wai's travels & musings: August 2009

Memories of Miri

22 - 24 August 2009

Going to Miri was a rather last-minute decision. Even though the plane tickets were booked in February, we nearly cancelled our plan to go because of two reasons. First, the H1N1 Influenza A pandemic. I was skeptical about making any fixed plans or bookings of accommodation for this trip as we had adopted the 'wait-and-see' policy in case the situation got out of hand. Second, my PTK examination was scheduled on 25 August, that is, the day after the trip. (To be exact, 9 hours after our arrival at LCCT. Both Choon and I had to sit for the exam.)

After much contemplation, we finally decided to go. After all, the plane tickets were free gifts from Airasia, why waste them? (Choon, my sister and I got RM 200 vouchers each from Airasia as a compensation for the 3-hour delay on our return flight from Macau December last year).

So, equipped with masks to ward off the H1N1 virus and PTK notes to salve our worries and guilty conscience, we set off for Miri.......

Upon arrival, we booked a taxi to Miri town. During the journey, the taxi-driver, Mr. Lee, furnished us with information about Miri and the local people. When we told him of our intention to explore Niah Caves, he offered to take us there for RM 250 and be our guide to explore the caves as well. We thought it was a good deal as it would save us the trouble of finding our own way there, so we agreed.

At about 12.30 pm, we departed for Niah Caves National Park, located about 110 km from Miri. We arrived at our destination about one and a half hour later.

Mr. Lee told us to go and get our tickets saying that he would join us later. When we saw him again after that we could hardly recognize him. One moment he was the professional driver in white uniform, the next moment he had transformed into an enthusiastic hiker complete with a backpack, water-bottle and a towel round his neck. I couldn't help chuckling to myself that he looked more like the tourist than the three of us.

We had to register ourselves and paid RM 10 each for the entrance fee. Then, we took a boat to cross the Niah River to the other side where the caves were located. The boat ride cost us RM 1 per person. It took less than 10 minutes to get to the opposite bank.

The trek to the cave was quite a distance.

We walked on concrete path through the lush green tropical rainforest, ....

...strolled along the raised plank walkway (about 3 km), ....

...struggled over a fallen tree.....

...and climbed up the steep wooden staircase .....

...to get to the Trader's Cave ('Gua Dagang'). This was where the bird's nest and guano traders conducted their business and that was how the name was derived.

I enjoyed the coolness of the cave and the whisper of the wind here was very soothing to the ears. It was definitely my favourite place.

Along the way, we saw various types of vegetation.

I think this is a giant tapang tree (koompassia excelsa) which I had read about, with its enormous buttressed roots. It reminded me of the giant tingle trees of the Ancient Empire in Walpole.

There were also smaller plants and creepers that grow on the rocks.

I spotted some colourful fruits that looked like berries, but I don't think they are edible.

Fortunately, there were many rest stops along the way to the cave entrance where we could rest our tired feet. The new rubber shoes that Mr.Lee recommended did not agree with Choon's dainty feet. Poor Choon!

Finally we reached the West Mouth of the spectacular Great Cave, over 60 m high and 250 m wide.

We proceeded into the cave that was pitch-black amidst the sounds of bats and swiftlets which created an eerie atmosphere.

We really need a flashlight to find our way along the plankwalk which could be slippery at times due to the dampness and the guano (bat and bird excrement) covering the cave floor. I was glad that Mr.Lee was there as our guide. If we had been on our own, we wouldn't have dared venturing into this cave of total darkness......

Mr.Lee told us that there used to be lights illuminating the cave but they had been vandalised.

What is left now is only the empty casing of the light like the one shown above. Sigh!

Going further into the cave, we encountered a few locals who were busy harvesting bird's nests. Watch the following video clip to see what they had got....

The bird's nest collectors showed us their harvest (as seen above). It certainly looked disgusting and yukky! They told us that this bagful of unprocessed bird's nest can fetch over 1000 ringgit. Just can't believe this dirty-looking stuff can be so valuable!

But this is how it would look after cleaning and processing. This is the Niah Cave bird's nest bought from Bong Trading in Miri town. The price is RM 260 per box (37.5g in weight), after discount.

This is another type of bird's nest similar to the Lo Hong Ka's Gold Bird's Nest. The discounted price for this is RM 200 per box of the same weight.

If you know how difficult and dangerous it is for the harvesters to get the bird's nests, you would understand why they are so expensive. The following video clip shows the pole hanging from the ceiling that they have to climb up in order to harvest the bird's nests.

