In Malay "orang" means "man", and "hutan" means "forest", so you know where the origin of the word comes from. A long time ago, orangutans lived in a wide area of South East Asia, but nowadays they can only be found in Borneo and Sumatra. During many years, orangutans were hunted by the aboriginals because of heir meet, this reason itself is not enough to decrease its number so dramatically, but together with forest fires, deforestation due to logging and palm oil industry, and the hunting for souvenirs and illegal trade as pets, all together makes that orangutan is an endangered species. Nowadays orangutan is a protected species.

In Malaysia there are two centres of rehabilitation for orangutans: Semenggoh in Kuching, Sarawak, and Sepilok in Sandakan, Sabah. In these centres they educate orangutans which are found in captivity to reintegrate them into the jungle. They are also an information and rapproachement point for the people to learn about orangutans. But there is controversy about how they work. These centres are not closed, they are open to the rain forest without any fence or barrier, and they have fixed feeding times for the orangutans, so if they are hungry they come at those times to eat. This makes that detractors of these centres see them as a tourist attraction making orangutans go to eat habitually and missing their natural feeding habits in the rain forest. I think that things are not either white or black. It is true that at feeding times what you see there is a little bit as a show for the visitors. But the fact is that there are orangutans that can not be reintegrated because they are not able to adapt themselves to the groups or wild orangutans. This happens, for example, with orangutans which have been living for too much time in captivity. So these orangutans still can live free in the rain forest close to those rehabilitation centres, otherwise they would die in the rain forest. If in this way it is possible to collect funds with tickets and souvenirs, I think it is no so bad.


From there we went to the Iban Longhouse. When I asked the travel agency in Kuala Lumpur to prepare this trip for me, I told them that I wanted to be there alone rather than going with a group of tourists, even if I had to pay extra. What I wanted was being able to take pictures of their normal life and not to see how they behave in front of tourists.

So after four hours by car and half an hour by boat upstream we arrived there. this was my first longboat ride, and it was one of the things I liked the most, going in that long, narrow, wooden boat through the river in the middle of the jungle.


Iban people, as many other aboriginal people in Borneo, live in villages where the main construction is called Longhouse. A Longhouse, as its name suggests, is a very long building and the concept is very similar to what we call "terraced houses". Imagin a Longhouse, empty inside, and divide it in two parts lengthwise (now you have two long thin parts); now you take one of the long parts, divide it in many parts (as terraced houses) and leave the other one empty. So this is approximately a Longhouse, many single-family homes in the same building sharing the same common area. This is the common area of the Longhouse I visited.


This area is protected from the heat and the rain, but through the doors there is enough light entering so they can work inside. Here is where they seat to make the carpets, baskets and many other objects that they use for their normal life or that they sell as handicraft.


It is also the area for social relations. When they don't have anything else to do, they seat here to talk between them or simply to be there calmly. These people don't know what stress is, and I mean it in the best sense of the word, not as a criticism, and in general they are not as expressive as we are, I guess due to the kind of life they live. Many times you could think that they are bored, but they aren't, are just there, watching life go by. Some times I wonder what is in their minds, what they are thinking about... I can't get to the idea, I don't know how their perspective of life is, or their needs, their ideas or what their worries are... because for sure they are not the grades of the child at school, the mortgage, the car insurance, the next holidays, the politics... the world economical crisis...



And I absolutely can't think that during all this time their thoughts are something like "it is going to rain". I find fascinating how they can have such a simple life so easily; of course it is because I am used to the life in Madrid or now everyday going here and there. Maybe they think how we can have a life like this in a relatively easy way, because definitely our lives have many more worries than theirs.

That evening I was taking more pictures and then, at night, they performed a typical dance they used to perform when warriors came back after cutting a couple of heads or just after a long journey. I had already told them not to act in front of me, that they didn't have to do things that they didn't want to... it didn't matter. The feeling of "we have to do it" that I had while they were dancing was continuous. First the man made the typical dance and afterwards the girl did her dance, both quite interesting, yes, and I can even understand that it was useful for me and to take pictures, ok. But putting us (me and the guide) a hat with feathers and making us four dancing in circles... that was absolutely unnecessary. The only one having fun there was the guide because he didn't care at all. In the Spanish blog some of my friends were asking for one picture of me, so here you are. You can see the happy face of the man, I think the girl and me... well, we did what we could.


Next morning we went through the river upstream so I could see some of the things they usually do. First they collected some bamboo canes, they took some small shoots to be cooked in the evening and one big cane.


We reached an area where there was a small river with more clear water and they were fishing to get something for the lunch. They caught three small fish with a fishing net, and diving with old goggles and a rudimentary harpoon they got a river prawn. All this is to be put in a branch and then it is ready to be cooked.


With that and some other things they had taken from the village they prepared the lunch in a very interested way. The menu was: some meet, the fish they caught (and more fish they took from home) and, of course, rice. All this is cooked at the riverside with all that mother nature provides you in its huge kitchen. Why using a pot when you can use a bamboo cane to cook the rice and the meet?. Recipe for bamboo cane rice: take a big leaf which you have previously let dry up and wrap the rice in it. Put it aside.


