Crossing Borneo Overland

 

8 buses, 3 ferries, 1 taxi, 2 border crossings, and endless walking and we managed to cross all of  Malaysian Borneo. After the first 8 transport changes I was quite glad to finally get to our direct bus from Miri to Kuching.  Normally buses have a spot for 3 on the other side and a spot for two on the other.  This bus had only 2 seats on one side and one on the other.  It was extremely comfortable.  We watched The Omen (pirated version of the brand new version of course) 4 consecutive times.  The volume was so low I still don’t know what happened after all those viewings but it was fun to try to make up a different plot each time.

 

 

Kuching was such a great city, I am surprised we have never heard more about it before.  There is a beautifully developed waterfront, a great restaurant and bar scene and the people are very friendly.  I wish we could have stayed longer to see all the great surrounding national parks and visit the local tribes.

 

 Even with our brief stay we managed to visit the wonderful Sarawak Museum and also the Semenggoh Rehabilitation Center.  It was a very different experience visiting the Orangutans at a place that is so easily accessible.  There were certainly a lot more people there, although we still do get a close look.  Part of my favorite part of when we saw them in Indonesia a few years ago was that they would observe us so intently.  There isn’t really a chance to have that when you are just one among the crowd. 

Our last day in Kuching we did all of our shopping and visited the museum.  We met Stephen Bennet there, an artist who does portraits of people he meets all around the world.  His work was absolutely luminous and he was just such a great laid back and humble man.  If I was rich (this phrase crosses in to my mind every day) I would buy one of his paintings. 

 

Kuala Lumpur

 

We head out to Kuala Lumpur and made it with great time to go and pick up Chantal at the airport and even managed to introduce her to the wonderful Teh Tarik (tea with condensed milk which is then “pulled” to mix) and roti bom.  I had great fun trying on saris in the Indian part of town, I was really tempted to get one!

 

Our time in Malaysia was entirely too brief!!  There was so much in Sabah alone to distract us for a few weeks at least and Sarawak, the western part of Borneo may have had even more.  We are now in Thailand enjoying Buddhist temples, thai massages and the food!  More on that soon!