Francis Ho is the coolest 49-year-old I know in Kuching.
When I met this guy at the Kuching Bloggers Meet about 2 weeks ago, I was wondering what the heck is this uncle doing with a bunch of 20-something/teenage bloggers. Dodgy right! After all, we live in a crazy world nowadays and sadly, not everything is as rosy as it’s meant to be.
Turns out that Francis has more than enough reason to be there.
Francis is an architect by profession, and the author of Kuching Kayaking – possibly the only blog site dedicated to kayaking in Kuching.
Kenny: “What? You mean there are places to kayak in Kuching?”
Francis: “Eh hello friend, Sarawak is not nicknamed The Land of Rivers for nothing ok!”
According to Francis, Sarawak has boutique-quality rivers that rival some of the best in the world. It’s a mystery why river sports aren’t popular among Sarawakians, and a bigger mystery why the tourism industry never tapped into this potential of the state.
Francis and I agreed to meet up again on the 4th day of CNY (a Wednesday) to take me out for my virgin kayaking trip.
Of course lah, me being me, I had to go screw it up by confusing the 4th day of CNY with a Thursday (I knew it’s the fourth day of something!) Ended up delaying the trip for a good one hour, and making everyone feel like hitting me with the kayak paddle.
We set out for Sungai Sarawak Kanan (Sarawak River East), departing from the town of Krokong and (hopefully) end up at The Wind Caves near Bau. Joining us were veterans Joseph and Danny, and fellow kayaking virgins Mary and Lau.
This is me getting all geared up. I regretted not wearing long-sleeve that day. My shoulders are getting all lobster-ized from the fierce sun rays as I’m typing this.
Charlie’s Angels gone wrong: Lau and Mary, furniture shop owners; Francis, main guide; Danny, civil engineer/commando; Kenny, excess baggage; Joe, second-in-command
And that’s our team before we set off!
I took the same boat with Francis, which is good for me but bad for him. Why? Because many times when the boat got so heavy it wouldn’t even move! The 49-year-old uncle had to get off the boat and tug it to the deeper end.
#%^&*#@! I’ll go on diet soon lah ok! Hehe.
Ten minutes into our journey, I realised why kayaking is such a passion for Francis Ho.
The view from the river isn’t just amazing, it’s simply breathtaking. The air here is as fresh as it can get. The sounds of birds and wildlife are like music to the ears. This is like entering your own private sanctuary. I never knew a place like this existed – right in my own backyard.
500m onwards, I began to see some unique wave-like rock formations by the river bank. These spectacular sculptures aren’t even man-made, but the results of years of water damage and erosion.
The weather was almost perfect, though it rained briefly during our journey. Doesn’t matter anyway, ‘cos we’re wet already. Err… wet from water splashes, not from orgasmic ecstacy ok. 😉
It was exhausting paddling non-stop, and we took many breaks along the way whenever we can. Francis was doing ok though. I can’t believe I don’t have the stamina of someone more than twice my age, old enough to be my father!
Actually I DO have the stamina, just not in the arms department. Somewhere lower lah.
There’s no toilets around so when we had to go, we relieve ourselves into the river. Heh… hope no one is bathing downstream. Free urine shower gel!
We encountered some friendly people along the way, like this native kampung boy who was fishing with a spear gun.
And some crazy people doing back flips from the rocks into the water.
By 2pm, we could hear sounds of picnickers playing about in the water. A bend later, we finally arrived at our destination – Wind Cave National Reserve.
We conquered Sungai Sarawak Kanan! We departed from Krakong around 10am, so that makes it 4 hours to cover the distance of over 15km.
Download Kayak in Kuching Video here [MPG, 1m26s, 1.25MB]
It’s my first time kayaking and I find it an exhausting but worthwhile experience. My fingers are still hurting from paddling too hard. It hurts so bad in fact that I’m typing this entry using my toes now.
The rivers of Sarawak are this state’s best kept secrets, and the best way to enjoy them in all their splendour is by boat. I’m grateful to have met Francis through our blogs, otherwise I wouldn’t even have discovered this hidden treasure in my own homeland.
Sarawak is the Land of Rivers, and Sungai Sarawak Kanan is just the first river I had the pleasure of kayaking in. After yesterday, I’m almost certain that it wouldn’t be my last.
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