Now let's go with the bamboo cane that you have just taken from the jungle. Cut it in smaller pieces taking care of leaving a knot in one of the ends of each one. Now put the dry leaves with the rice in the small bamboo canes.


Go to the closer river, take some clear water and fiil the pieces of bamboo. Cook on a moderate flame.


Once the rice is cooked, open the canes with your machete and serve yourself, with the hand, of course, as much as you want to eat with the meet you have just cooked in the same way.


As I told you, the guide took some more fish because obviously he knew they were not going to fish enough for me, for him, the man taking us and his three sons.

When we came back to the village, I kept on taking pictures of the people there until I was shown two new things: how to use the blowpipe and cock fighting. I found the blowpipe quite interesting because it was easier and more precise than I expected. I am quite useless with all this aim stuff and I hit the target on the first and the second try. I failed on the third one, but I even like this was quite close.


Cock fighting is a tradition which is illegal in Malaysia nowadays, especially if they are about gambling. Cock fighting can only be celebrated with a special permission in some festivals or in touristy demonstrations such as this one. But anyway they have to finish before one of the roosters is injured, or as soon as possible.


Every time I see this picture I can't help thinking that it is the rooster "Trinity" of Matrix and my mind tries to turn around the frozen roosters in the air.

Anyway, illegal cock fighting still exist in Malaysia, it is only a matter of knowing where, but if you want you can spend your money in cock fighting every week.

A bit later we went to have dinner. In this kind of trips, the guide takes food for the tourists and the family "hosting" them. Even if in my case I was not sleeping in the family's home but in another hut close to the Longhouse, there is always a family hosting the guests. The guide cooks with collaboration from people of the family and they cook several dishes for everybody. That night they cooked the bamboo the got in the morning and the usual dishes: rice, curry chicken, fried vegetables... During my visit, the procedure was always the same: The food was cooked, everything was put on the floor and I was always the first one beginning to eat. I imagine that if there is a group of tourists there, they eat first and then the family, but in my case I started alone and after a while the rest of the people were coming. That night the guide asked them if we all could have the dinner together, I absolutely preferred it like this, but even then I was the only one sitting and I started eating alone.


In Malaysia (as in many other places) many people eat with their hands, well, better said, with the right hand. But don't think it is only at home or in small neighbourhood restaurants, it is even like this in weddings (in the nice ones, like the one we went in August), so don't think that it is only the Iban or aboriginal people doing it. Oh! And there s something else, what you are not going to see ever, unless you go to a special place, is a knife; here you eat everything with a fork and a spoon. In fact the first thing I am going to do as soon as I arrive home is throwing away all the knives. Or if not, the first Malaysian visiting me, I am going to take him to eat a big steak and I will give him just a fork and a knife, and we will see what he does with them.

After dinner we stayed talking around an oil lamp, or maybe I should say that I stayed there looking how the talked in between them, because so far... I am not really fluent speaking Iban language.


In many of the villages they have power generator which they switch on at night. So now there are people watching television or movies in DVD or VideoCD (here it is quite usual). But many people keep on doing their normal life, meaning that they meet in the common area of the Longhouse to talk. Again, sometimes you see some people sitting around a candle not saying anything, just being there.


Next day on the morning we went back to Kuching. Just when we took the car from the small jetty and driving through the gravel road, the car suddenly stopped. And that's how I got my first experience driving on the left and with the steering wheel on the other side. I woud have never thought that it was going to be like that: driving a Proton (national Malay brand) which was falling apart, with more kilometres than the Transiberian, borrowed in an Iban Longhouse from a friend of the guide and through a gravel road. That's life.

The problem was in the fuel pump. The car could be repaired in he same day and we went back to Kuching in the same day with the car stinking of petrol. We stopped for the dinner in the way back and we arrived on time for, at least, the visit to Bako national Park on the next day.

What happened afterwards, you already know it: Many stories happening ni Kuching and changing my plans for the next month. At least I told the agency that they didn't have to take me to the airport on the next morning...

Why does Javi travel back and forth in Borneo?

Finally I dedcided to buy a small laptop, not only to write in the bllog, but like this I can also work a bit with the pictures. I am writing sitting at the entrance of a small bungalow in the middle of the jungle in Taman Negara, the biggest National Park in Malaysia.

But today I write to tell you about some things that happened to me in Borneo. Because telling you about all the places I go is quite ok, but if I only tell you this kind of stories you miss the small details which make this an adventure. So before going on, I am going to tell you a couple of things so you can understand why my trip across the north of Borneo has been a bit chaotic (this doesn't have many pictures).

