Niah Caves

This past weekend was a long weekend for Chinese New Year, so we decided to go to Miri, Malaysia and stay at the popular Marriott Resort and Spa.

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!

REASONS I AM LOVING LIFE IN BRUNEI continued

This is long overdue... Happy New Year, and 5 more reasons I'm enjoying life in Brunei!

5.  WEATHER
     Being just 5 degrees north of the equator means it's usually HOT.  But, we also have surprisingly mild days with nice sea breezes.  Heavy rains, typically in the evening and overnight, give the illusion of it being cold outside.  I could do without the humidity, but honestly, I would rather have it like this than to have cold weather!  Getting dressed is so easy.  Packing is so easy.  Summer clothes are small and light-weight!  I like wearing summer clothes, I like not having to bundle up the kids, and I like that we can go to the pool and cool down when we just can't take the heat anymore.  And, as the sea breeze blows in across the pool in the late afternoon, it's downright chilly!

A fake snowball fight on a hot Christmas Day

4.  PEOPLE
     Whether it's the local Bruneians, Filipinos, or fellow expats, people here just seem warm and welcoming.  In general, the people I've encountered are very friendly, helpful, humble, and respectful.  The locals absolutely love children too.  When we're in town with the kids, shop employees are so eager to help us and they love to carry Lacy around.  The same thing happens in restaurants.  It's like having free babysitting when we go out to eat!  The waitresses take Lacy off our hands and just play with her!  Very friendly people.

3.  PEACE
     Brunei Darussalam is literally "the Abode of Peace."  Life is peaceful here.  With the beach nearby and the jungle in our backyard, nature is all around.  No bright city lights, no horns honking, no rushing here, there, and everywhere... just peaceful, quiet, small-town living.  Even though I'm a city girl who has lived outside of Dallas, L.A., and Houston, I think I was actually made for small-town life.

2.  EXPLORING
     I've already written about some of our exploring involving local nature trails and parks, but there are so many other things to explore in Brunei and the surrounding areas.  Over the next few years we hope to do a lot of travel and exploration of places that we would never be able to see otherwise.  Hopefully I will be good and blog about our adventures!

At the Empire Hotel in Bandar Seri Begawan

1.  HAVING AN AMAH
     I never in my wildest dreams would have imagined that I'd employ a full-time maid/babysitter.  It is amazing, but also the norm here.  What's funny to me is that some people here are actually surprised that I don't have 2 amahs!  With 4+ children, apparently, some people hire 2 amahs!  I figure that if I could do it all on my own before, then someone else can do PART of what I was doing.  I mean, it's not like I'm just superfluous now.  Am I??  :)
A question I get ALL THE TIME is, "HOW did you do it in Houston every day without HELP???"  Ha!  Well, now I ask myself that same question.  Of course, you just do what you have to do in whatever situation you are in.  Now that I have someone, however, to do the 14 loads of laundry a week and the piles of dishes after every meal, not to mention babysitting Lacy so I can run errands alone, I'm thinking I will have to bring my amah with me when we leave here!  I can always dream...

Rosalyn & Me with my birthday cupcakes she baked

TOP 10 REASONS I AM LOVING LIFE IN BRUNEI

Just SOME of the reasons I'm loving life here so far...

10.  WEARING CROCS
       When I wore Crocs (the sandal kind, not the bulky hospital ones) nearly every day in Houston, some people questioned my fashion sense (you know who you are!)  Hey, if wearing Crocs is wrong, I don't want to be right!  :)  I want to be comfortable.  Here, they are the perfect shoe for sun, rain, and slipping on and off easily when entering people's homes.  

9.  CYCLING
      I am really enjoying riding my bike with the kids to school, or to the gym to work out, or just on the bike path through camp.  It's crazy that I didn't even own a bike the past 20 years or so, and now I ride just about every day!  Check out my get-up...  I can carry 2 kids, or backpacks, or swim gear, etc.  Thanks to Stacey who just moved back to Houston and sold me her bike trailer!  Lacy loves it!
   

8.  THE VIEW FROM MY HOUSE
     I love to sit in my living room and see GREEN out of all the windows!  I also love that our house has plenty of windows to let in the natural light.

View out the back

View out the front

7.  SWIMMING
     Much like with biking, I've done more swimming here than ever before.  The pools are great.  I really love that the kids have a swim lesson every week DURING school.  I volunteered to help in Landon's swim class just today, and it's great to see him loving it!  Since swimming is year-round, I'm hoping the kids will become much better swimmers than they are right now.

This is the pool at Brunei Shell Recreation Club.  We have another at the Panaga Club.

 Harton loves going off the high dive, as Natalie watches from below!

