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.
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.

... 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.
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!
We booked to go to the border only - big mistake with hindsight - and ...

... clean" and woke up at seven and left. It wasn't very traumatic though, I slept fine which is all I'm really concerned with. We are in Miri now and our accommodation here is a lot better. It's homely and clean, the facilities are really good and it's as though you are staying in someone's flat. Very nice. On the nature front there is some exciting news. I saw a hornbill. Only very briefly, so I hope I will get another opportunity, but it was very exciting none the ...

... it, including the part where we took a wrong turn and got lost and ended up in a huge field which has turned into a big paddy field, filled with rainwater. Argi had to carry me in his arms to cross the field to reach the dirt road at the other end. Right there in the pouring rain, we embraced and kissed like two teenagers on their first camping trip!! I wish we had taken some photos of the "paddy field" but it was already ...

... asked her about Bario, which was our next destination. We were under the impression that we needed to book things well in advance and had to find a group of people making the same trek we were - if we didn't, we assumed we'd end up stranded. Joanne told me it wasn't so, and she recommended that we just book a flight and get up there. She also recommended a little homestay in Bario, that I took under advisement. With that knowledge, we decided to try and get to Bario the next ...

... Mi Goreng before boarding the bus and getting prepared for a long(16 hour) journey to Kuching. The bus had amazing seats that we could recline almost all the way and a really loud speaker system that was playing alright (for Asian standards) music until the bloody Crazy Frog and Mai-a-hee (Numa Numa) songs came on and I wanted to smash the CD. I didn't and we had to listen to the CD 5 times on a loop! I was going crazy. Got to about 7pm and I decided it was going to be an ...

... s so hot as we trudge from the ferry to a nearby cafe. Rene stays with the bags and I disappear for a whistle stop tour of the local available accomodation. Due to most places being full and the others being way too expensive we take a room at the Federal Hotel. Labuan is way more costly than KK so 57R gets us a worn out tired old room with pigeons nesting on the windowcill and cockroaches (I didn't discover that until night time, and didn't tell Rene till morning ...