Raining on Land and Sea: Day II
On Sunday, we got up early and headed to Kenyalang Park Wet Market for a quick breakfast of Sarawak's fabled Mee Kolok. The food court was located one floor above the wafting smells of dead chickens, pigs and assorted seafood. Sure brings back memories. I'm amazed by the sheer amount of fresh produce they have. Needless to say, breakfast was superb. Though simple, the springy noodles and the char siew provided much satisfaction. The meal was completed with a cup of coffee (I still can't seem to convince KH that every cup of coffee served in Sarawak IS Sarawak Coffee :P). Post-breakfast entertainment was a pair of humping dogs at the parking lot. We exited after paying MYR0.20 (!!!) and headed for Bako.
The road there was real bumpy. It was worse for us sitting at the back of POD's Kancil with super hard springs. A few times during the trip I felt that my Mee Kolok was about to do an escape. But we survived and arrived at the Bako National Park Terminal in less than an hour. Paid for the entrance fee and arranged for a boat to bring us in. There was a "Beware of Crocodiles" sign but we only came across one sunbathing juvenile crocodile. Bako is right at the coastline of the South China Sea and is lined with mangrove swamps. A different feel from the Jerantut National Park which is smack dab in the middle of Peninsular Malaysia.
The main draw of Bako seems to be its Proboscis Monkeys but I saw none during my visit. :(. We trekked the Teluk Pandan Besar and Teluk Pandan Kecil Trail. It took us about 2 hours to cover the 2.5km distance inclusive of the short detour into Teluk Pandan Besar. I think I was a little exhausted from the night's before's activities as I felt really giddy after finishing the ascent portion of the Lintong Trail. Luckily, I regained my stamina after a short rest. However, after the shady forest trek of Lintong, we were at the mercy of the noonday sun at the sandy plateaues towards Teluk Pandan Kecil. One cannot descend to Teluk Pandan Besar, so we just admired the bay from the atop the cliff. Teluk Pandan Kecil is smaller as the name implies and we could actually trek right down to the beach.
The stones had interesting patterns from water and wind erosion. At the beach, we took more pictures and played in the sand and surf (nothing of the Surf Surf Revolution variety, sorry!). Hermit crabs aplenty and even a stranded jellyfish. We were quite pooped from the trek, so we asked the boatman to pick us up from the bay. On the way back, we saw the Sea Stack (a highly-overrated column of stone). Halfway back, the sunny skies turned dark and it poured on us. We used the life jackets as shelter. Soaking wet, we drove over to nearby Kampung Muara Tebas for lunch at Sin Soon Lee Seafood Restaurant.
Lunch highlights included our first taste of midding, a local, wild vegetable that's related to ferns (love at first bite), oyster omelette (more like keropok topped with an interesting garnish, ansui), steamed pomfret, stir-fried chicken with ginger and spring onions (tasted like my mum's version) and sea cucumber soup (the starchy type). Feeling extremely full, we decided to walk it off at Ching San Yuan, a temple on the hillock just opposite the restaurant. It was built by the early Chinese immigrants to Sarawak.
We headed home and cleaned off the day's sweat. Dinner plans were cancelled after POD developed a migraine from catching too many rays at Bako. Being the quiet town that it is, the only place that KH and I could eat (without transportation) was at the General Hospital! The food was horrible. Back at the hotel, KH and I snuggled in bed and watched "The Nutty Professor", but we didn't finish watching... :P.
...Next: Hidden Culture...
The road there was real bumpy. It was worse for us sitting at the back of POD's Kancil with super hard springs. A few times during the trip I felt that my Mee Kolok was about to do an escape. But we survived and arrived at the Bako National Park Terminal in less than an hour. Paid for the entrance fee and arranged for a boat to bring us in. There was a "Beware of Crocodiles" sign but we only came across one sunbathing juvenile crocodile. Bako is right at the coastline of the South China Sea and is lined with mangrove swamps. A different feel from the Jerantut National Park which is smack dab in the middle of Peninsular Malaysia.
The main draw of Bako seems to be its Proboscis Monkeys but I saw none during my visit. :(. We trekked the Teluk Pandan Besar and Teluk Pandan Kecil Trail. It took us about 2 hours to cover the 2.5km distance inclusive of the short detour into Teluk Pandan Besar. I think I was a little exhausted from the night's before's activities as I felt really giddy after finishing the ascent portion of the Lintong Trail. Luckily, I regained my stamina after a short rest. However, after the shady forest trek of Lintong, we were at the mercy of the noonday sun at the sandy plateaues towards Teluk Pandan Kecil. One cannot descend to Teluk Pandan Besar, so we just admired the bay from the atop the cliff. Teluk Pandan Kecil is smaller as the name implies and we could actually trek right down to the beach.
The stones had interesting patterns from water and wind erosion. At the beach, we took more pictures and played in the sand and surf (nothing of the Surf Surf Revolution variety, sorry!). Hermit crabs aplenty and even a stranded jellyfish. We were quite pooped from the trek, so we asked the boatman to pick us up from the bay. On the way back, we saw the Sea Stack (a highly-overrated column of stone). Halfway back, the sunny skies turned dark and it poured on us. We used the life jackets as shelter. Soaking wet, we drove over to nearby Kampung Muara Tebas for lunch at Sin Soon Lee Seafood Restaurant.
Lunch highlights included our first taste of midding, a local, wild vegetable that's related to ferns (love at first bite), oyster omelette (more like keropok topped with an interesting garnish, ansui), steamed pomfret, stir-fried chicken with ginger and spring onions (tasted like my mum's version) and sea cucumber soup (the starchy type). Feeling extremely full, we decided to walk it off at Ching San Yuan, a temple on the hillock just opposite the restaurant. It was built by the early Chinese immigrants to Sarawak.
We headed home and cleaned off the day's sweat. Dinner plans were cancelled after POD developed a migraine from catching too many rays at Bako. Being the quiet town that it is, the only place that KH and I could eat (without transportation) was at the General Hospital! The food was horrible. Back at the hotel, KH and I snuggled in bed and watched "The Nutty Professor", but we didn't finish watching... :P.
...Next: Hidden Culture...
Comments
remind me of the old days when my student asked me what are those dogs doing...tell u, i cant answer that as i nvr see before.. :P
"nothing of the Surf Surf Revolution variety, sorry!"
Haha. Damn it. Lol.
Eh, how come didn't finish watching Nutty Professor leh? ;-)
What is sarawak coffee?...
A good teacher would demonstrate to the class.
@JJ:
You have ridden in it?!
@Ban:
Hahahaha. I have no idea le...