Dantruong Travel & Tourism

We had left Bario a bit later than we’d hoped, so it was already after one by the time we were on our way from Bario to Pa Lungan. The first 30-45 minutes of the hike was along a well-trodden path that wound past the airport and along to the village of Pa Ukat. From Pa Ukat, we took a right onto a very narrow dirt path that would lead us from Pa Ukat all the way to Pa Lungan. The trail alternated between slightly muddy and nearly impossible to traverse because of the deep muck-filled puddles impeding our forward progress. Even wearing the lovely rubber Adidas Kampungs did not improve our situation. The mud puddles were so incredibly deep that we repeatedly wound up knee-deep in the slimy, yet sticky, mud. We had assumed the hike would take us about five hours, but at this rate, it looked like we would be lucky to make it to Pa Lungan by seven.

Despite the arduousness of the hike, we were enjoying ourselves immensely. Once we were beyond Pa Ukat, we found ourselves deep in the Kelabit forest, surrounded by flora and fauna of a surprising magnitude… some of which were unwelcome – like the leeches. We had heard stories about the leeches from other travelers we had met along the way, so we were prepared for them. Niraj had given us some loose tobacco, which was reported to be a surefire leech repellant. We had shoved the tobacco in our socks and coated our feet and legs in bug spray to deter any unwanted hitchhikers, and it seemed to be working very well so far.

Around 4:30, we plopped down on a log to take a short break – the rubber of the Adidas Kampungs were causing mad blisters to appear all over mine and Fred’s feet, and it was time to give the poor things a little breather. As I took my shoes off, I noticed a strange twig on the top of my foot – a bloody twig – or should I say a bloody leech? Argh! Konrad discovered his unwanted guest next – on the bottom of one of his feet. It took Fred a bit longer to find her leech… because it was between her toes! After disentangling ourselves from the nasty critters, we threw back on the Kampungs and hit the road once more. Despite our late start and the slow mucking along, we were in Pa Lungan by 5:30.

We easily located “The Lodge,” where we met Su Pang and Nabon, our immensely welcoming and incredibly knowledgeable hosts. Su Pang is Kelabit and was born near Pa Lungan. Nabon grew up in Kuching, the capital of Sarawak and the city where the couple lived until they retired and moved back to Pa Lungan. Nabon used to work for the government, and his English was phenomenal – which meant that he was able to share story after story with us. Nabon and Su Pang (and their little kitten) provided us with the best possible experience in Pa Lungan, making sure we were comfortable, informed, and well fed. We spent the remainder of the first night chatting with our friendly hosts, did some reading, and went to bed early.

We were enjoying Pa Lungan so much (and our feet were aching from the wounds inflicted by the damn Adidas Kampungs), that we decided to make it our base camp and just do some day trips in and around the area. We were most interested in finding some primary forest, so we asked Su Pang to locate a guide to take us the next day. True to her word, a guide was ready and waiting when we made our way down to breakfast the next morning. We knew the going was bound to be muddy and leechful, and to help out, Su Pang and Nabon had made us leech sticks: they had wrapped some cloth around some salt and tied it onto the end of a stick. We gobbled down breakfast and hit the road around 9:30, trailing behind Chris, our guide for the day. I started out in my Adidas Kampungs, but about 20 feet from the house I had to run back and change into my tennis shoes – the rubber shoes were just too painful to wear.

Initially, the path Chris led us through alternated between gorgeous green rice paddies and copper colored willowy fields that were deserted, save a buffalo or two. After about 45 minutes, we made our way into the verdant forest, which Chris had to hack his way through with a machete. Despite his slashing skills, Chris was proving himself to be unworthy of the title “guide.” He seemed to be oblivious to whether or not we were actually behind him, often so far ahead that we could not see even see him. Admittedly, I wasn’t hiking at my usual speed because I was trying to keep my feet dry and was repeatedly distracted by the seemingly infinite number of leeches trying to attach themselves to my exposed flesh. (As a side note, between the insect repellant, the tobacco in our socks, and the leech sticks, we all managed to avoid any major leech attacks all day.) We also found ourselves frequently stopping to admire the numerous monkeys, langurs, and gibbons who made their homes in the canopy above.

After trekking through the forest for a bit, we stopped in a jungle shelter (they were scattered about to provide hikers with a spot to sleep overnight) to take a break. It was during this little sojourn that we learned that our wish to see some primary forest may not have been accurately conveyed to Chris. He told us that we would see some, but that wasn’t going to be the focus of our trek. Disappointed, we shoved off and shuffled behind Chris further into the forest. We made our way to a river, the other side of which we would only see because there was no possible way to cross it. We took some photos and then turned around and retraced our steps. As we wound our way back through the forest and fields, we sampled some wild pomelo, jackfruit, and guava – I now understand why people don’t eat wild fruit: it is extremely bitter.

