What a trip!
So both Rebbeka (23 yr old future lawyer from Quebec), Maria (46 yr old German former physicist and now maths teacher in Penang, Malaysia) took off from Kuching, by boat at 8:45am on a Sunday morning (April 7th). We were staying inntyhe same hostel and thus decided to share the costs of doing hitting the "road" (actually the river) together. Mostly hotel rooms and taxis.
The boat to Sibu (open deck speedboat mostly used by locals (and us 3 that specific day) took about 5 hours...gosh...the sky was super cloudy and no sun at all...yet, I managed to get sort of sun burnt on my right arm. Anyhow, loud and windy, at times rainy ride to Sibu was great, accompanied by some niiiiiice salsa and batchata on my iPod. :0)
Sibu is a huge port city integrating very well Chinese with Indians and Malays. We hit the first hostel we found before dark. Cheap and basic. Did the trick.
Then we went to the high Chinese pagoda, 7 floors to get a nice view of the sunset over the city and the river. Niiiiiice! See photos later.
That also allowed us to spot the night market which we off course hit soon after.
This country is filled with yummy food everywhere at very decent prices. And that night market was just a festival of flavors for the pallet and the stomach. Ouffffff you should have seen us three devouring every bit of new food we tasted. Delicious!!!!!! I won't say more to not make you drool. Well....dumplings, fried sweet sesame seeds covered balls if dough, green jelly balls filled with coconut paste, baked dough stuffed with BBQ pork, lizard kebabs, fried spiraled potatoes on a skewer covered with sour sauce...D-licious!!!
So it was with filled and happy stomachs that we went to sleep.
Next day, on the docks at 5:20am to catch the speed boat to Belaga. That boat was kind of like a huge fish with a super strong engine. Fits about 70 people. No outside deck, but freezing AC cold leather seats. The boat was fully booked and the ride took about 8 hours p the river. It was just amazing to be able to see all the different little villages, well, rather tiny little docks surrounded by a few houses on stilts, where little kids were swimming naked in the chocolaty river water.
We arrived in Belaga after a looooooonnnnnng ride. Oufff thank God. It was freezing in that boat.
Our hotel there was extremely modest. 3 beds, AC, light. Bathroom at end of hallway. $4 per person.
Belaga is a tiny village, I mean tiny. Yet, lots of people around, and lots of traffic on the back roads. Oh, and Belaga is absolutely lost in the middle of nowhere. Only boat and 4x4 accessible.
We asked around for guides to go check out some long houses. All we were told is that now the long houses are way to modern and not worth visiting any longer. At least not the ones in that area. Barrio, further north, and on the Indonesian border with the Kalabit territory would be a much better and authentic option.
Our diner in Belaga was really surreal. We reach the town night market right before the storm hit (these days, it storms rain every evening from about 6:30pm till morning).
The market is composed of three stalls. We are the three of us, another French couple, and 5 local kids...and bunch of cats. Food was simple but delicious. Our hotel's curfew was 10pm, so at 9:30 we decide to be brave and fave the storm. In the end, rather refreshing than anything given how hot it is.
So the next day, we get on a 4x4 for a very bumpy 3.5 hour ride up and through the rainforest and palm oil fields. Very interesting ride to see from very close the outcome of the serious logging industry in the country and the development of the palm oil as a main source of revenue around.
We arrived at what we call the "junction", bus stop on the road linking Bintulu in the south to Midi in the north.
We get on a bus soon after for a few hours till we arrive at Batu Niah. Famous for its ginormous caves. What an amazing hike and discovery of those caves. Wow! Caves initially lived in by indigenous people hunting swallow birds nests for trade. Simply amazing the infrastructure they had built in order to reach out those nests on the ceiling of the caves.
That night, the 9th of April was also Rebbeka's 24th bday.
Niah is also quite a tiny town, though a bit bigger than Belaga.
At the local restaurant called Friendy Cafe (owner's typo or not, who knows?), a few beers to celebrate and yummy food. Gosh I love fried noodles! Not having any desert or sort of sweets to stick a candle on, the owner put together a sort of "croque monsieur", two toasts with butter, topped by a fried egg and some slices of tomato, she even wrote with syrup Happy Birthday to you on it. So nice!
So to make the owner proud and also embarrass Rebbeka a bit, I sang happy bday song. Lol
And then, yet again, we faced to stormy rain to head back to the hotel.
Next day, lazy morning...up at 8 am. Woohoo!
Back to the junction to catch a bus to Miri...3 or 4 hours...don't really remember.
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