Kuching - A Nature Fortress

Hello!!

The second day for the Kuching trip was an early schedule of 6.30am for breakfast before heading out to the first main attraction - Bako National Park. 

How to get there

1. Get to the Bako Terminal (boat jetty) by:

• Bus - No.1 Rapid Kuching (red bus) from Open Air Market (in Carpenter Street, next to Electra Market)
• Van - I supposed it picks up at the same area as the van. I advised you to enquire the hotel staff in the place you stay in
• Taxi
• Rent a car - there's a free parking area right in front of the Bako Terminal

2. In the boat jetty, you have to:

• Pay entrance fee - RM 10/ person
• Pay for boat ride to Bako National Park - RM 30/ person (two ways). This is for those who go without joining a tour. 

Enjoy the beautiful view while enjoying the rough ride (due to the almost raining weather)

Mind that when you arrive at Bako National Park, this will happen:

Luckily, there are a few areas for you to wash your leg (one is right at the entrance and the other is right in front of the toilet). But before you clean up your leg, might as well take your time to walk around the beach and enjoy the view around.

The mountain behind should be Mount Santubong - a famous mountain with a cruel legend story behind 

Right at the entrance, we were greeted by 2 wild boars.

I actually went really close to this guy, but it stared at me

When I went to toilet to clean my leg, I saw 2 proboscis monkeys right above the toilet. It, thus, saved us the time and energy to go on a 2-hour Teluk Paku trail (to and fro) to search for them. We also saw this cute little green snake.

As we arrived in Bako National Park, we had to register ourselves to get a trail map and the staff would suggest some trails depend on our preferences. The trails that we planned to go were recorded in case accident happens, I supposed. Our chosen destinations were Lintang trail (which walk us through the whole park) and Teluk Pandan Kecil (which allow us to see the famous stacked stone). Each trails is clearly marked with different colour lines on the tree, so as long as you follow the coloured line, you will be able to get to your destination without a guide. However, you maybe missing some "details", like some species of plants or animals. 

We didn't know where to start. This is because no matter where we went, the left or the right side, it only indicates a red line, which is the Lintang trail. However, according to the map given, Teluk Pandan Kecil is on the right side (near the jetty side) of the park headquarters. So, this means that, in order to go for the other trails, you need to pass through the Lintang trail. 

On our way, we saw mangrove swamps, with lots of small little crab on the ground. The mangroves here are not as bad as the one I went in Kuala Sepetang.

One picture of the swamp with Mount Santubong

Teluk Pandan Kecil trail took us about 2 hours and half (including Lintang trail), an hour longer than the estimated time, due to our poor physique. The trail as said by other bloggers, weren't easy. It is quite steep in some areas but the trekking is made possible thanks to the tree roots. 

Lintang trail

We also came across this bare land, which I have never encountered before from the few jungle trekking I did. Since you will come across a few of this "botak", it is best to bring a cap and lots of water. 

Approaching Teluk Pandan Kecil trail

There is even beach sand, probably due to its proximity with the beaches. 

When trekking, look around you and you may find:

my father named it "don't-know-what-name" flower

Abundance of pitcher plants along the trail (even Cameron Highland doesn't have this many).

You will soon arrive to your destination when you saw this:

And TADA!!!

Wait! So where's the promise stacked stone?
Can you see the small little pointed stone at the end?
That's the one! SO SMALL!!

But, the view is amazing. A replica to the Descendant of the Sun's wrack boat scene can be seen here, but without the wrack boat though. Unfortunately, I did not take the picture clearly, I should have double check it. Well, this mean that you have to personally go and look for yourself.

Right here, you can even see the weird structure of the rock surface, probably due to erosion. 

According to the other bloggers, there would be lots of boats waiting around here, to earn a living. Unfortunately, there weren't. Until a little while, did we see a boat approaching. My dad asked me to ask the boatman how to get down from there. I thought he was joking. "How could I even ask the boatman when he is far below?". But he did not, he meant it.

Apparently, there's a stair on the right. A very steep stairs. When you come to the end of the stairs, you are able to see another amazing creation by the nature.

Doesn't it looks like a paw?

The boat costs RM 35/boat. Apparently, you can either take this boat before jungle trekking or, like us, after. I suggest to take it after because after some tough trekking, a relaxing boat ride later feels unexpectedly rewarding. Also, the best view is supposed to leave it for the last, no? However, due to the weather and the sea condition, the boatmen might or might not be waiting at the shore. If the weather is nice, there are a lot of boats lining up. But, I supposed you can book a boat in the headquarter beforehand. But thanks to the rough sea, there is practically no boat, and it feels like it is only us that is in there and the view is magnificent too. A plus plus side!

For the boat ride, the boatman brought us closer to the famous sea stack, which is also the small pointed rock that I mentioned above.

The side

A huge cobra!!

Right after we were back to the headquarter, we saw a crowd gathering around a tree. You know what we saw? A proboscis monkey! A very close one, right in front of my eyes!! I don't even have to zoom in my lousy camera. This monkey instantly grew in fame and it practically posed for us. Here, here enjoy this monkey.



We also saw Silver Leaf Monkey, a very close one too. But this little guy is a little camera shy.



And a bunch of them, right before we left.

Then, we headed to the 2nd main attraction - Semenggoh Wildlife Centre. It was supposed to schedule for the third day, but since we had seen what we wanted to see and my father seemed disinterested in this place, we left at 1pm. It's best to leave at this time as the boat later than this will be too crowded.

It wasn't easy to find Semenggoh Wildlife Centre, but thanks to that, we arrived just right in time for the feeding session (9.00-10.00 am & 3.00-3.30pm). Wait, feed who? ORANG UTAN!! *screams* I have long heard about this big hairy guy and saw a lot of its pictures, and finally I could meet them!! Here here:

The feeding area (zoomed in)
The one sitting is the alpha
The one hanging is the oldest Orang Utan here

Without zooming in is this far

The big guy below is the 3rd biggest orang utan in this centre. It will only come out when the alpha goes away.

Here's him eating a coconut:

Besides Orang Utan, you could also see crocodile and lots of different gardens (but I don't think anyone can enter, which only makes the purpose of coming here to visit orang utan and crocodile).

We were lucky that day to be able to see those cute little animals at such close range and that they were willing to come out to see us. Some of them weren't that lucky, though.

By the way, all the animals above are wild. Do not get too close, disturb them or give them anything, they might hurt you. Sorry to say that I'm on the animal's side, and for doing that,  I think you deserve that.

After staying about an hour, we went back to our hotel for shower and then went to Carpenter Street for a walk. In here, you can see the famous

Astana

Sorry for the bad photo quality

DUN

Square Tower

The building on the right

Street Art



I had no idea why but it was really quiet that night. Did anything happening on Thursday (6/4)?

That wrapped up the second day. In case, you missed the first day, click here. Ciao~