(Rain!)forest :D (Day 134 of the world trip)

16.01.2020

The night in the jungle was surprisingly restful! Thanks to two ceiling fans, it wasn't too hot and we all got up around 7:30 am.

Jonas and I went to the veranda for breakfast. The two girls had left the room door open, but when we heard them close it, I became attentive and asked Jonas if we had the key to get back in.

Oops! He followed the girls, unlocked our room with their key, and proudly brought the room key outside and returned the girls' key.

While we were eating, Jonas suddenly realized that he had brought the key from our hostel in Kuching!! Our room key for the hut was still INSIDE the room, which Jonas had immediately locked again :D :D

So he followed the girls a second time, borrowed the key, and this time we took the right key outside^^

After breakfast, we packed everything and signed the logbook to do Trek Number 7. This one takes about 2.5 hours one way, and since it was only 8:20 am, it worked out well.

Our boat driver had already arranged a pick-up time with us the day before - 3:00 pm. So we would easily have enough time to complete our trek :)

We set off in high spirits, but when we crossed the mangroves and climbed up to the plateau (the treks all share the same path at first and then the diverging paths come later), we could already hear thunder and feel a real vibration in the ground :O

Jonas reassured me that we were in the forest and that it was safe during a thunderstorm. And the canopy of leaves would protect us from possible rain. Well, good enough! ;-)

On the plateau, the thunder grew louder and it started drizzling. Hmm. Never mind. If you get wet, you get wet.

But then it started raining really heavily. The rainforest lived up to its name.

A few minutes earlier, we had already put the rain cover on our backpack and were too lazy to take out our rain capes. It was still warm and well... So we trudged through the pouring rain, soaking wet, over roots and planks, which was actually more fun than you'd think!! :O

We wanted our rainforest experience and that's what we got :D It didn't matter that our clothes were dripping wet, and at some point we stopped looking for a spot on the ground that wasn't ankle-deep in water. Socks and shoes were completely soaked too.

In the Philippines, we want to do gorge walking, which means walking through a river. Here, we had our first alternative preview :D :D

At an open area, a river had formed and it resulted in a pool below. Not bad!

Since nothing mattered anymore, we also walked through it. And since the rain had eased up a bit, Jonas took out the camera to capture the spectacle^^ On the way back, we took pictures in the exact same spot. It's hard to believe that so much water could disappear in such a short time :O

Oh, by the way - the destination of our trek was a (permanent) waterfall. When we arrived there, we found a roaring river :D Thanks to the rain, there was sooo much water!!! The actual waterfall is rather small, but with all that water, it was quite impressive <33

We crossed part of the river at a narrow spot, and I was surprised by the strong current. We had to walk carefully to avoid slipping and being swept away ;-)

After a while at the waterfall, we started walking back (the mosquitoes became very active now that the rain had stopped -.-) and encountered other people for the first time today^^

Some of the water had evaporated, so the air was humid and oppressive. In the distance, we could occasionally hear thunder again. Uh-oh! :D :D

We took a mini-break in a shelter, had a snack, and then it was the final half hour back to the headquarters. We met the two Dutch girls there, who were also quite wet. They had done Trek Number 6.

As we walked across the plateau, I had a slightly uneasy feeling, and sure enough - just as we reached the forest where we had to go back down over roots, rocks, and ladders, it started raining again.

We had just gotten almost dry!! :D :D

This time, the downpour was even more intense than the first time, and since it was all downhill, we had to be extremely careful not to slip. This descent was less fun, and it was starting to get chilly when you're soaked :p

When we reached the deck at the bottom, I happily hopped and danced in the rain. We were completely drenched, but at least now we only had to go straight ahead :D :D

Back at the headquarters, we took off our still wet clothes and hoped they would dry somewhat^^ It was only 12:30 pm, but even when it stopped raining around 1:00 pm, we didn't feel like going out again :p

Instead, we spent the next few hours there with people and animal watching.

Oh yeah! Before we set off in the morning, we saw monkeys in the trees on the beach!! We were so lucky <33

Well, the French guy arrived around 2:00 pm, the one we had arrived with and also had to return with. So we were ready to leave earlier, but it was still low tide and some boats were stranded at the back in the sand^^

Half an hour later, we decided to go out anyway because there were other people there. One of the boat drivers told us that we had to wait until high tide, around 3:00 pm. Okay then :) We passed the time observing mud (especially crabs^^), and eventually the drivers started filling their boats.

At first, we weren't quite sure which boat driver was ours (everyone was supposed to take the same one they arrived with). When we finally found him, he seemed absolutely uninterested in the three of us :D :D

Two other men were already in his boat, but he intentionally ignored us and we stood there feeling a bit lost :p

Around 3:15 pm, one of the other boat drivers told us to go to a boat that was still completely stranded in the sand. So we sat down there and waited. "No worry. The driver will come." Alrighty!

In the next half hour, all the other boats gradually departed - some of them even had less than five people, only two or three. We wondered why we weren't put on one of those less crowded boats.

Instead, the high tide finally came, washed over our boat, and the three of us sat in the boat without a driver. A potential driver was nowhere to be seen, and Jonas started getting skeptical.

When the last boat also took off, leaving us as the only ones without a driver, he had enough^^ The three of us got out of the boat and headed towards the beach to make sure there was still a driver for us before we got stuck on the boat in the middle of the water.

The thing was, we wanted to catch the bus back to Kuching, and since all the other boats were gone now, we were worried that the three of us might miss the bus...

Finally, a Malaysian guy in a football jersey came towards us. He was wearing gloves because he had been doing some gardening on the beach. He seemed to have all the time in the world and explained that the boat would depart a little later.

He walked with us to the boat, pulled up the anchor, and asked us to go back into the boat. Alright! Because who doesn't like getting into a floating boat without a driver that has lifted the anchor :D :D :D

Confused and slightly amused, I stayed outside the boat to hold on to it^^ Jonas had told the gardener that we wanted to catch the bus, and the man promised that it would work out.

A few minutes later, three park employees and the gardener returned to the boat and got in. Apparently, we were in the staff boat that takes the employees back to the village in the evening :D

The gardener turned out to be the boat driver after all (or he was substituting for the actual driver, who knows^^), and we set off at a fast pace. We even caught up with and passed other boats that had left before us :D :D

So everything worked out perfectly, and when we docked, the bus to take us back to Kuching arrived almost immediately. Perfect timing! <3

Back at the hostel, we hung up our still wet clothes, took a shower, and then went to the mall for dinner. Afterwards, we more or less went straight to bed because we were so tired :D

All in all, the two days in Bako National Park were a really great experience, and I can highly recommend visiting, even if we were initially looking for the "wow" factor ;-)