My plan after leaving Zuzana and Tomas in Miri was going to Kuching, in the south of Sarawak, and start visiting the two states going to the north-west. The idea was that after finishing the activity I had with the agency in Kuching, I would go to the Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) to ask for some information and see if they would be interested in buying any picture. After that I would be traveling north towards Mulu Park stopping in the interesting places. Then I would go to Sabah where I would visit the most interesting places, and from there I would fly back to Kuala Lumpur. As you can see, all was very well thought and organized.

The last night of the activities with the agency, when I arrived to Kuching and before going to bed in the hotel they booked for me, I went to look for a cheap hostel for the next night. I found one which looked nice and I booked a bed in the dorm for one night.

When I came out from the hostel I remembred when I went to the newspaper in Kuala Lumpur to show my pictures from the independence celebration. The photo editor of told me that when that when I go to Borneo, I should call him and he would give me the contact with their photographers there so they could help me. So I called him on the phone, we talked a bit and after a while he sent me an sms with the telephone number of Nadim, a local photographer in Kuching to whom I called and we decided to meet the day after. On the next morning (Friday) I woke up and I went to the hostel… and there, everything changed.

Just arriving I met Anddreas, a local guide who loves photography. After talking a bit and telling him that I wanted to go to the STB to talk about my pictures, I got a piece of paper and wrote there the name of a friend of him who is working there and he tells me that I should talk to him and tell him the he gave me his name. Since I see it seems to be a good opportunity I decided that when I go to the STB I will also ask about financing for the book I would like to publish with pictures of the trip to Malaysia.

In the meeting with the STB it seems that, about support in Sarawak, it could be a good first contact. I filled in the applying form and the guy working there tells me that he will submit it to his boss I they will let me know. To make it easy I leave my trip quite open to fit in whatever they could need. But unfortunately about the fund-raising for the book, the STB is not the right place because they don’t sponsor with money. For that he suggested me to go to the Ministry of Tourism and he gave me the address of the Ministry in Kuching.

Just coming out from the STB I call immediately to the Ministry and a woman pick up the phone, then I automatically start telling her the story I tell everybody: “I am a photographer from Spain, I am working in Malaysia for 4 months and bla, bla, bla…”. 15 seconds later she stops me and says “but what are you exactly looking for?”… then, from the very deep in my heart, not even thinking about it, a single word comes out clearly: “sponsorship”. After two seconds of silence she transfers the call to a man to whom I explain everything again, he asks me for my telephone number and tells me that they will call me back. A bit aggressive the “sponsorship” answer, but like this there is no doubt, they know I am going to ask for money. After 20 minutes my phone rings, it is the Ministry of Tourism, I have an interview on Monday at two.

After all this, you understand that I decided to stay in Kuching for the weekend to see how all this goes. During the weekend I spend my time with Nadim, the photographer, or with Anddreas listening stories about Sarawak and enjoying the ambient in the hostel, which is quite ok. The hostel is managed by some young Iban people. The Iban are one of the aboriginal people of Sarawak, maybe the most known of them, and if you ever go to a longhouse it is likely that it will be an Iban Longhouse. These guys are quite modern, they play guitar (almost every evening) and wear casual, well, many times without t-shirt. During the days I was there they made a birthday party for one of them and all we were invited.


Other day Anddreas thought that it could be funny having a dinner for all the people in the hostel, so he went to buy food for all of us and then they cooked several typical dishes (Anddreas is the one wearing in yellow).


And almost every evening the guys from the hostel ended up playing guitar in the terrace... after some days I knew the songs by heart.


I spent there a good time having fun and making new friends. I was nice.


Two of the guys from the hostel also have an studio were they make traditional Iban tattoos. In fact all them working in the hostel have Iban tattoos. I think it is nice because like this they try to keep alive the tradition of Iban Tattoos. Nowadays these tattoos are getting lost because in the tribes there is no "need" to show off the deeds of the trips they make or the skills as a headhunters, which is what they were showing years ago. During that weekend, Ernesto and Robin were going to make a traditional tattoo to an American guy who lives in Korea and he had gone to Borneo to get the tattoo (and then visit Malaysia). So they told me if I wanted to go and take pictures during the tattoo session. These traditional tattoos are made with two sticks, one of them has a needle (there are different sizes) and with the other one he hits the first one to draw the tattoo.


On Monday morning I talk with Nadim about the interview in the Ministry and he asks me if I have long trousers, because it is better to wear them or they wouldn't take me seriously. As you can imagine, the way I travel and the places I visit, I didn't bring many smart clothes to Borneo. So Javi goes to the shopping mall, ask two of the shop assistants to help me and I finally buy long trousers and... a shirt!! May be that some of you don't know me very much, but seeing me in shirt is not exactly the most common thing. But don't panic, the shirt I wear it loose. I bought both things suiting my leather trekking boots, because, absolutely, I am not buying new shoes.

