Author Archives: Björn

Leaving Mulu NP

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The next morning we flew out of Mulu, back to Miri and from there onwards to Kuching – this time no full day river-journey.

We used pick-up trucks as transport from the park to the small airfield … here we changed to a brand new ATR plane … just coming in from Miri on its Borneo maiden flight.

During the flight we could see, why it takes 12 hours to make the 160km beeline from Miri to Mulu by boat … just check out the bends of the river. Also – clearly visible – the fragility of the whole area … what seemed like jungle from the river, indeed is nothing else than a gigantic palm tree plantation – nature would never be set up in squares …

Mulu NP – Pinnacles Climb

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The Pinnacles – the first big highlight of this trip.

The hike to get there is probably the steepest hike, I ever did. The pure distance from camp 5 is just 2.4km, however – as one needs to climb from about 50m above sea level to 1175m – this is more than a simple walk in the park (while technically – this being a National Park – iit remains a walk in the park).

We left Camp 5 around 07:00 … with Richard and myself making ground pretty quickly; we made it to the top – means the Pinnacles view point 1125m higher than the start point – already around 09:00.

After a 45 minute break at the viewpoint, we started to climb down again. On the way down, we met the others on their way up.

We finally made it back to camp by 12:00 … in time for a relaxing afternoon in and around the river. The others made it back to camp around 16:00 … and also ended up in the river to cool down.

Boat Trip into the Jungle of Borneo

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After an introduction evening the tour officially went going today. We left Miri in taxis to make it to the river boat port to board the first boat of a series of three – for our 12 hours epic river journey downstream to Mulu NP. While there is a flight available from Miri to Mulu, it was well worth it doing the boat trip … a small adventure in itself.

After arrival at the river boat port we had breakfast in a small restaurant nearby – before we finally boarded our aeroplane shapped boat (no wings of course) for the first three hours up to Marudi.

We made it into Marudi after around 3 hours – here we got our seats reserved for the onward journes … then we were of for a well deserved toilet break, limited shopping, some sightseeing and lunch.

After lunch the next express boat was waiting for us – and taking us from Marudi to Long Terawan – another journey of four to five hours.

On arrival in Long Terawan we changed to a longboat for the last bit of the journey (around 2 hours). In the last bit we were hit by a torrential – yet refreshing – tropical rain shower (look for the photo with the wall of water below … the rain, we were heading into). We made in into Mulu NP just in time for a late dinner.

Miri – Arriving to Borneo

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A 16 hours journey did bring me to Miri via Kuala Lumpur.

As I was coming straight from a swine-flu country, I was directly given special treatment, my temperature was taken and I got a special Welcome Package including a face mask (in case I show flu symptoms), which proved helpful later on.

A quick taxi ride got me into town, we I directly started exploring town. The center itself felt pretty boring to me … as it was mainly consisting of shopping centers.

The city fan however makes a nice change – a big park with different kinds of themed gardens in it, including a Chinese and Islamic garden … nice for a some rest

Later in the day … once I found the tourist office and had a map, I made my way up a hill outside the city – up Canada hill to the Grand old Lady, Malaysia’s first oil well.

Budapest

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Business got me on a 1.5 weeks trip to Budapest. A big portion of time surely was dedicated to business, however the trip left enough time to also explore town and to have some fun with my colleagues and new friends. Below some first impressions …

This Saturday I left the hotel around lunch time, heading out for Budapest’s main sights. After a stop at the Castle, I walked over to Fisherman’s Bastion for a superb view of town. Then down again and to the other side of the Danube, passing by the Parliament building and over to Szent István Bazilika. From there I made my way to the Terror Museum.

Sunday started with a walk up Gellert mountain; from there I headed back to the other side of town for a swim in the nice Szechenyi Bath.

More Seoul Impressions

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It was raining when I woke up, so I re-planned and made this Thursday a museum and mall day. Though before that, I moved over to a tour agency to get my DMZ tour for Friday organized. After that I made my way straight on the National Museum of Korea – the biggest and one of the better museums in Asia. The museum visit was followed by a trip around town with a focus on indoor activities – in my case the COEX mall, the Techno Mart and the Kimchi Museum.

In the evening – after a busy (indoor) day – I decided to visit Namdaemun Market … a traditional market in the heart of Seoul. I also had dinner in a small restaurant in the market … and the old rule is true again – if you look for good, authentic and cheap food – go to the market … so delicious that I ended up in the same restaurant on Saturday evening once more.

After dinner I continued my walk, heading into the direction of the city hall – just to discover that the Deoksugung palace was still open … After a visit to this palace, I ended up in Myeong-dong once more.