Thursday, June 17, 2010

Such joy

Post Mulu- It's been 2.5 weeks since. We still talk about Mulu. Never would I had thought how impactful the trip would be in my life. It's really interesting hearing how it has impacted Yee's life as well. Both of us came back humbled, in our ways and at the same time, equaly excited to embark on any such trips in the near future. We were already talking about Sg Rajang and Kapit! I really like Sarawak. Yee told me to listen to an oldie, "I left my heart in San Francisco," and told me that the song suits my current emotions. I thought the song was cheesy! But, I think I did leave part of my heart there.

One of the guys we met in Mulu continues his solo journey to other Asian countries, after Mulu. I'm encouraged by his courage and adventourous spirit of travelling to all these countries with just his back pack and a Lonely Planet guide! That had been my dream type of travel but is also soemthing which I would not have the guts to do. I'm impressed with his humble spirit of exploring new culture and embracing them. Even I was quite taken with the sudden diversity at the long house but I saw such grace in this young man. Quite an interesting character and what joy to meet such.

Onward, I went to break bread with the Senoi people at Tapah last Sunday. It was such a simple meeting in a simple setup. The Senoi people crowded the hall and waited for us to arrive from KL and as soon as we did, we sang songs of praise and it was again such joy to see how they praised God, having little yet much in Spirit. The children, despite having only SS once a month, that's when we come, took the effort to memorise the memory verses and recited them effortlessly. This brought me much shame, having so much and yet taking the exact things for granted. I have many bibles, but make so little effort to read. Oh Lord, please forgive me. The ladies had their own cooking session and men, the fellowship. Some who need medical attention, had their share from Dr Chew.

And yesterday was a joyful day where one of my close friend got engaged in a simple ceremony in her house. This dear sister of mine has finally found her man. Looking back at what she has gone through the past few years, I could seee very clearly how God had led her and eventually worked this union out so beautifully. I think they are such a match and my prayer is that, from this point, only one life goes forth and may it is in accordance to God's will and within His plans.

I trust that God has His plans for me and it will come to past as and when it should according to His plans. For God works for the good of those who love Him and delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.

Lord, I commit unto You my deepest desires for You alone know what spells my heart and my mind.

Monday, June 07, 2010

Mulu- Done it

I have not been to this part of the world. It all started 6 months ago when we came across a travel blog by a fellow Malaysian on Mulu. She was there 5 years ago. We saw the pictures she took and we got hooked on and decided to email her and see if we could get more information and possibly the contact of the local guide who took them around. With little expectations, we waited for a reply and she did, promptly! And our adventure of planning started.

This trip brought the three of us from Miri-Mulu-Kuala Litut-Camp 5-Pinnacles-Headhunters' trail-Kuala Terikan-Sg Mendalam Longhouse-Medamit-Limbang-Brunei-Miri. It was an amazing adventourous journey. I personally didnt know what to expect. I've been to camps, slept in tents, done 3/4 of Mount KK, occasional hikes and I thought, "Well, just how difficult walking in the rainforest and climbing Pinnacles would be?" Ha! I was not quite right. We walked an average of 10 km per day, in Mulu National Parks, to Camp 5 and on the HH trail. I have never sweated so much in my life. Drops of sweats just dripped onto my clothes and i get drenched sooner than I thought! We backpacked and therefore, we carried our own bags throughout the trip.

Mulu's an amazing place. It's tucked away in the heart of Sarawak, near to Brunei and it's home to many beautiful caves. Deer Caves, Langs Cave, Clearwater Cave, Wind cave and many many more underground ones. They are still exploring and discovering more and more underground caves! How amazing is that. My personal favourite is the Deer and Clearwater. The Deer Cave got its name from the deers who used to roam in the cave to drink the water that flows through the cave. Deers, being mammals need salt to survive and the guanos from the bats that fall into the flowing rivers provided just that. However, as more deer get hunted down for their meat by the locals, deer eventually move out of the place.

