Thursday, April 25, 2013

Iman's First Certificate of Excellence

Iman has a heavy load this term. Not only does she have her normal sports schedule during, after school and occasionally during lunch breaks but she is also involved in the Junior School Production "Africa Rocks" which shows in three weeks. And in five weeks she will go away with the junior school team for the FORBISSEA sports meet. On top of that she has just this term started taking trumpet lessons. All her hard work and commitment is paying off and a few weeks ago she was amongst a group chosen from the Junior School to meet the Principal Mr. Andrew Fowler-Watt for juice and biscuits. 

Monday, April 22, 2013

Mulu Adventure - Part 2 Camp 5, Pinnacles and Mulu

Here are the second set of pictures at last. The first set of narrative I deleted by mistake so I had to re-do everything again!

It was a very disappointing start to our second day at Camp 5, having had heavy rain come down on us for most of the night. Not the quietest night I have ever had but despite noise from the adjoining dorm, night sounds from outside and the rain on the metal roof, we all actually had a good night sleep. So tired were we from the trek the day before, we were all tucked into our nets by 8:30pm! The rain unfortunately put an end to our hopes of climbing The Pinnacles that day. The 6:30 set off time was set  back to 7:00 then 7:30 but as the rain did not stop the Ranger put off any plans for the morning. (Note when I say Ranger, one has an expectation of a khaki uniformed personnel complete with hat but here in the jungle he was shirtless, wore ragged shorts and had a cigarette hanging from his mouth most of the time!)


Not much to do on a wet morning in Camp 5 so we had to entertain ourselves

And take more pictures. It's amazing how much water there was and how fast it was coming down

The necessary "room" picture. For the first night we shared it with another family. The mattresses (if you can call them that) were actually quite comfortable despite appearances. The second night we had the luxury of 2 layers!

Camp 5 with the eating area front left and kitchen immediately behind with toilets to the far left. The dorms middle and right.

When the rain eventually stopped later in the morning, the Ranger was still reluctant to let us anywhere  near the Pinnacles climb but with our persistence and that of our guides, the Ranger gave us the all clear to climb up but only to the Mini Pinnacles, which are only half way up. The climb up would normally take three to four hours and same time coming down if not more. We had spoken to a group of twenty-somethings who had done the climb the day before and they completed it in 9 hours! And accordingly to Verdly, the latest he had come done with a client was 11pm and the longest record for a person to reach down was 2am. All climbers have to set off by 6:30am and have to reach a certain point by 11am or turn back. Each climber has to leave with three litres of water and leave a portion of that half way up for the journey down. Not that we had to worry about any of that.


I was expecting that the climb up was not going to be easy. Some who have climbed both Mt Kinabalu and the Pinnacles say the latter is much more difficult. Almost immediately the climb went vertical and challenging but what I didn't expect was for it to be so treacherous. We were climbing on a path of crisscrossing tree roots and sharp rock which just went on up and more.



After nearly two hours we reached the "Mini Pinnacles". Post devouring our sandwiches (which we all turned our noses up to when we were given them at 6am), we climbed up a bit more despite Simpson our guide that day pleading for us to go back down. But after a while and a combination of fatigue, tired of rocks and roots and slippery boots, I had pretty much enough of climbing and felt myself going all over the place so it was a relief when we decided enough climbing and in any case there was no chance of us going up to the top. Big sigh of relief from Simpson. Not that the journey down was any easier to going up and it took us another two hours to go back down.




Back down to Camp 5 the weather had improved so time to take a walk, take more pictures and wait for dinner time really!

Top of Mt Benarat which is opposite Mt. Api (which the Pinnacles are on)

Both days there we bathed in the river just beyond the steps. There's nothing quite like refreshing cold water coming from the mountains and just the thing after a day walking in the rainforest.


Of course the following morning the weather was beautiful again and would have been perfect to climb the Pinnacles. Would I try do it again? I probably would but I would also attempt it in the drier months, do more research on footwear and it would be a good idea to do a bit of hill training before hand! One thing's for sure I will go with the same guides again. They are both young guys but very knowledgeable, entertaining and actually very good cooks!


