MULU NATIONAL PARK (PART II/II)

This is a continuation from Part I.....

The second day was spent to go to the other two show caves. The wind and clearwater caves. To reach these two caves require a sampan ride through the river to reach them.



The tour members were enjoying it but since Sarawak is famous for crocodiles, we must keep our eyes wide open for any to come over to attack us!



Still, not fearing death and confident of beating the crocodiles, the members just smiled away as they enjoy the 20 minutes ride!



Nah, there were no crocodiles. I was bluffing.



We reached the jetty and headed towards the wind cave first. It is named just as what it suppose to mean. When you are inside the cave, you can feel the wind blowing through it.



You know you go for cave visits and the tour guide will always tell you stories along the way based on the structures around that look like some human figures and so on.





Even benches are provided in this cave to give tiring people some rest!









A handshake!







Can you see many creatures climbing up the structure?







Honeycomb?



Confucius?



Going down the hill!





The pathway created from timber.







Finally, we reached the exit point to go down the hill to the clearwater cave.





Took a group photo near the river!









The shadow shone on some structures will also be used to tell a story. Sometimes you are asked to see the shadow to find out what it looks like. Sometimes it is the structures themselves.





Two lovers kissing?

"Polis! Mana IC?" (torchlights just reminds me of police ambush spotchecks at night! Haha!)



Guy's family jewel? Hehe! This thing is huge! I should have shown the front elevation photo with both balls! It is almost my height! Haha!







We reached the water area. The clear water is really fresh and clean. People said that if you wash your face with this water, your complexion will improve 200%! Haha! The water is so clean and refreshing when you drink it, you know the quality is incredible! The ultimate water is much better than your mineral or tap water.











Finally, finished with visiting the cave and off we went to chill out in the river!







We had our dinner on site before going home. Actually, there are still some parts I have not covered, which include the Mulu airport, Royal Mulu Resort and our national park HQ hostels. Will do it in another BONUS post. Look out for it!

I called my tour guide, a man around his late 40s to 50s I guess and here is the price list:
(Tours will only be conducted if you have at least 7-8 people)

1. 3 days 2 nights 4 show caves, National Park HQ hostel accomodation and meals provided (simple home cook meal) around RM230-240 each. I think this room is the RM50 per night type. You also have the RM80 per night and RM18 per night types.

2. 3 days 2 nights Pinnacle tour, meals and camping accomodation along the way around RM280 each.

3. 3 days 2 nights Gunung Mulu tour, meals and camping accomodation along the way around RM280 each.

4. Other extra caves visit will require you to hire guides from the park, some caves take a day to a few days depending on trail difficulty and length of journey.

The guy will only take the first tour, the 2nd and 3rd will be for the other guides. Why they are more expensive? Well, the basically need to carry the gas tank to site to cook food for you along the journey for your meals. Therefore, it is abit inconvenient. My complaint for the tour? Well, the food is very basic, sometimes you are just eating tin can food. You have to have very low expectations on food quality and you will enjoy your trip. Another alternative is you can negotiate that you cook on your own so it will be cheaper. Then, you need to bring your food supplies before you fly to Mulu. This place don't have grocery stores around.

As for flights, he told me the flight from Miri-Mulu is more expensive now that it is not run by MAS. I went to their website and check out the prices. They are using the Fokker 50 and not Twin Otter. Probably that's why it is more expensive. It is RM84+RM25 (airport tax) for one way Miri-Mulu. Two ways you are spending RM218. Of course, knowing AirAsia, their ticket pricing fluctuate according to mood! AirAsia KL-Miri cheapest I found in AirAsia website is RM109.99+RN50 (airport tax) for one way KL-Miri. Two ways you are spending RM319.98.

Well, it is not cheap if you count in all the flight charges! Oh well, I am from Sarawak so I pay less for the airfares.

If you stay at Royal Mulu Resort, you have a choice of Share Room RM206 (for 2 person), Standard Room RM137, Deluxe Room RM222, Executive Suite RM322, Crown Suite RM1022 and Royal Suite RM1922 per night, all rooms include 3 daily budget meals. You can also opt for 3 other plans which are far more expensive. You must stay minimum 2 nights for the Share Room and Standard Room.

The best time to go? December is wet but it doesn't mean other months will not have any rainfalls. Try to avoid holiday time when it is too packed. When the place get too crowded, it is not nice for cave visits as I tell you that the paths built are so narrow, you will basically have traffic jams. The paths are built as small as possible so that manmade structures are kept to the minimum.

If you are interested to get the contact, please e-mail me for information at diehardx(at)gmail(dot)com. Do post in the comment here or the latest comment post in the blog (if you only read this post weeks after) to alert me as I hardly check my gmail mailbox. Once in a bluemoon duration.

Finally, if flying from Miri to Mulu is too expensive, then you can always take land tranport. There are such services and the duration of the travel is around 4 hours.