Today we suit up to go cycling. Our guide, Sebastian meets us in the lobby of the hotel at 7:30 a.m. The SUV has two bikes on a rack in the back and two more in the back. It's already over 30 degrees with a humidity of about 80%.
We're diving to Kiulu about an hour away. Kiulu is a rural community mostly of the Duson tribe. We arrive at the town; the area has a population of about 2000 people. The Kiulu River runs through the community. There is white water rafting that operates on this river and one of our tasks during this trip is to decide whether we want to white water on this river or stay the course with the other, more challenging river we're booked on.
On the way, we pick up the driver who will drive the support vehicle and meet us at specific checkpoints along our route. On the way, Sebastian points out Mt Kinabalu, the highest peak on Borneo. One of the excursions Judith could have selected was to do a two day hike up and down the mountain. It would have required much more prep, so she decided on other activities. While it take normal hikers two days to scale just over 2500 feet from the base parking lot, there is a crazy marathon, Climbathon that goes up and down the mountain, with the fastest time clocked in at 2 hours 22 minutes. Yikes.
At Kiulu we stop and Sebastian unloads the bikes while Judith and I make one last pit stop. He advises there is a market going on close by, but neither of us are keen to check it out. We get our seats fitted and we're off, but not before the obligatory photo.
We don't go too far and there's already a river crossing on one of the narrow cable bridges. It's too narrow and unstable to ride across. We dismount and walk.
A bit more trail riding along the water and we cross over again. The cable bridges are too narrow to ride across. And the missing floor planks is also a concern.
We ride along the country road a bit and take a break at a bus stop. Also at the stop was a small building. Inside was a woman running a noisy machine that removed the outer husk of a rice kernel. We learn that the difference between white rice and brown rice was the length of the growing season. White rice is grown for 3 months; brown rice is grown for 3 more months. The machine uses rollers to remove the chaff which is blown outside via a wide diameter pipe and collected onto a ever growing pile.
Part of the pile is burning to create ash to be sold to farmers to add it back into the soil. I'm fascinated that it just smoulders without anyone tending it. Why that big pile doesn't suddenly turn into a huge flame is a mystery.
The kernels fall into a 5 gallon pail. She is adept at swapping out the full pail with an empty one with the machine continually running. She passes the rice through twice as that seems to be the optimal number. Sebastian says that the local farmers bring the rice for processing and that her payment is a percentage of the rice that's been processed.
We ride a bit more through the community and end up having a snack at one of the local farms hosted by an older woman. There are poultry around that have very cool feather colours.
We sit in a covered patio enjoying a cold drink and some cookies. I notice some speakers on speaker stands against the wall of the house and ask the farmer why she has these speakers. She explains that they belong to her son and when I prod a little bit more, find out he's into Karaoke. Apparently, he holds regular karaoke parties for the neighbourhood.
We're invited to see the rest of the farm. The farmer puts on a wide brimmed hat. I signalled to ask if she had another had and I end up borrowing one.
The first thing we see are the rice paddy fields.
The next thing we see are the banana trees. Once they bear fruit, they need to be chopped down. Otherwise they will continue as perennials, but never will bear fruit again.
The guava tree produces a female and male tree. The female tree produces the fruit. The male counterpart produces a little white flower which is cooked and eaten. The white flower is known to contain quinine, which explains why malaria isn't a problem around here.
And a pineapple plant.
We pass through a grove of rubber trees. These trees were about 2 years old and needed another 2 years of growing before they can start harvesting the rubber sap. We come to some mature rubber tree and the farmer shows how she taps the tree for the sap. I get to try doing it to another tree. When I finish, she tells Sebastian that I'm hired.
The rubber sap hardens and can has cool elastic qualities. It can be bounced or stretched. The sap is gathered and pressed into a thick sheet to be sold.
We return to the patio area, get our gear back on. We ride along the river which is shaded by overhanging trees. The river which seems to have a gentle flowing rate. We decide this isn't the speed we would be happy with on our white water rafting adventure. The Kiulu river is more of a tubing speed, not white water rafting speed so we decide to keep our original Padas River plan.
The cycling by the river was the best part. We crossed over on suspension bridges twice more and eventually returned via road way. It was a smoking hot day, I had to pour water over my head to keep cool.
We came across a herd of water buffalo cooling themselves in the mud. One of them kept staring us down when we stopped to look at them. I kept thinking it wanted to mow us down.
The tour eventually ends at the place where the Kiulu River white water rafting organizes its events. We have a tasty buffet lunch and Judith is happy to interact with the cats around the property. Many of the cats we've seen since we've arrived have these funny short tails. Some people have theorized that it's due to manual intervention but I don't think that's possible. I've seen too many of these short tailed cats in too many locations to believe that something sinister is going on.
With the ride over we get driven back to the hotel around 4:00. Shower and power nap for me, except the power nap ended up being somewhat of a continuous sleep until the next morning. I did manage to wake up long enough for dinner at a local Vietnamese restaurant but it didn't take long for me to fall back asleep again.
Tomorrow: white water rafting!
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