Adventures in Brunei

We are now in Brunei. Brunei is home to 400,000 people, all ruled by a Sultan who has complete control over everything in the country. On our first day here we devoted our time to finding out about the city. After we got out of the boat at noon, we met Bev and Gram at the Royal Brunei Yacht Club and had some lunch. The pizza I had there was great. When we finished catching up on the latest stuff, we left and went to the city.

The major city in Brunei was tiny. There was a mall and a HSBC. The rest of the city had large buildings, and there was a stilt village. There was also a huge gold and white Mosque.

A stilt village

When we finished touring the city, we found an interesting building and decided to visit it. The building turned out to be the Royal Regalia Centre. It contained the Sultan's gifts from his coronation ceremony from around the world. There were gifts from all over Asia: Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, and Korea. There was also presents from places like Jordan and Zanzibar. One of my favorite gifts to look at was a picture of a Mosque made completely out of gem stones. The detail of it amazed me. Another thing I liked was a horse carved out of jade. The biggest thing in the museum was the royal carriage. It was complete with tons of weapon bearers marching beside it.

The next day we got up early so we could go to the Ulu Tamburong National Park. Once we woke up, we got ready and went to the Yacht Club. From there, we drove to the pickup point, a jetty in the city. After a while, our taxi boat came and we all got in. The trip down the river to the next point in the trip took about thirty minutes. On the way, we passed lots of jungle, but I wasn't able to see any monkeys or crocodiles. When we finished our ride, we stopped at land and took a car to the Rainforest Lodge. Once we arrived, we took a break and had some tea and snacks.

The Longboat ride

To get from the Lodge to the beginning of the trail we were going on, we had to take a longboat through the river. The trip was very fun. The river had a very strong current and some parts were rapids, so they were really wavy. The longboat kept tipping and turning and at some points in time we got sprayed by some water. When we arrived, we all got off and started the climb. We had to go up about one thousand steps, all through the burning hot sun. Fortunately we had water, or we would still be there in a little puddle on the jungle floor.

Can you see the spider?
(click the picture to zoom up)

At the top of the mountain there was the canopy bridges. These were huge towers with ladders on the inside. Platform after platform of metal all the way up and over the canopy with bridges between them. Once you got up there it was like a completely different world. The tops of the trees are very different from the bottom. I made it to the highest point and was able to see the great scenery of rolling mountains with jungle. While I was up there I saw two different types of spiders. One of them had a yellow mouth and a green head. His butt was striped black and white, and he was waggling it up and down.

After the canopy walk, we went back down the mountain and went back into our longboat. Once we were in, we set back down the river. The second time we did it was just as fun as the first. It was a new experience since we were going with the current instead of against it.

When we were about halfway down the river, we arrived at a small entrance to the jungle with water coming out of it. Our guide said it was the path to the waterfall. The path was very cool. It was a flowing river all the way, and there was rock path to walk on. The water fall we went to was about six meters tall with freezing cold water constantly pouring down. That wasn't the fun part though. The second you put your feet in the water, they would be bitten and tickled by little grey fish! The pond was full of them. The fish would find a piece of dead skin on your feet, grab it and tear it off.

After the refreshing trip to the waterfall, we went back into the longboat and traveled to the Rainforest Lodge. On the way, I saw a monitor lizard and a small water lizard. When we arrived at the rain forest lodge, there was lunch waiting for us. I had lots of rice with beef curry and vegetables. After our stomachs were full, we took a car back to the taxi boat drop off and waited for the taxi boat. Unfortunately, there was a small thunderstorm and the boats were all delayed. Because of this we were waiting for an hour before we set off, back to the boat.

 Thanks for Reading, Jacob

Miri Crocodile Farm

MIRI CROCODILE FARM

We are spending our Easter in Miri, Sarawak. For the holiday, we went on a Easter hunt, and found thirty eggs hidden throughout the boat. After that, we had lunch, and quickly decapitated a large chocolate bunny. Just as we were starting to eat the bunny's body, Dad and Mom said we we were going to the Miri crocodile farm.

Miri's roads are covered in sea horses. There are big metallic ones, groups of colorful ones, and small ones in the bushes by gas stations. The roads also have huge roundabouts with stuff all over them. After we drove for forty minutes over Miri's spread out city, we made it to the crocodile farm, barely. All there was to notify us of its presence was a small sign on a turn with two crocodiles and an arrow on it.

Crocodiles

The Miri crocodile farm bred crocodiles so they could sell their products. This included crocodile skin belts, rugs, hats, and crocodile teeth. They also sold crocodile meat, but we didn't go to the restaurant that prepared it. After we browsed through the products we went to see the biggest crocodile pen. There was more then fifty adult salt water crocodiles there, and we walked over their habitat in a raised wooden walkway. The crocodiles' habitat was made up of mud,with a few pools of water and one huge lake. The crocodiles each had their own part of it, the smaller ones shared spaces and wouldn't go into the larger croc space. The crocodiles we saw were surprisingly active. They were crawling around and sloshing in the mud. The ones in the water were coming out and going in, and blowing bubbles when they went under. They were like this because it was almost time for them to be fed.

Yummy, bird sandwich

I see you

The feeding went quick. A guy started throwing dead chickens over the fence and all the crocs jumped around and caught them. In a few large splashes the feeding was over. After watching the feeding, we left the walkway, and moved on. The next spot we visited had lots of animals to take pictures with. I took a picture with a big snake. It was very heavy and smooth, but some of its scales were falling off and they felt dry, like a dead leaf. Also in the area there was an owl in a birdcage, and wherever I went around it, it would look there. It even looked at me right behind it without moving its body.

What are you looking at?

The rest of the crocodile farm mainly consisted of crocodiles in different groups, and a few different types of animals. My favorite animal to watch was the bear and leopard cats. The bear cats, big black lumbering beasts, were stomping around their cage, while the leopard cats were sleeping. Another cool thing I did was watch the eagles. They would look around at the other birds, then lift their wings and launch themselves at them, only to find themselves stopped by a cage. While we were there, the Philippine eagle got feed some fish. After we finished looking at the animals, it was getting late so we started to leave. On the way we fed the goats. A baby goat even came out and let me pet it while I fed it.  

Thanks For Reading, Jacob