Steve and Emma's Travel Tales

We have made many trips to Sarawak in East Malaysia on the island of Borneo and have enjoyed the experience greatly each time. However, we have never written about Sarawak before so thought we better put that record straight after a recent trip.

It was Emma’s half-tem holiday so we had booked flights for a long weekend in Kuching. It turned out that I didn’t have a class at the time, so decided to take unpaid leave in order to spend the best part of a week exploring an area of Sarawak that we hadn’t been before. It was actually cheaper to buy a new ticket with MAS than to change the Air Asia outbound ticket we already had, so it was off to the ‘big’ airport (KLIA) for our next Sarawak adventure. We were feeling pleased with ourselves going on a real airline until I got a text saying that the flight had be retimed (airline speak for delayed!). So it shows that Air Asia are not the only ones to retime us! Never mind we will only be a few hours late and it meant for a leisurely breakfast before setting off to the airport.

We had planned to base the trip around Gunung Gading National park and Sematan beach, west of Kuching. After arriving a little bit late we were too late to get the last bus to Lundu, the town next to Gunung Gading, a taxi was going to be pretty expensive so we hopped in a cab into Kuching for the night. As we were only staying one night we headed for backpacker land and found an ok place called Nomads – which we thought would be a good omen considering the name of this travel website. It turned out to be very friendly and we soon checked in and headed to the night market for a cool drink and people watching. With Kuching being mainly Chinese, there is no problem getting a cold beer and we were soon enjoying tins of Stella for only 3 ringgit – bargain! We wandered down the waterfront which is really nice with the small boats (tambangs) going to and fro between the river banks. We noticed that a huge Islamic style building that was being built on our last trip was now complete and totally dominates the skyline. We had some great food at Khatulistiwa Cafe, a round building built in the traditional Bidayuh style right on the river, and it’s a lovely spot for a bite and a drink. After being fed and watered, we retired early as we were getting the 8 o’clock bus to Lundu in the morning.

Up an at ‘em early the next morning, made our brekkie at the guesthouse – free tea, coffee and toast etc before getting a taxi to the express bus station. The station is out of town but well organised with signs on the buses and we were soon on the correct bus ready to go. It took about 2 hours through nice scenery to reach Lundu, a pleasant enough coastal town. There were a few tourists on the bus, most making the trip to Gunung Gading National Park. Most people just come to see the famous rafflesia and then head back to Kuching. We wanted to explore the trails in the park and climb Gunung Gading.  As it was now past 10 o’clock we weren’t sure if we would have time to climb the mountain, so we decided to change plans and head to the beach and visit the park on the way back to Kuching. The Lonely Planet said we could get a bus to Sematan but this had clearly changed when we enquired at the bus station in Lundu. So we had to negotiate a fare in someone’s car (RM40) and fend off the local Lundu loons who wanted to chat to us – why are such people attracted to bus stations and why do they always zoom in on me for chat? Anyway we were soon on our way to Sematan, I’d found a resort on the tinterweb and hoped that it would be ok. We drove through the centre of Sematan, which looked like a nice, quiet seaside town and down a country lane for 3km to reach the Sematan Palm Beach Resort. The staff greeted us in a very friendly manner and luckily they had a room. It wasn’t cheap but we were highly delighted to find the chalets were really nice and the resort was set in a lovely garden on a huge stretch of beach. We dumped our stuff and set off for a walk along the beach. The sea was miles out (just like Southport really!) and the beach really did go on for as far as the eye can see. Apparently you can walk to Kalimantan in Indonesia, not sure if we got there but turned back after an hour as it was coming up to lunch time. After a surprisingly good plate of noodles we decided to hire bikes for the afternoon.

