After breakfast, we spent some time exploring Poring. Besides the hot springs, there were plenty of other things to go see and do. First up, was a walk up the trees! For a few ringgit, you could walk up (many) steps and across bridges up in the trees.
I admit I was being a bit of a dick up in the canopy and walking to make the bridge swing, but they’re totally secure. There’s not too much to see up there, other than tree tops, and the walk itself is quite brief, but worth doing.
Afterwards, Donny gave us the option of going to see a nearby waterfall with the little fish which nibble at your feet.
Fred and Dave decided to pass on this and go check out one which was slightly further away (turned out to be 3km) which donny warned was infested with leeches! They went anyway. The rest of us went to see the kiddies waterfall.
We also spent some time swimming in one of the bigger pools in the hot springs and sitting in a really hot pool. I saw a giant bug land in the water and boil to death. It was so giant that I had to flick it out with a flip-flop. Compared to the previous day when it had rained, today was very sunny, and I got a bit sunburned after coming out of the water.
Lunch was back at the Round Inn restaurant, where me and Jackie shared some chicken fried rice and chips. Donny organised for us to drive out to a nearby ‘garden’ to see Borneo’s national flower, the Rafflesia.
We drove out to what seemed like someone’s house, where we paid quite a lot to go out into their backyard to see the flowering plants, which only bloom every so often. Donny was very excited to see one in full bloom. The rest of us were in awe of the thing. As a parasitic plant, Borneo sure did choose a strange one for a national symbol! It’s also very distubingly organic-looking …
On the way back to Poring, we stopped off to try some Durian, an Asian fruit which looks like it could double up as a weapon of war. It’s pretty big and spiky and smells pretty horrible. The fact that you see ‘no durians allowed’ signs in all the hotels kinda tells you how bad the smell really is.
The taste itself isn’t too bad and the texture is quite odd … like, soft … almost like cream cheese. I learnt later that you shouldn’t drink any fizzy stuff after eating durian … it gives you the shits.
Dinner was at 18:00 (chicken curry and sizzling beef again!) and Donny gave us our briefing for the next day. We also received our clean clothes, fresh from the cleaners! After much sitting around and talking, we hit the hay around half nine. Tomorrow we’d be going for a river cruise!