Miri - 4:23.03N, 113:58.4E
Serenity of Swanwick
Phil and Sarah Tadd
Fri 5 Jul 2024 08:22
Miri marina. It rained a bit while we were there
We spent most of our time tackling the ever present list of jobs. When we were in Pangkor in March Sarah bought canvas to replace the cover that protects the dinghy from UV damage when it is upside down on deck. The old cover was now falling apart, so Sarah spent 3 days sewing the new one. Other rally boats had told us our radio and AIS signals were weak so, when Phil found a marine communications firm in town, he got them to come out and test the system, and bought and fitted the replacement antenna they recommended (at the top of the mast). Phil also fitted a seal to try and fix a small but persistent leak around the rudder stock and checked and tightened all the fittings round the deck. With most of the rally boats in the same place for the first time in a while there were a number of social events in the evenings.
On one day we took a Grab car to the top of Canada Hill. The Oil Museum didn’t hold any attraction to us, but there were some rugged and interesting walking trails. We took one that led us almost back to the town before we turned uphill and climbed to the top again: a good hour’s exercise.
The footpath at Canada Hill
Having checked out on Monday ready to leave for Brunei on Wednesday morning we spent Tuesday on an outing to Niah Caves. About an hour and a half’s drive from Miri this series of caves is where some of the oldest evidence of human habitation in South East Asia has been found. They have found human remains, canoe like coffins indicating that it was a burial ground, and wall paintings. Carbon dating of the oldest relic shows them to be 40,000 years old, with the wall paintings dating back 1200 years. The caves are still used today by the locals to collect birds nests for birds nest soup.
Access to the cave involves a short trip in a small boat across a muddy brown, fast flowing, crocodile infested river, then a 3 kilometre walk on slippery boardwalks through the jungle. This part of the tour was as interesting as the caves, taking us through virgin jungle with birdsong, a variety of tropical trees and insects like millipedes and flatworms.
Boat across the river
Jungle walk
The first cave is called the Trader’s Cave and is an open area under overhanging cliff. Here the bird nester’s used to live on platforms under the overhang and people wanting to trade came to them (birds nests are a valuable commodity). People were living in the shelters until the 1970s. Now access to the caves is easier due to the boardwalk so they can walk in from town.
The remains of the houses in the trader cave. The black marks on the ceiling are from cooking fires
Bamboo poles to the roof platforms. Climb the pole then balance while you collect nests, with bats all around you!
Next came the Great Cave where some relics were found and excavations are still going on. More interesting was seeing the way the birds nests are collected: bamboo poles are attached to the cave roof and then ramshackle platforms are constructed up there from which the nests are harvested after the chicks have fledged. Apparently there are only a handful of people who are capable of climbing the poles and doing the harvesting. Everywhere there was the chittering and fluttering of the colonies of bats.
Lots of entrances meant the great cave was quite light
This was a huge cave
Leaving the Great Cave for the walk to the Painted Cave
The Great Cave was also fairly open, but then we had a walk through a dark section to reach the slightly separate Painted Cave. Here there were more burial sites and wall paintings, most of the paintings have disappeared over time, but some were still visible.
1200 year old paintings
It was a long day out with the total distance walked over 10 km, but worth seeing. We liked the fact that all that had been done was to put the walkways through the caves. There was no fancy lighting, just the animals that live in the dark and the evidence of the traditional use of the area.