Sea View Hotel Kuala Belait

... but very warm nonetheless. A great pool kept us cool. Didn't realise that the sun, though hidden, was quite potent and we both ended up with burnt red skin by mid-afternoon.<br>A slow relaxing day ended with a flying visit to the supermarket for a bbq'd chicken, then cake and drinks at Nicola's with her Ozzie outlaws, and then supper and packing before crash-out.<br>

... The first tower was 42 metres high and the second was 50+m. The photos don't tell the true story I'm afraid. You do need a head for heights to scale this monster. The views from the top were eye-catching - they never come out well in photos though. We had the place to ourselves fortunately, so we could take our time viewing or climbing. Then back down to the river again and the longboat ride back. Steph and Vanessa finished the trip with a second float downstream to cool off ...

... it shows. Then on to the Clearwater Cave system, supposedly the largest, longest cave system in the world and still growing with further exploration on a two year cycle. We were shown a wide variety of fungi, bacterial growth etc and the water flow, strong even in the dry season, has life-lengthening properties. Typical cave scenery, including helicites.<br>We finished off our cave visit with a dip in the Clearwater River - very refreshing in the humid stickiness ...

... anyone's request and wherever the driver feels the urge. We had been told (but with no real confidence) that we could probably (?!) get a taxi to the border. And this we did. No need for 3rd World negotiation skills here - upto the taxi counter in Arrivals, tell 'em where you want to go, fixed rate by distance, voucher bought and take the first taxi in the line outside. Easy!<br>We booked to go to the border only - big mistake with hindsight - and ...

... so we asked him and were told that it would take eight hours! We had to call the Miri hostel from a public phone at the half-way bus stop to let them know we'd be arriving late. The bus was comfortable but well-used, to be polite. Whenever the bus stopped all the cockroaches came out to play. Our bags in the overhead compartments were crawling and we had to regularly flick the crunchy critters off our snack bag (extra protein is good but not if it's moving ...

... Another exciting discovery in the sky were two brilliantly black eagles. They where absolutely massive and we loved them. Various other small birds and tons of stray dogs, but other than that, fairly uneventful. I imagine the next few days will bring new and wonderful natural delights. We are going to Gulung Mulu National park. It is very remote so we have to fly there (a return ticket is only 45 pounds). We are staying in a lodge in the park for two nights. The ...

... dark and we had to find our way out by using only the distant lights as our guidance. We made it to the Headquarter alright after a few more wrong turns and fumbles. Met our guide there and were driven back to the Resort, feeling absolutely tired and knackered! At that moment, we were happy to be back to a nice, modern abode where we can have our hot shower and be greeted by delicious food as we were absolutely ...

... So we set out for the day and ran a number of errands: we bought plane tickets through a travel agent, got the phone unlocked, bought supplies, looked into buying camping gear (which we decided against when we looked at the prices), and did a lot of walking. We ended the day with some delicious Indian food and went home to pack up. True to form, we ended up doing so at about 1:00am - not the best time management, as we had to be on the road at 6:30am the next morning....

... rest of the journey, in a huge thunder storm, so had a couple of sleeping pills in the hope of waking up in Kuching. So in the next hour I was woken up 3 times. Twice by police checking our visas and once at the dinner stop. I staggered over to some chicken cart vendor like a zombie and bought some hairy chicken satay like skewers, quickly devoured them hoping I wouldn't regret it in the morning and returned to the land of nod. Thankfully there were no more interruptions.