Our main goal was to make it to the Niah National Park and caves, a 1 hour, 2 hour, or 3 hour drive from the hotel, depending on who was giving the directions. We were hoping for the shorter travel time!
Keith decided to get directions from Google maps, which told us 1 hour, 40 minutes. We figured that was do-able. Some friends who happened to be at the Marriott with the same plan, set out before us and told us they would text us and let us know how long it took them to get to Niah.
After packing up sandwiches, snacks, drinks, diapers, wipes, sippy cup, books, toys, camera, umbrella stroller, flashlights, and baby backpack (surely I'm forgetting something!), we loaded up the van and left around 9:30am.
Now picture this:
A 9 year-old girl saying, "I just want to stay at the hotel and swim! WHY do we have to go to see CAVES? Let's just stay at the Marriott!"
A 7 year-old boy saying, "Why does Natalie get to sit in the middle! I want to sit in the middle! It's not FAIR!"
A 4 year-old boy saying, "HarTON... stop touching me! Stop! STOP!!!"
A 1 year-old girl... hmmm... actually, I can't remember what Lacy was doing because of all the other COMPLAINING going on in the back of the van! I was thinking 'this is going to be a long trip.'
I finally got the kids distracted by singing songs from Just Dance, and we were on our way. Just an hour and 40 minutes, right? Wrong.
The streets in Miri are pretty confusing, and not well-marked, so we took a couple of wrong turns before finding our way to the route set out for us by Google. Then we took a few more wrong turns because the street names on Google maps did not match up with the street names in real life. Keith even stopped once to ask directions (I know, a rare man), and the person insisted that the road we were looking for on the map didn't even exist. Well, Keith thinks that's what the guy was saying, although there was a bit of a language barrier. We forged ahead, hoping we were going to start seeing signs soon. No such luck.
After awhile our friends texted us, "1 hour, 5 minutes on coastal road." Guess what? We were NOT on the coastal road. And we'd already been driving for well over an hour at that point. After about 2 hours we finally passed what had to be the correct turnoff, so we backtracked and went winding down this gravel road to a DEAD END. About that time, Harton started saying he was going to throw up, and I told Keith that I felt like we were in a Stephen King novel where something is trying its darndest to stop us from going to the caves (Anyone read 11/22/63?). It felt like the universe was against us. I mean, why couldn't we find the place?? How did our friends get there in just over an hour? What was wrong with us? Maybe we just weren't meant to go to the caves that day. But we had come too far to turn around.
Then Harton threw up. At least I had given him a plastic bag, but then ALL of us started feeling sick from the smell, and we just wanted to GET THERE already! Keith never stopped driving this entire time, and finally, we found it. Almost 3 hours later. We obviously took the long route. Note to others: take a RIGHT turn out of the Marriott, which will take you on the coastal road!
Once there, wouldn't you know it, we couldn't find an empty parking space! After circling the lot (car park) several times, all the while still with Harton's bag of puke in the car, I finally told Keith to just pull off to the side under a tree. We stepped out into the blazing sun, threw away the barf bag, and carted all our gear to a ferry which would take us across the river to the trailhead.
After a 1 minute boat ride, we were on the boardwalk path to the caves, an hour-long walk. Harton was feeling much better out of the car, and there was a nice tree canopy to shade us from the equatorial sun. It was good to stretch our legs and get moving. We stopped at a little gazebo along the path and ate our sandwiches for lunch. Everyone was happy now! Aahhhhh.... so nice!
With renewed energy, we continued onward, taking note of the beautiful butterflies, curling Tarzan vines, and giant fin-like tree trunks and roots. Outside the entrance to the caves, some locals set up shop with handmade souvenirs for sale. Natalie bought a bracelet, and Harton bought a (crocodile?) tooth necklace. Spirits lifted from their purchases and an invigorating walk, the kids were now eager to see the caves.
I can honestly say that the whole journey was worth it when we finally entered the giant caves and the kids ran off happily exclaiming, "This is AWESOME! Cool! Woo-hoo! Let's play hide and seek!" It WAS pretty awesome. If you live in the area, you should make the effort to go some time. :)
We went in 2 caves: Traders' Cave and the Great Cave. Traders' Cave was more open, with lots of boulders to hide behind and climb. Great Cave was enormous, very deep, dark, and full of squealing bats dropping poo all over the place. The odor was a bit off-putting, but we got used to it. I was surprised at how still and humid it was in the caves. I was expecting it to be cooler, but I ended up sweating quite a bit as we climbed hundreds of stairs down into the depths of the cave, and back up again.
At one point I started feeling claustrophobic, and asked Landon if he wanted to turn around and just meet Keith and the other kids back at the entrance (Landon was VERY SLOW on all the stairs), but no, he wanted to keep going. So we did, with only the thin beams from our flashlights to guide us in the pitch black darkness. Every now and then we would stop to admire the many spider webs along the stair rails, as we shined our "torches" on them. We spent over an hour in the Great Cave before emerging back into the light of day. What a neat experience.
As we were leaving, these locals wanted pictures with our "white" children. :) They're pretty rare, I guess.
The trek back to our car was long, and the kids were absolutely exhausted. They were real troopers for sure. Luckily, our friends told us how to go back via the "coastal road", although they themselves got lost trying to retrace their route! But they were able to give us the correct directions, and it only took us 1 hour, 20 minutes to get back to the Marriott just in time for dinner and an evening swim.
Now picture this:
4 kids, asleep in the car :)
AAHHHHH.... What an exciting adventure!