That brought us to the end of our cave exploration.

Wow, it was quite an educational trip. Hopefully it can help me answer some of the PTK questions. Ha...ha...ha...

Actually I did not expect much out of this trip. Since the air tickets were free, I thought we could just go for a weekend break in Miri, savour the food, explore the Niah Caves, walk about the town and maybe buy some bird's nests, then come back for the exam. Perhaps it was that low expectation that made us enjoy the trip tremendously. And of course, the company as well. The moral of the story is before you embark on any trip, keep an open mind and expect the least. Then you will gain the most out of it.

While exploring the Niah Caves, I was ovewhelmed by a sense of pride that there are such beautiful sights in our country. I only hope that such beauty can be preserved for generations to come.

On the way back to the Park Headquarters, I noticed the Niah Archeological Museum. But it was closed so we did not go in. Anyway, museums are not my cup of tea, so it was no great loss.

Before leaving Niah, Mr.Lee kindly gave us a tour round the small town in his taxi. We stopped for some refreshments at a restaurant where tour buses often make their stops. I caught the rainbow on my camera(again). Lately, I seem to capture a lot of rainbows with my camera (in Western Australia as well as in Miri). It's a good omen. Life is good...

Next to the restaurant was the marketplace. So we went round to see what kinds of vegetables they had there. We saw the vegetable/fruit that Mr.Lee mentioned when he pointed out the plant to us while we were at the cave entrance (see below). I think it belongs to the brinjal family. He said it's delicious when fried with sambal belacan. Yup, I can imagine.

I often thought that sunsets seem more beautiful in other countries. But when we were travelling back to Miri, I could not stop admiring the breathtaking sight of the streaks of gold against the blue blue sky.

We spent the next two days walking about Miri town, enjoying the breakfast at the market place, buying bird's nests and other local products at Bong Trading (visited the shop 3 times in 2 days!), resting in our room when it was too hot to go out (attempted to read the PTK notes but could not digest what was read) and having dinner at Apollo Restaurant and Pacific Garden Restaurant in the evening. The black pepper crab at Apollo Restaurant was really yummy. I will go there again some other day for this dish. And the price was good too, only RM28 per kg compared to the RM45 per kg at Seri Mahkota Restaurant in Kuantan and RM38 at Specky Guy's Restaurant.

When we saw this shop 'Winnie Motors', we were reminded of our Winnie who had missed all the fun we were having. He...he...he...

This is the Imperial Hotel in Miri, centrally located in the heart of Miri. It was the venue for the National Level Written Test and Public Speaking Competition for the Chinese Primary Schools (22-23 August 2009). This is not the hotel where we stayed. Ours was the one related to the royalty. (He..he...) It is called the Raja Inn Miri.

Looking at the sunsets in Miri, now I am truly convinced that the sunsets in Malaysia can be spectacular too. Back home we often take things for granted or are too busy to notice our surroundings. What we need is to have the time to stand and stare.....

Yes, as William Henry Davies said (in his poem 'Leisure'),

"What is this life, if full of care,
we have no time to stand and stare...."

My Reflections

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

31 May - 11 June 2009

When I first mentioned to my friends that I was going to Perth for 12 days, most of them exclaimed, "What are you going to do there for 12 days?" "There is nothing much to see or do in Perth", they said. For a moment I thought I had made a foolish decision. But I decided that I was going to prove them wrong.

So I set out to do my homework - reading up on Perth and Western Australia. The Internet had been a great help - gathering information about places, deciding on where to go and what to do, planning the routes, booking accommodations, comparing prices for the car rental, etc. etc., all could be done with the click of a mouse.

With all this information, I roughly estimated our budget and decided that this trip would not cost more than 4K in RM.

Finally the day had come for us to set out on this adventure trip.

Here, I must mention that the saying 'ignorance is bliss' is very true. I started out with a very positive mind and a confident self, not knowing what we were about to do was not the common practices of the locals for example travelling long distances late in the evening and on top of that, during winter. Of course I've read about the risk of hitting kangaroos and emus on the road. But then, how often do you get to hit a roo or a mu?!

I must also mention that my travelling companions and I, the eight of us, are really a great team. During the whole trip, each of them just assumed their duties automatically without any fuss, with Choon and my sister, Siew Tai supervising the meals. May Lit, Winnie, Helen and Mrs. Foo cutting and washing. Yeap doing the laundry, and all of us, ahem, I mean almost 'all' of us taking turns to drive. And they certainly had been a great moral support to me most of the time especially during the few incidents when my confidence was on the verge of breaking.