Deer cave has a special ecological system where bats hang above (Millions of them) and some glittering bugs feeding on their guano, digesting and bacterias survive in the cave etc. We were not allowed to flash our torch towards the ceiling, in case if we scare the bats away and bats are not blind! Whatever they taught us in science class. I grew up thinking that bats are blind and therefore they need to emit sound at certain frequencies and have it bounced around to manoeuver their way around. That's half true. The caves have many formations from acidic rain water and lime stones. There are flowstones, flow curtains, statlagmites etc. And you could let your imaginations run, looking at these formations because they could look like humans to some, octopuses to another. Han (Our guide whom I think we've driven crazy) gave up on me because there was a formation that looks like a man and a woman but I could see nothing of those. My friends went like, "Yea, here's the man and here's the woman." I was blind.

After these caves, we went to the bats observatory, hoping to catch the bat exodus again. We've seen it the evening before, thanks to a quick wise decision by my friend. It rained that evening and the bats decided not to get wet and for that night, they would feed on their guano. Slighty disaapointed, we made our way back to our homestay, just right outside the National Park. The next morning, we went to Batu Bungan, a village for the Penans. It was heart-wrenching seeing the way they live. Comparing to our livestyles here in KL, these people live is utter simplicity and might be backwards to some. What happen to the state that was supposed to be the richest because of its abundant natural resources? Wealth doesnt seem to be shared across and many more are living in dilapidated state. We lingered a while more at the village, waiting for another group that was to join us that day. Turned out that only 1 came and 4 others will only come in in the evening. So, the four of us, set out to the river and visited the Clearwater and Wind caves.

Clearwater was quite majestic looking inside. It used to have water flowing through it. Water has somehow receeded slightly and you could see the water lines on the wall and ceiling. It must have been an undergound cave where sea/river pass through but as the tectonic plates move, it gets pushed upwards and became above ground. It was cool inside. We saw photo kast as well, where the bacterias that rest on the stones needed the sun for synthesis and it's as if that the stones are growing towards the sun! Pretty amazing. We stopped for lunch and there was a pool right outside the cave. Was tempted to jump in for a swin but decided to give it a pass, having thought of wet sticky clothes. Andy, an Englishman from Ascot, dived in. Ascot was the place where I had the privellege to spend a weekend with a local family 4 years ago when I was in England. Andy was hoping that the host I was with was his neighbour but ha, it wasnt the case.

We continued on, arriving at Kuala Litut and walked 8.5 km to Camp 5. Leeches were everywhere. I had one at the back of my thigh. Bloody creatures. And Andy had none. I concluded that the secret was to have long legs and a speedy walk and Andy added that having hairy legs helped form part of the protection as well. Okay, I take that.

Having walked for 2.5 hours, we arrived at Camp 5. Amenities were basic but I was very impressed with the cleanliness of the toilets! Way much better that the R&Rs along the highways in Peninsular. We had our dinner and Maxwell, one of our guides cooked for us. He cooked well. We had a good dinner! After some pep talk on what to expect on the Pinnacles the next day, we went to bed. Well, technically none of us could sleep because one started a night orchestra and I was up practically the whole night. And it was cold. I thought it would be warm in the forest at night, and therefore, did not bring any long trousers, smartly.

We got up at 5 ish the next morning and feeling more tired than the night before. I wondered how would I do the Pinnacles. But thankfully, the lack of sleep wasnt my main problem. The hike up was difficult and the descend was tortourous. I ended up taking 5 hours up and 8 hours down. Not something that I was proud of but it was such an experience. The limestones were huge and slippery and I ended up descending the way I ascended! And it was too much for my back. Nonetheless, the view at Low Peak was beautiful and thankfully worth the climb! By the time it got dark (It gets dark by 6 pm there), we had another 500 m more to go downwards and another guide came to our rescue. And when I reached Camp 5, there was a line of concerned fellow campers who got worried when I didnt get back in time. Ha..what a scene. And I think I became famous that night. People started asking if I was okay and ha..That night was also a great night where we mingled with our fellow campers and it was warm.

Afterall, travelling is about making friends to me and much more than going from Point A to Point B. It's about meeting people and getting to know their lives and being touched by theirs. I thought the three of us clicked quite well. Despite it being the first trip with SM, she's fun and occacionally blur. Haha..And Yee, as always, the big sister of the pack. It must have been strange to some for 3 girls in different stages of their lives, clicking so well. But as I always said, it's good company!

I never regretted persevering the hike although at many times, I thought of giving up but it's always when you push yourself to the your maximum capability that you truly reap the fruits of your perseverence. In this case, it was a test against a tired body and determined mind. I remember on the way up, another fellow hiker and I got talking and he said he never liked hiking and hiking is the dumbest thing ever. And when I reach the peak, he asked me if I regretted it, and to my surprise, I said no.

