Mulu …. sounds so ulu ….. its "uluness" became more apparent to me when I was about to check into the airport at Miri. The clerk at the domestic check-in counter told us to go to the rural check-in counter. True enough, the sign at the corner counter said, "Rural Airport Check-in."

We were early, Teck Huat and I. The first call when we were there was for the flight to Limbang, another small town in Sarawak. Then there was another call to somewhere I don't recall. While they made the call to both these earlier flights in both Bahasa Malay and English, when they finally called for our flight, the announcement was made only in English. The reason was apparent to us only when we were in the 18-seater MAS Twin-Otter. There were only the two of us and the two pilots on board!! So cool!! For awhile, at least, I felt like I owned a plane.

 Soon Miri's neatly arranged building-scapes gave way to Mulu's complete greenery plus some muddy, winding rivers.

Our guide met us at Mulu rural airport. Joseph, a native from one of the smaller of the 26 tribes of Sarawak, was an educated guide, having studied till the Malaysian equivalent of GCE A Level, and having done a three month theological course in Indonesia. The "guest house" that Joseph brought us to was not to Teck Huat's liking …. We ended up at the neighbouring Royal Mulu Resort.

 Here are some fotos of the trip …

With nothing to do on our first morning in Mulu, we decided to check out the Mulu National Park headquarters by ourselves. It was a short 30 minute walk from our resort. The resort's van would have taken us there for M$10 two-way but we thought a walk would do us good. The 9-am morning sun was scorching though, and I ended up with a tan that I had been looking forward to the last few months since the notorious Haze and the December north-east monsoon rains.

From the park, many trips could be planned…. trips to the 4 show caves, adventure caving trips, trips to the Pinaccles, the Mulu Summit Trail and more. Quickly, when we got back to the resort, cancelled our kayaking plans, ordered a giant bowl of ice-kachang each and sat down to make some calculations and suggestions for a camp in Mulu in 1998.

Unfortunately, like they happen in the advertisements on TV, I forgot to bag an additional roll of film with me when we were at the Deer Cave and Lang Cave so we ended up with very few pictures. The lighting, or the lack of it, made the numbers of pictures captured even lesser