At first I was rather worried about the two Ah Sohs (still under probation) who were used to five-stars tours but now they had to 'backpack' and stay in a 'hotel' with an 's' inserted in the middle (hoStel). Worse still, they had to sleep on double-decker beds in a dorm sharing with the seven of us. Wait till they get to share room with the 'Tai Chek Lou' and 'Wu Sou Lou' in a mixed dorm! The first night, Mrs.Foo said she dared not move at all for fear she would disturb Yeap who was sleeping on the upper deck. Helen, on the other hand, found it rather fun to be sharing a dorm with the rest of us. Well, first-timers, what do you expect?

There were too many happy moments in the trip to mention them all. So I will not harp on them as I had already captured some of these sweet memories on my camera to be shared with my teammates. However, I wish to share my stressful moments throughout our journey in Western Australia which accounted for the number of pimples popping out on my face. I still have the scars to remind me of those times.

I remember vividly the evening we drove from Augusta to Walpole. It was a challenging time for the driver, Winnie and me, the navigator. We were travelling through the forest in pitch-dark surroundings and heavy rain and I had to strain my eyes to look out for signboards and kangaroos. And it did not help to have the two Ah Sohs at the back sitting upright and kept asking, “How come there’re no signboards?” Finally, when they saw the sign, ‘W 85’, they both expressed their joy. I silently heaved a sigh of relief. You see, I had to put up a brave front even though I was filled with anxiety inside!

I had to admit all this happened because things did not go as planned in the first place. We were supposed to leave Fremantle early to go to Margaret River, stopping at Mandurah, Bunbury and Busselton on the way. But we only got our rented car at noon. And being the gluttons that we were, we would not leave Freo without savouring WA’s best fish and chips at Cicerello’s!

So it was already past 2 when we started our journey. Anyway, no regrets there. Had we not gone to Cicerello’s, we would not have met Maggie, a former student of Mrs. Foo, Yeap and my sister, who would later have much to contribute to make this trip a great success. At least for the meantime, she helped to solve my problem of booking the accommodations at Hyden. That itself was a big load off my mind. Thanks a million, Maggie.

During the journey, I decided to forgo Mandurah and Bunbury and head straight for Busselton to see the longest wooden jetty in the Southern Hemisphere.

We spent quite some time there as we were so fascinated by the beautiful sunset that we were quite reluctant to leave. As a result, we had to grope in the dark to get to the YHA in Margaret River.

The next day, we went to Margaret River Chocolate Factory and like greedy children we feasted on the free samples of different types of chocolates. After all, the chocolates on sale were so expensive, we might as well eat as much as we could to add up to the ones we bought. Yummy! We spent more than an hour there so once again we were delayed.

Next, we headed south, travelling along the Caves Road and passing through the karri forests in Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park.

After that, we took the Lake Cave guided tour before heading for Augusta.

We travelled to Augusta to see the historic 113 year-old Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse. We were lucky to catch the beautiful rainbow at that time.

So, by the time we left Augusta, it was already evening and we had 230 km (!!!) to travel to get to Walpole! That was the reason for our challenging journey through darkness and thunderstorm. But thank God we arrived there, safe and sound.

After the great rush the day before, I promised the others that the next day would be at our leisure. But we seemed to rush through our Giant Tree Top Walk and the exploration of the Ancient Empire.

As a result going to Albany was a breeze as we had plenty of time and the distance was only slightly over 100 km. We could ‘leisurely’ travel to Albany as I had promised and even stopped for a picnic in

Denmark

Nothing untoward happened in Albany and we had a great time scrambling all over the rocks at the Gap and the Natural Bridge.

See if you can spot Winnie and I on the Natural Bridge in this picture. We seemed so tiny compared to the gigantic bridge.

Here's a close-up picture of both of us on the bridge.

It was fun not only taking the video clips of the scenery but the antics of my friends.
Yeap, the photographer, would be deeply engrossed in experimenting with the aperture and special effects. May Lit, the director, would show the others how to pose for a good picture. Mrs. Foo, the celebrity, would be ever willing to pose for a picture while Choon, Winnie, Helen and my sister would be busy looking for a good spot for photographs. As for me, I was busy filming all their antics. Hee..hee..hee!

