Fastlane to Lagang Cave

After a second trip to the Mulu National Park in May, Lagang has become my favourite cave of them all.

- I visited the cave under the Fastlane tour (RM65 per person) by registering at the park HQ.

The sun was shining brightly when we gathered at the park jetty with Christian our guide.

After donning lifejackets, we got into the boat:

Remember to quickly sit down once you get into the boat. This is to lower your centre of grativy and to avoid the boat from overturning.

The water level was high after a few days of constant rain:

Christian assured me that there were no crocodiles lurking beneath the waters. The only thing we need to be careful of are the monitor lizards!

After about 15 minutes boat ride, we arrived at the jetty and we started our short walk into the forest:

Soon we arrived at the entrance of Lagang Cave. 

One of the things I like about this Fastlane tour to Lagang Cave is that we were the only humans around. There were no other tour groups. 

Unlike the other caves in Mulu, i.e. Deer Cave, Lang Cave, Clearwater Cave and Wind Cave where there were many people, we had the whole of Lagang Cave to ourselves. But then again, the caves that I mentioned are showcaves, which explains the large number of tourists.

Lagang Cave has a variety of nice formations protruding from the ground and the ceiling. 

Some of them looked like as if though some alien life is breeding inside and waiting to burst out (I should really stop watching all those alien movies):

This formation looks like a snake or hand coming down from the ceiling:

Does this formation remind you of a famous ancient monument located in Cambodia?:

Some parts of the cave had low ceilings. So if you're super tall, watch out for your head:

Christian did a good job in explaining about the cave and the animals that dwell within its walls (now I sound like a horror movie): 

I particularly like the story of the volcanic ash where many, many, many years ago (not too sure how long ago), there was a volcanic eruption on what is now the Phillipines. 

The eruption was so great that volcanic ash were spewn high up into the atmosphere and blocked out the sun for God knows how long.

I'm not sure whether this was the eruption that wiped out the dinosaurs but the volcanic ash reached far and wide to the Mulu caves and settled into what we can see as a white layer in the earth today.

Here's a close up shot of the volcanic ash: 

From this layer of volcanic ash, geologists are able to study the age of the cave and the history of planet earth.

This website states that the caves in Mulu are between 40 - 60 million years old.

So if you visit any cave in the Mulu National Park, you can safely say that you have literally walked in a monument that is even older than the pyramids of Egypt!

And sometimes you just have to let that sink in for a bit.

There was one point in the tour when Christian gathered all of us together and told us to switch off our flashlights and headlamps for a minute, just to give us an idea of how dark the cave is.

Some of us gasped in surprise because we were in complete darkness. 

Under normal circumstance, you would still be able to see some light when you close your eyes. But this time our eyes were wide open and yet we were in total and complete darkness.

The cave was silent and we could only hear the sound of the bats fluttering their wings. There was a certain calmness and stillness in the thick, black atmosphere.

No rock formations were destroyed in the opening of Lagang Cave for tourist.

To ensure that nothing is destroyed, the wooden walkways were built around the rock formations: 

 Looks like a headstone in a Muslim cemetery.

As I mentioned, Lagang Cave also has creatures that make the cave their home (now it doesn't sound like a horror movie).

We saw a few hunstmen spider ...

Pic by LvH

... and bats of course ...

Pic by LvH

Christian told us that snakes also live in the cave. But we didn't encounter any (thank God!). 

However we did stumble upon a snake skin that had been shed by a racer snake: 

We also saw a tiny white crab scurrying into a hole in the small river bed. The crab was white in colour because it does not get any sunlight in the cave.

The white crab reminded me of the pale looking Chinese girls back in Malaysia who refuses to go into the sun because they are afraid of becoming dark skinned. Go get a tan, you pussies!

If I go back to Mulu National Park, I'll attempt to do the Lagang Cave tour which is relatively more physically challenging. God willing ...

Visiting the Temples of Bagan

The ancient city of Bagan in the country of Myanmar had fascinated me with its sea of temples doting the landscape.

After seeing breathtaking pictures of Bagan's temples in magazines and on the internet, I made it a point to make a trip there one day. 

The trip materialised in July last year during the long Hari Raya Aidilfitri holidays (cheers to long weekend public holidays!) and here's an account of my experience there.

All visitors entering the ancient city must purchase a Bagan Archaeological Zone ticket:

You can opt to pay USD 15 or Euro 15 or even in Burmese Kyat. I paid in US Dollar because it had the best exchange rate against the Malaysian Ringgit at that time.

We stayed in New Bagan where the cheaper accommodations are located.

Since New Bagan is located approximately 5km from the temples which are located in Old Bagan, we chartered an air-conditioned van to take us around the temples.

We could have opted to rent a bicycle instead to explore the temples. But the area was huge and we were too lazy to navigate our way around. Moreover it was too hot to cycle in the heat.

(Note: We visited the cities of Yangon and Bagan in July which is the rainy season in Myanmar. However we encountered heavy rain in Yangon only. Bagan had a dry and humid weather in July)

The temples in Bagan come in different shapes and sizes:

We visited between 7 - 8 temples that day. I can't remember the exact number because by the time we hit the third temple, everything began to look the same, if you know what I mean.

No footwear is allowed inside the temples. So we had to leave them at the entrance. You may wear your socks, though. The temple floors had animal faeces, mud and dirt. So be prepared to get your feet icky and dirty.

