My sister and niece have recently been to Sing to visit and during this time we took a couple of days off to holiday in Borneo.
We stayed at a rather basic but interesting resort called Permai Rainforest Resort near Kuching chosen by yours truly because they had tree houses and the thought of sleeping among the tall trees was just too good to miss. So was the noise of the birds and crickets who also live high up in the canopy and have to let everybody know what they are doing at any given time. Clearly I had not taken into account the endless chirping, buzzing, hissing and whatever else these little critters do so the result was a string of sleepless nights made almost delirious by the itching caused by sand flies, nasty little creatures, almost invisible that feasted on my sister and I and totally ignored my niece and husband. Now I am looking at websites to see how their bites can be prevented but it seems that covering up and avoiding going out at night are the only things one can do. I would imagine that having conquered the technology that allows us to go to the Moon a ridiculous bug bite would not be too much of a problem but, as usual , I am wrong.
The tree houses are built on stilts, 15 m above ground and one must climb 3 flights of stairs to get to the top which is a bit tricky when pulling luggage behind you and even more of a nuisance when you realize you have hauled the baggage up the wrong tree house one being a double room and the other a twin room on account of my nocturnal wiggle worm niece. So after spending a good 15 minutes exchanging luggage under the bemused watch of the locals we headed off to the Rainforest cafe for a good dose of pineapple rice served in half a pineapple and a snack of dry salted small fish and peanuts. After lunch a rest was in order. The tree houses have one bedroom, a small table with a fridge and coffee making facilities and a bathroom. The best part was the balcony overlooking the sea, half hidden by leaves and branches. One afternoon a group of silver leaf monkey camped right outside our window and we spent a good half hour taking pictures and enjoying their antics. One of them had a baby that is bright orange in color when born and gradually turns gray after 4 months. In the morning we would wake up and just spend some time looking out of the French doors towards the sea, bliss!
We only had one doubt regarding the tree houses. They wobbled a bit causing a bit of sea sickness and this was especially bad when one person was in the shower or brushing their teeth. The mere action of moving left to right and back with a toothbrush would cause the whole tree house to shake and while this was not felt by the shaker, the "shakee" would cling to the bed trying to avoid falling on the floor. Geckos were always present, guarding the house like miniature police dogs and pouncing avidly on mosquitoes and the like.
Food wise the resort always seemed to had "pinished item" causing us to have at least 4 alternative options from a rather limited menu when ordering food but when we did get it it was good and plentiful if at times wrong due to the fact the chef spent his time singing while listening to his music instead of listening to the order. Still I would definitively recommend this resort if simple and cheerful are your thing.
