A week or so ago, we departed Sibu on the ferry and slowly made our way into the delta and eventually the South China Sea, on our way to Kuching. It’s a smallish town with a heap of character that has managed to retain much of its colonial architecture as it was spared the extensive bombing that much of northern Borneo was subjected to during WWII. Back in the mid-19th century, the independently wealthy and dapper Englishman, James Brooke, just happened to dock his armed schooner at Kuching at a time of native unrest. Sensing an opportunity, he quickly managed to quell the rebellion and the previous landlord, the Sultan of Brunei, had little choice but to crown him the Raja of Sarawak. Britain concurred, knighted young James and for two more generations, the Brookes ruled
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