Then I leave the hostel absolutely ready and with time enough to the address of the Ministry that Anddreas just gave me in the hostel. I arrive there and I start asking everywhere where is the man I have to meet (as it si usual here, asking several times until you reach what you are looking for). After 15 minutes I look for the address that the friend of Anddreas gave me in the STB and it is not the same place... ups. I get out to the street and it is raining one of these nice tropical rains. I take another taxi and I give the driver the new address, it is 13:55 already. Half a minute after I get a call from the Ministry, the man I should meet has just finished a meeting somewhere else and it is not possible to meet him today. So we change the appointment for the nezx day at 9 in the morning. I go to the hostel.

In the evening I try to talk with the guy from the STB but he is not in the office. Definitely I give up today, tomorrow's another day.

The next morning I am at 9 in the Ministry and I have an interview with two people. Unfortunately they can not help me with the book because I want it to be a book about the whole of Malaysia and not only about Sarawak, so they told me that I have to apply to the central offices in Kuala Lumpur. It is a pity because I think if they cold have decided anything they would have given the subvention, we were talking for two and a half hours and they seemed to be quite interested in my project. They even told me that I should say in the STB that I had been talking to them, because they knew the boss of the guy I was talking to. This is more important than it seems, because the Sarawak Tourism Board depends on the Ministry of Tourism when talking about their budget, so a good feedback from the Ministry is a good thing when taking decisions in the STB.

From there I went to the offices of the STB, but the boss was on a business trip and they wouldn't know anything until he came back on Wednesday. On the next day I didn't need any feedback from the Ministry, I met Anddreas' friend and he finally told me that the STB will sponsor me with 200 ringgits for my trip to Mulu and with 1000 ringgits (something like 250 € all together) for a trip close to the border with Indonesia, with Anddreas as a guide, to visit different ethnic groups, and one of them will be the Penan. The Penan are the group which most has defended its customs, its traditions and its lands in front of all the colonizers passing by Borneo; that's why they are considered as one of the most authentic ethnics groups of Malaysia.

After all this I decide to leave immediately to Mulu Park. I book a flight on the next morning from Miri to Mulu and I take a night bus from Kuching to Miri (only 12 hours trip).

Before leaving, I talk with Nadim to tell him how was everything. Nadim is Muslim and in those days we were in the Ramadan, that time when Muslims don't eat, drink or smoke, and reduce some other activities from sunrise until sunset. Ramadan changes its dates from one year to other in the Gregorian calendar (the one we use), but it always finishes with the new year of the Islamic calendar. In Malay "New Year" is "Hari Raya", and we could think that it is something as our Christmas as long as celebrations is concerned. This year the Hari Raya was on the 1st and the 2nd of October and, as in many celebrations in Malaysia, it is celebrated with openhouse activities, in this case in Muslim neighborhoods. So Nadim invited me to join him for Hari Raya and enjoy the openhouse days in his neighborhood during the next week, when I came back from Mulu.

Hmmm... I just wanted to pass by Kuching and... I almost find petrol here.

Gunung Mulu National Park

Again a long time since last time. But here I am again.

I finally left Borneo after a trip full of improvisation in which the originally planned 4 weeks turned into 7 weeks travelling three times in Sabah and three times in Sarawak. There are som many things to see here... Borneo is the forth largest island in the world only behind Australia, Greenland and New Guinea, (I am not going to discuss if Australia is an island or a continent, it doesn't matter) I have only been in the Malaysian part and you can be sure that I could stay here for a whole year taking pictures I would still need more time... Amazing.

Today I am going to tell you how I enjoyed Gunung Mulu national Park. this park is one of the two UNESCO World Heritage parks in Malaysia. The other one is Kinabalu Park. I already talked about it in my last entry, but I am saving the main course for later. These two parks deserve an entry for themselves, so let's go.

During this time I have been twice in Mulu Park, the first one was with Zuzana and Tomáš. For those of you who could be worried, his foot recovered quite fast, we didn't do any difficult hike and he could walk with us (now his right foot is ok).

On saturday morning we took one of those propeller airplanes which fly over the rain forest. Because if you want to go to Mulu, either you go like this or you have to take one bus and then a boat and who knows how long it takes until you reach the park (and moreover it will probably be more expensive than going by plane). After half an hour flight we landed in a small airport and we went to the park to spend the weekend there.

When you arrive to Mulu Park the first thing you do is going to the headquarters and planning your stay there deciding all you are going to visit. One of the main attractions of the park are "The Pinnacles", rock formations shaped as needles by the erosion which stand over the trees in the middle of the rain forest. We really wanted to see them, but to reach the viewpoint you need three days and two nights and we didn't have such a long time, what a pity, next time. So after checking in our room we are ready to take a walk and see how is Tomáš' foot. Everything is ok, Tomáš can walk almost perfectly and we are getting used to the heat, the humidity, all the plants around there...


...and even if Gunung Mulu Park is not the best place to see wildlife (in fact it is quite difficult to see something really interesting), we meet some small animals such as tiny ants or some lizards.



