Muara, Brunei
As I’m sure you’ve discovered, Ed was finally able to get pictures on the blog, so now you’ll have something to look at and it will make my job easier.
We were docked 20 miles from the city of Muara and we didn’t see it at all so I can’t say a thing about it. We had opted for a trip to the Ulu Temburong National Park. All the shore excursions are marked with a symbol to tell you how strenuous they are and we always looked for the one with the 4 people which means it’s the most arduous. So today was a “4 people” tour.
It was raining cats and dogs when we and about 30 adventurous shipmates climbed on the bus. During the 10 minute ride to the boat dock, our guide, Tom, told us a little about life in Brunei. Brunei is a sultanate with their King being the last of an unbroken line of descendants dating back 600 years. There is so much money in Brunei that every person has at least 2 cars, housing is cheap or free, education is free, health care is free, and all because of oil. He said that if we were to go to the city, we would see how “flashy” they are and that the King’s palace is the largest royal palace in the world. I regretted that we had only one day here because that I would like to see.
At the dock we boarded a speedboat for a 45 minute ride to a small resort village where we then got into small vans which took us 40 minutes away to an inlet on the Temburong River where we boarded longboats, each of which held 5 people, a driver and a guide. It was raining fairly hard at that point and we were all huddled underneath the plastic raincoats they had given us, but after the 30 minute longboat ride most of us were pretty wet. The ride to the National Park lodge was beautiful. The river snakes it way through mangrove forests and a dense jungle which brought to mind the phrase “the wilds of Borneo.” Ed got to see a monkey but I missed it. When someone yelled “look at the monkey” I looked up into the trees but the animal was on the shore and before I realized it we had passed it.
When we got to the park we were greeted by two Bruneian ladies dressed in traditional costumes. You can see them posing for a picture with Ed. They gave us a snack of unidentifiable origin and after pretending to eat it (Ed ate his and lived), we set off on our trek. We had been warned that there were 1000 steps to climb on our hike but it turned out to be 1226 steps. The first thing we encountered on the way was the suspension bridge that spans the river tributary. Only five people could cross at once and it was quite slippery. We had to hold on to the safety netting all the way across. After the bridge the remaining 995 steps loomed before us, taking us straight up to the top of the mountain.
When we finally reached step number 1226, we breathed a sigh of relief, only to realize that we were at the base of the canopy walk, a series of 5 scaffolding structures and bridges that shot up 15 stories or 150 feet. Of course, we couldn’t come all this way and not climb the scaffolding. As we rose higher and higher we realized we were in the treetops, sometimes above the treetops, and as the wind blew and the trees swayed it gave the illusion that the bridge was moving and it really freaked me out! Ed, who doesn’t like heights, didn’t mind it at all. At that point we were about 1500 feet up (above sea level) in the air standing on a few pieces of aluminum and feeling quite exposed and defenseless. I was very happy to get back on the ground again.
Back down the 1226 steps we went and by the time we got to the suspension bridge again our legs were trembling uncontrollably. It was a very strange feeling. People all around us were exclaiming about how tired they were and how that had taken so much out of them, but I have to say that the whole day was exhilarating to us and we were pretty pumped up.
When we got back to the ship we felt hot and dirty and went immediately to our cabin, put on our swimsuits and robes and got into the Jacuzzi. When we felt refreshed we got a drink and went out to the back pool deck as we were sailing away from Brunei and wanted to watch our departure. I took Ed’s picture and decided to put it on the blog because he looks so cute in his little Amsterdam robe with a Miller Lite in his hand.
On to Manila!!
As I’m sure you’ve discovered, Ed was finally able to get pictures on the blog, so now you’ll have something to look at and it will make my job easier.
We were docked 20 miles from the city of Muara and we didn’t see it at all so I can’t say a thing about it. We had opted for a trip to the Ulu Temburong National Park. All the shore excursions are marked with a symbol to tell you how strenuous they are and we always looked for the one with the 4 people which means it’s the most arduous. So today was a “4 people” tour.
It was raining cats and dogs when we and about 30 adventurous shipmates climbed on the bus. During the 10 minute ride to the boat dock, our guide, Tom, told us a little about life in Brunei. Brunei is a sultanate with their King being the last of an unbroken line of descendants dating back 600 years. There is so much money in Brunei that every person has at least 2 cars, housing is cheap or free, education is free, health care is free, and all because of oil. He said that if we were to go to the city, we would see how “flashy” they are and that the King’s palace is the largest royal palace in the world. I regretted that we had only one day here because that I would like to see.
At the dock we boarded a speedboat for a 45 minute ride to a small resort village where we then got into small vans which took us 40 minutes away to an inlet on the Temburong River where we boarded longboats, each of which held 5 people, a driver and a guide. It was raining fairly hard at that point and we were all huddled underneath the plastic raincoats they had given us, but after the 30 minute longboat ride most of us were pretty wet. The ride to the National Park lodge was beautiful. The river snakes it way through mangrove forests and a dense jungle which brought to mind the phrase “the wilds of Borneo.” Ed got to see a monkey but I missed it. When someone yelled “look at the monkey” I looked up into the trees but the animal was on the shore and before I realized it we had passed it.
When we got to the park we were greeted by two Bruneian ladies dressed in traditional costumes. You can see them posing for a picture with Ed. They gave us a snack of unidentifiable origin and after pretending to eat it (Ed ate his and lived), we set off on our trek. We had been warned that there were 1000 steps to climb on our hike but it turned out to be 1226 steps. The first thing we encountered on the way was the suspension bridge that spans the river tributary. Only five people could cross at once and it was quite slippery. We had to hold on to the safety netting all the way across. After the bridge the remaining 995 steps loomed before us, taking us straight up to the top of the mountain.
When we finally reached step number 1226, we breathed a sigh of relief, only to realize that we were at the base of the canopy walk, a series of 5 scaffolding structures and bridges that shot up 15 stories or 150 feet. Of course, we couldn’t come all this way and not climb the scaffolding. As we rose higher and higher we realized we were in the treetops, sometimes above the treetops, and as the wind blew and the trees swayed it gave the illusion that the bridge was moving and it really freaked me out! Ed, who doesn’t like heights, didn’t mind it at all. At that point we were about 1500 feet up (above sea level) in the air standing on a few pieces of aluminum and feeling quite exposed and defenseless. I was very happy to get back on the ground again.
Back down the 1226 steps we went and by the time we got to the suspension bridge again our legs were trembling uncontrollably. It was a very strange feeling. People all around us were exclaiming about how tired they were and how that had taken so much out of them, but I have to say that the whole day was exhilarating to us and we were pretty pumped up.
When we got back to the ship we felt hot and dirty and went immediately to our cabin, put on our swimsuits and robes and got into the Jacuzzi. When we felt refreshed we got a drink and went out to the back pool deck as we were sailing away from Brunei and wanted to watch our departure. I took Ed’s picture and decided to put it on the blog because he looks so cute in his little Amsterdam robe with a Miller Lite in his hand.
On to Manila!!
1 comment:
Looks like you are having the time of your life. We're heading to Rome on Monday .Wanna hook up?
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