Back to Camp 5 and shifted dorm for the night. The next day, after breakfast, we bid goodbye to Han and move on on the HH trail, a 11.3 km walk to Kuala Terikan. Leeches were all over again. I had two fat ones on my thigh, just right above my knees again. And my shorts was soaked in my own blood. I didnt realise that leeches have anti-coagulants that they inject onto the wound to keep the blood flowing. I ended up bleeding until I reached the longhouse.

Having reached Sg Mendalam Longhouse, we got ushered to our pintu. It has 16 pintu and each house a family and they are all related to each other. Thought I could catch some sleep before the all night long celebration but it was too noisy outside. I got talking to the locals and made some friends. Found out that most of them are Catholics. I think the Penghulu got evangelised to and quantity wise, many became Christians but it would be most awesome if that is a true conversion and being reflected in their lives. I cant tell for sure but now I have another item on my prayer list, that's for these Ibans/Tabuns. God loves all and all shall be saved if they confessed with their mouths. That night's dinner at the longhouse was the best I had in Sarawak. We had umbut chicken, bamboo pork and chicken, paku vege, bamboo shoots etc. The ingredients were simple but it was very flavourish. Managed to catch an hour of nap and we got dragged out of bed by 10 pm. Joined in the thanksgiving prayers and the celebration of Gawai begins. Before the food indulgence, there were the tree and dance! We were supposed to circle the tree and get our hands on the goodies that were hung on it, till it gets exhausted. Then, they unveiled the "trunk" which was wrapped with clothes and there were more tuak in it. The Penghulu served us with tuak and we had bout 2 or 3 glasses each. Having heard how high the alcohol contents are in these, I tried refraining from taking too much. Then, more food and more dances. They passed around this hat and if it landed on yours, you are supposed to get up and danced to the tune. They tried on mine, but ha, I was too shy to dance in front of hundreds of people. Hat passed on and we saw some of our fellow campers letting loose and moved to the beat. It was quite cool. I felt myself getting groggy and decided to call it a night. While the music continue to blast throough the night and more stamps on the ground, I slept.

The next day, I was getting a bit heavy hearted to leave. Although it was just a day, I really like the place. The evening before when we took a stroll near the river, I looked around and I saw this majestic picture of serenity and calmness. Andy quipped, " I really love this place". I nodded in agreement. They were simple people, most accomodative and this trip changed my perspective to life a bit. Though I was glad to be back and having my car to drive around, I couldnt help but reminisced the 6 days I had in Sarawak. I realised that, people in the city get bogged by many irrelevant minor issues that we think are huge when we are already blessed with so much. Here in Mulu and the long house, they only have electricity from 6 pm to 10 pm, powered by the genset. They shower in cold water, pumped from either the river or from the hills nearby. We had to have our heater on before we shower.

This trip has taught me a lesson of contentment. It got me thinking a lot about church and my family as well. I suddenly realised that I have so much to pray for. The salvation of these people, of my family. I suddenly realised that I've been taking my family for granted. Lord, I pray that I'll have the chance to appreciate and honour them in my life. I also realised that I've not been using my life to do the things that mean more. But I cant get my head round it just yet. More quiet moments to pray, I reckon.

Oh, the morning before we were due to leave, one of the guides who got drunk the night before and that morning itself, came to me and this was roughly what we spoke about.

G: Irene, I nampak you can take care of people.
I: ..Err,..okay (Eyebrow raised)
G: Kalau ada bujang-bujang di sini mau kahwin, you mau tinggal di sini?
I: (Shocked)..Huh? Tak Nak!
G: Bukanlah, ada banyak bujang-bujang di sini. Kalau mau kahwin, mau tinggal?
I: Tak Nak

He repeated and I said no, obviously and proceeded to leave. He freaked me out. I told my mum when I got back, she got really concerned and I wondered if she would let me go Sarawak again. haha.

Some pictures from the trip. Hopefully they paint clearer pictures that what was described above.


Garden Of Eden. View from Deer Cave.

Boat rides. No crocs!


One for the camera!

Painstaking climb


Picture of exhaustion



Up finally-All smiles


At the Long house

With the Iban girls