The other great attraction of Mulu Park are its caves, for that we do have time enough. The cave network in Mulu is over 300 Kilometres already explored (and all which is still unexplored). In fact, adventure caving is one of the activities which attracts people to the park. Whithin its hidden treasures you can finde which is considered the largest undreground chamber in the world, the "Sarawak Chamber", in it you could fit up to 16 football fields or 10 jumbo jets in a row (the number of football fields or planes widely vary form one site to other, but it must be pretty big). This cave is not in the usual tours and if you want o visit it you need previous skills in adventure caving and approval by the Park manager. However, if you like caves, you won't be dissapointed.

That evening we joined the guided visit to Langs Cave and Deer Cave. Langs Cave is a small cave with interesting stalactites and stalagmites formations, it is nice and it is a good appetizer for Deer Cave. From Langs Cave you go directly to Deer Cave (they are quite close to each other). Deer Cave is the largest passage cave in the world, meaning that you could enter on one side and get out through the other side. In the tour you go in and aout through the same entrance, but you reach a point from where you can see the other entrance of the cave. The dimensions of the cave are definitely quite big.


But not only that, Deer Cave is the home of more than 2 million bats (the small spots in the upper part of the picture). Every day, at dusk, thousands of bats come out from Deer Cave looking for food forming never-ending streams. Nearby the entrance of the cave there is a view point from where you can see the spectacle.


The way back to the headquarters is through an illuminated path when it is getting dark. One of the things I missed in this trip is an mp3 recorder. I would have liked having one so you could listen to the sounds of the night in Mulu. It is really a pitty, you will have to go to be able to listen by yourselves the amazingly wide variety of sounds that you can listen in Mulu at night.

On the next morning we went to the Canopy Walk of the park, which with its 480 metres long is the longest in the world. Before taking the plane back we took a last walk in the park and another one to the airport, it is not so far.

One of the things I asked in the Park is about the famous photography permission. Well, it is necessary to have a permission in Gunung Mulu Park for professional photographers, especially to be allowed to take the tripod into the caves because otherwise it is strictly forbidden. So I was told to apply for it in Kuchint to the General Manager of the Protected Areas & Biodiversity Conservation of Sarawak Forestry Corporation (yeah, it must be a very important person).

From Mulu, Zuzana and Tomáš left to Kuala Lumpur and I began my adventure alone through Borneo going to Kuching. In Kuching, apart from some activities and some changes that I will tell you in other occasion, I spoke to that Manager (the one with the long position in the business card) and he told me that I don't have time to apply for that permission because it takes more than one month to get it. So he told me that I can not take the tripod into the caves but since I come from so far away I was allowed to take pictures in Mulu. He wrote his mobile phone number in his business card and he told me that, if anybody had any objection, they should call him and he will explain them that I am allowed to take pictures as a photographer.

Two weeks later Javi comes back to Kuching, mainly to climb the Pinnacles and take the essential picture I need if I want to write an article about Mulu. To see the Pinnacles it is neccesary to take a boat for about half an hour, and then you have a hike of almost 9 kilometres through the rain forest to reach a place called Camp 5. The next day you climb up and down the path to the viewpoint and sleep again in Camp 5. On the next day you usually hike again the 9 kilometres path to the river, but you can also do some other hike from Camp 5.

Just after arriving to Mulu I met Casius and Alison, who were waiting for somebady who also wanted to do the Pinnacles. Because from the park headquarters you have to pay the boat to go up the river. And it is not allowed to climb to the viewpoint without a guide (that I perfectly understand), and that also has to be paid. So it is better if you go as a group to share the expenses. One hour later we are getting into the boat, with the minimum necessary in our bags, gioing to Camp 5.

At this point it is not the first boat ride I take, but I really like enjoying the jungle from one of those longboats in which you are sitting in a row. The hike to Camp 5 is not complicated and we reach Camp 5 before dusk.


That evening, before going to sleep, we have a talk with our guide. The usual talk that every guide has with its groupd before climbing the Pinnacles. Among other things, the guide explains us that there is a point with a rock called the minipinnacle which we should reach in less than one hour, otherwise it is considered that we are going too slow. He also explains that at the last part we will have to climb some ladders and ropes, and if we don't reach the first ladder before 1 pm we won't be allowed to continue because we wouldn't have time to arrive to Camp 5 before it got dark. Finally he tells us what we should take in our bags: food, energy bars (or similar), a torch in case it gets dark, raincoat and the most important, water, three litres per person. He tells us that it depends on every person, but they recommend three litres each one... he sais that he takes just a small bottle of half a litre but he is used to it. Honestly, I have no problems if I can't drink, I stand it very well, and since I already had almost 5 kilogrames of photography equipment, the torch and food, I decide to take only one bottle of 1,5 litres.

On the next morning we get up early to have a good breakfast (noodles, of course) and we are ready to leave at alf past six. The path to the Pinnacles is only 2,4 Kilometres long, but you climb up 1100 metres through a path full of roots and sharp limestone rocks in which there is hardly any flat stretch or any place where you could step flat. How could I explain it... I guess that it is all together, that it has already been four years since I don't go running and I am no so fit anymore, that we started a bit too fast... but the thing is that climing the Pinnacles is, by far, the most difficult hike I have ever done in my life. I didn't expected it to be so tough.

