After our much needed recovery from the Mt Kinabalu efforts (and a couple of days enjoying the sunsets and islands near Kota Kinabalu), Dave and Jen left Sabah for Sarawak and Gunung Mulu National Park - thought to be the home of the largest limestone caves in the world and also of the famous 'Bat Exodus.' Two quick flights got us to the destination. Dave and Jen took a short ride to the entrance gate and were greeted by a huge (and particularly unstable with 30kg of luggage a piece) suspension bridge -a true welcoming to the jungles of Borneo!
Even though Jen booked accommodation more than one month in advance, it was not early enough to secure a room all to ourselves and so we were relegated to the infamous dorm room lodging. Jen was quite worried as the safety and the rules of a dorm, as she'd never experienced one before, and Dave seemed to be preoccupied by the fact that his head board was producing insects! It was later discovered that it was termite infested and so he used some bandaids to successfully seal up the holes...
The room (as I'm sure all dorm rooms are) was basically a big hall with about 20 beds in it and numerous windows, doors and openings which were perfect for the invading jungle insects come nightfall. Luckily Jen and Dave came prepared and both mastered fashionable cocoons from mosquito nets to protect them from malaria, frogs, and stick insects, and in Dave's case -death by termites. The first night's slumber was annoying interrupted by a loud snorer just two beds away, who would put Stuart, Dad and Papa's collective most horrendous snoring to shame...
Dave and Jen spent two days exploring the four show caves by long boat and by foot. Jen was terribly frightened of leeches (having had nightmares for the previous week about being consumed by these blood sucking worms), so she completely covered herself with Bushman Plus and clothes in ridiculously hot and humid weather, but was significantly relieved when she didn't encounter one!
The caves were spectacular. Very large and filled with beautiful stalicmites, stalictites, columns and cave curtains. Dave and Jen felt that they were perhaps in an Indiana Jones movie exploring the unknown -if it wasn't for all the Chinese tourists (and lack of handsome Harrison Ford). By far the most impressive was Deer Cave. Apparently, a 747 can be easily flown into it!! It did not have as many beautiful cave features as the others -but what it did have was bats! (and a correspondingly large amount of bat poo - which makes the cave exploration rather unpleasant due to the overpowering stench)...
After walking through the cave, you can sit in the Bat Observatory, near the entrance at Dusk, and watch the famed Bat Exodus, whereby millions upon millions of Bats leave their cave in search of food, or blood filled victims... Unfortunately for Dave and Jen, it was pouring with rain and the bats, unlike us, decided it was a better idea to stay indoors. After waiting for the bats exodus to arrive, the heavens opened up and Dave and Jen appeared to be stuck in an unrelenting downpour of monsoonal proportions! With weary limbs (still) and hungry stomachs, and the promise of a cold shower and clean clothes, Dave and Jen marched, or rather, swam, the 4km long journey through the jungle back to the room.
That night after a long couple of days in humidity and a sleepless night previously, Jen was not going to let that man two beds down interrupt her much needed slumber. -In fact, every time she was awoken by his incessantly loud snoring, Jen crawled out of her mosquito net cocoon and tapped that man until he woke up and whispered, 'Excuse me, but can you please roll over because you're snoring really loudly!' Jen did this three times. The next morning, that man was very apologetic and embarrassed, and Dave was surprised yet appreciative of Jen's audacity...
Dave and Jen had an enjoyable few days in the jungle, seeing all kinds of birds, butterflies and monster stick insects, but were also looking forward to a place where our food wasn't swarmed with insects before you had time to grab your fork to begin eating at each meal!
