We're up at 7:15 to have a leisurely breakfast and be on time to meet our contact for the day's excursion to go kayaking on the Semadang River. We're in the lobby wearing our paddling gear at 9:00 and by 9:08 Judith has returned to the room to make a phone call because our contact is no where in sight. I stay in the lobby to wait. They do finally arrive and when I call up to the room there is no answer. I assume she's on her way back down but after waiting some more, I call again and finally reach her to come down. In the first call, she must have been on the phone, but for some reason the hotel phone wasn't giving a busy signal.
We're introduced to our guide, Luke and the driver, who's name escapes me. It doesn't matter that much because he develops a nickname in the van as we proceed to our destination about an hour away. In the van we talk about what to expect in the trip. Then a discussion about how many countries we've been to. At some point we play a guessing game with our ages. They're surprised to find out how old we are. Both Judith and I turn 60 this year and given their young ages, must have thought our next flight was to a nursing home. Just to set the record straight, they thought I was at least 10 years younger than Judith.
Our guide Luke is 19 and says he's on a 4 month training program with the company Semadang Kayaks. The driver is 21. At this point Judith blurts out that she's old enough to be their grandmother, but they decide that "Auntie" would have just as much honour and not make her sound as old. So the driver became "Nephew" and the name stuck throughout the whole day.
On the way to the kayaking spot we got stuck on a traffic jam. It was gridlocked- no one was going anywhere. We wanted to go straight though this intersection. To bypass, our driver made a 3 point turn in the jam to go left and then made a U turn at the next intersection to double back and subsequently turn left at the blocked intersection.
Since it has rained a bit over the past few days, they said the river level had risen and was flowing faster than it had been. They suggest double kayaks for more stability, but being as much of a thrill seeker as we can be in our old age, we both indicate that single kayaks would be fine. The kayaks were the sit on top version, self bailing, with no keel - just like the Ocean Kayak brand I have at home.
We pick up Lopez, a more experienced guide to join us. He's 23 years old. The company is family owned by Lopez's uncle. Luke is a brother in law.
We get ourselves organized, sign the waiver and we're off. Lopez and Luke are in a double kayak as Lopez acts as the photo journalist for our trip. Nephew is driving to the midway point to cook lunch which is included in the package.
The stream that we start in is crystal clear. It's not more than 2 feet deep. We quickly join the main river and it's murky with so much sediment you couldn't see more than two inches below the surface.
The current was pretty swift and made going downriver really easy and by design, that's our direction. There were some fun sections of rapids but for the most part it was flat. It was possible to go against the current but you really had to dig to make any substantial headway. The river meanders through limestone rock formations that are spectacular. Some of them are steep peaks that appear out of nowhere. You could see cave entrances in the hills. The caves haven't been exploited yet, but I suspect that will take place in a few years.
We stopped about 30 minutes into the paddle to walk up a shallow tributary. We came to a very pretty waterfall.
Our guide climbed right into the falls and invited us to do the same thing. Very cool spot. The water coming off the falls was too cold for Judith, but my hat had a wide enough brim to deflect the water from hitting the back of my neck. This was the requisite souvenir show.
We kayaked to our lunch spot and left the kayak on a sandy beach and proceed up the stairs to a small building. I find out this is a building owned by the local community and the facility is rented out to tour companies needing this space. There is a kitchen, washroom, indoor and outdoor eating places.
The meal was fabulous. It's probably typical of local cuisine as the guides were Bidayah, one of the indigenous peoples. The chicken dish was cut up pieces of chicken in a tomato broth. Two vegetable dishes, okra with garlic and dried anchovies, which Judith and I agreed it was the best okra we've ever had (I got the secret to cooking it!) and local greens with scrambled egg, also tasty in its own right. I had seconds on the veggie dishes as I my diet has been recently lacking lots of this. Desert was cut up fruit, pineapple and watermelon. I invited Nephew to come to Canada and live with me as my cook. Not likely to happen but I would be pretty happy to eat like this.
The chicken bones went from our plates and were given directly to the two dogs waiting outside. They have been trained not to come into the dining area although one of them liked to push the boundaries. Interesting that the bones were fed to the dogs. That would be very frowned upon where I live.
The three guides all stopped to have a cigarette after the meal. Smoking is very common in this part of the world. I haven't noticed any female smokers but will look from now on. It is clearly a male dominated activity.
When we got down to the kayaks the guides had a bag full of fish food pellets. We waded into the shallows and took a handful placing a few into the water. The fish were lightning fast feeding on these pellets, coming from below to scoop a pellets in their mouth, then a quick turn signalled by a tail splash at the surface. I think I blink slower than the fish move.
The rest of the paddle was fun. The scenery continued to be visually stunning. Other than the noise of the paddles and occasional rapids, I would have thought there would be more sounds from the wildlife. We heard the cicadas and various birds but it intermittent with long sections of not hearing anything. Maybe it was because Lopez liked to sing My Heart Will Go On (Celine Dion). I'd probably want to hide too if I were wildlife.
Some of the limestone rocks by the shore have been carved by the river action creating a large rock overhang. Cool to paddle underneath them particularly if there was a stream trickling over the overhang.
Our paddle ended way too soon. The kayaks were hauled up from the river and put away in the compound. Of course we forgot our towels and we sat on a clear plastic sheet laid across the bench seat of the van.
Lopez left us at that point and we were driven back to the hotel by Luke and Nephew. When I return to out hotel room and emptied out my bag, I realize I am missing one of my GoPro batteries and must have left it in the dry bag we borrowed from the guiding company.
I send the company an email to their general email box asking about my battery and hope for the best.
We end up going out for dinner at the James Brooke, a restaurant on the waterfront walk near the hotel. We both order the Laksa Sawarak a vermicelli noodle soup bowl. I'm particularly fond of noodle soups.
Then back to the hotel. We ask about an ATM as Judith needs more ringgit. So do I, but I brought US cash to exchange because my bank uses a network that's not well known outside of Canada. We walk over to the mall and Judith tries the ATM but it's not letting her withdraw any money. I think it's a miracle that you can withdraw money from your account in a foreign country. But there are no miracles happening with this machine. Both of us go back to the hotel and exchange our US dollars into ringgit. They reject two of my bills because one has a tiny tear and the other has some ink on it from a stamp pad.
We come back and get our bags organized to leave the next morning to Mulu
No comments:
Post a Comment