We wake up in our tent with a beautiful view in Marudi, in a remote corner of the State of Sarawak on the Island of Borneo, wash our hands with the water leaking from the burst water pipe next to us and have breakfast. we landed in the city. After breakfast, we mingled with the crowd and watched the final competitions.
In the competition that started from the lower part of the river, the rowers were loaded onto the oars with all their might with brisk shouts.. The Mulu canoe, which we are a fan of, is only 4 in the competition..
Nancy and her children accompanied us at lunch, who brought the blood and urine test results I gave yesterday with them.. Results are clean, no issues, keep cruising. Nancy brought me as a gift a sword used by the tribes to hunt handmade robes.
I took the kids to the bathroom and to get drinks a few times yesterday while watching the beauty pageant.. I think he thought of it as being kind and giving a gift.. Even though I don’t like war tools much, I got my gift with thanks.. It will be difficult to travel with it. Hard to fit in the bag, fragile and sharp. Besides, they don’t ask at the entrances of the country, why are you walking around with this sword? saying! He must find a way and send it to his hometown.
As the races will end today after the trophy ceremony, I decided to leave in order not to have any problems with transportation.. My friend Farid will come by land in the evening with his friends he met at the Toyota exhibition.. With my little backpack on my back, my parang (traditional Sarawak knife) in hand, I hurried to the pier.. When I arrived, the boat was about to move and even it was full above its limit, there was no place to sit.
I decided to go instead of waiting for the next boat, wasting 1-2 hours and waiting in the oven-like oven until it moved.. I got out and settled on the boat, in a place like the trunk of the bags, like the trunk area.. I wrapped my sarong around my head to protect from the sun.. This time, as the only “monyet puti” with parang in hand, sarong on my head, watching the river and the environment under the scorching sun, listening to music and sleeping while wearing my headphones, I arrived at Miri pier after a 3-hour journey.
From Miri pier to the main road. I walked up. Honestly, I couldn’t understand which direction Miri was in.. I hitchhiked across the road first, then using google map from my phone to the other side of the road.. A van full of stuff picked me up. It was enough for me to call the driver and the person next to him Miri, who speaks almost no English.. You know, they weren’t looking down at the sword in my hand.. I’d look weird too.
They dropped me off at the bus stop at a mall outside of town and told me to get on the bus right behind us.. Half an hour later I was in the city center. Someone I met on the way wanted to know where and how much I bought the parengs, likewise, the only question I was asked when I was coming by boat was how much did I buy it?. When I said it was a gift, he advised me not to walk around the city with him like that.. What could I do?
Putting over my shoulder, I went to The Highlands Hostel, where we had our backpacks. Luckily, before they were remodeling, I took my own backpack and moved to another hotel nearby, and then carried my friend Farid’s backpack.. I wrapped my money in newspapers there. Not long after, Farid arrived at the hotel.. The roads are very bad and crowded.. As many vehicles were on the way back, they had to go slowly as the dust rising from the rough roads almost made the vision zero.
When we returned from Mulu to Miri, we arrived at Sabah State We bought our ticket to go to Kota Kinabalu, the capital city of. Tomorrow we will drive from Miri city of Sarawak to Kota Kinebalu city of Sabah.
Day 424: Borneo:12 Miri, 2 October 2011
