Walk With Nature

We left our luggage in the house and straight we headed to the Mulu Park to begin our mission.
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Welcome to Gunung Mulu National Park.
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Have to pass through this canopy walkway.
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We will sit in this long boat later.
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Visitor Registration Office.
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After registration, we take a boat ride to our first destination, Clearwater Cave.
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That is the canopy walkway that we passed by just now.
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Sit tight friends, our journey starts now.
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Local students are waiting for their boat to go home ?
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Nice view.
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We are still on the boat after 10 minutes.
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About 30 minutes, we finally arriving the crystal Clearwater Cave.
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Here I am. The Cleawater Cave entrance.
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We got a very stiff staircases to climb.
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Read this before you start. Help to protect and preserve the nature.
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The expert is using his SLR camera to take a better picture of us
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Friend, what are you staring at ? Be careful of those stones at the top of your head 
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Walking down to explore more about this cave.
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They call this part of the Cleawater Cave system the Lady Cave because some people think some of the formations here look like ladies. True or not….you go there to confirm it
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Remember to bring along a torch light or head lamp if you plan to visit the caves in Mulu.
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Available evidence suggests that water did not flow down this big hole but welled up from it during very big flood events to deposit these layers of sand from the Mulu mountain.

As the rivers cut down into the limestone, the pattern of drainage changed and, for a short time, water did flow through this part of the cave and down the hole, taking with it large amounts of the sediment and blocking the bottom of the hole.
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Exploring more deeper into the cave.
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Feeling like inside a Dinosour mouth.
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An eye is opening wide…….
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Going to the left side of the cave to explore more.
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Just in case you can’t see clearly, from left :-

1. When the cave is full of water, the limestone is dissolved evenly, making a circular tube-like passage.

2. When the water level drops, the limestone is only dissolved from the floor to make a key-hole shape passage as the water cuts downwards.

3. If the floor becomes covered with insoluble sediments, then the water cannot cut downwards but start to attack the walls of the cave, cutting sideways into the limestone walls.

4. When the insoluble layer is eventually washed away, the water starts cutting downwards again, leaving the notches exposed.
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This light is coming from the top of the cave.
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Our friend is busy shooting some beautiful parts of the cave.
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By 1.20pm, we have finished our Clearwater Cave tour.
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Having lunch at this tranquil environment is the greatest enjoyment.
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Our lunch box imported from Miri
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Then, we spoted this huge crocodile in the river !
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The nature is the creator for this !
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This little friend is following us on the boat.
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Innovative staircase.
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The local kids are having fun in the river.
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This is the life of the local people. Whole family having river bath together.
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Next –> Deer and Langs Caves
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After our delicious breakfast, Jessica drove us to Miri airport for our Mulu expedition.

It’s 9.54am and our flight time is 10.20am. So, friends are cathing up the last minutes news before we isolate from the outside world for few days.
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Is this the plane that we gonna board ?
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Since we have to walk to board the plane, why not take a photo first ?
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At 10.28am , we are already inside the plane. The flying time is about 30 minutes to Mulu.
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Woo… our seat is just beside the propeller. Hope nothing will go wrong with it
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Miri city.
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11.19am, we landed at Mulu airport. Since the runway is very short, the plane has to make a U-turn at the end of the runway before it carries us to the terminar. First time I am seeing this also Oh yes, we were given a drink on board. The seat not even been warmed up, we already landed here   
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Hey, guys, wait a minute, can we take a group photo here ?
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1, 2, 3….Cheers…. !
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OK, I know both of you want the beautiful background.
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You want a solo picture ? No problem, at your service !
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ATR 72-500. Made in France. Capacity : 68 passengers. Empty Weight : 13,000 kg. Max take off weight : 22,800 kg.

Nice view.
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On our way to home stay.
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Less than 3 minutes, we have arrived somewhere near the home stay area.
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Walking to the house.
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Here we are, the house we are going to stay for 2 nights.
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Front view of the house.
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Next —> Clearwater Cave
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The morning in Miri was brighther than West Malaysia. At 6am, the sky has already bright whereas in West Malaysia, the sky still dark. I would say 6am here in Miri is the same as 7am in West Malaysia, got it ?

Go back to the history, East Malaysia time was original faster by 30 minutes than West Malaysia. However, in 1981, West Malaysia had adjusted 30 minutes ahead to match it with East Malaysia. Feel strange about the change ? Sorry, I can’t answer that

We decided to have our morning walk to look around this small city.

We were informed that this building belongs to Tycoon Tan Sri Ting Pek Khiing
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Coffee shop already opened at 6.40am.
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Beautiful Jade Centre is the name for this place.
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Walk further inside, we saw this. There were few coffee shops and many elder uncles were there in few groups to start their day with black coffee.
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Anyone wants some porks ?
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We found chicken rice shop also selling grilled and BBQ pork. This was where we bought our lunch to Mulu.
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Miri gives me the impression of having a very clean street and less cars on the road as well.
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Another 1Malaysia concept…..oppss should be 1Miri. Even the local council is having the Chinese characters on its car park building. Can’t see it ? Click the picture for a bigger view
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This is the hotel where we stayed. For those who want a budget and comfortable place to stay, you can consider this. The rate is RM107 per night. Not sure whether the rate has changed or not at the time I am writing
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Bintang Plaza, floor area of about 400,000 square feet, more than 100 shops. Here you can find StarBucks Coffee, Toy R Us, Parkson, Marrybrown, Giant, Food Court, Book Stores and many more.
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Jessica brought us to a local famous coffee shop for a wonderful breakfast. We ordered many different type of food, including this Dried Noodles.
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Variety of choices for you to choose. Of course this is only one of the stalls in this kopi tiam here.
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Water Chestnut Dumpling, mmmm…..I don’t think I can find it in West Malaysia.
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This is really special and definitely can’t find it in West Malaysia. The local people call in 鼎边胡 or shall I translate it as “paste ting edge” . This is Fuzhou people common breakfast. Normally, they put clams, mushroom, dried shrimps, onions, and other ingredients, boil them with broth. When the edge of the wok becomes hot, peanut oil will then applies on the edge of the wok. A pre-prepared concentrated rice milk will be poured evenly around the wok.  When the milk dries, it then transfer into a bowl of soup, boil them for a while and it is ready to eat.  The taste was good. Don’t miss this when you visit to Miri. 
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This is the rice noodles cooked with pickled mustard. If you do not have appetite to eat, try this.
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Mixed Pork Soup. Not bad either.
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We called it 3 color tea as you can see from the picture why we name it.
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Next —> Mount Mulu – We Are Coming
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