Day 49: Travelling to Sabah

Last morning in Mulu National Park. I'd woken up in the middle of the night to a massive tropical rainstorm, but rolled over and resumed sleeping with the assumption that it would finish by morning. Alas I was wrong - although it wasn't throwing it down, it was very overcast and constantly raining. Sometimes drizzle, sometimes more intense, but fairly constant.

We packed up quickly (and noisily near the Japanese) and met our group for the canopy walk at the park HQ at 7am. The guide warned us that with the rain we likely wouldn't see any animals, and there was also a chance that we'd arrive at the canopy stairs only to find that it was too windy and we couldn't proceed for safety reasons. They'd offer a refund if it was cancelled for wind, but not for rain! Two of the 8-person group decided to bail anyway due to the intermittent rain, but the rest of us decided to press on.

We departed down the now well-trodden boardwalk, where the canopy tree-top walk stood about 20 minutes away (actually just near where we'd turned off on the waterfall trail the previous day). Walking along under the rainforest canopy wasn't too bad since most of the rain doesn't reach the floor, but when we arrived at the canopy ladders it was bucketing down again. We waited 15 minutes for things to clear and although the rain didn't lift much, the wind seemed to die off a fair bit.

The reason the guide was worried about wind was because the canopy walk is entirely constructed from wood, bamboo poles and some steel cable ropes attached to trees. It's a series of suspension bridges, 480 metres long and mostly about 20 metres above the forest floor. In times of wind, the trees obviously sway and the bridges sway dangerously along with them. There's also a higher risk of branches snapping off trees higher up and falling on the bridges.

But we put all that out of our heads, and just after 8am started out on to the bridges. It was a pretty exhilerating experience, but as promised we didn't really see any animals. Very interesting to see the forest from a very different angle though! And we were very glad we did it, despite getting very wet in the process - but that's what rain jackets are for I guess.

We walked back along the boardwalk for the final time very quickly, since our flight was at 10am and we were getting picked up at the park entrance at 9. After some serious striding we made it back to the park HQ by 8:45 meaning we just had time for a super-quick breakfast - pancakes again! Out the front just after 9 and the car is there but no sign of the woman we'd arranged to meet. After a few discussions with a nearby local, we sit and wait nearby. Soon the car goes past with a different driver, but I flag it down anyway and we hop in! Go figure.

Arrived at the airport by 9:20 and it's no problem at all as nobody else is around. Check in and wait as the plane arrives and gets turned around. It's another twin-engine turboprop that seats 72, but only 14 passengers on board! Flight to Miri was very uneventful - only 30 minutes so it didn't have time to be!

Here in Miri we had a 4 hour layover as our flight to Kota Kinabalu wasn't until 3pm. We picked a choice spot with wifi, power points and beverages and set about catching up on the internet. Eventually it was time to board our flight so we did; back to AirAsia after our last two MASWings outings. Again a very short flight of only 45 minutes.

Taxi to the hotel near waterfront in Kota Kinabalu, and settle in to our room on the 6th floor which is newly renovated and a huge relief after some dodgy rooms over the past week or two. Probably the nicest place we've stayed since nomaps flashpackers in Malacca. We headed out to explore a bit and found the jetty where speedboats for the nearby diving paradise islands depart - maybe we'll check that out tomorrow. There were a bunch of guys playing an indoor soccer competition in the old dock warehouses which seems like a great use for them!

Had a couple of sundowner beers at a nearby bar then set off in search of dinner at a local market. Decided to just sample local delicacies so we had some chicken wings on sticks (done on a BBQ in a chilli glaze), then picked out some vegetable martabak, fried bananas (6 pieces for 1 RMY!), a couple of buns and a pair of mango drinks. Very much local prices, so we ate well and very very cheaply. Back to the hotel around 9pm as Shandos was struggling - she had tripped on an uneven paver while looking sideways to cross the road and had taken some skin off her knee, poor thing. Showers and bed time at 10pm after a long day.Read more