Brunei, Ulu Temburong: Hangin' with the Locals

Another gorgeous view while waiting at the top of the canopy for the sun to set
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After visiting several national parks in the Malaysian state of Sarawak in Borneo on our own, we decided to try an organised tour in Brunei with a company called Intrepid Tours. We departed the capital of Brunei, Bandar Seri Begawan (BSB) by fast water taxi to a small town called Bangar which is 45 minutes downriver from BSB. We shared the water taxi with a group of trendy young Singaporeans who were apparently on their way to start their national army service which would last 6 months. National service is a great idea for the youth of today, and it would be interesting to see how it changes the behaviour of this young group of guys who clearly weren't interested in anything but partying and listening to their mp3 players.

Kyle enjoying the night safari boat ride
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Upon arrival at Bangar, we were picked up at the jetty by our guide for the 3 day / 2 night tour. His name was Nasir and he was an Iban (Malaysian tribe name) from the area. As January is apparently the wet season, tours were pretty quiet. Ours was so quiet, that we were the only ones on the tour and had Nasir to ourselves the entire time. Not only did we have our own guide, but we were also the only people to stay in Ulu Temburong National Park, but more of that part of the tour will come later.

We were the only people for miles around and therefore, the peace and tranquility of the canopy tower was amazing to behold.

The view of the sunrise at the top of the canopy walk in Ulu Temburong National Park was a sight to behold, as the fog lifted and the animals, insects and birds came alive
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The first thing that Nasir did was drive us to Mr. Ken's Restaurant (we did not see anyone resembling a "Ken") for afternoon tea. This consisted of toasted kaya sandwiches and sweet orange juice that we would become all too familiar with by the end of the tour. Kaya, for those of you who don't know and are interested, is Malaysian and Indonesian and is a jam made from coconut milk and duck/chicken eggs, flavoured by the unique pandan leaf and sweetened with sugar. After tea, Nasir drove us to the Awadah Guesthouse where we would be staying the first night of our tour. We dropped off our backpacks and Nasir took us to the river to board his friend Jelema's boat for the night safari cruise down the Temburong River.

We went with some local villagers one evening to collect their fish - they had caught enough in their nets to feed the village for a week, which was excellent news
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We set out on the 2-1/2 hour boat ride before dark, in the hopes of spotting some monkeys and other wildlife. Jelema drove us about 45 minutes along the river, and along the way we passed his wife Ani fishing, some other local fisherman, a crocodile and a huge logging yard. It really was disheartening to see so many trees cut down and ready to be shipped upriver, but logging is a large industry in Borneo and unfortunately people have to work to live. After 45 minutes, we were able to see wildlife that we really wanted to spot - proboscis monkeys. We came upon a large tree in which six proboscis monkeys were hanging out and eating. From a distance, they looked like men in the trees and we stopped and watched them for about half an hour. They were watching us, too...

We went on a night safari along the Temburong River and saw proboscis monkeys, long-tailed macaques, hornbills, crocodiles and many fireflies
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Further down the river, we saw some long-tailed macaques rustling about amongst the gigantic palms lining the mangrove riverbank. After travelling further down the river and spotting a few more macaques and a couple of hornbills (think giant bird with massive, strangely shaped beak), Jelema and Nasir decided to turn the boat around and head back. We thought this was a good idea since it was actually getting very dark at this stage and we were unsure how they were going to get back in the dark, with no headlights on the boat or streetlights along the river to guide us home.

A local woman fishing for dinner
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It turns out that there were in fact "headlights" and "streetlights"; headlights in the form of a torch (flashlight) which Jelema held while driving, and streetlights in the form of the hundreds of fireflies we saw on the journey back. Note, however, that you cannot travel at night by the light of fireflies alone, and we strongly suggest that you have a torch with you in the jungle whenever you are out and about at night. The last interesting viewing on the night safari was definitely looking out for crocodiles. They often swim with just their eyes out of the water and the beam from the torch lights up their eyes very brightly. We were scanning left and right to look for crocodiles and managed to see a couple.

Can you spot the 3 proboscis monkeys in the tree?
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We had dinner after the night safari at Mr. Ken's Restaurant and were served delicious plates of sweet and sour chicken, breaded fish with ginger and green beans stir-fried with chilies and garlic. After dinner, back at Awadah Guesthouse, we watched Serena Williams win her tennis match in the Australian Open, as well as a few other matches.

The next morning, we packed up our things to head to the National Park, and had a good breakfast of toasted kaya sandwiches and mee goreng (fried yellow noodles with pieces of chicken and vegetables), and of course the staple sweet orange juice. Nasir then drove us to the longboat departure point where we met our boat driver, Jelema, and his wife Ani. They accompanied us on the tour as well, working with Nasir.

