Sharif, a Kenyan descent from England, has been hanging around in Kuching for the past several weeks. In accordance to his initial schedule, he attended the three-day Rainforest World Music Festival 2007 last July and planned to travel to the other parts of Sarawak after that Festival. The key words here are “planned to travel”. As I am writing this, he is still in Kuching! Just like Isti, he’s charmed by this tiny city although he kept on saying that he’s going up north…soon. I asked him what does he do in Kuching every day? He goes to Ruai Kitai every night but doesn’t drink alcohol. He doesn’t like to go to touristy places because, as he claims, he’s “allergic to tourists”. So, what does he do? Nothing. Kuching is a great place to chill out.
Last week, I asked Sharif if he’s interested to go with me to Bako. He quickly replied “Nooo. I am allergic to tourists, remember?” After 14 months of traveling around the globe, I think I can see where he obtained his “allergy”. I told him that I’m going to a campsite in Bako where tourists do not go nor do they know the place. He asked “Really? Where is this place?” I described to him the routes, terrains, vegetation and the campsite itself. He was interested and asked me if his friend, Kay (also from England), could come along. I said “Yeah sure, why not?”
I picked up Sharif and Kay last Saturday from their B&B accommodation at Green Hill at around 7am, and made our way to Bako. We arrived at Bako NP jetty about half-an-hour later and after a quick cup of coffee, we took a boat to the national park HQ. Once we registered our names, I took them to the Paku Trail to see the promiscuous proboscis monkeys, which Bako NP is famous for. That was around 9am and the walk along the Paku trail took us around 30 minutes. There were a large group of proboscis monkeys, probably around 12 of them, foraging along the trail. Most of it were females and its offspring. After that touristic activity, we headed for the canteen at HQ to have our breakfast and get our things ready for the walk.
We started off along the plank path near the jetty at around 11am and immediately went up the hill at the end of the path. I was slightly worried about Kay because she was having a flu that morning. But she told me she’s okay even when I told her it’d probably take around 4-5 hours of walking. The walk isn’t that difficult, it’s just nice and maybe…maybe a bit challenging for the uninitiated. She said she could cope with it as she has clocked a lot of trekking hours in the Amazon and parts of Latin America. Now, don’t tell me that’s good. That’s bloody impressive! That’s something that I’d like to do one day. But at the moment, let’s just stick to the modest trails of Bako.
After one hour of walking, we rested at the junction of Tanjung Rhu. All of a sudden, I noticed Kay’s hands were swollen. She only realized it later and I was worried. She said there was no pain but was worried why did it suddenly swollen. I brought along my first-aid kit with me as I always do when doing such hikes. But I didn’t know the kind of symptom that swollen hands represent. She could have transformed into the Incredible Hulk for all I know…and we would be in biiiiig trouble. “You don’t like it when I’m angry”. But she assumed it must have been the painkiller that she took this morning because her kidney was aching.
Posing at Paya Jelutong
We continued walking to the Tajor waterfall and there were tourists there as well. Sharif’s allergy must have worsen by then. After a short stop at the waterfall, we proceeded to the next stream which was about 30 minutes from the waterfall, located on the Telok Limau-Bukit Keruing junction. It was more peaceful there as not many tourists take this route. We had a long rest on this spot because Kay was tired. I had expected this because the flu and coughing was getting worse. I told them that starting from this point, the trail was going to get a bit difficult.
Walking through Paya Jelutong
It was going uphill. Sharif and Kay were lagging behind. The terrain towards Bukit Keruing ascended gradually and at the foot of the hill itself, we could see the steepness of the hill. I climbed up first and waited for them at the top. About 20 minutes later, we were at the top and the path towards the campsite was downhill from then. We arrived at the campsite at around 5pm.
Campsite in the morning
After a while of rest, Sharif and I set up the tent and I did my hammock. While Sharif was tending to Kay’s health needs, I gathered firewood nearby. Sharif did help me with the firewood but as he crossed the stream, he fell into it together with the firewood. By evening, the fire was ready and we had our dinner. This trip was slightly different for me this time. There were three essential ‘first times’ on this trip. First, I forgot to bring my super-duper reliable RM6.70-Cap Gajah hiking shoe.
The ever-reliable Cap Gajah!
Instead, I brought along my cut-throat but unreliable Teva hiking shoe. I had that stupid shoe for years and discovered that it was not good for jungle hiking especially in this environment. As Sharif commented on Kay’s heavy duty hiking boots “It’s probably made to hike in Iceland”. Heck, the sole of my Teva broke even as I walked to the Bako HQ office! The park staffs laughed at me but was nice enough to get me one of the park ranger’s own Cap Gajah. I was a happy man.
