After visiting the Sarawak Cultural Village, there was no longer anything interesting about Kuching unless you take a flight to Mulu Caves which is a World Heritage site. We found that to be time consuming. Therefore, I decided to go to this Bako National Park with hope that it will offer me some greenery moment like my previous trip to Taman Negara and Kinabalu National Park. Upon reaching the entrance, we were told that we need to take a separate boat to the park. My initial thought was to drive to the location directly. Never had I thought I need to take a boat. Well, since I wasted 1 hour drive to the location, to back out is not an option. After a deep thought we decided to share a boat with a European couple and a sissy not-so-man Asian. Sitting inside the boat with the breeze brushing my hair was really relaxing.
With our boat gliding through the strong wave from the ocean, I was glad that I didn’t eat so heavy for my breakfast that morning. Everything looks smooth when all the sudden the engine of the boat turned off. We were in the middle of the sea with the sight of land a few nautical miles away. Han Ching looked at me and I turned to the middle aged man who navigates the boat behind us.
“Apa hal ye Encik? Enjin rosak ke?” I asked.
He lifted up his engine. Then he took out his oar.
(Usher’s OMG music playing behind the background again)
He started to paddle the boat. That European couple was mumbling in some accent which I was very familiar with and told Han Ching,
“Lauri”
No mood to entertain me, Han Ching asked the “captain” again anxiously.
“Tak ada minyak ke Encik?”
The old man then replied the water level is too shallow and the engine propeller will hit the seabed if he continued. Then he pointed to us that he was actually not paddling against the water but the seabed. We were in fact just 1.5 meter from the seabed. He told us it will take probably another one hour or so for the tide level to rise before he could use his engine again.
(Usher’s OMG music playing behind the background again)
I tried to calm down the panicked tourists on the boat. With the “tulan” faces shown by the boat members, the poor “captain” is pressured to lower back his engine into the water on an inclined angle upwards. He forced his way through the wave. Soon, he somehow managed to bring the boat back to life and in full speed. Within minutes, we reached our destination. We had to berth some hundred meters away from the shore as the boat is not the type which my colleague took for our company trip last year.
So, we had reached the island. What’s next?
I told Han Ching we should go for a trekking to see the sea stack which I came across on the Tourism Malaysia brochure. She reluctantly agreed. The one and half hour trek, Telok Pandan Kecil route is one of Bako's most famous (famous for torturing). It ascends the forested hills overlooking Telok Assam, reaching the plateau covered with scrub vegetation and continues along a sandy path lined with carnivorous pitcher plants before reaching a cliff top with stunning view of the secluded bay below the famous sea stack offshore. Yeah, to me it is so “stunning view” and “secluded” that another European couple swam naked on our way back when they thought no one is watching.
Walking across this trail reminisced us about ordeal in Mount Nuang and Mount Kinabalu. In Mount Nuang it was more to mentality. In Mount Kinabalu, it was more to endurance. In Bako, it was 70% Mount Nuang + 20% Mount Kinabalu + the scorching heat that we never had encountered before as there are no tall trees to block the sun away. After 30 minutes walk, I was beginning to weigh up some comforting lines in order to avoid a dressing-down by Han Ching. My determination of choosing this location has turned my vacation into some boot camps. Luckily we bought ample of foods from the canteen before the start of this trail. Had we not brought anything along, this will go down to Han Ching’s record as the “Top 10 things you shouldn’t do in Sarawak with your boyfriend" and she will used this over and over again whenever I suggest we do some trekking. A 10 minutes descent through cliff vegetation brings you to one of the beaches in the park.
The alleged beautiful view of the sea stack was not really as captivating as it looks on the picture. Darn Tourism Malaysia. The journey was so tiring that we were contemplating to call our original sopir to fetch us from the beach we were now at even if we need to pay extra cash. *@#$%. Our hand phone had no lines! With no chicken exit, we trudged our way back to the distressing trail. When we reached back to civilization, we were so exhausted and pale-looking as though we had just been cursed by the Black Pearl. Surprisingly, Han Ching didn’t condemn me for forcing her to finish up her 2 years exercise quota in one day on our way back. After all, that was my big day that day.
Phew!
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