Beach Day at Bako

10-11 August 2010
As it is such an easy day trip from Kuching, we headed back to Bako National Park to visit one of its beautiful beaches! We woke up early and went down to the waterfront to catch the bus that is supposed to arrive somewhere between 7 and 7:30am. We arrived at the park and headed directly for the Lintang trail (hoping to avoid any further harassment by the macaques). We branched off from that trail after a few kilometers for the Telok Pandan Besar overlook and then onto the Telok Pandan Kecil beach.

As and aside, I would like to take a moment to comment on the trail maps, specifically the trail distances that are repeatedly incorrectly reported in many of the national parks we have visited. It would take a very small effort to fix these issues, ranging from the apparent use of "as the crow flies" distances to what appear to be guesses (if you are reading this Ingrid, we think your idea of starting an NGO to do international GIS work for national parks, etc. is a genius idea - lets get some grants!).

Anyway, we (Nick, Lauren from Canada, and I), hiked up to the kerangas, drooled over the pitcher plants, sweated our brains out, and then headed to the beach! We were so lucky to be the first to arrive that day!!! We arrived at this tropical paradise and had the beach to ourselves for about twenty minutes before boatloads of tourists arrived. We sunbathed, floated in the warm green-tinged water, admired the sandstone formations, watched armies of crabs scurry across the beach, hunted for cycads, and sunbathed some more. As noon approached, the sun became overwhelmingly hot (as it tends to do near the equator) and Nick was finally able to put his hiking pole/umbrella idea into action. He quickly rigged up our two hiking poles (brought specifically for the beach, not the hike) to our two umbrellas and we were the envy of the beach in a matter of seconds as we enjoyed the shade and the others retreated back to their boats in search of a less sweltering location.


After hiking through the stifling heat to catch our boat (now wishing we had paid the 7 ringgit for a boat), we were greeted by a troop of proboscis monkeys and finally got a good look at a male! Check out that nose!


On our way home, we stopped at the Kuching Food Festival and grazed on chicken satay, sausages, fried yam on a stick, deep fried ice cream, mini fish burgers, honey mustard nachos, sweet peanuts in a gluten bar(?), sticky rice roll with meats, sweet rice with banana, and many more. Yum!!

This evening we embarked on a river boat cruise down the Santubong River and were lucky enough to see Irrawaddy dolphins, proboscis monkeys, and fire flies. The tour (run by CPH Travel) was over priced and crowded, but as the sun went down the stars, fire flies, phosphorescence in the water, lightning in the distance, and fireworks to mark the 1st day of Ramadan brought us back to the magic that is Borneo.

Tomorrow we head out for an overnight trip to Gunung Gading National Park to see the buds of Rafflesia (sniff sniff, it's not blooming) and hike on its numerous trails.