Thirty years ago, Hedley, with his wife Mary and daughter Katie, visited the Niah Caves in Sarawak, East Malaysia. They travelled by car, ferry, and boat.
They set off from Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of Brunei and
drove to the border with Sarawak. They crossed two large rivers by ferry, stopped in Miri for lunch and then continued to Niah, a small river township. Then they hired a small boat and sailed upriver to a government rest house, where they spent the night. They ate with the small group of scientists who lived in the rest house and shared the cold drinks they had brought with them in a cool box. It was a remote spot, deep in the jungle. They slept in bunk beds with no air conditioning. It was a novel experience.
The next morning, they walked along a jungle path for half an hour until they reached the Niah caves. Inside the caves, which were very high, they saw men who climbed up tall bamboo poles. The men wore lights on their hats because it was so dark. At the top of the poles they scrapped off birds’ nests from the roof of the caves. The nests were collected by their mates on the cave floor and packed into sacks. These nests were later sold and made into bird’s nest soup, a Chinese delicacy.
That afternoon, they said goodbye to their new-found friends in the rest house and set off on the long drive home. It was quite an adventure and one they would never forget.
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