We awoke to hear the rain thundering down on the tin roof. Not much incentive to get up for an early morning walk, so we just stayed where we were, tho’ eventually we did drag ourselves up to enjoy a long + leisurely breakfast on the veranda. So that by the time the rain stopped, we’d cleared away our gear + prepared a small bag of goodies to take with us – we planned to tackle a 6-hr loop this time – it was 12 0’clock, but once again we were confident of being able to manage it well within that time, so set out regardless.
The trail was even wetter than yesterday’s, + involved, in fact, a couple of river crossings. Nothing very dramatic, but sufficient to get us wet well above the knees. It is quite ludicrous really – for virtually all of the walks in the Park, one first climbs up out of the rain-forest to the table-land above, + as one enters that area there are large signs warning one to extinguish all cigarettes because of the fire risk. And the next moment, one is splashing thro’ deep puddles. One of Bako’s major attractions is the diversity of its terrain – beach, mangrove, swamp, rainforest, scrub – + we encountered most of these today. We’re not the sort to stop + examine however – we just splashed merrily on. Cliff asked us, on our return, if we’d seen any of the big insectivorous pitcher plants, + we had to say no, even tho’ apparently we’d walked straight past some. We had planned to have a swim at the waterfall along the route, but that plan was abandoned when we saw all the thick foamy scum sitting on top of the water. In any case, we had just received a soaking from a heavy shower.
Arrived back at camp before 5. After a shower, + a cup of tea, I prepared the evening meal – hot dogs, fried onions, beans + mash, plus some rather evil-tasting Chinese pork rolls donated by Cliff. If I’d bought them, I’d give them away too. A quiet evening – played chess against Cliff, + then one of the locals, + won both – the result of all that practice aboard the Jiwa Sabar, I reckon.
A much more satisfactory day, despite the weather. A good walk, a fine meal, and winning at chess!