Since you'll be visiting a few temples in a day, better to wear slippers/sandals for easy removal.

Leave your expensive footwear at home in case they get stolen when you leave them outside the temples.

The pink slippers were mine :-) I was glad I had a different coloured pair because I could spot them easily in a pile of dark coloured slippers.

There were water containers outside each temple like this: 

Anyone in need of a drink could dip the steel mug into the clay vessel, drink the water and put the mug back for the next person to use. Not hygienic in my opinion ...

Some of the temples had narrow stairs like this:

You may not want to squeeze your way into small, tight stairs like this if you're horizontally challenged or even claustrophobic. Climbing up the stairs is also another tiring affair for the unfit.

Most of the temples were built like a box with 4 sides. There were statues of Buddha on each side.

We met a young artist in one of temple:

The poor boy painted in the temple to support his family. 

We bought a painting each to support his efforts. He was delighted as we were his first customers for the day.

I like the energy of the 5 dancers depicted in this painting. The young artist had skillfully captured their beauty with gold paint on a piece of white, cotton cloth. I got the glittering painting framed when I got back to Kuala Lumpur. The frame was more expensive than the painting. And this photo cannot do justice to its beauty. You have to see the painting with your own eyes. 

Towards late evening the driver brought us to the final temple for the day to view the sunset, i.e. Shwesandaw Temple.

(That's the convenience of having a driver as he will be able to bring us to the right temple for the sunset and at the appropriate time. If we had gone gallivanting on our own on bicycles, we would have to do sufficient research beforehand and navigate ourselves around the huge place. We would also need the luxury of time which we didn't have.)

We arrived early at the temple and climbed to the top of the temple to 'chop' a strategic spot to view the sunset.

Not long after, other tour buses and more tourists started arriving in droves.

This is the view from top of the Shwesandaw Temple:

Temples of various shapes and sizes dot the landscape as far as the eye can see. I like to think that it were aliens from outer space who built these temples as co-ordinates to guide their way to Planet Earth. 

The sunset was relatively dramatic that day:

Photo could have been better if I had a better camera.

People climbing down after the sunset has gone. The climb up was not easy as each step was steep and higher than a normal step. Many travellers had to stop half way to catch their breath before continuing their climb to the top.


Our trip to Bagan was about temple, temples and more temples. I call it a 'temple fix'.

Now that I can finally tick Bagan off my list, we vowed not to visit another temple again for a long time.

3 Reasons Not To Go To Pulau Tidung

I was in Pulau Tidung recently and what a disappointment it was. 

Pulau Tidung is part of the Thousand Island (Kepulauan Seribu) archipelago that is located in the Bay of Jakarta in the Java Sea. 

When we were researching for the trip, many websites mentioned that the island boasts of clear, blue waters that is perfect for diving, snorkelling and fishing. We were enticed by the lovely photos of the island.

But when we saw the island with our own eyes, what a disappointment it was. 

Moral of the story: Don't trust all the travel photos online - they can be deceiving, especially with the emergence of Photoshop and dishonest people.

Here are 3 reasons why you should not go to Pulau Tidung.

1) Garbage everywhere

The island is literally covered in garbage.

The water is clear and lovely, but the huge amount of garbage on the shore (especially during low tide) makes it a horrible place to be. Thankfully there was no horrible garbage smell. 

From my observation, the reasons for the poor sanitary condition is because the island does not have enough rubbish bins and a proper waste management system, e.g. an incinerator.

I found it difficult to throw rubbish because there were no bins around. Whenever I had something to dispose, I had to hold onto it until I come across a bin, which is extremely rare on the island. Heck, there wasn't even a rubbish bin in our homestay room.

With the lack of rubbish bins and a proper waste management system, the islanders take the easy way out and dump garbage everywhere, even between the houses. Look at this picture: 

Garbage dump site between the houses.

I noticed that the local authorities had put up signages around the island encouraging the locals to maintain cleanliness and to inculcate a habit of recycling. But unfortunately the island is still dirty.


2) Poor lodging facilities

Despite being an island boasting of clear, blue waters, Pulau Tidung does not have any resort or even budget hotel.

Most, if not all of the lodging on the island are homestays with rooms like this:

Our basic room. Thankfully it had an air condition unit because the room had the potential of becoming a sauna, especially in the daytime. Note that they didn't provide blankets, simply because there's no need for it. It was so damn hot, even at night.

I didn't take photos of the bathroom because it was a shame. The bathroom had a squat toilet with no flush. There was also no sink and no shower head. 

Water (from a tap on the wall) was collected into a big basin. So we had to squat whenever we brushed our teeth and bathed. 

3) Rickety bicycles

We were given 2 rickety bicycles to ride around the island.

The bicycles had almost deflated tyres with no shock absorbers. 

The island had narrow and uneven roads like this:

The crowd was huge during the weekend that we went to Pulau Tidung. 

Put all these together: Rickety bicycle with no shock absorber on narrow, uneven roads and having to cycle amongst the huge number of cyclists, most of whom were also suffering like us, was indeed challenging.

My butt and thighs were aching at the end of the first day. It had been a long time since I subjected my butt to so much torture.

So better think twice if you're planning to make a trip to Pulau Tidung.

Despite encountering all the 'hardships' (as how Angie describes it) on the island, we had one of the most delicious seafood dinner on our last night there.

So at least we had one pleasant experience on Pulau Tidung :-)

The simple but delicious ikan bakar and squid.