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Ulu Paku 4x4 tour 19&20 August 2006

We are not saying it officially but it does looks like there is a Toyota Owner's Club out there...

the group with the kids that went for the ride

why? 3 Hiluxes, 1 MkII and 1 Prado TZ went out on a nice drive to the Ulu Paku and  Pakan areas about 250km from Kuching.

19 Aug 06. After a leisurely breakfast, we rolled towards Serian for a short stop to fit a reverse light on Eddie's Hilux. From there it was on to Kerangas Gayau, the traditional lunch break and then towards out first destination Rumah Linggit in Ulu Paku, which is also Laurence's 'menoa' (place of origin).

Chatting in the 'ruai' of the longhouse

It was hazy all along the way and speculation has it that the air quality was 'bad'. We pulled in to Rh. Linggit at about 2 pm with a smiling Laurence coming out to greet us.

There were two groups of people on this trip - the campers and the visitors. So Octaviouss and Uncle Chai headed down to the side of the stream to set up camp. The rest of us - Eddie and family and the writer and spouse checked-in the longhouse.

Camping by the Linggit River

This was a leisure holiday trip and so, everything was done at a leisurely pace - what a change from having agendas to fulfill throughout the day...

Uncle and Aunty Chai had their grandson with them. They went to GuanChow and flew him here for this trip to experience camping and the wild.

Chai's Grandson-youngest member of the trip signing the longhouse's guest book.

After a couple of hours chatting with Laurence's relatives and new found friends at the longhouse, Eddie rolled out with a local hunter and shotgun in tow. Hardly an hour passed and he was back towing a long tail macaque. That was exotic food for some folks.

Before long, rain came in droves and soon after the air was cleared and it also cooled right down where we were assured that we could sleep in the cool night air.

20 Aug 06 - This was the off road day. The plan was to drive into the interior and follow the Batang Ai Hydro electric lines until they come out on the main Sarawak Trunk Road.

Longhouse visit.. we stopped by the visit Laurence's relatives

Octaviouss's TZ at elevation 1,000 ft.

Instead of using the pavement, we headed into an agricultural area and took the roads in the hills. It was a very scenic drive. We did take a few 180 degree turns backtracking and eventually found the main road that led to the Transmission line trail. The trail began with some washout sections but nothing too technical. We said good bye to Eddie and Laurence and the three cars went along for this leg of the trip.

Transmission Trail.. nice..

Although this was a rarely used trail, it receives some degree of maintenance because of the power lines. It took about two hours and a bit with more 180 degree turns before coming out at Pakan and finally hitting the Sarawak main trunk road. The exit was close to Bintangor.

It was decided that we would stop for a much needed lunch at Jakar where the specialty of the house giant prawn noodles going for RM10 per bowl. Some in the group had double serving.

Uncle Chai maneuvering a bottleneck on Transmission trail

As we were cruising coming past Saratok, Eddie caught hold of our radio transmission. He and Laurence was heading for Sibu with their families for a bit of sightseeing and R&R. We said bye-bye for the second time and headed home. 

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