6.  SCHOOL

     The kids truly love school here, and are learning so much!  Landon (4) is learning to read and write, Harton (7) is doing some difficult spelling words and cursive writing, and Natalie (nearly 9) is learning her times tables.  Of course, they are learning TONS of other stuff too!  They do a lot of neat cultural things, have weekly assemblies on various topics (next week I'm helping with the Christmas assembly), go on fun and exciting field trips, and get to perform in musicals and concerts.  Here are a couple pics from Harton's program last night... "The King's Magic Cloaks".  Harton was a musician, playing the drum and tambourine, as well as singing.  It was great!  (or should I say "brilliant"?)

Well, I started this post on Friday, and it's now Monday.  I didn't work on it over the weekend, obviously!  I will just leave it with those 5 things for now, and then continue it later.

TO BE CONTINUED... 

Local Market

Ever since we moved here, I've been doing all of my shopping at SupaSave grocery store.  It's close, it's expat-friendly, and it's familiar.  It's also pricey, so I've been wanting to go to a local market.  I had heard about local markets, but I wasn't sure of the hours, location, or what to expect.  This past Friday a friend invited me to go along with her to the market in Seria.

When we first got out of the car, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it smelled like a carnival or state fair, with fried food scents wafting through the fruit stalls.  That somewhat comforting aroma was quickly replaced, however, by the nauseating odor of dried fish.

Dried fish in a bag, anyone?  

There were other strange-looking fish things at this stall, but I had to breathe through my mouth, and even then I was feeling sick, so we hurried past before I could take any more photos.

There were also MANY vegetables and fruits that I had never seen before, and still don't know what they are!  I tried to ask what they were, but the people thought I was asking the price.  "One Dollah" was a common response to my queries.

A little ways down from the dried fish stall was the "fresh" fish stall.  

When you see fish lying out on a table in 90 degree weather, 

with flies swarming all around,

 it doesn't exactly make you want to have fish for dinner! 

How about some squid??

In the end, the most adventuresome I got was to buy 

some rambutan, a little spiky red fruit. 

 I also got onions, potatoes, and celery for our Thanksgiving feast.

There is an unexpected section where they sell pottery, glassware, and decor.  

Check out the leafy green vegetable on a sleigh...

A wide selection of Asian vases, tea sets, and buddhas...

And finally, I could have even gotten a Christmas tree...

I will go back another day and buy more fresh fruits and veggies.   It is definitely cheaper than buying them at SupaSave!

BORNEO TROPICAL RAINFOREST RESORT

This past weekend, just after moving into our home, we took a mini vacation to the Borneo Tropical Rainforest Resort in Malaysia.  Sounds promising, doesn't it?  


First, a geography lesson.  When people hear Malaysia, they may think of Peninsular Malaysia, where Kuala Lumpur is located.  Malaysia also has 2 states across the South China Sea on the island of Borneo: Sarawak and Sabah.  The Borneo Tropical Rainforest Resort is located in Sarawak, about a 2.5 hour drive from where we live in Brunei.


This was our first experience crossing a border.  We had to stop on the Brunei side to fill out some paperwork with our car engine number and other important information like that, and then we were stamped out of Brunei and followed the arrows into Malaysia.  Well, we attempted to follow the arrows.  If only I had a picture... But just imagine an arrow painted on the pavement, and then 20 feet in front of that arrow another arrow pointing in the opposite direction.  If 2 cars were following the arrows, there would be a head-on collision.  Lucky for us, we were the only car on this particular road!  We knew we wanted to go through Miri, so we just kept following the signs in the correct direction for Miri.  As it turned out, there was a reason we were the only car on the road.  Those crazy arrows actually ended up leading us completely past Malaysia immigration.  Since we managed to bypass immigration, we didn't get our passports stamped "in", and realized we were now illegal aliens in a foreign land.  Maybe they need to tighten up security, you think?  No gates, no guards, nothing kept us from bypassing immigration!


Fast forward to the Resort...


2 hours later, we arrived at the grand entrance to the Borneo Tropical Rainforest Resort, presented our reservations, and were allowed through the gates.  After 15 minutes of driving up and down and around the rainforest on a rocky road (Harton cleverly said we were driving on ice cream... Rocky Road... ha ha!), we finally reached the actual resort.  If you are thinking of some lush, tropical paradise with a large pool and fruity drinks, think again.


There are 2 ways to describe the place:


1. A charming, rustic getaway nestled in the heart of Borneo, surrounded by the natural wonders of the rainforest.  Gourmet dining buffet allows guests to sample bountiful local cuisine at every meal.


2. A hot, humid, 1-step-up-from-camping cabin nestled amidst the mosquitoes, giant ants, tarantulas, and bats.  Good luck finding something to eat amongst the fish head soup, squid noodles, and what the heck is that egg dish at the "yes, this is your only option for every meal" buffet.


Let me be honest.  I had a killer headache most of the weekend, I hate being sticky and sweaty, and my idea of fun is NOT trekking through the rainforest with a crying 18 month old, while my head feels like it's going to explode from the heat and exhaustion, and I'm stuck carrying a heavy bag of 6 towels and swimsuits (which I so brilliantly packed since we were to end the tour---which I thought was on a tram, but turned out the tram was just to drop us off for a 2 hour hike--- at the waterpark.)  I just could not get into the spirit of it all.  Maybe if my head wasn't pounding, I could have enjoyed it a little bit more?  The kids and Keith had a great time though!  