I quite like hiking, and even if I don't go very often, I have done some good hikes before. I hiked the Grand Canyon with two bottles of water, one gallon each, in the backpack, plus tent, clothes and some food. And last times I have been in the mountain it has been quite ok... besides I did run marathon once, which is physically quite demanding. After all this one thinks that with some effort you can face almost anything. But now I know that it is not true. Before reaching the minipinnacle I thought several times that I couldn't do it. Hiking the rain forest, with all the heat, the humidity... it is very different to any other type of mountain. You sweat a lot, really a lot, the t-shirt and the shorts were absolutely wet, and when I say wet I mean it literally, not humid, it was as if somebody threw a bucket full of water over me.

After a break in the minipinnacle (which we reached in less than 45 minutes), having a rest, and drinking some water, I could see things a little more clear; it was going to be hard but taking it easy and with patient it would be a matter of time. A bit later, Casius realised that by mistake he took three bottles of water instead of two... I will always have the doubt if he did it on prurose because I only took one bottle, but in any case I felt it was marvellous that he had that extra bottle. I drank half a litre of water, Alison also drank a bit and we left the bottle in the path so we didn't have to carry it and we could take it in the way back. I could have done it only with my 1,5 litres of water, for sure, but the bottle of Casius was a godsend to me.

After four hours of hiking up the hill I arrived (the last of my group) to the viewpoint of the Pinnacles. We sat there to rest and enjoy the food and the squirrels which come out from time to time to check what these crazy people who dare to come this high leave around.


When we reached the top it was clouded, and we should remember that the main reason for me to climb up the Pinnacles was getting pictures, othewise how could I write an article about Gunung Mulu Park without a picture of the Pinnacles. After a while the sun started to shine and I could take some other pictures, but not with blue sky. Anyway, in the Pinnacles there are not many options, there is a point from where all we take almost the same picture. If you could be there at down or at dusk, it could be possible to take a more interesting picture. But at least, I got the picture.

Casius, who had been the first arriving to the top (with the guide), was the first one to start the way down. Then Alison went down, and I stayed a bit longer waiting for the sun (the guide always goes down with the last one). The way down is as tough as the way up and usually takes the same time as you need to go up. As I told you, there are no flat places to step on, and your legs are already tired, so you have to be very careful not to roll your ankle. In the way down we reached Alison and after another 4 hours we arrived to Camp 5. Of course, Casius didn't take his third bottle thinking that we would need it more than him.

The first thing I did as soon as I arrived to Camp 5 was going to take another bottle of water and immediately going to the river. I took off my hiking boots and socks, and I put my feet into the river while I was making with my mouth that sond "ssssssshhhh". At that moment Casuis came to ask how I was and he offered me to prepare a cup of tea with a lot of honey... mmmmhhhmmm... hoooneeeey... It is incredible how your body reacts to the stimulus of sugar when it needs it. Quite nice this Casius, after some minutes he was bringing a cup of tea which I enjoyied as one of the best cups of tea of my life, drinking it while I was looking at the views from Camp 5 at dusk.


The next morning we woke up early again to hike the 8,8 kilometres of the way back to the river, because we wanted to see two more caves: Wind Cave y Clear Water Cave. Together with the two caves that I had already visited with Zuzana and Tomáš, these two caves are the ones which are in the typical tour cave in Mulu Park. So visiting these caves was a very good idea for me.


After all this I decided that I neded to recover myself a little bit. So in the next two days that I had left in the park I made an easy hike looking fo insects and I went to take more pictures of the bats coming out from Deer Cave. But this time I took the pictures from inside the cave, from a point where you can see some rocks with the shape of Abraham Lincoln.


Something else I did there was the night walk. It is very interesting, you can see different kind of insects, spiders and some other animals. It is incredible how guides, in the middle of the night, absolutely in the darkness, suddenly they turn, point with their torch and say: there, an owl.


There are some other trails that I would have liked to walk in Mulu, but time is limited so I finished my visit to the park. But... is that all you can do in Mulu?... certainly not. If you really like hardcore experiences and you want to enjoy Gunung Mulu National Park there is something else you can do. In Malay "gunung" means "mount", so Gunung Mulu National Park actaually means Mount Mulu National Park. There is a trail which is called "Summit trail" and which goes to the top of Mount Mulu. The trip takes 4 days and three nights and you have to carry in your backpack all you will need: sleeping bag, sleeping pad, clothes, food and water for 4 days... When guides talk about the trail to the Pinnacles they say that it is relatively easy, that the hike to the summit... that is really tough. If the trail to the Pinnacles is 2,4 Kilometres long, in the hike to the summit you have a journey 7 Kilometres long up the hill with a heavy backpack on your back.

What to say... as I told you before, now I know three are things I couldn't overcome, with training I could, of course, but right now... after the Pinnacles... the Summit trail is a bit too much for me. If somebody feels like...

