9 days to Christmas. Unbelievable!!!
Up at 5:55, got dressed and headed to the local bus terminal at about 6:10 to get the 6:30 bus to Niah National Park. Ran into a British couple, Kevin and Tracy (from London!), at the bus stop (also brielfy saw them at the internet last night), they were heading to Niah as well. A guy with a mini-van offered to take us to Batu Niah (the town near the park) for 10 ringget, same price as the bus, so we went with him, and another local, who had a bunch of boxes of toys in the back of the mini-van.
On the way to Niah, there was a checkstop set up, and the officers confiscated this guys' toys, and made him stay at the checkpoint while our driver took us the rest of the way to Niah. The driver picked up other locals along the way as well.
We got to Niah National Park about 9:00 or so, 12 ringget each (paid the extra two ringget because he took us directly to the park office). We went to the office and paid the park fee (10 ringget), then went to the cafeteria for breakfast, then took a boat across the high and wild river, and started our journey into the unknown caves of Niah National Park. Kevin rented a flashlight at the park store for 5 ringget. I brought my own flashlight, as did Tracy.
Niah caves are about 3km boardwalk walk from the park head quarters, over swamp and river. The first cave is Traders Cave, where the birds nest and guano traders do their business. Then on the Great Cave, named because it's over 60m high and 250m wide.
An archeological excavation is fenced off at the mouth of the WEst Entrance to the cave; a modern human skull estimated to be 40,000 years old was found here in 1958, which is way older than any other human bones found in SE Asia. That makes Niah the birthplace of civilization in SE Asia!!! As a result, Niah is one of the most important archeological sites in the world. It's weird to think that I was standing on the spot where modern homo sapien started from in SE Asia!
The Great Cave is also home to bats and swiftlets (little birds) that nest in the cave. Birds nest collectors climb up bamboo poles and ladders, dozens of metres high, to reach the roof of the cave, where they collect the swiftlet nests, which are made entirely from the birds' saliva. The nests are then sold to the Chinese for their famous birds nest soup, a highly regarded Chinese cuisine. (Darren, have you tried birds nest soup?)
Guano collectors also dig up the bat and swiftlet excrement, which is then sold as fertilizer.
A long walk through the bowels of the Great Cave (where the flashlight is needed...this is where Kevin also realized he left his rented flashlight at the snack shops along the boardwalk) leades to the Painted Cave, which has cave paintings and "death-ships", boat shaped coffins containing the remains of the deceased and a selection of grave-goods considered useful in the afterlife. The death ships have been dated as ranging between 1AD and 780AD.
Anyway, it was all quite fascinated.
We walked back to the park HQ (Kevin got his flashlight back on the way back...he sure didn't get his money's worth out of that one), then we got a ride to Batu Niah and caught the 3:30 bus back to the Miri. Got to Miri about 5:30, then we headed to Pizza Hut, then they went back to their hostel (they leave bcak to KL tomorrow), and I hit internet, then back to my room, wrote in journal, hooked my camera up to my TV and looked at all my pictures on my memory cards, read, then to bed.
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