Sore legs and scary cockroaches - Dec 31, 2005

Woke up this AM & was unable to move! Don't think I have ever been so sore in my life! Shocked to find that even Elson's legs were somewhat affected.
After breakfast, we set out in the van for a long drive to the jungle. Stop for lunch in a small town some where along the was in a Malay coffee shop. Was kinda fun eating were the locals eat. Had nasi lemak with Sabah vegetable and some other stuff.
Then we went to Gomongtong cave. After hearing Nick's description, I was quite apprehensive about entering. But I decided it was time to face my fears. Gomontong cave is were the swallows make their nest and it is where humans go to harvest the swallows nest for birds nest soup. YOu can hear the din the birds make as you approach the entrance and you can get a whiff of the musty scent that will soon overwhelm you once you are in. NicK specifically said not to run, as the path is slippery and you could fall. It was hard to resist the urge to run out. The walls and floor of the cave was covered in cockroaches of all sizes, from small to medium to humongous! I did not dare to look around too much. Better not to know. Wish I was brave enough to look out for the scorpions but I couldn't. Unfortunately, as much as I tried not to look, I couldn't avoid the roaches. Had to keep feet moving to discourage roach from crawling up leg. I don't think I could have resisted the instinct to run if that had happened and surely then I would have fallen into the pit of roaches and scorpions! The wooden path was quite slippery and once I slipped, screamed and reached out to grab the hand rail. Stopped short of the hand rail by 1 inch when I caught sight of the swarm of cockroahces all over the handrail. Thank god I managed to stop on time. Gomontong cave is cavernous- the most 'cavernous' cave I've ever been in. You can barely make out some creatures fluttering about near the ceiling. Whether they were bats or swallows that I saw I'm not sure. The workers go up to the ceiling of the cave on these wooden ladders on a pulley system. And they wear rubber boots up to their knees in order to wade in the roach pit. You can barely see the ladders way up by the ceiling. Apparently on average, 1 worker falls to his death each year. No wonder birds nest soup is so expensive. ( jackie please tell the story of the swallows in 'comments'- you tell it so well.) Anyway, I was too scared to touch anything- & couldn't bring myself to touch the hand of the owrker who offered it to me to help me up the slippery path- even though it looked pretty clean.
Got to the Kinabatangan River lodge around 4pm. We got out of the van and limp around up and down the stairs. Thank goodness the lodge grounds were not that big. Walking was quite a feat. And who would have guessed walking continue to be a feat the next 5 days.
Went on sightseeing tour of the jungle by boat on the Kinabatangan. Got out of boat to trek down a herd of pygmy elephants. They were a vocal bunch. Saw many proboscis monkeys, a hornbill and a crocodile.
It was New Years Eve. We had to put on sarongs for dinner. Had dinner at the lodge. Nothing special but the grilled fish was quite good. Went to bed early and slept surprisingly well despite no AC. Took extra cold shower before bed so that helped. For those who are reading this blog and planning a trip here. I would recommend the lodge owned by Wildlife Expeditions. We saw it on our boat trip and it looked gorgeous. And their cabions had AC!