Now, usually in Asia you get given the shabbiest oldest bikes you can imagine, so again it was a nice change to get decent bikes with the full complement of brakes, wheels and pedals. The woman on the reception even gave us a hand drawn map of the area so we wouldn’t get lost. We decided to do a loop of the countryside via a waterfall and Sematan town. We really enjoyed cycling down the quiet country lanes through the paddy fields, locals waving and smiling as we cycled passed, they were pleased to see foreign tourists as all they normally get are local weekenders from Kuching. There were very few cars and it was a pleasure to cycle around the area – especially when we compared it to cycling round KL everyday! We left the main road and took a dirt track to Sebat waterfall a couple of kilometres away. Some locals pointed us in the right direction and we were soon at a lovely waterfall. It would have been nice to stop for a while but a number of school kids were there playing in the river – no school today obviously. Back to the main road and on to Sematan town. The road got a bit busier and it was steaming hot by now so we were glad of a cold drink in Sematan. We explored around the fishing village before buying some supplies for our trek up Gunung Gading. Back at the resort it was fairly busy as a large group were also staying there, so it would be buffet fun for tea after the obligatory sunset beer on the beach. We went in to the restaurant and had a look at the buffet, we weren’t hopeful as the tour group were Chinese, so veggie stuff would be at a premium. Emma’s fears were realised as it was beef, fish, fish and some more fish. The staff must have seen the look on Emma’s face and quickly came over and declared that we couldn’t eat local food and did we want to order ala carte off the menu – erm ok. So I ordered spicy Thai soup and Emma had curry, good job we can’t eat anything but western food hey!

We were enjoying ourselves and the nice accommodation at Sematan so much that we decided to stay for another night. This turned out to be an inspired decision as we were the only ones left in the hotel. The large group had gone and we had the place to ourselves. After a relaxed breakfast Emma thought we should go for a walk (sitting still is not Emma’s idea of a holiday as you may have gathered from reading these travelogues!). We decided to walk through the villages we had cycled through the previous day but this time come back along the beach. Again it was a lovely day and really enjoyable, coming back along the beach however in the mid day sun was maybe not the wisest move. It was super hot and I managed to burn the back of my legs – the sun cream was safely back at the room of course! Despite that, it was a great walk and turned out to be quite a distance, so I was justified in doing nothing more than read my book on the balcony all afternoon. Because we were the only 2 staying there, no canteen fun tonight. As the price included our evening meal I had to go for the most expensive thing on the menu, the mixed grill. Well I thought I better not let them down and go western. As it turned out it was western food ala 1970 something, but again it was really good. They didn’t seem surprised that despite claiming to be vegetarian, Emma went for the chicken! Another early night as we had a taxi booked at 8 bells to take us finally to Gunung Gading National Park.

The taxi duly arrived on time and we said goodbye to Sematan but with some reservations. It had been glorious the last couple of days resulting in me having third degree burns on my legs, but just as we were about to go jungle trekking a storm was gathering out at sea. It only took half an hour or so to reach the park and as we were entering the park gates the heavens opened. We quickly signed in at the park office and collected the keys to the park chalet.  The receptionist at Sematan Palm Beach had kindly phoned and booked us the accommodation and it turned out to be basic but clean, and we had the use of a kitchen which was a good job as there was nowhere to buy food except back in Lundu town, 3km away. We made a brew and watched the rain from the balcony contemplating whether we should set off up the mountain or not. Time was getting on so we were back to the same conundrum as before – would we have enough time to climb the mountain, the guide book said 4 hours one way. The rain had eased a little so we went for it.

Soon it stopped raining and we were getting soaked through sweating our way up the hill. The trail followed the river at first and passed several waterfalls, we thought we would have a look on the way back and decided to continue. At the signpost for the 7^th set of falls the path started to ascend steeply and it was quite hard work climbing through the forest. However less than 2 hours after setting off we were at the top of Gunung Gading, at 965 metres above sea level, not the highest but it was straight up from sea level so a tough climb. Not quite the 4 hours we were expecting though. Unfortunately, as is often the case in Malaysia, you aren’t rewarded with a view for all your hard work due to trees and clouds. It was still early so we thought we would head back to the waterfall for our picnic before heading back to the headquarters by the view point trail. We always find it harder work going down and it was really slippery in places due to the rain, I took a few good tumbles but no serious damage. The picnic spot at the waterfall was lovely and we were the only people on the trails that day – I wonder why? But at least it had stopped raining and the sun even made an appearance as we ate our soggy cheese sandwiches.

To get to the view point trail we looped round on some concrete steps via a reservoir to the Jalan Lintang trail. We thought we had done the hard bit but this trail was tricky, lots of rocks to climb over and rivers to cross. I don’t think it is very well used so much more of an adventure than the summit trail. It wasn’t long before we joined the view point trail and 5 minutes later we were at the view point with nice views over the river and out to sea. However, about 1 million mossies had also decided to take in the view and to have their own picnic, so we couldn’t linger over the vista. Going back down the view point trail was straight down, so we were glad we hadn’t trekked up this one, but again it was hard going because of the wet conditions – not as tough as Gunung Irau mind you, which holds our award for wettest and dirtiest trek in Malaysia. A few more crashes to the forest floor and we were almost back at HQ. The final section was on a boardwalk trail and I spotted a small snake but it soon slid away and Emma the snake wrangler missed it.

