MALAYSIA
MALAYSIAN BORNEO – SARAWAK •• Bintulu Book your stay at lonelyplanet.com/hotelsBelaga
pop 2500
By the time you pull into Belaga after the
long journey up the Rejang, you may feel like
you’ve arrived at the very heart of Borneo –
in reality you’re only about 100km from the
coastal city of Bintulu (as the crow flies).
Despite this, Belaga certainly feels remote.
It’s the main bazaar and administrative centre
along the upper Rejang.
The main reason that tourists visit Belaga
is to venture deep into the jungle in search of
hidden longhouses and secreted waterfalls.
But before you can share shots of rice wine
with smiling locals, you have to find a tour
guide. Unfortunately, we have received a lot
of reports from unhappy travellers stating
that there are several fraudulent operations in
town. The Sarawak Tourism Board encour-
ages tourists to use licensed guides, as only a
licensed operator can be accountable for any
wrongdoings. In Belaga, the most common
form of fraud is overcharging. Try tracking
down Hamdani (%019 886 5770) or Hasbie (%084-
461240) to organise your tours.SLEEPING & EATING
Belaga’s accommodation is of the cheap and
cheerful variety, but if you’re doing the long-
house circuit you shouldn’t really need to
sleep here for more than a night or two. Try
Belaga B&B (%086-461512; Lot 168, No. 2b, Jln Penghulu
Hang Nypia; r RM22-28), affiliated with Sarawak
Tourism, or Hotel Belaga (%084-461244; 14 Main
Bazaar; r RM30-60; a), whose convenient location
makes up for less than perfect standards.GETTING THERE & AWAY
Returning to Kapit from Belaga, express
boats leave Belaga early (between 6am and
6.30am), from where you can catch onward
boats downriver to Sibu. Boats go upriver
from Belaga as far as the Bakun Dam area
near Rumah Apan (RM10, one hour), from
where you can explore the resettled river
country north of the Rejang. It’s possible to
do a loop back to Bintulu this way along a
recently paved road (around RM60, 4½ hours
in a 4WD van).BINTULU
pop 180,000
The name Bintulu means ‘place of gathered
heads’ in an ancient local dialect – the area
was prime noggin-nabbing territory until theBrooke era. In 1861 James Brooke set up shop
and stamped out the gruesome tradition in
order to encourage foreign trade (see p509
for a brief history of headhunting in Borneo).
Today, Bintulu is an undistinguished com-
mercial centre servicing offshore oil and gas
installations and upriver logging.
For tourists, Bintulu is nothing more than
a transfer hub. If you need to spend the night,
try Kintown Inn (%086-333666; 93 Jln Keppel; r from
RM70; a) – if you can spare a little bit of extra
cash, it is a great choice.
Malaysia Airlines (%1300 883 000, 331554; http://www.malay
siaairlines.com.my; Jln Masjid) flies between Bintulu
and Kota Kinabalu, Kuching, Miri, Sibu and
KL. Air Asia (%1300 889 933; http://www.airasia.com) con-
nects to Kuching. Bintulu airport is 24km
west of the centre. A taxi there costs RM25.
The long-distance bus station is 5km north
of town. Travel between the two by local bus
or taxi (RM8). There are frequent daily serv-
ices between Bintulu and Kuching (RM60,
10 hours), Miri (RM20, 4½ hours) and Sibu
(RM20, 3½ hours).NIAH CAVES NATIONAL PARK
Near the coast about 115km south of Miri, this
small national park (32 sq km) protects one
of Borneo’s gems, the Niah Caves (%085-737454;
adult/child RM10/5; h8am-5pm). Alongside Gunung
Mulu National Park, these caves must be the
most famous natural attraction in Sarawak –
not bad for a bunch of hollowed-out hills.
The caves contain some of the oldest evidence
of human habitation in Southeast Asia: rock
art and small canoe-like coffins (death ships)
within the greenish walls of the Painted Cave
indicate that it was once a burial ground, and
carbon dating places the oldest relics back
40,000 years.
A lovely Malay-style building, the Niah
Archaeology Museum (admission free; h9am-5pm)
houses interesting displays on the geology,
archaeology and ecology of the caves. It’s
in the park, just across the river from the
park headquarters.
From the museum, a plank leads through
the forest to the caves. It’s 3.1km to the Great
Cave (which lies beyond a limestone overhang
called the Traders’ Cave) and another 1.4km to
the Painted Cave. The impressive Great Cave
measures 250m across at the mouth and 60m
at its greatest height. Since you approach the
cave from an angle, its enormous size prob-
ably won’t strike you straight away. It’s usu-520