05-Jan-2008 -- The story starts from 5N 116E.
We arrived in Brunai Darussalam by the speed ferry from Labuan to Muara. At the ferry terminal in Muara the GPS receiver informed us that the beeline distance to this CP is just 7.3 km. I considered this to be a hikeable distance that could be covered within 2 hours, so we started walking.
The day was hot (as usual in Brunei) and we had all our gear with us. Nevertheless we kept on walking. In Brunei, it is not common to walk, so soon after leaving Muara the sidewalk disappeared and we had to follow directly the main highway between Muara and capital Bandar Seri Begawan. Car drivers blow their horns, either warning us or offering rides. When finally the public bus stopped and offered a ride, we couldn’t resist anymore and hopped in.
At a beeline distance of 420m we got off the bus and walked along the nicely gardened sub-urban roads. We turned into “Simpang 32” (which means road #32) and found that this road would not get us closer than 110m to the point. Since there was a tiny fence, indicating that we had to cross private land, we tried another approach, this time coming from the West and starting with 230m distance. Although there was some scrubs (ferns, high grass and tendriled plants), we could reach the confluence within 10 minutes and without climbing any fences.
Right at the time when we reached the confluence, a monkey sat next to us in a tree. Probably, he was watching the confluence. We tried to catch him with our camera and I thought I got him, but sadly, the picture did not show any traces of the monkey.
Well that’s the nice property about confluences: they can not escape nor anyone can remove them!
At the confluence, we found Tarap Trees. Tarap is a tall tropical tree which is native to South Eastern Asia. It has large lobed leaves, and edible huge fruits which we had enjoyed them earlier on some local fruit markets. At the time of our visit, no fruits were hanging on the trees.
After documentation of the CP, we walked back to the main road and took the next bus to the capital city Bandar Seri Begawan (picture #6), just 16km away.
CP visit details:
- Time at the CP: 17:15 pm
- time: 30 min (from getting off the bus)
- hiking distance: 420 m (beeline)
- Distance to a road: 110 m
- Distance to a track: 110 m
- Distance to houses: 120 m
- Topography: on a small hill. General area quite smooth
- Minimal distance according to GPS: 0 m
- Position accuracy at the CP: 7 m
- GPS height: 18 m
- Vegetation: dense with Tarap Trees and in the lower layer ferns, grass,
- Weather: sunny, 30° C (felt temperature)
- Description of the CP: The only confluence in Brunei. On a sedimentary floodplane quite close to the coast (ca. 5km). On a little hill just on the edge of a housing area.
- Given Name: The Monkey & Tarap Confluence
Story continues at 2N 113E.