Borneo

How long since last time, is't it?

I am sorry you have some dealy from the spanish blog, but I don't have so much time here in the hostels in Borneo.

But honestly I think a lot of you all, this blog thing is really nice, I feel that I can talk to you directly and with the pictures I think I can tell you more than I could only with a big massive mail. The only thing I don't like is that it takes me a longtime to update it and I can not do it as often as I would like to

I am going to tell you the important things and a bit in short, because when I started to write a draft in the notebook I take with me, and when I had already wroten two and a half pages, I realised that there was no point in it and that the best option is writing it directly. So, since I am writing you from Borneo I think the best I can do now is telling you how things are happening here. The rest from Kuala Lumpur I can tell you later on, and moreover I have not here the pictures from those days.

So let's go all of us to Borneo!... In Borneo Island there is a big part wich is the Indonesian part. There is another part in the north with is the Malaysian part, where you can find two of the therteen states of Malaysia: Sabah in the northeast and Sarawak in the southwest. And in between these two states, in the coast, there is Brunei. Here you are a map, so you can see where I am going.

On Tuesday November the 9th, Tomaš and me took a plane flying to Kota Kinabalu, in the west coast of Sabah. Already on the plane, when we were looking through the window, we could already see what we were going to find here.

The first days we had some things organised with a travel agency. Let me tell you: In one of my visitis to the offices of Tourism Malaysia I got the contact of one Directive of a travel agency with clients in Spain to know what was more convenient for me to visit here in Borneo. They are helping me and the only thing I had to pay was an excursion we made with them; for the booking of the hostel in Kota Kinabalu, all the advises to visit places in Borneo, or the organization of my trip for the week after with another travel agency, they didn't charge anything at all.

So we arrived to Kota Kinabalu, we went to the hostel were we had the booking, then we went to meet the guy from the travel agency here, and after talking to him we decided that on the next day we were going to visit Kinabalu Park and on thursday we would visit some islands around here.

That night we walked a bit around the city. There is not much to see in Kota Kinabalu, but it has a night market which is the one I liked the most so far. There you can buy fresh fish cought during the day, fruits, vegetables... and there is also a part in which you can seat and eat something.

On the next morning, the people from the travel agency pick us up to go to Kinabalu Park. We got into the minivan and we were incredibly stinking insect repelent, of course, everybody noticed it as soon as we entered. It was funny.

The excursion was ok, a bit touristic but acceptable. You know I like more travelling on my own, but Kinabalu Park is not exactly close to Kota Kinabalu and if you want to go by bus, in one day, you probably won't have time to see all we saw. We were walking a bit through the botanical garden and one of the paths of the park while the guide was explainig us about how aboriginal people use the plants from the rain forest. Taking a good picture in the rain forest is a bit difficult, here you are one which is a normal one, but at least for you to know how full of plants this is.

After that they took us to see what is considered the biggest flower in the world. It is the flower of a plant called Rafflesia and depending on the spice it has bigger or smaller flowers, but in any case much bigger than daisies.

And to finish the excursion we went to a Canopy Walk, which consists on hanging bridgesd between trees, so you can walk at the highth of the braches. It is interesting.

When we got down from the trees we took a bath in the termal spring water swimmingpool around there.

Back in Kota Kinabalu, again a night walk and go to sleep.

The next day we went to visit three of the islands the Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park, very close to Kota Kinabalu. Well, what can I tell you... it is better if I show you a couple of pictures and you decide by yourselves...

I hope you are not seeing this from your job, so it is not too cruel.

This is Manukan Island, it is quite ok, of course, but on the weekend before we had been at Tioman Island which we liked a lot because the part of Tioman Islad in which we were is not crowded and full of tourist. So this island, which is very well prepared for tourists and there are more people on the beach, didn't impressed us so much.

After lunch in Manukan Iasland we took the boat to our next island: Sulug Island.

We did really like this island. Especially becuase this one, on the contrary as Manukan Island, is a "desert" island; the boat leaves you there and you tell the man on the boat at what time you want him to pick you up. Even if the beach was not the best beach I had seen ever, becuase it has many coral pieces and small rocks... how cool... imagine an island just for you with nobody else to bother you... I really liked it a lot. After some time three Italians arrived, but the island was big enough for the five of us.

But... not all could be perfect. After a while we both were in the water when something bit Tomaš on his foot. We don't know what it was, there are several theories but none of them is for sure. What is for sure is that Tomaš had never felt before something which hurted like that in his whole live. And Tomaš is not precisely the weakest person in the world. His foot began to swell and, since misfortunes never come alone, that morning I had gone into the water with my mobile in my pocket so it was dead (but absolutely dead, I had to buy another one on the evening). Of course none of the italians had a telephone, so Tomaš had to stand the pain until the boat came to pick us up more than half an hour after.

When we arrived to Kota Kinabalu we went to the hospital and then they inyected him several cocktails of whatever and he didn't have to stand the pain anymore. Here you are a picture I took the day after, when his foot was much better... can you guess which one it is?

