I think today might be one of those occasions, but I'm going to try to explain as best I can because it will be a good demonstration of the fact that try as you might, you will always have some slight mis-steps along the way whenever visiting a foreign country. As I discussed in a previous blog about the Philippines this is often because of the difference in the two cultures (with a little help from the language barrier).
The plan for today as to head out to a place about 20kms from Kuching where there is an old gold mining town which has a couple of highly explorable caves in it. The first is called the Wind Cave, the second, the Fairy Cave. I had read about them online, seeing that they were very accessible and after avoiding all the bats and climbing up through them you'd come upon some spectacular views which would provide you with a look out over much of the region. Having brought myself a headlamp before coming here, I figured this might be an excellent moment to use it, and after studying the bus schedule I set off at about 10am in the direction of the bus.
On my way to the station, I needed to pick myself up a pair of sunglasses. Can't remember if I explained or not, but during the great bus crush of Brunei, someone was launched backwards into me and ended up crushing one of the legs of my previous ones which were tucked into my t-shirt meaning that they no longer actually stay on my face. Considering they cost me $1 from a gas station three years ago, I wasn't too bothered, but since arriving in Kuching I keep forgetting to pick up a replacement pair. Knowing that I was going to be out in the sun for a fairly substantial amount of time, I figured it was a good opportunity to do so.
I'd had a brief look the other day, but to no avail, today though I managed to find a shopping street called "Little India" and picked up a pair of Ray Bans for the equivalent of three pounds - not even going to pretend they're likely to be legitimate, but at least they would stop the sun from shining in my eyes....maybe.
It was a little bit of a confusing journey today; first I had to ride the bus from Kuching to Bau, and then once in Bau I had to take another bus towards Krokong which would stop along the way and provide me with access to either of the two caves.
The bus we were piled onto looked like it had seen better days. There were some loud crunches with the transmission whenever the driver attempted to change gear, and it felt like being in a sauna because there was no air conditioning and the minuscule crack in the windows barely let anything close to fresh air through them. I kept having to drink water to keep myself from feeling like I was about to pass out, and when after about an hour, we eventually arrived there I was pretty delighted.
Bau seemed like a small place, but there was a place to get some food before making the second part of the journey. After a very cheap meal of chicken and rice, I went back to the bus station to ask what time the bus would be arriving. It was just after 12pm at this point, and so I figured there would be one soon. Enquiring with the lady in the ticket office she said that there were no more buses until 3pm today. I told her where we were going and she said that it was possible to walk to one of the caves but it would take about half an hour. It seemed a shame to have gone through all the dramas of the bus journey not to make it so she pointed me off in the direction of the main road and said that I should follow it along, then go left and then to the right.
Immediately I knew there was some sort of breakdown in communications as I walked out onto a t-junction where there was no option to go straight.... I asked another lady at the Shell petrol station, and she pointed me down another road and said that it was pretty much a straight road from there until we got to the end of the lake and then we'd take a left and carry on going straight.
I felt slightly more confident with her directions although when nobody gives you a point of reference of how long to go straight for, or when the left or right is coming up, you do feel slightly dubious.
Following the road straight, I continued round a rather large lake and then when I got to the end I turned left, and then carried on going straight. This led me to a narrow looking path, and I considered whether or not a bus would be able to go down here. It seemed fairly flat and I thought that it was more likely to be a minibus than an actual bus that would take you to either one of the caves.
I followed this road for about twenty minutes, passing houses, and seeming like the whole time that I was on a windey road up towards the beautiful rocks that I had seen when walking by the lake.
All of a sudden the path turned to being stones and rocks - at this point I should have got slightly suspicious - but I continued on as the path rose up leading me closer towards what I presumed would be the entrance to the cave. It turned out to be the entrance..... to a quarry which then led into a national park which made me feel slightly more comfortable. That was until I reached another quarry and a sign saying "No Trespassing".
