Day 2
The next morning we waked up quite early. Jimmy brought back more wild durians. Compared to durian on the market, wild durian is smaller. Its meat is thinner but tastes good. After having some fried noodle as breakfast, we started our last program at 8:30am.
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Jimmy taught us more survival skills. The most useful one is starting fire without a lighter. Just stack two flat bamboo wood, hold some coconut husk in between, cut a small air hole and “fiction rail” on top of a wood, then rub the opening hard and fast, up and down, on another dry wood. We saw smoke in a matter of seconds. The drilling-hole method we saw on TV is so slow and stupid. I bet many had tried drilling the wood but it never worked right?
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Another useful skill is making a bamboo rice cooker. Just cut an opening on young bamboo, put rice and water in it, then boil it on the fire. You also can boil the water in same way, as uncooked water is not clean. It is really handy if metal container such as empty tin is not available. Jimmy also showed us how to make a bamboo cup and pop-gun. It is not as easy as we imagine.
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Lastly we “graduated” and left the camp at 9:30am. Though cloudy, the rain stopped and it was a good weather. This time we were walking non-stop so we reached Kiau Village in about 2 hours.
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Mount Kinabalu showed her face clearly that day, forming a nice backdrop.
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Yesterday I missed the photography opportunity, now I could shoot happily. We passed through the farm land and saw many crops grew on the slope.
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Tapioca, banana, rubber, pineapples, hill paddy and vegetables are common crops in Kiau. Besides for self-consumption, they also sell them in market.
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Nothing much I need to say already. We arrived Kiau at 11:30am. After having delicious lunch with Miki and other guides, we headed back to Kota Kinabalu, took a shower and went to bed.
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Personally, I am a bit concern about the clearing of forest on the slope. At the moment it is still ok. Hope it won’t be overdeveloped, which would cause flood, soil erosion and landslide.
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Miki Survival Camp not only shows us how to survive in jungle, it also makes us appreciate the nature a lot more, as we know more clearly how resourceful a jungle can be. People could get almost anything (food, herb, building and handicraft materials) from the jungle. If done in sustainable manner, there is almost an unlimited supply of food and raw materials.
I believe this is how Penan people in Sarawak live in jungle. Sadly, the greedy logging companies come in and destroy their forest and living. The Sarawak government doesn’t do anything to stop this. Instead, the politicians try to label the Penan people as rebel. No newspaper speak up for them. This is what happens if voters give Barisan Nasional the full power. Absolute ruling by one party will bring only corruption.
Photos taken in Kiau, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo
very nice write-up. Heard about this Kiau jungle-trekking but I didn’t expect it would be this interesting.Probably will do it some day.
jipp, as you are a nature lover, i have a strong feeling that you will enjoy it.
Dear MySabah.com,
Thank you for this post. I saw the sign of MSC many times everytime we pass Kundasang road but no time to go there and don’t bother to find out what is it there really.
On Dec 2009, I and family went down until we reached 2 junctions then we decided to go back (There is no signboard on where to go or who to contact).
I browsed through google and I found your site. Brilliant!!
Do you think I should contact TYK Adventure first before we go there? We don’t have plan really, just go there and look around, I saw a ‘dodu’ somewhere carrying woods for her kitchen, I tried my very BEST DUSUN but she couldn’t understand me, perharps she’s a little bit deaf.
No pictures taken from there that day, I was busy with my small children and I have to comfort my ‘amah’ who was so scared of the hill road -there’s one part of the road that we almost can’t go up atually, we have to turn wheels to 4WD. I wonder how they drive Kancil there.
Looking forward for more stories from you friend.
Thank you.
Thank you Nunu, yes, you need to contact TYK Adventure to arrange the tour. it is not a walk-in tour package, so prior booking is needed. they will ask you to wait at the Kiau junction next to big road, then someone will pick you up.