In the meanwhile I went to the hostel to take his passport and his insurance. And later I went back again to take some clothes because it was better if Tomaš stayed during the night in the hospital to see that everything was ok.

But even from the worst experiences you can always get something positive, and that day Tomaš could experience the hospitality and kindness of the people here in Malaysia. When I went back to the hostel for the second time to take the clothes and buy the mobile (20€, just that, new one), the woman of the hostel told me that they were leaving at 7 and the hospital was in their way, so they could drive me there. When we arrived to the hospital she came out of the car and told me that she would like to enter at least to say hello and see how he was, and in the meanwhile her husband stayed waiting in the car.

Tomaš was not in the emergency area anymore and she was finding out where he was. The hospital was not from the third world at all, but beds were in big rooms like the ones you can see in some films. So after being some time with us she said that since Tomaš had insurance, why we didn't go to a private hospital where he would have been more comfortable. The thing is that when we arrived to the harbour we asked which was the best hospital in the city and we were told that this was the best one. So she started to make phone calls to her husband and ask him how we should do to change to another hospital. While Tomaš was talking to the doctor her husband parked the car and came up too, in case it was necessary. But the doctor understood perfectly and said that there was no problem for Tomaš to change to any other place. So then Tommy and Veronica (yes, both are Chinesse, as you have guessed) were finding out which was the best place where we could go and they drove us there, and that was not on their way home because it was at the other side of the city.

Even after arriving to the private hospital they stayed for some time with us until we told them that they could go home when they wanted.

I imagine that there is no need to comment. Tomaš was amazed about how nice they were to him evem if they hardly knew him since two days ago. To tell the truth, people here are in general very kind.

On the next day Tomaš came early in the morning to the hostel, bougth some flowers for Tommy and Veronica, we pack our stuff and we took the plane to Miri, which is Sarawak, in the coast close to Brunei.

Since it was friday, in the evening I went to pick Zuzana up to the airport, who was arriving from Kuala Lumpur. That day Tomaš stayed resting in the hostel hoping that his foot would be ok on the weekend, when we were going to Gunung Mulu National Park.

But this, I will tell you some other day, let's go step by step...

Merdeka!!!

Merdeka in Malaysian means "Independence", and this year they celebrate the 51st aniversary since they waved good bye the British.

Malaysian are very proud of their independence and their flag, and on the 31st of August they celebrate their National Day. They have some concerts and fireworks on the night before and on the 31st they have a performance with children doing all the same (like Chinese on the Olimpics but more moderated) and a parade in which you can see everything which can march.

I could have worte all this last week, but the fireworks issue had all the rigth to be there. So the Merdeka Article will be this week.

All those visits to Tourism Malaysia and the Minsistry of Culture had to reach any point, so I finally got this:


And with them I could access to the parade press area, so I could take pictures of everything and see it all from a good position.

So far I told you all my stories with some pictures, but I think this time it is better if I tell the story in images. So here you are, my particular view of the Independence Day last Sunday in Kuala Lumpur:

All these children with their caps, if you look at them from high (very high), are sitting in a way so that you could see the Malaysian flag.

The Royal Guard arrives.

And they stand waiting for the arrival of the King.

The King arrives, everybody rises.

This man is the King, inspecting the Royal Guard.

The Royal Guard leaves and the performance can start.

Duing the National Anthem everybody rises again.

This must be a very important oath, in Malaysian, of course, because everybody rised again and repeated it aloud.

And here the performance with the children finishes and the parade starts. apart from all you are going to see there were marching firemen, ambulances, dogs, even a boat with wheels.

The King and the Prime Minister.

The Olimpics and Paraolimpics from Malaysia National Team.

I was like them but on the right side, in the first line, I got a good position.

Wives were located in a stands apart, even if they are the wife of the King and the wife of the Prime Ministrer.

As you can see thy really like their flag, even in a normal day you can see many of them on the streets.

The parade finishes and the Royal Guard comes again to stand when the King is leaving.

This is the Royal Escort which goes with the King.

Once the King has gone the royal Guard leaves too.

The parade has finished and the participants are very happy (I don't know if it is because everything went wellor just becasue it finished)

When it finished you can't imagine the traffic jam of cars to pick the VIP up.

Whith all these pictures I went in the evening to the most important newspaper of Malaysia (don't get too excited, this time I didn't sell anything) and there I was talking with the graphic editor. My pictures are ok but that's all, there is nothing that they didn't have yet. Anyway he was quite kind and willing to help. We were talking for a while about photography and he was showing me pictures from when he was in Afghanistan and Irak as press photographer. He also gave me the telephone number of one friend of him who is in charge of the photography department of a national press agency (like EFE or Ruters). I met this guy on Tuesday and we will meet again when I am back from Borneo.

So at least I got a couple of good contacts from that day, I am quite satisfied.


I hope you were not too bored with so many parade pictures.