Second, I did not bring the usual pig face this time because Sharif’s religious prohibition and it’s not appropriate for this occasion. I planned on bringing chicken meat instead but Kay was afraid of Salmonella. So, I brought sausages instead. And clearly enough, I failed big time when it came to BBQ-ing sausages at our campsite. Being British, Sharif showed me the correct way.
Third, I did not bring any langkau or other kind of cheap alcohol with me. Although Sharif encouraged me to bring alcohol — and he doesn’t even drink! — I did not take any along with me. And Kay was not feeling well either. Hence, to share with her the doses of ethanol would have just knocked her off! And if I drank alone, I would definitely look pathetic. Alcoholic vet.
That evening, Kay went to sleep early while Sharif and I continued chatting outside. My mouth was craving for Sahip or langkau as we talked. By 9pm, when we exhausted our topics of conversation, we turned on our sleeping mode. I comfortably dived into my hammock.
I had a pleasant undisturbed sleep that night, especially with the rain falling on the zinc roof of the hut. I got up at 6am and lighted the remnants of last night’s firewood to keep warm. Sharif and Kay were still sleeping in the tent. I could hear Kay coughing. When Sharif got out of the tent at around 8.30am, he informed me that Kay is having a fever. I just told her to rest. By 9.30am, Kay managed to get out of the tent and joined Sharif and I for breakfast. She did not look well but I told her the trail back is relatively easy. I told her she did not have to carry anything and I would carry her small bag pack.
About to leave the campsite
After giving Kay a couple of hours to rest, we packed up our stuffs and by 11.30am, we left the campsite. She was weak but at least her fever had slowly cooled down. We met some of Sharif’s allergies along the way and I was a bit surprised with the large number of tourists we met along the trails on that day. Usually, it is not common to meet tourists especially on the less used trails.
Along the way, I showed Sharif the little crawlies we encountered. The usual creatures that one gets to see at the park’s HQ in Telok Assam do not manifest themselves along these god-forsaken trails. In other words, the further away you go from the park’s HQ, the less animals you would find. In the morning at the campsite, we heard the sound of a barking deer in the distance. During our trek back to the park’s HQ, I could only hear rustles on the ground that could have been a small mammal. But this time, the only creatures that fascinated Sharif were of the tiny crawly kinds. First, we came across a spider that had beautiful colors. Sharif and Kay asked me if this spider’s bite was poisonous and I told them I have not heard of anyone in Sarawak got bitten to sickness or death by spider. So, I thought this eight-legged fellow was alright. Click. Photo taken.
And Sharif told me how during his childhood he used to find joy in burning ants with kerosene. hhm…that’s indeed a strange childhood hobby. It’s probably like fishing for him. As we went further, we bumped into a brown centipede. Both Sharif and Kay thought it looked vicious enough to kill a baby elephant but I told them this one was quite harmless. I had to show Sharif that it was okay for the centipede to crawl on my hand before he believed me. Then, I handed the centipede to him. Click. Photo taken.
While he was handling the centipede, I told him even if it would have bitten him the worse that could happen is he could become the next superhero — Centipedeman or something. Unfortunately, I did not know much about these tiny creatures because it’s not that significant in our (or my) food chain. Or at least, I’ve never heard anyone I know that have eaten this particular centipede or the spider above! Now, if you had asked me about snakes, I would have been more than happy to show off what little things I know about these slithering serpents.
Another creature that we encountered that is not in my food chain is the … er … funny-looking shell-less slug. Sharif said it’s head looked like the head of a hammer head shark. Whatever makes you happy, man. Click. Photo taken.
Although we did have breakfast in the morning, the slug seemed to arouse Sharif’s appetite. The walk back was relatively alright but understandably in her condition, Kay found it quite taxing. Her flu bothered her and she was feeling very weak. She told me that the only thing that keeps her going was her mental strength. Either it was mental or physical strength, she did very well to walk the trails.
We arrived at the park’s HQ at 2pm. We went to the canteen so Kay could have her Coca Cola and Sharif…er…did his own thing. Both of them were astounded to see the park’s residential mascot – the pig forest (Sus barbatus) – roaming freely by the canteen. I think they should train that thing to act as a porter for long hikes in the future.
Once everything was done at the park, the friendly boatman Sabri took us back to Kpg. Bako. We had our late seafood lunch at one of the coffee shops there and by 4.30pm, we left our Bako adventure behind.
