No cockroaches in our room this time, only in the shower. We decided to bring our bags to a better hotel and headed to the Sarawak museum, with a pottery exhibition and some information about the ethnical groups of Sarawak. The visiting schoolchildren were more interested in us than in the exhitbitions, but we're getting used to that. Afterwards we walked around in Kuching and to our surprise, all the important historical buildings were just located on one street, but they all looked the same. Except for the Astana, which is not open for the public, so we were forced to look at it from across the Waterfront. 'The Junk' restaurant served western Italian meals and a toilet in Malay style (just a standing toilet and a wet floor, try to aim for the hole!). We enjoyed a boat ride on the Sarawak River, surrounded by hundreds of lights for the upcoming Deepavali/Hari Raja celebration. The next day, we went shopping on the main bazaar street. Unfortenately, it was saturday, so 'bazaar' was the correct word to describe the vibe on the streets. Every Malay got out of bed early to get the best possible deal and pushed us around if we stood in their way. So we went to the other, more touristic end and started our hunt for souvenirs. In the evening our host invited us to join him to go to a friend's house for dinner. Because it was Deepavali, all the Indian people open their doors and, with an invitation, you get a free delicious meal. The cakes (see pic) were amazing and when we looked around, we saw Indian, Christian and Muslims, all sitting around the same table. Malaysia can be wonderful :). After dinner, some people of the fairview hotel took us for a few drinks and we had to explain the basic principles of Alzheimer disease. This morning, we strolled around on the local sunday market, between fresh vegetables and (smelly) but still alive fish. The only bad comment to make about Kuching uptil now is the public transportsystem. 3 different companies and 6 different bus stops make life here very complicated. To top it off, the local people themselves don't know anything about it. Anyhow, we reached the Semengoh Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre in time to watch the feeding of the semi-wild Orang Utans. We still get a special feeling when we see them and today we saw, a mother with baby, Ritchie aka 'Big Boss' and a few teenagers. Only a brave squirrel dared to steal some food from the 100 kg weighing King Kong, named Ritchie. The rest had to wait patiently, but when he finished all the food, the other ones were forced to go to the platforms outside the forest. This gave us the opportunity to get real close and take some nice pictures. Heavily rain disrupted our Japanese camera moment and so we took a cab back into town. We discovered they wash their clothes with cold water, but still our clothes got finally washed in a real washing machine! One more day in Kuching to go and then we head back to KL...
The next morning a Chinese boy helped us to find the bus to Bako. The ride to the jetty was supposed to take half an hour, but as usual it took us at least an hour. The boat ride to Bako national park crossed the South Chinese Sea and provided some amazing views. After lunch we did the Pandan Kecil trek and reached a secluded beach, nobody else around, just us and some jellyfish. A dip in the water was irresistable, we just had to watch out for bag-stealing macaques. The Pandan Besar trek lead us to a steep cliff, a great view but nothing more. On the way down, we took a sidetrek and spotted some proboscis monkeys jumping above our head. A bit further down the trail, some squirrels were performing a strange dance. They were flicking their tails up and down (all boys glad to see us?) and making sqeeky sounds. In the evening 2 British invited us to watch a spectacular nightshow. Namely a bunch of fireflies spread around some trees close to the water. It reminded us a bit of Christmaslights. In the morning, we waited between the mangrove trees for the proboscis monkeys, but they didn't show up, probably because of the bad weather. Afterwards we did some little treks and in the afternoon we followed the Lintang trail, crossing 4 different vegetations types. As a cherry on the cake, the proboscis monkeys were having their dinner in the mangrove trees when we came out of the woods. During a break, Elke made a brandnew furry friend. A curious macaque came and set across from her on the bench. Everything was wonderful here, except for the food and the vicious insects (see Mieke's legs and arms). On our last day, we followed a trail to the Tajor waterfall, which just turned out to be a stream with some minor level differences. But when we continued along the trail we reached another secluded beach. Unfortunately we didn't had time to take a swim.... At three o clock a boat would pick us up and bring us back to the jetty. While waiting for the bus we met a crazy Irish girl, who was staying with a local and even more crazy woman. The bus took us back to Kuching where we had dinner with the two British we met in Mulu and in Bako. A nice end of 3 days in a beautiful surrounding.