Having learnt a good lesson from our past experience, we decided to push off earlier from Albany to Hyden. Helen, Choon and my sister finally had a chance to drive. We had to take turns as the journey was long and monotonous. At some point during the journey, I had wished a kangaroo would appear to draw us out of the monotony. Fortunately, it didn’t. However, I saw some dead ones by the roadside. Dead possums, too.

The towns we passed by such as Pingrup and Lake Grace were quite deserted, just like most of the other towns we had passed earlier. I have come to the conclusion that there are more kangaroos than humans in WA.

Waverock was truly amazing and it was the main reason why I wanted to go to Western Australia. While we were there, we could not help behaving like kids, posing as though we were surfing. One picture that I particularly like was the ‘Tai Chi’ pose by Mrs. Foo, Choon, my sister and Helen. One ‘kwai-lou’ asked me curiously if they were doing ‘Kungfu’. I just smiled and said convincingly, “Yes.”

The Hippo Yawn Rock looked fine to me but strangely my friends did not seem to find it fascinating. Well, one man’s meat might be another man’s poison. Anyway, I made them pose for a picture there, each with a big yawn just to spice things up a little. See how comical they look! 'Kena tipu'. Hee...hee...hee...

The journey from Hyden back to Perth was quite uneventful. We stopped by a few interesting places, one of which was the famous Dog Cemetery which was situated about 5 km from Corrigin. You can't imagine the extent dog lovers would go to in order to give their beloved doggies a decent burial!

Our next stop was the historic town of York. We had an enjoyable time walking around the town and doing a little shopping. Choon got herself a nice checkered skirt here while I bought myself some novels.

All went well until my second stressful incident - that was locating the Perth Hills YHA. After a long journey from Hyden, we went for a scenic drive in Swan Valley and visited an orange farm.

So it was again dark when we made our way to our accommodation. Just before turning into Mundaring Weir Road, we were quite pleased to see some shops and KFC, thinking that we could go there for our dinner. However, after driving for some time, we still could not see the YHA sign and yet we were going deeper and deeper into the forest! Some of the others at the back suggested making a U-turn because they did not think the YHA could be so far away from civilization. But I insisted on going forward until I could find a signboard.

So we drove on in what seemed like an endless journey to Only-God-Knows-Where. Many a time I had wanted to ask Winnie to turn back but the stubborn streak in me refused to do so. Later that night, I asked Winnie why she did not turn back as requested by the others. She told me that she only listened to my directions. Good girl! But I may not always be right, though. Thankfully, my perseverance paid off this time. We finally found our YHA. Imagine our joy when we saw the YHA signboard and we chorused "YHA" joyously with May Lit's voice being the loudest.

Well, the joy was short-lived when we discovered that the toilets were located outside the building where our dorms were. Furthermore, there were no heaters in the rooms as they were not allowed in the National Park. Mrs. Foo was fretting over sleeping in the cold bed and hopping to the toilets outside in the middle of the freezing night. Wouldn’t it be hilarious if she got herself mistaken for a Mama Roo? Oops! Sorry, just joking.

Seriously, at that moment I really regretted my choice of accommodation. I chose Perth Hills because I had read that the place was often visited by kangaroos so it would be nice to stay so close to them. How on earth would I know that it was in such a God-Forsaken land, without heating and absolutely deserted!

The good thing was nobody else was staying at the YHA so we had the whole kitchen, common room, toilets and parking lots all to ourselves, right in the middle of nowhere!! Anyway, Yeap, the ever-cool-and-calm person, reassured me that everything would be fine in the morning and in broad daylight the place would seem nicer. Yeap, thanks for that reassurance and you were definitely right!

The next morning, I got up early to go for a walk. My intention was to look for kangaroos to justify my reason for choosing this YHA. Worse comes to worse, I told May Lit that as a compensation, we could hop around like kangaroos to entertain the others. I did not want to be called ‘Waitipu’ again. But my worries were truly unfounded; I spotted two kangaroos behind our building. Excitedly, I told the rest and soon all of us were running around chasing after kangaroos! I even managed to capture a video of May Lit trying to feed the kangaroo. You’ll wonder who was more terrified, May Lit or the Roo.

We had a lot of fun then, all the worries and stress the night before forgotten. Even Mrs. Foo candidly announced that it was not very cold after all and she wondered why she had two blankets. Yeah, one of them was mine, you know. And she had a nice shot with the kangaroos as well. Like Yeap said, the place would look more pleasant during the day. In fact, looking back, I think this is my favourite YHA in WA after all!