Thankfully there was a gentleman standing there who I asked about the cave and he kindly explained that I had taken a wrong turning somewhere along the way. As far as I could understand, I had taken the wrong right turning so I turned around and went back in the opposite direction. It was getting really hot by this point, and the sun was beating down on me, even through the trees. It was like being back in the Bako National Park again walking through the jungle with only the sound of insects for company.
Eventually I found my way back to the road that the guy near the quarry had indicated, but walking down it, I started to feel like this wasn't at all what he was talking about. After a five minute walk until I could find someone to ask, a woman said that I needed to take the previous road, then then turn right at the end of it and I would find the cave.
Coming out on what appeared to be a bit more of a main road, I stopped to ask someone who was driving down the road to check if this was indeed the correct place to be, and third time lucky he mentioned that it was, and that he was heading that direction back to his work as a teacher and would be able to give me a lift.
He drove down towards the park, explaining that I needed to be at a certain entrance and after about two minutes he dropped me off at the information centre. Everything seemed to be very closed, but I presumed that it was just because it wasn't a weekend and there probably weren't that many people wanting to access the cave. I walked back down to where I had seen an entrance earlier on, but to my surprise (not sure quite why I was so surprised) the gate to the cave was padlocked shut with a sign stating... 'Due to flash flooding, both the Fairy and Wind Caves have been closed. Any inconvenience is regrettable'.
My first thought was, "I've been here a week and seen no rain, where has this flash flooding come from", but then more concerning I thought about the fact that I'd interacted with about ten people along the way when enquiring about the cave, but not one of them had mentioned that it was closed! That included a teacher who worked down the road from there, and also a couple of local people who probably go past the place on a daily basis.
I walked back to the bus station and enquired about when the next bus back to Kuching would be, and was greeted by the same lady who'd told me earlier on that there would be no more buses today. I mentioned to her that the cave was closed and she said, "Yes, for many days the cave has been closed now, because of flooding.....".
I couldn't help but laugh and think that sort of information might have been useful to know about three hours before when I came in asking for a bus ticket. It's not like I was going to a town or a city, but a specific place, and it turned out she knew all along that it wasn't open.
I managed to get back on the 3.20pm bus to Kuching thoroughly entertained by the whole thing, and thinking that at least I had managed to get out for the day and have a walk, even if it hadn't turned out quite how I planned.
This provided me with a delicate reminder that I am far away from home, where customs might not be in place to give out useful information such as the status of a tourist attraction in the nearby area! In England I feel like someone definitely would have mentioned it along the way, and perhaps saved me from myself, but here in Malaysia that didn't seem to be the case. It's one of the few differences you have to consider when coming to a different part of the world, I felt I definitely learned my lesson about that today - or at least had the lesson reinforced.
Locked Up
Akon (2003)
The plan for today as to head out to a place about 20kms from Kuching where there is an old gold mining town which has a couple of highly explorable caves in it. The first is called the Wind Cave, the second, the Fairy Cave. I had read about them online, seeing that they were very accessible and after avoiding all the bats and climbing up through them you'd come upon some spectacular views which would provide you with a look out over much of the region. Having brought myself a headlamp before coming here, I figured this might be an excellent moment to use it, and after studying the bus schedule I set off at about 10am in the direction of the bus.
I'd had a brief look the other day, but to no avail, today though I managed to find a shopping street called "Little India" and picked up a pair of Ray Bans for the equivalent of three pounds - not even going to pretend they're likely to be legitimate, but at least they would stop the sun from shining in my eyes....maybe.
It was a little bit of a confusing journey today; first I had to ride the bus from Kuching to Bau, and then once in Bau I had to take another bus towards Krokong which would stop along the way and provide me with access to either of the two caves.
The bus we were piled onto looked like it had seen better days. There were some loud crunches with the transmission whenever the driver attempted to change gear, and it felt like being in a sauna because there was no air conditioning and the minuscule crack in the windows barely let anything close to fresh air through them. I kept having to drink water to keep myself from feeling like I was about to pass out, and when after about an hour, we eventually arrived there I was pretty delighted.