The next day we flew to Miri, a gloomy city without a soul. Luckely we just had to sleep over before we could leave for Mulu. Easier said than done... Our first flight was delayed and cancelled. The next flight was delayed again and so we reached Mulu 8 hours later. Unfortunately Air Asia kept us happy with a Snack-Attack-Pack. We had to reschedule our plans because we lost a day. So no Pinnacle climb but a night walk, canopy walk and mini waterfall wlk instead. After this we visited the four caves and waited for the Bat Exodus, without any results. Normally 2 to 3 million bats leave the Deer Cave every evening but just our luck, today they decided to stay inside. The next day we 'headed' to camp 5 ( a wet and muddy walk with our first encounter with mister leech). From camp 5, we left on the 11.8 km Headhunterstrail. We started out with two guides but their toiletbreak made us walk the final three km on our own. So we paid 200 RM to get lost in the jungle... They said we were fast walkers because they couldn't catch up with us. Never underestimate Belgian girls! This walk was followed by a boatride to the Ranger Station and stopped over at our first enormous longhouse. This was already a modern version, built with brick and housing 70 families. However, we spend the night in an 'original' (read 40 years old) longhouse. Of course it started raining again so we arrived soaking wet. After changing our clothes we were invited for tea and biscuits and <phew> our host spoke english. He showed us around, we visited the school and in the evening we were surrounded by the youngsters, playing guitar, tasting self-brewed rum (diluted with water), some icky rice-wine and performing traditional Iban-dances. We kept the whole longhouse awake till twelve in the evening and decided to go to bed. A few hours later, 4 giant roosters announced dawn and the little children had to go to school. We headed back to the river and guess what...it started to rain again. Eventually we reached Limbang and flew back to Miri. To our surprise, the city did have a soul, but it came to life at night. In the early morning we would fly over to Bario.
Mount Kinabalu was our next stop. The climb would take us up to 4095 m. The climb was quite expensive so we shared the cost with Hynek from the Czech Republic, who was so crazy to join us. Our guide Jalin was carrying an umbrella and wearing a little hat. After checking in and storing part of our luggage, we started to climb despite the bad weather. It was tough but we all reached Laban Rata at our own pace. Laban Rata provided us a hot drink at 3300 m. Afterwards we still had to climb 150 m to reach our sleeping hut, not comparable with Laban Rata: freezing cold, wet, dirty and two chinese, smelly, blanket-stealing boys. Waking up at three o' clock, to hear that we were not allowed to climb the final 700 m to the top because of the bad weather. This meant another 4 hours with the chinese 'stinkers' before we could descend. The storm made it difficult but we got back down safely. In the pouring rain we went to Poring Hot Springs to relax in a hot sulphur bath. Unfortunately muscle ache was still unavoidable.....
Just follow the Heritage trail while you leave your bags in safe hands ( in our case the police, because the tourism centre was closed). The Japanese cemetery was impressive and it was a pity that we couldn't enter the Chinese temple after 5 pm. We experienced our first tropical storm with lightning and everything, but we forced ourselves to find the last landmark: an Anglican church. The people inside were singing and we even heard some drums, inspired by heavy metal music. After dinner in a Chinese 'McDonalds' we managed to get a cab for a few ringgit ( about 2-3 euro pp). Now we' re on the plane to Kota Kinabalu and in two days we will climb the mountain (4092 m). Greetings from the sky and we don't say farewell, only goodbye.
How to hunt for food in a big city (=> jungle practice???)
The day started early but quite well with a nice breakfast and some tips from our friendly (g)host. First we went to the ticket counter at the Petronas towers to be sure to catch a free entrance ticket. We 'booked' the lift at 12.00 and headed to the KL Tower in the meantime. We almost got arrested for Mieke's possession of a swiss pocket knife. But they only confiscated it and we were allowed to go up the 470m high KL Tower. Unfortunately, accompanied with some dirty looks of the guards and a messed up backpack. The 360 degree view was magnificent. Back down, we followed a short jungle trail in a small forestry reservate and got our first mosquito bites. We also spotted some silver leaf (langur) monkeys. Then we headed back to the Petronas twin towers for our visit to the skybridge. Thanks to the excellent view, we finally discovered the 'real' KLCC park and we were pleased to be able to cool down in the wading pool. The last stop of the day was the local Chinatown or Jalan Petaling. Lots of fake watches, handbags, clothes, everything illegal of course, so snitches covered all corners to keep an eye on the police cars. Back in the hotel, we were informed that the 'teksi' driver would pick us up at 4.15 am for our ride to the airport. Bummer. In the morning, oh joy, we were told they had made a mistake and we could have slept 1 hour extra. Anyway, we were already up and about, which could not be said about the taxi driver. He was driving 'criss-cross' on the road, closing his eyes from time to time. Nevertheless, keeping a close eye on him, we reached the airport in one piece and got on the plane, direction Sandakan. Ready for our first wildlife spotting...
The two sisters of belgium (english version of message one)
12 hours on plane, 1 hour bus/train and we arrived at our hostel. After a short nap, we deciphered the railway transport system and headed to the Jamek Mosque. As non-moslim women, we were not allowed in the mosque itself and we were obliged to wear a scarf and a long-sleeved coat. Immediately a moslim preacher, who called everybody brother and sister, approached us and explained everything about the islamic believe. One hour later we succeeded in "escaping" the rattling preacher...Afterwards we got lost during our search for the tourism centre but were saved by some friendly Malaysian 'old' men. Then we started our hunt for food but bumped against the Petronas Twin Towers (PTT). The hunger was stronger than the curiousity, so we had lunch in the 'Rum Jungle' nearby. No beetles or spiders on the menu, but good rice noodles with oystersauce did the trick. After a short exploration of the shopping mall Suria KLCC and a tasteful Starbucks cup of caramel coffee we headed back to our hotel and had a good night sleep, which was very necessary.