Last but not least, I had undergone another nerve-wrecking time on the way back to Perth City from the Pinnacles. We had travelled to the Pinnacles early in the morning because we had to get back to Perth City on the same day. The map and guidebooks showed that it was only 220 km from Perth via the Brand Highway but the journey seemed like an eternity.

However, the amazing sight that greeted us at the end of the journey made it worth the while. We had a great time alternating between posing among the limestone pillars and hiding in the shadows of the pinnacles.

That was when I wished I had Mrs. Foo’s award-winning-sun-shade hat!!

For the return journey, I decided to take the alternative route via Lancelin instead of going back the same way, Brand Highway. From the map, the Lancelin route looked shorter and easier to take as it would eventually lead into Mitchell Freeway which would make it easier to locate the Wellington Street and find our YHA. Sigh! Maps can be misleading sometimes. After travelling a long time, I noticed there were very few vehicles on this road. Anyway, I was not concerned at first as the roads in WA had always been deserted throughout our journey.

However, when I noticed that we were low on fuel, I began to worry. We were travelling on a hilly road so each time I would tell myself after this slope, we would see some signs of civilization. And each time we were greeted by the vast expanse of bushland right until the horizon. No houses, no gas station, not even the km sign!

When we came to a junction and made a wrong turning, I had an uneasy feeling because we seemed to be going in the wrong direction! That was when I told Winnie to turn back to the junction again to make sure of the directions before we risked running out of fuel.

Luckily, we saw the signboard giving us the correct direction. Wonder how we could have missed that in the first place! It was only when we reached Lancelin and got our fuel tank filled up that I could sit back and relax and enjoy the last part of the journey. One lesson I learnt from this experience – always travel on a full tank especially when driving in the countryside and my advice to those who wish to travel in Australia is the distance shown on the map does not reflect the real distance on the road.

So, there it is - the story of my stressful experiences. But I am not complaining because those were the things that had made this trip even more enriching and worth remembering. And through it all, I have learnt many things. Like I said in the beginning ‘ignorance is bliss’. I might not have been so daring had I known of the risk we were taking. Then I would have missed out on those unforgettable moments, be it stressful or otherwise.

One amusing thing I must comment on is the response given by the locals if you ask for directions. Most of them would say, “It’s easy. Just follow the signboards.” Yeah, true. But if you are in the outbacks, bear in mind that the signboards are far in between. You have to depend on your instincts and common sense sometimes. One advice I can give is get a local map from the Tourist Information Centre in each town or city you are staying at. Local maps are a great help. A better alternative is the Google Maps or GPS.

Having said all that, I still feel that a little adventure and risk-taking won’t hurt anyone. Positive thinking will go a long way. Just be prepared at all times for the unexpected and you’ll be fine.

By the way, I must mention one more remarkable thing I had encountered on the way back from the Pinnacles. In

New Zealand

, I saw for the first time how people move houses. Interestingly, I saw it again in Western Australia! They literally ‘move’ the house using a truck! Isn’t that amazing?

All’s well that ends well. Our last night in Perth was truly an unexpected bonus. Maggie, who works for a tour agency in Perth, came to visit us in her 12-seater bus and took us for a scrumptious dinner in Joy Garden Restaurant in Chinatown. During dinner, we related our adventure to Maggie and only then we found out from her that the locals would not travel at dawn and dusk as it would be too risky. No wonder we hardly saw any vehicles on the road while we were travelling! Well, what can I say? Ignorant Malaysian daredevils!

Later on she took us on a night tour of the city. We even went to Burswood Casino. All this was not in my itinerary at all. What a wonderful ending to a fantastic trip! Oh yes, just for the record, we only spent approximately RM3200, way below my initial budget!

Lastly, I must commend my team members once again for making this a successful trip

. I would not have the courage to organize a self-drive tour in WA had it not been for the confidence that they had shown in me. I also want to thank them for their patience in putting up with my idiosyncrasy. You see, with a camera in my hands, I would be transformed into an avid photographer and lose myself in capturing the beauty of the surrounding. So much so that when I came to myself, I would find them patiently waiting for me. Thank you, gals!

To Mrs. Foo and Helen, guess what? You've passed the test. Both of you are now officially 'Tetap dan sudah Berpencen' members of this team! Congrats! May we all have more fantastic trips in future!

So do you still think I am 'Waitipu'?