Our friend Hanis Harun was planning a professional trip to Bintulu in Sarawak (Malaysian Borneo), so we tagged along to join in with some sightseeing when her work period had finished. In the meantime, we practised with some new video equipment and I tried my hand at some time-lapse videography (see sunset videos below). We stayed at the Samalaju Hotel Resort which was on the coast, but with an off-limits beach due to the presence of crocodiles. The hotel was smack in the middle of the Samalaju Industrial Park, which was an aspect to Borneo which I had never considered. When the Malaysian Tourist Board bothers to advertise its country, it nearly always features aspects of Borneo (East Malaysia) rather than Peninsula Malaysia. And you expect to see orangutans and rivers running through jungles. But here it was an industrial zone, with smoke plumes and dust, bordered by endless palm oil plantations.
On Thursday 18th April, we all headed off to Bintulu town, a 1hr 15min drive from the hotel. And the next day we had a major outing to visit the Niah Caves, which was even further away! While I would not put Bintulu on a must-visit list, the Niah Caves were worth the effort to get to. But if you are planning to visit the more popular town of Miri and the Mulu Caves, consider adding the Niah Caves to your list of things to do. You can find links to these trips below, after the sunset videos.
We flew from Johor Bahru (Senai International Airport) to Kuching and then onto Bintulu. I had the opportunity to take some airport shots because these more remote airports still require you to walk up stairs into the planes. While we were waiting on the runway for planes to land, I took a couples of photos of planes landing. (The first photo is in Kuching, and the second is in Bintulu.)
To get from Bintulu to Kuching, we flew fairly low overland, and you can see why the early inhabitants of Sarawak were river people. The river system is extensive and curves all over the place!
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