Back at HQ we thought we would hire a guide to show us the rafflesia as we had been informed that a new one had come into bloom the day before. It would be daft to miss this spectacle, especially as we were wet and dirty already. We soon got a guide for 20RM an hour and we were heading back into the forest. We were expecting to walk back the way we had already trekked, having blindly walked past a huge flower previously that day. But no, we soon headed into the forest off the main trail. It was only about 15 minutes into the jungle when we saw the flower. Rafflesia are pretty amazing as flowers go, this one was considered quite small as they can be up to 1 meter across. We were lucky to see this one as they take 9 months to bloom then die after about a week. In fact they are on their way out after the first couple of days so this was the optimum time to see one. The sun even came out briefly in just the patch where the flower was so we could take some photos. Soon enough the rain came down again and we got wet again heading back to HQ.  After a quick wash and brush up it was time to make our gourmet meal. Pot noodle and the rest of the bread we had bought in Sematan – we know how to live it up. Not much entertainment at the park so another early bath.

Up early to catch the 8 o’clock bus back to Kuching, we had tried to get into our favourite Kuching guesthouse, the Fairview but they were full. After checking out a few places we settled on Fata Hotel, at only 70 RM a night it was the same price as the backpacker lodges but with better facilities if a bit rough round the edges, but we did have a balcony so we were happy there. Our next plan was to visit the Matang Wildlife Centre and trek from there to Kubah National Park. We weren’t sure about Matang, I’d read that they had kept animals in small cages in the past, but now they were doing a good job in rehabilitating orang-utans and sun bears and had improved the enclosures for the animals. If we were going we wanted to visit during feeding times in order to see the orang-utans, so we went into the park’s office in Kuching to check the times. “There are no feeding times and by the way did you know the trails are closed”. Another great plan gone array, so what’s plan b? As time was getting on we decided to spend the day wandering around Kuching. I guess plan b usually includes a beer at some point but it wasn’t our fault the trails weren’t open. We also decided to go back to Bako National Park the next day. We had been to this small national park a couple of times as it is a fantastic place for trekking and seeing Sarawak’s wildlife, particularly the proboscis monkey.

We tried to get the bus to Kampung Bako but were pointed in the direction of the mini-buses, it is quite difficult to get local transport sussed in Kuching as the local buses stop in different parts of town without one main bus station. Usually you are sent towards some manner of taxi but luckily there was another couple heading to Bako, so it worked out at RM10 each. Good job we did bump into them as we could share the 20 minute boat trip with them. Last time we visited it was 90 ringgit, it had doubled now! We were soon shooting along the coast past the mangrove towards the park. On arriving at the park jetty we soon encountered the wild bearded pigs and the cheeky macaques. However, we were dismayed to see the building of an ugly concrete structure next to the restaurant. There used to be a huge grassy area where the animals played but that has gone which is a shame. The accommodation in the park isn’t great so maybe it did need upgrading but why not in wooden chalets that blend into the natural environment? After grabbing a drink in the restaurant we set off on some of the shorter trails.

When we first came here about 5 years ago we did a very long all day trek, but we were staying in the park so that was possible. Our boatman was coming back at 3 o’clock so not enough time for anything too strenuous. After getting back to the HQ we spotted some silver langurs and another group of tourist had spotted a Waglers pit viper curled up asleep in a tree. We then set off along the boardwalk into the mangrove to sit and wait for the proboscis monkeys. We had seen them in this part of the park before so we were hopeful. We waited a few hours without any joy but it was a great spot to chill and to have lunch. Another group joined us in our hut and their guide went off along the beach to look for the big nose fellas. He soon came back saying he had seen some so we all trooped off in search of them. After walking 10 minutes down the beach we finally got a glimpse of one. I think she must have been the back look out as all the rest had gone. Oh well, we have seen them many times before and we can always go again. On the way back to HQ we saw some more langurs on the beach and a couple of mums had orange babies with them, they even stayed still for some photos. The boatman was waiting for us and we were soon back at the village after navigating the now very shallow water. A group of us were waiting for the bus, but after a couple of minutes someone on a motorbike offered to take us all back to Kuching for 5 ringgit each. I wasn’t sure how we would all fit on the bike but he came back with a van and we were quickly heading back to Kuching. So, another great trip to Sarawak came to an end, I’m sure it won’t be the last.

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