Most of the day’s hiking had been along fairly flat terrain, but that was soon to change as we began our ascent to the Pa Lungan viewpoint. The going was rough, extremely vertical, and full of twigs and leaves, which meant there was no real traction along the way. I was glad I’d changed into my tennis shoes because Konrad’s feet kept slipping out of his Adidas Kampungs, which made the difficult hike was made even more laborious. Nonetheless, each and every one of us emerged from the forest onto the top of the peak where we were treated to some splendid scenery. From our vantage point, we were treated to a 360 degree view of the area, which included the massive Mount Marud, the highest point in the Kelabit Highlands. While we had not been able to see much primary forest, this stopover made the whole trek worthwhile: the stillness and tranquility of the area was precisely the reason we had made our way here in the first place.

We cut a path down a slightly less demanding route on the other side of the peak, and found ourselves back in Pa Lungan around 5:00pm. As we made our way back to “The Lodge,” we encountered a French couple who asked us to join them on a mutli-day trek to the summit of Mount Marud, leaving the next day. We were tempted, but I wasn’t sure my feet would last given their current pitiful state, so we told them we would think about their offer over the next few hours. They also encouraged us to visit a dolmen not far away (a grave for an honored warrior). We heeded their advice and hurried along, slaloming our way through the water buffalo lounging along the path. After a few minutes of photo ops at the dolmen, we walked back to the lodge. I took off my shoes and discovered that my feet were covered in blisters – including two on my pinky toes that were larger than the toes themselves. No wonder I was in such pain!

We spent the next few hours relaxing and chatting over a lovely dinner of pineapple curry, and hearing more stories as told by Nabon and Su Pang. After a chilly shower (did I forget to mention that there wasn’t electricity in the area?), we regrouped and whiled away the rest of the night playing cards. Given the state of my feet, we wouldn’t be following the Frenchies up to Mount Marud, and we were all enjoying ourselves so much that we just decided to spend the next day in Pa Lungan.

I didn’t have much in mind for the next day, apart from lounging around and getting some reading done, but when Nabon offered to take us on a short nature walk, we all fell into line behind him. We began by walking through their lovely garden, where a diverse group of plants and flowers made their home (including an orchid that we believe may have been a new find – Nabon had spent countless hours combing through botany books trying to identify it, but had been unsuccessful). From there, he took us just a hundred yards or so from his house to a veritable botanist’s dream: scores of different plants and flowers grew and flourished naturally, completely immune to most of the pollutants and dangers that threaten most plants and flowers around the world. We spent the greatest amount of time exploring the numerous varieties of pitcher plants and orchids dotting the landscape – absolutely stunning.

After lunch, I retreated to our room and spent the rest of the afternoon reading, and Konrad went on a hike of his own. The peace and serenity of Pa Lungan, coupled with the sunshine streaming through the windows, made me very sleepy and I ended up taking a nap with the kitten. I was awakened a bit later by western voices, but not those of Konrad or Fred – it seemed we had some new housemates. Over dinner, we traded stories with the newcomers a bit and learned that they, too, were English teachers. We had an amiable chat, but there wasn’t any real chemistry there, so we weren’t too bothered when they went up to bed and left us alone to play cards. I stayed up a little late and finished my book (The Dogs of Riga – give it a miss), and fell asleep enjoying our last night in peaceful Pa Lungan.

We spent a leisurely morning having breakfast and packing up, and then Nabon broke out the blowpipe. He set up a dart board target for us, and then let each of us have a go at it – it was completely new, but we all did pretty well with it. We took some photos with Sa Pang and Nabon and bade them goodbye, hitting the road by about 11:00am – a bit late if we were to make our flight back to Miri that afternoon.

Fortunately, it wasn’t quite as wet as it had been a few days earlier, and we made excellent time on the way back – arriving in Bario at about 2:00pm. We quickly stopped off at the agent’s office and booked three seats on that afternoon’s flight back to Miri. That errand taken care of, we dashed back to Nancy and Harris’s house to pick up our things. Harris was waiting in the truck at the mouth of the driveway and told us he would drive us to the airport. We ran down the muddy driveway to the house, hosed off our feet and leg (we were covered in mud), grabbed our bags, and were out the door again. We gingerly picked our way back to the truck carefully – it was one of the muddiest spots we had encountered. Fred and Konrad made it successfully, but I made one misstep and ended up mid-calf deep in mud. I was able to pull my foot out, but my sandal was still mired in the muck, so I had to sink my arm in up to my elbow to retrieve it. By this point, I was beyond frustrated.

Harris drove us to the airport (which, fortunately had a hose which I could use to demuddify myself), we checked in, and were told that the plane was going to leave 45 minutes early. There were only 6 passengers on the flight, so it didn’t take long for us to pile on and take off. And just like that, our lovely experience in the Kelabit Highlands was over.

The three of us shared a cab back to The Highlands (we were lucky enough to get rooms there this time) where we lazed the rest of the night away. Fred left for the peninsula the next day, and Konrad and I signed on for a brutal sounding 16 hour night bus to Kuching the following evening. And so ended one of our favorite experiences of that six months of travel – our time in the Kelabit Highlands.