The warm up route or test run was to head to Sematang, or really just Pugu Permata Campsite which was about 100km westward from Kuching. This was a backtrack in someway since I will have to return to Kuching as anything westward was a dead end but somehow I felt that I needed to go to the west tip of Borneo to really start the journey. Riding from the West tip to East tip of Borneo has a nice ring to it so I am gonna do it for the heck of it.
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| Ride Off From Kuching - at the outskirts of the city for Breakfast |
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| Along the way to Wind Caves - Stop for Lunch along roadside stall by the Church |
40km out of Kuching and I saw a signboard for the Wind Caves and Fairy Caves near Bau and I decided to do a 10km detour to check it out. The roads were really nice, single lane highway fully paved with barely any vehicles but this can be relative in my perspective, since going through dirt road and gravel stones in Cambodia & Laos, anything that does not need me to break a sweat was a sweet ride.
Wind Caves was the first stop with entrance fee of RM1 for the national park and it was a short walk through gangplanks going deep into the caves. No lights and torchlights is a must if one wanted to venture all the way in which would be a 30 minute caving experience.
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| Wind Cave Nature Reserve |
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| Entrance Hut to Wind Caves |
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| Pitch Darkness in Windcaves |
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| Windcaves - End of the Road for me |
I was alone naturally and even with a powerful torch light, it was scary the moment I lost daylight from the cave entrance. Bats were everywhere, flying and making so much noise that I decided caving alone was a risky business even if it was fully gangplank and only a short 30 minute walk.
Nearby Windcaves was a river retreat spot where locals could rent a hut, swim in the river and stay the night. I thought this would be a perfect place to pitch tent by the sandy riverbed until I saw the signboard saying beware of crocadiles ... gulp!
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| Beware - Crocodiles |
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| Locals enjoying the river |
Fairy Cave was next but along the way I spotted another unmarked cave that seams to be developing into a buddhist temple. Figures of Buddha was place around the entrance and the small cave once climbing up the stairs had one Buddha statue sitting tranquil inside. Onwards to Fairy caves and I found out that this one was closed, under renovation and wont be open till next year october.
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| The Road to Fairy Caves |
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| Unmarked Caves between Wind Caves & Fairy Caves |
Small detour done I headed to Lundu, which was a nice quint town that seams out of time even for Malaysia. Packed up some dinner and snacks and I headed to the campsite which was 20km away. Pugu Permata Campsite was a total gem. RM 20 for me to rent a space to camp out with my own tent but if you don't have a tent, they also rent ready set up tent for RM50 or some local families may fancy the luxury RM 190 mega camp.
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| Small town Lundu - Thats basicly 1/3 of the whole town ... form in a U-Shape the town center is just a meager Shops no more than 20 lots. |
I chit chat abit with the recepition girl and said it was too expensive, which I initially think at most it would cost RM 10 mainly to use the toilet and charge my phone so at RM 20, I would have rather rough it out at the bushes some beach along the way to batu kawa and not return for the second night. Supprisingly she said its ok. I can come back and stay here for the second night for free.
So apparently everything is negotiable and I guess me not bargaining from the very beginning and just accepting the RM20 per night must had seam weird to them.
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| Campsite at Permata Pugu |
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| My Single Tent - Bought In Kuching (Permata Pugu Campsite) |
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| Sunset @ Permata Pugu Campsite |
Traveled on: Aug 2019
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