Borneo Sarawak Resort ~ Malaysia Travel Pictures
Royal Mulu Resort in Gunung Mulu National Park
The Royal Mulu Resort in Gunung Mulu National Park is about a 75-minute flight south from Kota Kinabalu. This park is the main destination for tours of Borneo Island. Visitors come to tour the show caves, and visit a local village on a river boat tour. At Royal Mulu Resort, you can also take part in advanced caving, rafting, rock climbing (including The Pinnacle climb), ATV tours. Unfortunately, I didn't know about these options until I arrived..
Royal Mulu Resort Sarawak ~ Outdoor meeting area and patio
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Traditional Sarawak Dancer at after- dinner show Royal Mulu
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The Royal Mulu Resort layout ~ a Brief Description:The main building -- the lobby, bar and dining room -- overlooks the river and the sheer limestone cliff on the far side, and faces the swimming pool on the opposite. At night, floodlights illuminate the cliff face, and hundreds of bats could be seen swooping and scooping any and (one presumes) all insects. The dining areas seemed to be separated, with one section for group tours and one for independent travellers. The Mulu spa rooms are accessed by following a series of boardwalks towards the far end of the complex; though the resort web site (royalmuluresort.com) pictures show what seems to be a fairly compact complex, it is actually quite large. I managed to fit in a massage, a facial and a reflexology treatment, but there are many more services offered. |
Gunung Mulu Tale about Climbing The Pinnacles at Mulu National Park
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Overall, I enjoyed the food at the Royal Mulu
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Another group of Traditional Dancers Royal Mulu Sarawak Borneo
Their costumes are quite wonderful and elaborate. A stage area is set up in front of a mural at one end of the dining room (furthest from the buffet). When the show is over, the performers pose for photos. I recognized some of the performers as those who were also wait staff. Water, Internet in SarawakThe water at the resort is from the Melinau River right outside the dining room. I was told that it is collected, filtered, and chlorinated, and so is quite safe, but that the hotel recommends guests buy bottled water for drinking. At the entrance to the resort, there's a Security kiosk, and staff seem to know who is a guest and who is not, and ask for your room number as ID. Internet is available here, but it was costly for casual email checking -- 1 RM (about 30 US cents) per minute, so 30 minutes would be 30 RM or $10 US -- so internet works out to about $20/hour, which travellers know is very high. I felt I could wait till I got back to KK. |
My room at the Royal Mulu resort Sarawak
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A Puzzle : Things that bark and bump at night in the Borneo jungleThe second night, I awakened around 4 a.m. to the sound of intermittent barking, as if a small, annoyed terrier was in a corner of my room. Of course, it made no sense for a terrier to be in the jungle, but for the life of me, I couldn't figure out what else it would be, though I'd heard that some small frogs can make a barking sound. I didn't really want to spend the night with either dog or frog. Armed with my trusty flashlight (see safety and comfort tips page), I put on my shoes, and tiptoed around to turn on various light switches, all the while keeping an eye on the armchairs, from where the barks seemed to originate. Every time I took a step, the floor creaked, and set off a new round of angry yips. I made my way towards the chairs, and shoved them aside -- nothing! As long as I didn't move, the barking stopped. I gave up and went back to sleep. Next morning, as I readied for breakfast and the cave and river tour, this barking sound kept time to my footfalls. In the daylight, through large seams in the wood floors, I could see the swampy jungle below. Amazing, that with all these openings and the lack of window screens, more insects didn't come in to visit. I gave thanks to the voracious appetites of the bats! When I met Richard, our guide, I told him how puzzled I was about the barking sounds, and imitated the barks for him. Immediately, he replied, "That's a gecko. He must be outside your room or under the floor boards." "A gecko? Those lizards? They bark?" said I. "I don't believe it! Has to be a dog!" "No, that's a gecko," he said. "Likely about a foot long. That's the sound they make." The gecko barked until early evening; About then, I heard a rattling sound out on the balcony, the same as the rattling sound I had heard the night before -- as if someone in the adjacent room had dropped wooden clothes hangers. That first night, I hadn't yet realized that I was in an end unit, and there WAS no 'next door' on that side. I turned on the balcony light, but could see nothing. Perhaps the rattling was the gecko out hunting. If so, he must have been successful, and full from his dinner, as I heard no more barking. |
Leaving Borneo Sarawak Resort ~ View out the airplane window
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After dinner, the traditional cultural show performers entertained us in the dining room.
