Kacip Fatimah - Female Viagra

Last Saturday, my colleague and myself went on a trip to the nearby cave. We were fortunate that we had a tour guide going with us. This tour guide is experienced and told us quite a lot of stories and ...

... education on native customs, plants and herbs. This particular one, Kacip Fatimah, is reputed to be able to help the women ...in the restoration of the uterus after childbirth and also their sexual drive! So, my colleague Adaha was very excited... (oh, he is still single!)

Unfortunately I can't review the location of the above plant just in case ...
To prepare, you can use the root, bark, leaves (in another word, the whole plant), and boil in water. Consume the liquid. That simple!

Niah Cave - the dark and the painted

The story continues from yesterday's post. We were about to enter the darkest part of the cave. It is total darkness, ie, absence of light! We can't even see an inch in front of us without torch light.
To read all my other blogs on Niah, click here.

The team was entering the descending staircase ...

I used my flash to snap a photo of the dark cave ...

One of the girls spotted this cricket on a metal bin...

Finally, we arrived at the exit. It has a rest area and a gateway to the painted cave. The painted cave is another 10 minutes walk away.

Look back into the dark cave ...

The painted cave! The painting is more or less gone!

The entrance of the painted cave.
By this I am now concluding this series of posts on Niah Cave. It is worthwhile going but do slow down and enjoy the surrounding. The cost is RM10 per adult, RM5 for student. The boat ride is RM1 each way for each person. There is group package, eg, group of 5 will cost RM30.

Niah Cave... The journey beyong the main entrance #1

This story continues from my previous entries. We have just entered the main entrance, walked for perhaps 150M, and in front of us, is a passage of cave with very low light.

At this point and looking back, I can see the light from the main entrance penetrating through the darkness of the interior ...

Looking forward, the light is dim. So dim that this picture was taken at an ISO of 25,000 F2.8 1/8s. The picture is actually quite "noisy" and the only way for me to resolve this is to use a tripod and reduce the ISO. Perhaps, on next trip to Niah Cave, I will bring along a tripod.

We continued walking to the middle section, where we can see light coming through....

... light from a distance opening! Perhaps, I call this the "back entrance" of the cave which leads to the painted caves.

... and I looked back and saw nice formation of the rock and shadow... the wall has structure built for bird nest harvesting ...

... looking further right from the above point ...

... nice formation and structure everywhere!

... more rock formation ...

... sculpture by nature under a dim light source from above ...

... a resting place with shade in a cave? Yes, to protect you from dropping from birds and bats!
At this point, we are about to enter the darkest part of the cave. This is what I called our 2nd half of the adventure. Photos will come soon!
All the above photos were taken with extremely high ISO and low speed. Walking around would require a torch light. I have enhanced the image slightly.

Niah - The journey into the deep

Along the way to the cave, there is this souvenir shop. It is literally in the middle of nowhere with so very few customers. They have been here for a long time already as I saw them during my last trip many years ago.
We are bad buyer of souvenir and we didn't buy anything!
Along the way, we spend time to look at the nature. Before we realise it, we were at the bottom of this flight of stairs...
... leading to the traders' cave. There are wooden structures built in the 50s' still standing. It is worth noting that the joints are special. The use of nails were non existence! See how the points were held together.
I don't see this kind of design nowadays. I remember our old house was built in this manner using belian (iron) wood. They are termite proof!
This cave was where the native sold the bird nest. Nowadays, bird nest business is not done this way anymore. We can see the spider web on top of the rock... they are in the business to catch small insects for their meals!
Ok... we proceed our journey up a flight of stairs...
From the top of the stairs looking down, this is how the traders' cave looks like.
This is another view from the top of the stairs.
Then we were at the entrance to the great cave. We were greeted by this "old archeological excavation" which had halted many years ago.
On the far end of the great cave, we could see a hut. We didn't go over to have a close look. From the roof of the great cave, we could see bamboo stick coming downward. They were left there by the bird nest farmer.
The roof of the great cave is lined by swiftlets/bats ... can you spot them?
The journey into the great cave starts here...it is believed that this great cave was once under water and a great flood or whatever had swept through it and left behind sign of wavy erosion made only possible by water. Was it caused by the great flood of Noah's time?
... beautiful formation of rock inside the cave. We are about to enter the first part of the darker cave. Pictures from my posting on Tuesday were taken just beyond this point.
... I will post more pictures showing the total darkness part of the eerie black cave!

Niah - the beautiful surrounding

When we were on the way to Niah, I need to remind my group that the objective should not be just climbing the cave but also to enjoy the surrounding, ie, nature/plant/flower/insect etc.
We seem to forget to look up ... just look at the magnificent trees!
... the young shoot ...
... and this strange looking ball spotted by Joshua. He is young and much shorter than us. So, he tends to see more things at his level. Anyone wanted to guess what is this? I think this is made by giant black ant. But they could be bee hive. So, I don't touch it! Just in case....
See this giant tree!
... and this plant full of sharp thorn.
This formation is actually a wall of rock. And over the years, trees actually grow over it.
Looking down from the walkway, you see green leaves!
... and Joshua found this snail. He wanted to bring home for the brother to see but I have to tell him that it is not a good idea to disturb it happiness in the jungle!
... more photos to follow ...

Photos of Niah Caves

As Janice has mentioned, we went to Niah yesterday and really sweat ourselves! I took the opportunity to take some pictures...
Entrance to the Great cave

Inside the Great Cave, there is this fantastic looking ray of light beaming from the top through a hole...

... and lighting up this huge rock beneath!

More photos to follow. Please comment if any.

Niah caves

During the merdeka day as it was a public holiday for all, daddy, Joshua, Jennifer, Lina and I made a trip down to Niah caves which was 74km from Miri.

I remember vaguely of my first trip to Niah when I was very young. We only walked up to the entrance of the cave and decided not to go in because it was too dark. Below are photos taken using nikon d200.

candid shot of daddy

Jennifer (who said that if daddy ever comes up with a novel she will definitely buy it..haha) and Lina

daddy, Joshua (and his snail) and I

simply magnificent. The beauty of God's creation

We walked all the way to the painted cave but to our dismay it was fenced up for conservation purposes because the paintings were deteriorating and very fragile.


Anyway, it was a good exercise as I haven't physically exerted myself much for a few months already . It rained halfway which made us completely wet but it did not deter us from finishing our journey. I guess daddy will update you more about Niah with even better photos from his D3.