The 8k walk down river was very picturesque with plenty of water scenery and crossings. It was easier and more pleasant than the Headhunters trail and only took us 2 hours to complete plus no leeches were sighted!  However being the first ones to travel the path that morning, there were plenty of spiderwebs which I dislike so I never like to be in front which was just as well when Nicole spotted a black snake getting out of our way!




At the pick up point we went on a longboat for the ride to Mulu which took just over half an hour. Mt Api with the Pinnacles in the background - saved for another day!

And once at Mulu we had a pitstop at Clearwater Cave for a quick swim in the pool with water from the cave stream. Great to have the refreshing dip after the walk. 
Think I could give up my warm showers for this! 

And then on to the airport another twenty minutes down river. Being dropped off to an airport on a longboat was a first for all of us. Up the steps and the airport was 100m away.

Farewell Mulu. It was an amazing trip and I couldn't have chosen three better and like-minded girls to share the experience with. Thank you Hana for pushing us all to do it, Anna for convincing me and Nicole for being at the right place at the right time!

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Mulu Adventure - Part 1, From Kuala Mendalam to Headhunters Trail

Here are the pictures at last from the Headhunters trip that Anna, Hana, Nicole and I did last week. We arrived at Kuala Lurah just after 7am and were picked up for the hour drive to the Kuala Mendalam Longhouse. From there it was a near three hour ride up the Mentawai river. We spotted some birds and also a part of a large python coming out of the murky water on to the bank.

Our guide Verdly and the boatman loading up the longboat

Each longhouse on the river has an entrance walkway with the name of the longhouse

Thrilling boat ride upriver against the rapids 

Most of the journey you think you are in the middle of nowhere until signs of "civilisation" appear

These red barked trees appeared about an hour into our journey and seems to grow in clusters

We were enjoying the greenery when this logging camp appeared out of no where. Not impressed.

We were lucky there was plenty of water. In the drier months we would have had to get out and push the boat up through the rapids.


We came off the main river onto Kuala Terikan for the start of the Headhunters Trail. Note the change in the colour of the water as we entered the smaller Terikan river.

A branch across the river is spotted up ahead

And it turns out to be a massive tree trunk across the river. As the boat couldn't get across we all climbed out and the guide took out all our packs and with much pulling and pushing, himself and the boatman managed to drag the boat across the massive tree trunk. 

The picturesque Terikan River with the mist in the distance.

And so we readied ourselves for the 11.3k trek which the guide said would take us 5 hours across the flat jungle. 5 hours? We said we would do it in half that time! What we didn't know was that the walk  turned out to be quite treacherous paved with slippery planks and rocks and on top of all that infested with leeches. And we didn't factor in that our backpacks too felt heavy after a while. We completed the 11.3k in just over 4 hours!

Not the most picturesque jungle walk I have been on but there were some lovely streams we crossed with amazing colours and a hanging bridge below which are always very exciting.


The bridge itself is such a work of art with all the knots

And this tree has one of the biggest bases I have seen

It was a big relief to get to the end of the walk and our destination for the day, Camp 5 Mulu.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Jack is 8

One very happy 8 year old this morning with his long board! Sushi and a golf cake for his birthday tea! Happy Birthday to our Jack xx









A walk on the wild side

Last weekend an opportunity to do the Headhunters Trail from Limbang to Mulu arose and I kindly turned it down being Jack's birthday weekend and a swimming competition round the corner on Sunday. But after much persuasion and ooo...ing and arr...ing I have decided to go with it with the other two girls, Hana and Anna. 

The plan is to get to the Kuala Lurah border at dawn tomorrow morning to meet our guide. From there we will drive to the river and go on a boat ride before starting the walk to Camp 5 of the Mulu National Park. We will then spend our first night there. The next morning we will climb the Pinnacles which is a challenging 3 hours ascend and descend up to 1,200m. We will spend a second night at Camp 5 and the next day head to Mulu to take our flight back to Miri and head back home.

It's going to be a challenge but looking forward to it!



Wednesday, April 03, 2013

Getting Into The Swing

Jack and Ayden spent five afternoons with Coach Ahmad during the holidays and they are starting to enjoy the rewards of their hard work. Donncha has much work to do to keep up!