Another loss before reaching Niah National Park

Photo courtesy: Azreey — Wikimedia Commons

Have you heard of bird nest soup? If you have, you might know its connection to Niah National Park, my sole reason for pinpointing Sarawak as my destination choice for a holiday.

I bus hopped north-east from Kuching. While changing buses I forgot the all-important hat in a tropical country and there went my second lost item of the trip. Arriving in Batu Niah, I discovered I had the wrong pronunciation for the town, separating the name the way it was spelt, until a passenger said it, and I had to think for a moment about where she was talking about.

Batu Niah wasn’t Kuching, but I hadn’t come to see the town. The next morning, I headed to the wharf for yet another boat ride down river to the famous caves. When I landed at the site, the well maintained walking trail was a wooden ramp, nearly a metre above ground. I was ready to race the four-kilometre hike to the caves, but the trail hindered my plan by its quietness, the ever still forest floor, treasures along the route.