Mulu National Park

Mulu National Park-it was nice to finally visit there. We arrived by MASwings, an economic plane. It was rather small, but it did give the opportunity to see the propellers in action. The sight was beautiful through the window, but also slightly crazy; everything was just so small, ridiculously small.

We didn’t go very high since there was much less distance to cover than the average airplane, so we could look out of the window any time and see something down there. The city quickly became strips of forest, with dirt roads and odd houses here and there. There were rivers too, but they looked quite muddy from the top.

I wish that I could have gotten a picture of that bird’s view scene, but they said no electronics.

About fifteen minutes of flight later, we had an average touchdown on the landing field, along with the few seconds of jolting as the pilot put on the brakes. We exited the plane by staircase attached to the back exit of the plane.

A mini airport greeted us, along with the trees beyond the stretch of grassland. Let’s skip the registration and luggage picking up part, there’s not much to tell there.

We loaded our bags into a van and we headed off to the resort with the dirt road under us.

A two point five kilometers of journey later, we were at the Royal Mulu Resort. Two guys in traditional clothing greeted us, and we snapped some shots.

Say Cheese!

We headed towards the lobby after that. Opposite the lobby was a swimming pool. I decided that I would not enter there during my stay in the resort. It was nothing personal, and I had no particular reason, I just didn’t feel like it.

We checked in with a ‘welcome drink’ of orange juice served in bamboo.

After some general confusion about a ‘Health Spa’, we finally found our rooms. Our group split into three as we entered our respective rooms. To tell the truth, the beds were much better than the ones at the hotel we stayed in at Miri, but it’s all personal.

I headed out for some pictures, since the tour was supposed to be at two and it was still quite early. We haven’t had lunch yet!

There was a cliff right in front of our room, with plants clinging on the surface. And it even had two small cave entrances. Who knew where they might lead?

Later, we went for lunch, and it was plain expensive. A bill for two could reach a hundred ringgits! But it didn’t have much competition, and the quality did compensate slightly for the price.

At two, we met our guide. Personally, he looked young and responsible. After some little talking between the adults that I didn’t listen to, we set out for the actual national park.

More bumpy roads later, we reached a mini roundabout with a greeting sign in the middle that declared: “Gunung Mulu National Park.”

I once imagined that our walk through the forest would be something like trekking, shoe-on-ground type of walk (or shoe-on-leaves, as the case was). Now, that would have been an exhausting 3 kilometers trek in, and out again, totaling 6 kilometers, not to mention the caves.

No, it turned out that we were walking a wooden elevated pathway, which some of us were a little thankful for. As we looked down from our elevated platform, everything was rather beautiful, lush and green. But if we had to pass through all that foliage, well, let’s say that it wouldn’t be easy.

There were many insects on the way, most of them on the railing. We saw lots of caterpillars, a stick insect that almost went unnoticed, and a lizard that one tourist jokingly declared a ‘baby crocodile’.