As we were trekking through the jungle, a huge tree fell and we were lucky enough to stop it from damaging the waterfall
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Before we set out upstream, Nasir asked if we wanted to add the "Rapid Rider" optional excursion to our tour. Kyle, thinking that it would be a large raft made for shooting down rapids in a river, quickly agreed and assured Dan that all would be good and well. Little did we know what was in store, though... We told Nasir that we wanted to add this extra bit onto our tour, and when he asked if we needed helmets, he didn't really give us a chance to answer before telling us we would be fine and that we didn't need them.

This was the amount of food we were given on night 2 of our tour - way too much but all was delicious (check out the competely fried fish at top left)
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The journey up the Temburong River in the longboat took about 30 minutes, and when we arrived at the national park headquarters, we registered, noticed we were the only guests, and then checked into the hostel. We boarded the longboat again and Jelema took us about 20 minutes upstream so we could start our jungle trek to the waterfall. The trek was along a stream for most of the way, and included walking through the stream for a good portion of it, so therefore our shoes were soaked almost immediately. We had to climb around and over boulders and fallen trees and also walk bravely through countless numbers of spider webs (see, we are getting better now). It was slippery, but then, everything has been slippery for us in Borneo so this was no surprise. We even managed to make it to the end of the trek without Kyle slipping and falling on his... We also spotted a long-tailed macaque run deeper into the jungle when he spotted us coming upstream.

View of a tree during the sunset we watched from the canopy walk in Ulu Temburong National Park
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At the base of the waterfall, there is a small pool of cool, refreshing water. We went for a swim with Nasir and it was very much needed after the hot jungle trek. We took in the fresh air and jungle noises for about 30 minutes, and then headed back downstream to the longboat. This is where things become very arduous and terrifying. Nasir kindly informed us that the "Rapid Riders" part of the tour would start then, and we noticed Jelema was busy blowing up three individual rafts which looked like large yellow rafts you may lie on to relax in a swimming pool. So, imagine going down rapids in a river on a raft, and you can start to picture the panic on our faces.

Another interesting creature in Borneo, this one has an especially cool shape
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Kyle was not as badly panicked as Dan, since he has swam in rivers and lakes, and has also been white-water rafting. Dan, however, has not really ever swam in a river or lake, and he normally has a rule that he will not set foot in water when he cannot see the bottom. Well, all rules were broken on this day as we felt we had no choice - the longboat has taken off and we were left alone on the riverbank with Nasir and three bright yellow rafts.

The rafts were quite durable so once on them, we felt a little reassured. Also, the water was fairly shallow and calm where we boarded the death-traps, and you could even view the rocky bottom of the riverbed. It wasn't until we started approaching the first rapids, and also when Nasir told us the water was about 10-15 metres deep, that panic started to sink in. We could only imagine how many crocodiles lived in the river, and snakes and who knows what other creatures. About this time, our rafts were picking up speed and the rapids, which looked small and weak from the safety of the longboat, seemed to swell in size as we approached. Luckily, we made it safely through the first couple of sets of rapids and were starting to somewhat enjoy the experience.

We don't think they make these hats in Westerner sizes... as evidenced here in the photo
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Nasir could see that we were getting comfortable on our rafts, and so he sat up on his and said he would like to ride the next set of rapids sitting up. We followed suit, getting a little cocky, and before Kyle knew it, he was floundering about in the river trying to frantically get back on top of his raft. He managed to do this just in time to hit another big rapid, and then fall off again. Dan, of course, was laughing at this as he managed to make it through this part of the rapids okay. His time would come soon, though. The next set of rapids was the biggest set yet, and whilst Kyle made it through just fine this time, Dan was the one who took a tumble. Repeat the sentences before this one in this paragraph and you can imagine Dan trying to get on top of his raft in the middle of the rapids in the same manner as Kyle.

A local fisherman with his prize lobster catch, a rarity in the Temburong River
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Back on solid ground at the national park headquarters, we decided we had enough of the "Rapid Rider" experience, and made the decision not to do it again the next day, as the journey would be another hour downstream with larger rapids than we had just experienced. Nasir seemed upset, as this is probably the most fun part of the tour for him, but he also understood and saw the fear in our eyes for another try at this.

After the waterfall trek and rafting experience, our shoes were completely soaked. We would like to point out now that we did not have dry shoes again until we reached our next destination Bali. One good thing about Asia is that you should take off your shoes in most establishments, and therefore our feet were able to air out. I am not sure how much the others appreciated this, however, as you can probably imagine the smell our shoes were starting to make after being so wet and sweaty without having a chance to air out and dry (Dan's shoes win the "most smelly" award at this point in the trip, by the way).

