Day 376: Finding the fantastic fleshy flower

We were up late this morning. I cooked some eggs in the giant wok and toasted some bread over the open flame on the stove and then we set off up the main waterfall track. It was hard going – the track was steep and the day was warm – but we saw a few Gonocephalus and a few geckoes along the way. All the while we were on the lookout for the Rafflesia flower that we had heard about yesterday. 

As we approached our final destination – Waterfall 7 – I spotted a gecko on a large rock beside the path and called the others over to have a look. As the girls and I watched the little lizard, Kate suddenly called out, 'There it is.' And sure enough, on the other side of the path atop a large rock was the Rafflesia flower. Deep orange-red, fleshy, about 30 centimetres across, it hadn't quite unfurled completely yet but was still very impressive. Not far away we also spotted a Rafflesia bud on a liana.

When we reached the waterfall, we all stripped off and went for a swim (and Zoe was visited by a large butterfly), before making some sandwiches for lunch. After we had finished eating, we were joined by six local women who had come up from the town to see the Rafflesia flower.

We packed up and made the long walk back down to the chalet, arriving just before a storm broke, complete with lightning, thunder and sheeting rain. We spent the afternoon hanging around the chalet and in the evening, I cooked some more pasta for dinner.

After dinner I went back out for another night walk, taking the waterfall track again. I went a lot higher up this time and about halfway up the hill I spotted some movement near a small ephemeral (now dry) creek that resolved into a frog – and then another. As they were both relatively nondescript brown ground frogs I wasn't too fussed about photographing them, so I made a slightly half-hearted and wholly ham-fisted attempt to catch both and ended up catching neither.

I kept going up the hill and found a couple of sleeping Gonocephalus and a very large and well-armoured phasmid, and then turned around and headed back down again. When I got to the ephemeral creek, I stopped and shone my torch around for a while, trying to spot some more frogs. High up the slope, I saw what looked to be a small green frog on a large green leaf, so I clambered up for a closer look. It turned out to be a young spotted rock frog – dark spots on its back but a brilliant lime green elsewhere. I took off my daypack and cap and set about trying to find a suitable spot from which to photograph it on the steep slope. Perched precariously, I contorted myself to get the right angles on the little amphibian, all the while digging my feet into the slope to try to stop myself sliding off. 

Looking around, I found a few more frogs and spent some time moving from frog to frog, looking for the perfect shot. When I was done, I picked up my cap and popped it on my head without bothering to check it – and instantly regretted doing so. It was covered in small brown ants and consequently so, now, was my head. Much cursing and slapping ensued as I attempted to rid myself of the biting blighters.

Day 375: Land of the giant flower

It was McDonald's for breakfast again this morning, after which we went back out to the supermarket near the hotel to pick up supplies for our next destination – Gunung Gading National Park – where again there is nowhere to buy food but there is a kitchen in our 'chalet'. Then, after dropping the shopping and the girls off at the hotel, Kate and I went back out and then split up – she went to get some bread and cash, and I went for a haircut. My stylist was a very sweet young local guy who waved away my instructions and proceeded to shape my hair into a close of his own style – very short at the sides and rather 'sculpted' on top.

After meeting up again back at the hotel, we all went back out and picked up some barbecued pork from a little Chinese restaurant then some slushies from the 7-Eleven across the road. We then went back to the hotel, where our driver (and he is now 'our driver', this being our third journey with him) was waiting. We chucked our bags in the taxi and then set off for the more than an hour long journey to the park. When we got there, we checked in and got the exciting news that there was a Rafflesia in flower next to the path that ran up the mountain behind the park headquarters. A parasite that grows on lianas, there are more than 20 species of Rafflesia and they all produce very large, foul-smelling flowers – in some cases, the world's largest. There's no set season for flowering, so although we knew that Gunung Gading was a very good place to see them, we had no idea whether any would be in flower during our visit.

We dropped our stuff in our 'chalet' – a three-bedroom wooden building with a kitchen, two bathrooms (with cold showers), and a big communal living area with sofas, an eight-seater dining table and very high ceilings. I gave the kitchen a once-over and discovered that it didn't have a toaster, a fridge or any saucepans or frying pans, just a simple gas stove, a rice cooker and an extremely large wok. We put the girls in the only room with air conditioning and Kate and I took a room each. 

We then headed out for a quick walk - up the (pretty steep) main trail to the first of the three waterfalls that it connects. As has been true in the other parks we've visited, the term 'waterfall' is used pretty loosely – it's really just a spot where a creek flows down over a larger than usual rock. There was a small pool at its base, but we didn't really feel like swimming – although Kate and the girls still managed to find a way to get their lower reaches wet, slipping and sliding and falling into one pool or another while I was away photographing frogs.

On the way back down, we took a slide trail that led to a boardwalk through a 'Rafflesia research area'. Near the junction, Sarah spotted a dead Rafflesia flower by the path – a strange black-brown shrivelled up thing. Where the boardwalk exited the forest, a swimming area had been constructed – much like the one at Kubah National Park, created by damming a stream that exited the forest at the same place – and the girls and I stripped off and went for a quick swim in it. There was also a very basic fountain nearby, with a single jet shooting up from the centre of a small circular pond.

After dinner (pasta cooked in the rice cooker; sauce cooked in the enormous wok), I walked back up the main trail but didn't see much – just a gecko or two. I came back down the Rafflesia boardwalk, but saw even less there. I was about to head back to the chalet when I heard a desultory croak from the fountain near the swimming area. I went over to investigate and managed to find four different species of frog in the little pond, including a gorgeous orange and black example.

Day 374: Back in the big city

We took things easy in the morning, making some toast for breakfast and then packing up. We had kept the business card given to us by the cab driver who drove us out to Bako National Park and yesterday we arranged for him to pick us up this morning to take us back to Kuching. It was raining when he arrived at about 11am and still raining when we drove slowly past a car sitting upside-down in a ditch beside the road.

The journey back to Kuching was short - less than an hour - but still took a bit longer than it should have due to an accident on a bridge on the city's outskirts. Back at the Nova Hotel, we were given our old room, where we dumped our stuff and then headed out to McDonald's for lunch. We then visited a few malls trying to find some insect repellent, as we're all out. Back in the room, we all had showers and I called HSBC, who gave us the wonderful and long-awaited news that our buy-to-let mortgage had been approved.

For dinner we went back to our alley-way 'restaurant, which we now know is called Tai Pan Food Corner – apparently named for the Tai Pan Hotel, which forms one side of the alley. We got through six satay sticks, two plates of rice noodles, a bowl of wonton noodles, four beers and two cokes for the princely sum of US$11.