Na een 12 uur durende vlucht, verlicht door films en computerspelletjes, en een half uur op trein en bus, belandden we rond 9 uur in ons hotel (dat betekent dus ongeveer 2.30 uur `s nachts Belgische tijd). Een klein dutje en daarna half versuft de grote stad in. Bijgevolg waren we dadelijk verdwaald en de straten zonder naambordjes hielpen ons ook niet verder. Vriendelijke mannen daarentegen, zetten ons met plezier op de bus en zo bereikten we uiteindelijk onze bestemming(en). Eerst en vooral het oprichtingspunt van Kuala Lumpur bezocht, de Masjid Jamek Moskee, waar we al direct een sluier en gewaad moesten aantrekken om binnen te mogen. Daar werden we meteen gegijzeld (bij wijze van spreken!) door een overenthousiaste moslim-predikant, die ons in 1 uur wilde bekeren. Tis dat we zo gelovig zijn, anders hadden we ons meteen een burka laten aanmeten :). NOG meer bekaf, begaven we ons daarna naar het grootste tourist information centre, in de hoop ergens in de buurt iets te eten te vinden. Groot was onze verbazing toen we een `Rum Jungle` ontdekten temidden van de stad. Een noedelschotel voor 2 en nee, gene rum colee Annick. Nadat ons buikje wat boller was, bleek dat we vlakbij de Petronas towers zaten en hebben we de `area` al in kaart gebracht voor morgen. We willen morgenvroeg natuurlijk als eerste op die verbindingsbrug tussen de torens staan. Om 7 uur uit de veren en tis te hopen dat onze benen zich ni verweren. Tenslotte een grote caramel koffie in de Starbucks geslurpt (zaaallliiigggg, `mentaal orgasme` zouden sommigen onder jullie zeggen ;)) en dan tevreden maar voldaan naar ons hotelleke teruggegaan. Nog effe alles laten bezinken, misschien nog eentje klinken voor we als echte globetrotters in een diepe slaap verzinken.
(Plus de vertaling in`t Engels zal ook voor sebiet of morgen zijn...)
After months of preparation, Mieke and I finally made it!! Within two days we're leaving this little country to explore the magnificant nature and culture of Malaysia. Hope you will enjoy our "one-month-diary"...
Neen, uw blog moet niet dagelijks worden bijgewerkt. Het is gewoon zoals je het zélf wenst. Indien je geen tijd hebt om dit dagelijks te doen, maar bvb. enkele keren per week, is dit ook goed. Het is op jouw eigen tempo, met andere woorden: vele keren per dag mag dus ook zeker en vast, 1 keer per week ook.
Er hangt geen echte verplichting aan de regelmaat. Enkel is het zo hoe regelmatiger je het blog bijwerkt, hoe meer je bezoekers zullen terugkomen en hoe meer bezoekers je krijgt uiteraard.
Just follow the Heritage trail while you leave your bags in safe hands ( in our case the police, because the tourism centre was closed). The Japanese cemetery was impressive and it was a pity that we couldn't enter the Chinese temple after 5 pm. We experienced our first tropical storm with lightning and everything, but we forced ourselves to find the last landmark: an Anglican church. The people inside were singing and we even heard some drums, inspired by heavy metal music. After dinner in a Chinese 'McDonalds' we managed to get a cab for a few ringgit ( about 2-3 euro pp). Now we' re on the plane to Kota Kinabalu and in two days we will climb the mountain (4092 m). 
12 hours on plane, 1 hour bus/train and we arrived at our hostel. After a short nap, we deciphered the railway transport system and headed to the Jamek Mosque. As non-moslim women, we were not allowed in the mosque itself and we were obliged to wear a scarf and a long-sleeved coat. Immediately a moslim preacher, who called everybody brother and sister, approached us and explained everything about the islamic believe. One hour later we succeeded in "escaping" the rattling preacher...Afterwards we got lost during our search for the tourism centre but were saved by some friendly Malaysian 'old' men. Then we started our hunt for food but bumped against the Petronas Twin Towers (PTT). The hunger was stronger than the curiousity, so we had lunch in the 'Rum Jungle' nearby. No beetles or spiders on the menu, but good rice noodles with oystersauce did the trick. After a short exploration of the shopping mall Suria KLCC and a tasteful Starbucks cup of caramel coffee we headed back to our hotel and had a good night sleep, which was very necessary.
Na een 12 uur durende vlucht, verlicht door films en computerspelletjes, en een half uur op trein en bus, belandden we rond 9 uur in ons hotel (dat betekent dus ongeveer 2.30 uur `s nachts Belgische tijd). Een klein dutje en daarna half versuft de grote stad in. Bijgevolg waren we dadelijk verdwaald en de straten zonder naambordjes hielpen ons ook niet verder. Vriendelijke mannen daarentegen, zetten ons met plezier op de bus en zo bereikten we uiteindelijk onze bestemming(en). 