The palms lining the mangrove river were massive
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We both decided to take it easy in the afternoon and settled on taking, or at least trying to take, a nap before we set out on a trek to the canopy walk. As there is no fixed power in the national park, they use a generator which is only allowed to be used from 6:00pm to 12:00am. During the day, there is no chance at all of turning the fan on in the hostel we were staying in, and the room was boiling so naps were hard to come by. After "resting", we headed to the kitchen for afternoon tea - yep, you guessed it, toasted kaya sandwiches and sweet orange juice - and then we set out on a much more difficult journey than we had planned.

The staff at Mr. Ken's Restaurant were very nice and the food was delicious, some of the best in Borneo
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Ulu Temburong National Park has the tallest canopy walk in the world and it is a feat just to reach the bottom of the canopy walk's metal scaffolding, as to get to the canopy walk you have to climb more than 1200 steps. Add the steps to climb up the canopy walk scaffolding and you have at least 1300 pain-inducing steps. Why have we done this to ourselves? Well, it was all to attempt to see a beautiful sunset over the massive jungle beneath us and to hear the jungle wildlife getting ready for their night's activities. We were the only people for miles around and therefore, the peace and tranquility of the canopy tower was amazing to behold. Being high above the jungle treetops and being able to look 360 degrees around us for miles and miles was truly spectacular and a sight we'll never forget.

Nasir guiding the longboat driver, Jelema, upstream through the rapids
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As the light grew dimmer, the sounds grew louder, and we were able to hear many cicadas and other insects. Nasir told us that his grandfather, and people of his time, used the sounds of the insects to determine the time. They always start making their noise at the same time each day, around 6:00pm. As the sun was setting in the somewhat cloudy sky (the colours were pretty), we managed to see a flock of hornbills fly majestically out over the jungle. That was one of the most spectacular sights as it is hard to catch a glimpse of these rare birds.

Dan and Kyle taking a cool, refreshing dip in the clear pool at the bottom of the waterfall
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We headed back down the 1300+ steps and were welcomed back to the park headquarters with a HUGE meal that Ani prepared - 5 different plates of food! Yes, we thought at this point that they were absolutely feeding us too much food, but it all looked too good to not eat it. The highlight of this meal was the plate of fried fish which you can see in our photos for this journal entry. Jelema and Ani caught some fish in the river earlier in the day, and deep-fried the fish. Now, this is not typical Western fried fish, as the entire fish bodies (minus the guts) were on the plate in front of us.

Our shoes got soaked on the waterfall trek as we hiked along and in a stream for 30 minutes
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Dan was a little used to eating fish like this, as his Dad used to fry fish that he caught when he used to go fishing, but even then the fish heads were normally cut off. He bravely went first and ate one of the smaller fish whole, as we weren't sure whether or not this is what we were supposed to do. The bones were soft from being fried and eating the fish's head and eyes was not too bad of an experience. After seeing the entire fish was edible, Kyle gave it a go and ate one, too. It was much better than he thought it was going to taste, and while he enjoyed it somewhat, he opted for no more and Dan cleaned the plate.

The bridge across the Temburong River at the national park
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After dinner we rode in the longboat with some local villagers, to check their fishing nets and their catch for the day. They caught enough fish to feed their village for a week and were very happy with the outcome. It was a great experience sharing this with the villagers, and to see how they manage to sustain lives in the jungle and along the river. Exhausted when we got back to the camp, and worried about the 5:00am wake-up which Nasir sprung on us - to watch the sunrise from the top of the canopy walk - we decided to pack it in and go to bed. Yes, that would be another 1300+ steps to climb, in the dark and in less than 6 hours as it was just before midnight when we got back from the fish catch.

There were still over 100 steps to go... a tiring experience but well-worth it
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We woke up at 5:00am in pitch black and used our torches to find our way to the hostel's shower room in order to try and wake ourselves up with showers. Things were very eerie at this time of day with no one else in the park. We met Nasir and started climbing ALL THOSE STEPS again, and despite being extremely hot and sweaty, the sunrise-watching experience was another one to go into the memory bank. One of the highlights was listening to the gibbons wake themselves up along with the rest of the jungle. Their cries sounded a bit like the beeping of a car alarm or when you lock a car door with the electronic lock on your keys, and the gibbons could be heard for miles.

We had to climb these steps of the canopy walk, which was built of metal scaffolding (and sways scarily in the wind too!)
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After getting back to park HQ (you know what that is by now), we had another large breakfast before cleaning and packing our things up to head back downriver to Bangar. There, Nasir took us to a longhouse where his brother lives with his family, and four other families. Many families share longhouses and the living conditions are very poor, so it made us both reflect on how good our lives have been and will continue to be in the future when we make it home one day. We said our good-byes to Nasir and hopped aboard a fast water taxi back to BSB, in order to catch our flight to Kuala Lumpur, where we would spend one evening in transit for our next destination Bali, Indonesia. We were looking forward to sun, the beach, relaxation and much less jungle, but hopefully some more monkeys - more of that in our next journal entry.