As mentioned above, the tour ended at a small "water park", which turned out to be perfect for our kids.  I enjoyed it too because it was the only time I got to cool off, and the slides were pretty fun too.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the water park because I didn't want to get out of the cool water!


Some other highlights for the family were a night walk to look for tarantulas, a zip line which Natalie loved, fishing, hiking, a small kind of zoo with chickens, goats, and peacocks (random!), and a waterfall.  Another family from BSP met us there, and they have 6 kids, so of course our kids loved playing with their kids!


We survived the weekend, and on our way back we stopped at "Mr. Ho's Fine Foods" in Miri, where the kids (well, Natalie and Harton) ordered ham and cheese sandwiches.  They scarfed them down and said it was the best food they've eaten in weeks!  Maybe we should take them to Malaysian buffets more often so they'll appreciate "normal" food!


Now, remember how we circumvented immigration when we arrived?  Well, we got held up trying to get out of Malaysia.  Keith played dumb really well, and finally the lady just said, very sternly, "SIR... you HAVE to go through our immigration next time you come into Malaysia!"  (Dumb Americans!)   She stamped us in AND out, and sent us on our way.  Whew!


Now for some pictures...  

 Eating with some of the Schaumann family

 Landon, what a trooper

 Keith, Natalie, and friend Tyler

 Natalie on the "Flying Fox" zipline

 Keith on the Flying Fox

 Lacy with some local gongs

 Harton

The whole crazy group

When I look at the pictures, it looks pretty fun.  Maybe it will be like childbirth... down the road I will only remember the good parts, and I'll find myself returning over and over again.  But, there are many other places I want to visit before we return there!  Singapore, Thailand, Bali, Australia, Hong Kong...  Stay tuned!

Holding My Breath

I have to type very carefully and hold my breath, or I just might lose this amazing, miraculous internet connection that we finally (have!!!!)  Seriously, it's been a battle to get it, and we've had it for snatches of 5 minutes here and there, so I may not even get to finish this entry.


UPDATE!!!!


Only 2 1/2 months after arriving in Brunei, we are in our permanent house!  We moved in last week, to a 3 bedroom in camp.  I love the location, the jungle view out of our wall of windows, and the natural light.  I will really love it when the boxes and packing paper are gone, and things are put away.  Right now it's chaos!  And random things are missing... like the front wheel of my jogging stroller, and all of the bicycle locks.  


Just 2 days after moving in, we took our first mini vacation to the Borneo Tropical Rainforest Resort in Malaysia.  I think it deserves its own post, so "to be continued"...

Update/Interesting Facts

Well, even though in my last post I wrote about how I can now get online, I realized it costs a lot to do it!  So, I haven't been able to update like I want.  It's costing a lot for me to be on here now, so I better hurry...


Housing:


We are still in the temporary house, but now ALL of our stuff has arrived from Houston.  We have 300 boxes and all of our wrapped up furniture surrounding us.  It's a little crazy, and smells like cardboard.  So, now I'm anxious to get into a house.  Although they are supposed to give us a 4 bedroom, they have offered us a 3 bedroom since no 4 bedrooms are currently available.  The location of the 3 bedroom is PERFECT, but of course it's a lot smaller.  At this point, I'm ok with that, because location trumps size, and we want to go ahead and get settled.  BUT... as of today, they are telling us that we can't move into the 3 bedroom for another 6 weeks at least, and if we agree to take it and then a 4 bedroom opens up, too bad.  What to do???  Frustrating.




School:


The oldest 3 kids are now situated in school, and they all love it.  I am so happy with the schools here, even if the letter "z" is called "zed", and they say things like "brilliant" and "clever" when really maybe it's something that's just good or ok.  :0)






Other interesting facts:

• Eggs are brown.  No white eggs to be found.  I'm not sure Easter dye will look pretty on brown eggs.  
• Reverse Parking.  I still need to practice this.  Backing into an angled space is tricky!
• Pointing.  It is rude to point with the "pointer" finger, so everyone points with their thumb.  There's a certain technique to it.  It's not like a "Gig 'Em" thumb.  You have to make a fist and then rest your thumb on top and hold out your arm.  It's difficult to tell what people are pointing at, like the time a man  "pointed out" the immigration office to us, and we went on a 10-minute trek around 5 buildings until we ended up where we started, which turned out to be the correct building.  
• Toilet.  It's not a "restroom" or a "bathroom" or even a "powder room".... it's a "toilet".  Ask for a restroom and you'll just get a blank stare.  You have to ask for the toilet.  I feel a little dirty saying it.
• Light switches.  They are opposite.  To turn on a light on, you push the switch down, and to turn it off, you push the switch up.  Seems backwards, like so many other things here!

Still enjoying it though, despite many frustrations lately.  It's a bit of a roller coaster ride!