Bau seemed like a small place, but there was a place to get some food before making the second part of the journey. After a very cheap meal of chicken and rice, I went back to the bus station to ask what time the bus would be arriving. It was just after 12pm at this point, and so I figured there would be one soon. Enquiring with the lady in the ticket office she said that there were no more buses until 3pm today. I told her where we were going and she said that it was possible to walk to one of the caves but it would take about half an hour. It seemed a shame to have gone through all the dramas of the bus journey not to make it so she pointed me off in the direction of the main road and said that I should follow it along, then go left and then to the right.
I felt slightly more confident with her directions although when nobody gives you a point of reference of how long to go straight for, or when the left or right is coming up, you do feel slightly dubious.
Following the road straight, I continued round a rather large lake and then when I got to the end I turned left, and then carried on going straight. This led me to a narrow looking path, and I considered whether or not a bus would be able to go down here. It seemed fairly flat and I thought that it was more likely to be a minibus than an actual bus that would take you to either one of the caves.
I followed this road for about twenty minutes, passing houses, and seeming like the whole time that I was on a windey road up towards the beautiful rocks that I had seen when walking by the lake.
All of a sudden the path turned to being stones and rocks - at this point I should have got slightly suspicious - but I continued on as the path rose up leading me closer towards what I presumed would be the entrance to the cave. It turned out to be the entrance..... to a quarry which then led into a national park which made me feel slightly more comfortable. That was until I reached another quarry and a sign saying "No Trespassing".
Thankfully there was a gentleman standing there who I asked about the cave and he kindly explained that I had taken a wrong turning somewhere along the way. As far as I could understand, I had taken the wrong right turning so I turned around and went back in the opposite direction. It was getting really hot by this point, and the sun was beating down on me, even through the trees. It was like being back in the Bako National Park again walking through the jungle with only the sound of insects for company.
Coming out on what appeared to be a bit more of a main road, I stopped to ask someone who was driving down the road to check if this was indeed the correct place to be, and third time lucky he mentioned that it was, and that he was heading that direction back to his work as a teacher and would be able to give me a lift.
He drove down towards the park, explaining that I needed to be at a certain entrance and after about two minutes he dropped me off at the information centre. Everything seemed to be very closed, but I presumed that it was just because it wasn't a weekend and there probably weren't that many people wanting to access the cave. I walked back down to where I had seen an entrance earlier on, but to my surprise (not sure quite why I was so surprised) the gate to the cave was padlocked shut with a sign stating... 'Due to flash flooding, both the Fairy and Wind Caves have been closed. Any inconvenience is regrettable'.
My first thought was, "I've been here a week and seen no rain, where has this flash flooding come from", but then more concerning I thought about the fact that I'd interacted with about ten people along the way when enquiring about the cave, but not one of them had mentioned that it was closed! That included a teacher who worked down the road from there, and also a couple of local people who probably go past the place on a daily basis.
I walked back to the bus station and enquired about when the next bus back to Kuching would be, and was greeted by the same lady who'd told me earlier on that there would be no more buses today. I mentioned to her that the cave was closed and she said, "Yes, for many days the cave has been closed now, because of flooding.....".
I couldn't help but laugh and think that sort of information might have been useful to know about three hours before when I came in asking for a bus ticket. It's not like I was going to a town or a city, but a specific place, and it turned out she knew all along that it wasn't open.
I managed to get back on the 3.20pm bus to Kuching thoroughly entertained by the whole thing, and thinking that at least I had managed to get out for the day and have a walk, even if it hadn't turned out quite how I planned.
This provided me with a delicate reminder that I am far away from home, where customs might not be in place to give out useful information such as the status of a tourist attraction in the nearby area! In England I feel like someone definitely would have mentioned it along the way, and perhaps saved me from myself, but here in Malaysia that didn't seem to be the case. It's one of the few differences you have to consider when coming to a different part of the world, I felt I definitely learned my lesson about that today - or at least had the lesson reinforced.
Locked Up
Akon (2003)
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