Miri

Miri, Wednesday 18th August 2010

On Wednesday I left Kuching bound for Gulung Mulu National Park in the east of the island. My flights meant that I had to go via a city called Miri on the coast with a connecting flight to Mulu on Thursday morning.

I travelled on MasWings which is part of Malaysian Airlines and seems to serve the cities and towns of Borneo.

I arrived into Miri at about 2pm. I purposefully arrived late as it is reputed to be a bit of a dive. The rumours were true.

From the airport I went straight to my hotel, the Pacific Orient, a grimy mid-range place that kind of represented the city with it's below the surface dirt and slightly seedy air.

I left the hotel pretty sharpish and made for the tourist information, mainly to get information about Mulu, but also hoping for something to fill the afternoon.

The tourist officer recommended I go up to the oil museum on the top of Canada Hill. I asked him the direction and he responded that I should take a cab. 'How many minutes walking I asked?'. 'Oh about 30 minutes' he responded but you should take a cab.

Of course I walked and it was a sweaty climb and did involve a precarious crossing of a four lane highway (the city was not planned for the pedestrian), but it was a filler!

The museum itself was not so interesting to me; mainly an opportunity for Shell to market themselves. I did manage to extract some interesting facts though.

[Amusing interlude: Miri feels much more Asian than Kuching and definitely more seedy. For the first time since entering Borneo I was getting stared at a lot. On entering the oil museum two men jumped to open the door for me and one asked if I was single. I admired his direct approach].

Miri was born from oil. It is where the first oil well was dug in Malaysia in 1910 - one hundred years of drilling almost to the day (Wednesday August 10th). There are now 624 oil wells in the Miri Oil Field. Well number 1 became known as the 'The Grand Old Lady of Miri'.

Oil is the reason why Miri achieved city status in 2005 and is responsible for the relative wealth (and all the trappings that this brings - prostitution and the like). But, evidently some good has come from it from an infrastructure perspective.

I met a guy who I met earlier in the week on the walk down and we agreed to meet for dinner. We went to 'ladies night' at the local bar and drank lots of beer under the watchful eye of the proprietor who wore hotpants and tucked the notes into her waistband.

I retired to the hotel a little later than planned to the sound of booming music. I realised my room lay directly above 'Secrets' nightclub and 90s rave anthems seemed to be a favourite... time for the Bioears.

I was woken to telephone wake-up call at 6am (1 hour earlier than asked for). I was not amused, but at least I got my flight on time and could get out of this place!

Thursday 19th - Sunday 22nd August, Gulung Mulu National Park
I also flew to Mulu by MasWings but the plane was a tiny, lightweight aircraft. It was a short flight, just 25 minutes, but quite fun and great to see the rainforest from above. I was acutely aware of the irony of flying by plane to admire the beauty of a rainforest. It didn't sit too well with me. Nor did the knowledge that the National Park is actually land of the Penan tribe, nomads who were forced off their land so the Park could be set up. But more on that at a later date.

We arrived at Miri airstrip at 10am, basically a field with a bit of tarmac.

People were jostling for lifts to the Park HQ so I decided to avoid the crush and walk the 1.5km instead. It was pretty hot and luckily someone took pity on me and picked me and all my rucsacs up on his return journey.

Gulung Mulu National Park is the largest National Park in Sarawak, some 52,566 ha (compared to Kubah at 2,230 and Bako at 2,728). The dominant forest type is mixed dicterocarp (also the dominant forest on the island generally) but also has peat swamp, kerangas and montane forest. Now excuse the stats: there are 80 species of mammals, 270 birds, 130 reptiles, 50 fish species and somewhere in the region of 20,000 insects! Phew...

The Park is also a World Heritage Site and consequently is less 'free' than the others I have been too. You have to register and it's near on impossible to do anything without a guide. I see it as a rainforest experience for the novice.

However, it does harbour some incredible natural and cultural heritage, including Deer Cave, the largest cave passage in the world. This is also home to some 2-3 million wrinkle-lipped bats and it's the cave that everyone is familiar with from 'Life of Mammals'.

I booked to visit the cave on Thursday afternoon and I troop with around 19 others along a jungle trail to the opening. It was not really the jungle experience I'd become accustomed to, the only mammals I heard were of the human kind chatting about all sorts of drivel. Anyway....

I'm going to find it hard to write about the Deer Cave in a way that will do it justice on paper. I don't think I can. The place is incredible. Firstly the scale is immense, the interior is almost cathedral-like; there are irregular forms of rock and tiny pinholes through which a torch beam of light shines down and then there are the sudden openings through which a lush layer of vegetation can be seen. One such opening is known as the 'Garden of Eden'. It was truly beautiful, like walking out of the gloom and into paradise.

As you walk deeper into the cave you become more aware of the clicking bats and the restless activity above your heads and the stench of ammonia (from the bat's guano) pervades your senses.

This is a living chamber and a home to millions of bats, tiny swiftlets and numerous other oddities that thrive on bat shit!

I walked slowly back through the cave. Without meaning to get too sentimental I did feel like I had witnessed something unique and was quite moved. It felt life-affirming. Those experiences are so special and I felt quite emotional to be there and be part of it.

On exiting the cave we wandered to the 'bat observatory' to await the daily exodus of bats at sunset. They leave on mass to go and feed some 40km away at the coast.

It was raining and was shaping up to be less of 'Life of Mammals' moment and more of a bat trickle. However, they did come; and between the hour of 18:00 - 19:00 groups of bats rushed out. You cannot see them at the mouth of the cave as their dark shapes are hidden but once they break the skyline they dance and twirl around one another, snaking together in spirals and curves, entwined in an exit dance before heading to the coast.

I wondered what it was like to be a bat at that moment; do they tremble with excitement before they flee the cave? Something we will never know.

On my remaining days at Mulu I visited some other caves (although it was difficult to top Deer Cave) and did some trekking. I enjoyed the park culture and staying in a large dorm and eating communally and drinking beer. It was quite relaxing.

Yesterday afternoon we returned from a trek and it started to rain; in torrents. It rained all afternoon and all night and into this morning. It was like some sort of biblical storm. Everywhere was underwater this morning; in some places waist deep! Luckily all the buildings are built on stilts.

Several flights were cancelled this morning, but I made mine this afternoon. Quite lucky really. I enjoyed the 'down-time' and finished two books but was itching to be off. Also hanging around the dorm starts to lose it's appeal. Looking around at the various bodies in repose and glum-looking people reminded me of a hospital ward. Good to get out!!

So, here I am back in Kuching but for one day longer only. Tomorrow I'm on a 7.20am (!) bus to go and see the orang-u-tuans. I hope to snatch a glimpse.

Jungle Spots
- a female stick insect hanging on with one arm to a gate; she is about 30cm long. A bit like cliffhanger.
- a bright red beetle wandering slowly on a trail.
- fireflies. Beadlets of light suspended in the night. Apparently the males signal to the females and if she responds with light he's in there.
- Raja Brooke butterflies sucking salty water.

Some notes on 'Jobs Worth'

1. The man who controls the elevator in the Thomson Clinic Singapore. And you thought working in a basement was bad..
2. The lady who dusts water bottles in the main bazaar, Kuching.
3. The man who sweeps leaves of the jungle trails in Gulung Mulu National Park.